news 2012

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-What part of math success comes from knowing fractions? More than you might think, according to a new study that analyzed long-term data on more than 4,000 children from both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Suicides by psychiatric in-patients have fallen to a new low, research published today (Thursday) has found. The study by the University of Manchester's National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, one of very few to look at trends over time, shows the rate of suicide among psychiatric in-patients fell by between 29% and 31% between 1997 and 2008, with nearly 100 fewer deaths per year.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Across history and cultures, religion increases trust within groups but also may increase conflict with other groups, according to an article in Science. "Moralizing gods, emerging over the last few millennia, have enabled large-scale cooperation and sociopolitical conquest even without war," said University of Michigan anthropologist Scott Atran, lead author of the article with Jeremy Ginges of the New School for Social Research.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Text messaging is a surprisingly good way to get candid responses to sensitive questions, according to a new study to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. "The preliminary results of our study suggest that people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text messages than in voice s," said Fred Conrad, a cognitive psychologist and director of the Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

There has been a major reduction in deaths involving the pain-relief drug co-proxamol since it was withdrawn in the UK in 2005, an Oxford University-led study has found. There have been no apparent increases in poisoning deaths involving other pain killers. The findings of the study by Professor Keith Hawton of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and colleagues is published in the journal PLoS Medicine .

In an experiment carried out with rats, it was observed that aggressive behavior passed from one generation to the other, even without any between the parent and its offspring. Researchers are exploring several approaches to explain the results. Childhood traumas alone do not explain the development of domestic violence - at least in the case of rats.

Older people who self-harm are at much greater risk of suicide than both the general population and younger adults who self-harm, a new study has found. Researchers from The University of Manchester studied 1,177 people over the age of 60 who presented to six general hospitals in Oxford, Manchester and Derby after self-harming.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Excessive Internet usage has been linked to an array of problems, from structural changes in the brain to depression, poor social skills, violent outbursts and sexual promiscuity. In China, concerns about Internet overuse have spawned hundreds of treatment programs that claim to cure addicted young people using a variety of techniques, ranging from therapy and medication to rigorous physical training in military boot camp environments.

Yupno of Papua New Guinea provide clues to the concept's origins - and suggest familiar notion of time may not be straightforward, either Confirming a Yupno participant's understanding of numbers. All images courtesy of Embodied Cognition Laboratory, UC San Diego. Tape measures. Rulers. Graphs. The gas gauge in your car, and the icon on your favorite digital device showing battery power.

Research led by Oxford University refutes claims that assessment reports by independent social work experts have caused delays in care proceedings. Claims were made during the Family Justice Review that independent social work expert (ISW) reports delayed cases and added little or no value. This resulted in the Review recommending in their interim report that the use of such reports should be restricted.

Prisoners tend to be more generous than the general public because they could be looking for ways to atone for their crimes, research has shown. A ground-breaking study by academics at Plymouth University showed inmates are prepared to make greater financial sacrifices than members of the public. The research, published in the scientific journal Social Justice Research , was conducted by Michaela Gummerum and Yaniv Hanoch, both lecturers in the University's School of Psychology.

People who are diagnosed with cancer have a markedly increased risk of suicide and cardiovascular death during the period immediately after being given the diagnosis. This has been shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the prestigious scientific journal The New England Journal of Medicine.

It's a rough life for the Tsimane, an isolated indigenous group in Bolivia. They make a living by hunting and foraging in forests, fishing in streams and clearing land by hand to grow crops. Their rugged lifestyle might imply that Tsimane men have elevated testosterone to maintain the physical activity required to survive each day.

Research from the University of Warwick suggests suicide rates are much higher in protestant areas than catholic areas. Professor Sascha Becker from the University of Warwick's Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Society (CAGE) has published his latest paper Knocking on Heaven's Door? Protestantism and Suicide.

Far right supporters in the UK believe violent conflict between different religious, racial and ethnic groups is largely inevitable, according to a new survey on political extremism. From Voting to Violence? Far Right Extremism in Britain examines the beliefs of those identifying themselves as members of the British National Party, the English Defence League or the UK Independence Party.

Children involved in bullying - as both a victim and a bully - are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts by the time they reach 11 years old, according to research from the University of Warwick. In a paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the researchers found children who are both victims and bullies ('bully-victims'), are at highly increased risk of considering suicide, or have planned and engaged in suicidal or self-harming behaviour by 11-12 years of age.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (02/13/2012) —Electric cars have been heralded as environmentally friendly, but new findings from an international research team suggest that electric cars in China have an overall impact on pollution that could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles. University of Minnesota civil engineering assistant professor Julian Marshall and researcher Matthew Bechle are part of an international team studying the issue.

A new study has revealed the widening gap in suicide rates between Scotland and England & Wales due to a large extent to the number of young Scottish men taking their lives. The research, carried out by the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh and the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, examined suicide rates north and south of the border between 1960 and 2008.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have for the first time shown a positive link between improvements in mental health services and a reduction in suicide rates. Their research is published in The Lancet today (Thursday) in a study by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, based at the University's Centre for Mental Health and Risk.

Ancient humans may not have had the luxury of updating their Facebook status, but social networks were nevertheless an essential component of their lives, a new study suggests. The study's findings describe elements of social network structures that may have been present early in human history, suggesting how our ancestors may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin based on shared attributes, including the tendency to cooperate.