Heavy drinking causes brain changes that make you want to drink more. But using a virus to deliver a gene into specific neurons in the brain may be a way to mitigate those changes.
A poster of Hindus for Trump, which shows Donald Trump in a ‘yogi’ pose.
HIndus for Trump
Many decry ‘superteams’ like the NBA’s Golden State Warriors as bad for the sport. But psychology research shows that they also make us more likely to watch – and bask in the joy of seeing them fail.
For some, free trade has been costly.
Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa via AP
Trade adjustment assistance, dubbed ‘burial insurance’ by those it’s supposed to help, needs to be significantly reformed so that future trade deals don’t have so many workers feeling left behind.
Will a low-nicotine cigarette work for people who love to smoke?
From www.shutterstock.com
Requiring low-nicotine cigarettes sounds good, but it’s not the answer. Policy makers instead should speed up the support of safer, satisfying forms of nicotine and tobacco.
Thousands protest against the proposed expansion of a chemical factory in Ningbo, Oct. 28, 2012.
AP
Matthew E. Kahn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
China has the world’s second-largest economy, powered by cheap labor and cheap fossil fuel. But now Chinese urbanites want greener, healthier lifestyles. Can the government deliver them?
Looks like paradise – but how did the first people get there?
Global Environment Facility
Researchers ran computer simulations that take into account environmental variability and geographical setting to investigate how early explorers made it to these tiny, remote islands in the Pacific.
Every single Cavendish banana plant worldwide is genetically identical. This vast monoculture sets them up for disastrous disease outbreaks. But researchers have ideas on how to protect the crop.
Stay home if you get the flu.
From www.shuttterstock.com
Social media is changing the way we travel, with people increasingly eager to visit Instagram-worthy destinations. Has a place’s visual appeal become more important than its history and authenticity?
Should the public pay to read research?
Barry Silver
The public pays for academic research and then again to read the published results of that research. A new initiative proposes a radical Open Access model. Can it work?
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and musician Demi Lovato.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
When a celebrity runs for president, do celebrity endorsements matter? A survey of likely voters shows how tricky it can be to mix celebrity and politics.
The audience listens to the third presidential debate, Oct. 19, 2016.
AP Photo/John Locher
A survey of voters shows white racial identity is on the rise. Psychologists explain how it’s affecting the presidential election and how it will change American politics of the future.
In China, Trump is depicted as a threat to stability.
torbakhopper/flickr
Some countries clearly prefer one candidate over the other. But the biggest loser may be the American political process, long held up as a model for the rest of the world to emulate.
A hydro-responsive thread can be used with sensors to monitor body functions.
Alonso Nichols, Tufts University
While few would bemoan its end, the club fostered strong ties among the titans of Corporate America and ensured moderate candidates and policies. Its death has led to more extremism.
A voter at a polling station during the New York primary elections in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
How white Republicans and white Democrats feel about Muslims is influencing their candidate choice as well as willingness to vote in the 2016 election.
When will computers and humans interact fully?
Illustration via shutterstock.com