Choosing a user name starting with a letter appearing earlier in the alphabet is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata reports

Up Your Online Dating Game with Evidence-Based Strategies

High-calorie and exceedingly pleasurable foods appear to change rat brain rewards circuitry, causing the rodents to continue to seek such fare. Erika Beras reports

Junk Diet Rewires Rat Brains

Parkinson’s patients derived more benefits from a salt solution they were told was an expensive drug than from the same solution when it was described as being cheap medication. Karen Hopkin reports

High Price Tag on Meds May Boost Healing

Of studies presented at conferences, those that found a cognitive benefit to bilingualism were almost twice as likely to get published in journals as were studies finding no benefit. Karen Hopkin reports 
 

Publication Bias May Boost Findings for Bilingual Brain Benefits

Implicit bias against another race lessened after volunteers experienced themselves via virtual reality as a member of that race. Karen Hopkin reports 
 

Inclusion Illusion Lessens Racial Bias

Levels of a protein fragment in the blood paralleled how long head injuries benched hockey players. Ingrid Wickelgren reports

Blood Test Forecasts Concussion Severity

If you're in an up mood, you may walk more energetically. But a study finds that purposefully walking more energetically may improve your mood. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

Bouncy Gait Improves Mood

Subjects who kept pace with a walking colleague estimated a potential enemy to be smaller and lighter than did other walkers who were not marching. Karen Hopkin reports 
 

Synchronized Walking Reduces Opponent's Perceived Size

Young adults who’d had highly controlling parents were less able to stress their own viewpoints to a friend or partner in confident and productive ways. Daisy Yuhas reports 
 

Big Parental Control May Stunt Kid Assertiveness

Absence from work due to illness increased dramatically for those who slept less than six hours or more than nine hours per night. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

Lots or Little Sleep Linked to Sick Days

The direction of your gaze when looking at someone offers an unconscious, automatic giveaway of whether your initial reaction is romance or sex. Christie Nicholson reports

Can’t Take My Eyes off You—Your Face, That Is

People who had to strike up conversations on a subway later reported feeling happier than those who didn’t. Christie Nicholson reports.

Talking to Strangers Makes You Happy

Survey subjects rated life experiences as making them happier and as a better use of money than buying objects. But they actually spent their cash on material goods, whose value is more easily quantifiable. Erika Beras reports

People Think Experiences Bring Happiness, Still Opt for Things

Children who experience neglect, abuse and/or poverty can have smaller amygdalas and hippocampuses, brain regions involved in emotion and memory, compared with kids raised in nurturing environments. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

Childhood Stress Decreases Size of Brain Regions

Monkeys trained to play fixed video games made moves indicating that they expected certain patterns to occur. Erika Beras reports 
 

Even Monkeys Believe In Hot Streaks

Researchers studying anesthetized rats discovered a handful of activity patterns that may mark the path to consciousness after anesthesia. Karen Hopkin reports 
 

Brain State Bread Crumbs Lead Way Back to Consciousness

Our ability to pinpoint pain varies across the body, and in a specific pattern. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

Body's Pain Perception Mapped for First Time

Researchers could tell what sounds blindfolded volunters were hearing by analyzing activity in their visual cortexes. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

Vision Involves a Bit of Hearing, Too

Thirty-three families allowed themselves to be recorded for up to six nights. Parents who said they supported corporal punishment did it often and with little provocation. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

Parents Who Support Corporal Punishment Do It a Lot

In a study covering five different countries, subjects reported feeling best on the days when they practiced what are considered extroverted actions. Christie Nicholson reports 
 

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