Human existence being what it is, it would seem logical that people would seek out happy stories to help them escape from life’s harsh realities. Yet people who experience the everyday tragedies, disappointments and losses that all human beings experience actively seek out movies, television shows and books that depict tragedy. It now appears that the reason people take pleasure in watching tragedies is that tragedies actually make them feel happier.
Today’s culture is obsessed with data. We love approval ratings of presidents, how the public feels about prescription drugs, and the ratings of our favorite TV shows. So it’s no wonder that infographics have been all the rage online. But just like anything, there’s good and there’s bad infographics. Bad infographics don’t go viral. Great ones do. Here are some tips for creating and designing brilliant, wonderful, great infographics.
In spite of the doomsday warnings of those who bemoan the disappearance of a generation into the gaping maw of the Internet, a new study has shown that Internet usage does not replace traditional media in the lives of young people
Have you ever been hiking and the trail suddenly disappears? All of the sudden, you don’t know where you are going. You are lost! You have to struggle to find the trail to push forward or you have to turn back. Like hiking, when speaking the last thing you want is to get lost. Luckily by following some good hiking advice, your speech can keep the audience engaged and on the same happy trail as you.
In spite of the strong link between sexual function and a person’s overall health, the subject is unlikely to come up in a doctor’s office. In fact, according to a new study, a majority of doctors skirt the issue entirely. Of those physicians who do attempt an assessment of their patients’ sexual function, most ask superficial questions that shed little light on issues that could signal underlying problems.
A new study from Carnegie Mellon took a look at how Twitter users determine whether or not a tweet is credible. They found that as people begin to rely more heavily upon search engines to locate relevant tweets from people they do not usually follow, they begin to be wary of trusting the content they encounter. The researchers culled their findings to come up with ways you can make your tweets more credible.
Scientists say we are within a decade of creating personal robots capable of cleaning our homes, taking us on guided tours and caring for our grandparents in nursing facilities. However, computer scientists simply won’t be able to program every robot to do all the things we will want them to do. This means we’ll have to tell robots what do to and how to do it. How will we do that?
Credibility is everything. Newspapers that get the facts wrong are torn to shreds and politicians lacking experience don’t get elected, while people in lab coats command our respect immediately. Communication scholars define credibility as being the perception of one’s competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. But as you probably know, perceptions can be hacked.
According to a report published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, voters may naturally prefer politicians who have deeper voices. Biologists from Duke University collaborated with a political scientist from the University of Miami to determine voter preferences regarding the pitch of a candidate’s voice.
According to a new study by researchers at Penn State, what patients and their families believe about religion and genetics makes a difference in the way they react when told that they have a health problem. Roxanne Parrott, lead author of the study, explained that greater understanding of the different ways in which people react to being diagnosed with an illness helps professionals develop effective communication strategies.
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