Author: Michael Mostert (Michael Mostert)

CASUAL ENCOUNTERS
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CASUAL ENCOUNTERS

From the genetic point of view two very casual encounters are at the heart of our personality. The first concerns how mum and dad met and the second is how a particular sperm cell met a particular egg each having a casual assembly of half of the genome of each parent. The interactions of mixtures...

IT’S NOT FUNNY
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IT’S NOT FUNNY

Laughing is contagious. A study explains how the brain responds to someone else laughing. When someone else laughs areas light up in the brain of those listening that correspond to the areas that are activated when they are laughing. If we hear someone laughing, we instinctively copy. This is a mirror response that strengthens social...

THE POWER OF AN EXPLANATION
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THE POWER OF AN EXPLANATION

When a substance with no pharmacological properties has a beneficial therapeutic effect, it is called a placebo. It was thought that for a placebo to have effects it was necessary to trick the patient into believing he/she was taking something with well-known pharmacological effects. A study has revealed that in alleviating physical pain there is...

READING
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READING

We are used to reading advertisements about fitness products that guarantee a six-pack abdomen, sculpted arms, solid buttocks. We hear of drinks that improve concentration, memory improving minerals, and diets to re-discover oneself, reduce nervous tension, become beautiful, calm and handsome. A product and an activity that are not publicized very much and that are...

SUPER PARENTS
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SUPER PARENTS

Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and that of Piedmont is the lowest in Italy. Kids are becoming a rarity and parents who are confronted by these strange beings are becoming hyper protective. A mother asked me if she should do something about some nuts that fell into her pool...

THE PROBLEMS OF ADOLESCENCE
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THE PROBLEMS OF ADOLESCENCE

Parents of teenage children sometimes ask me: “How could my son/daughter do such a stupid thing? Where is his/her head?” Psychologists, neurologists and pediatricians are starting to explain the basis underlying the sometimes weird and inexplicable behavior of some adolescent-age youngsters. The idea is that two interacting neurological systems are responsible for the passage from...

SIBLINGS
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SIBLINGS

Which single factor more than all others conditions how our personality forms. Some say the parents, (particularly mothers), some believe it is our genes, or maybe our friends or maybe birth order. Ever more researchers think that the dark matter behind how we become are our siblings. Husbands and wives arrive relatively late and parents...

EXPLAINING IS USEFUL FOR THE ONE EXPLAINING
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EXPLAINING IS USEFUL FOR THE ONE EXPLAINING

Learning usually implies that one studies, opens a few books, goes to lessons to receive info on some still unknown topic. Researchers would like to know why a large part of our conversations is dedicated to explaining something to someone. We explain why things are bad or good, why we are happy or unhappy, why...

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER
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AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER

There is a relationship between positive emotions such as happiness and living a healthy life. A large international study confirms this correlation for western world countries but not for eastern countries. For comparable age, gender, social economic and health conditions American and European adults, considered to be happy and satisfied with their life on the...

HONEST BUT NOT ALWAYS
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HONEST BUT NOT ALWAYS

A study shows that when people are part of a group they don’t behave as honestly as when alone, particularly as concerns money matters. Over 250 candidates were observed alone and in groups of three. When alone each candidate had to throw a dice in the air ten times and each time write the number...

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