[原创]借块宝地练听力(每天一更新)

cvvt1986

Don't have the perfect gift for your sweetheart this holiday season? Don't sweat it . . . unless your partner is a man. Apparently, men are more sensitive than women when receiving gifts.

A team of psychologists published the findings this fall in the journal Social Cognition. They surveyed 32 heterosexual couples on their gift preferences. Then the researchers picked either someone's least favorite choice or the perfect present, but made it seem like it was coming from that person's partner instead.

Predictably, men who got bad gifts reacted more negatively than men who got good ones. No surprise there.

But, oddly enough, women showed the opposite trend. Women who got an undesired gift were actually more accepting of it than if they’d received their ideal item.

They launched into a rational defense of their boyfriends. Women saw themselves as more similar to their partners, which the authors use as a measure of relationship satisfaction. And women viewed their relationship as having just as much long-term potential.

But be careful. This study doesn't mean that you should go around buying your lady holiday-themed sweaters and fruitcake. The long-term effects of bad presents are still unknown.

—Susannah Locke

cvvt1986

To Get Good Grades, Get Good Sleep

http://podcast.sciam.com/psych/sa_p_podcast_081208.mp3

[此贴子已经被作者于2008-12-23 8:36:09编辑过]

cvvt1986

You’d think that college students would be experts at sleeping.  But odd hours, parties, cramming for tests, personal problems, self-medication with drugs or alcohol and general stress can wreck a student’s sleep habits.  Which can be bad for the body and the mind.  Texas Tech University is even offering a class called "Improving Your Sleep Habits".  People suffering from sleep-deprivation are at an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, psychological problems and car crashes.  Students who don’t get enough sleep have poorer attendance and lower grades.
 
On top of all that, a new study published in the journal Learning & Memory finds that you’re probably better off sleeping than cramming for a test.  Two hundred college kids were taught to play a couple of video games that they were unfamiliar with.  Subjects who learned the games in the morning lost some skills when they played again 12 hours later.  But they did much better the next morning after getting a good night’s sleep.  So remember: if you really want to get those A’s, don’t forget to get some zzzz’s.

—Steve Mirsky

[此贴子已经被作者于2008-12-23 8:38:38编辑过]

cvvt1986

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas (Tree)

http://podcast.sciam.com/earth/sa_e_podcast_081204.mp3

cvvt1986

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas (Tree)

Christmas trees are certainly green under all those baubles, lights and tinsel. But are they environmentally green? After all, cutting down a living tree for a few weeks of glory robs the planet of years worth of carbon dioxide absorbed within its growing trunk and needles.

But the alternative is a plastic tree made from oil and typically shipped from halfway around the world.

So which is better: wood or plastic?

Adding up all the carbon dioxide emitted in the manufacture of the fake tree and shipping it from China to the U.S. contributes only slightly more of the greenhouse gas than is absorbed in a year by the slowest growing trees. Fast-growing firs and pines suck up several times that amount of CO2 so cutting them down is bad.

But that's not the whole story. Real trees can be turned to mulch and when continuously grown and harvested sequester even more CO2 than a single tree living its full natural life in the wild. Plus, real trees are carbon neutral--cutting them down and disposing of them emits no more CO2 than they absorbed while growing--unlike the artificial trees that rely on fossil plankton.

Ultimately, a potted living tree is the greenest solution. They won't dry out in your living room and rather than spending an eternity in the local landfill, they can happily absorb planet-warming CO2 in your backyard.

—David Biello

cvvt1986

Crowds Walking Can Make A Bridge Sway

http://podcast.sciam.com/daily/sa_d_podcast_081223.mp3

cvvt1986

On its opening day, 90,000 tourists traipsed across the London Millennium Bridge. That pitter patter of pedestrian feet caused the structure to visibly rock, earning it the nickname “the wobbly bridge.” Now, in the December 17th issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, civil engineers say they think they know what made the London bridge sway.

It had initially been assumed that the movement was caused by a portion of the pedestrians marching in lock-step. Their synchronized waddle could have caused the bridge to oscillate, leading even more of them to tread in tandem. But the engineers say that the same oscillations can be generated by people who are simply plodding along, just trying to keep their balance—no marching necessary.

Using mathematical modeling, the scientists showed that even walking on level ground people stabilize themselves by controlling where they place their feet side-to-side. So if they’re walking on a bridge that also wiggles side-to-side, in an effort to keep their balance they may shift their weight even more, making the problem worse. So next time you go to walk across the Thames, remember, the London Millennium Bridge is not falling down. But you still might want to watch your step.

—Karen Hopkin 

cvvt1986

Dinosaurs Were Dutiful Dads

 

 

http://podcast.sciam.com/daily/sa_d_podcast_081219.mp3

cvvt1986

Dinosaurs Were Dutiful Dads

If you saw the movie March of the Penguins, or even the animated film Happy Feet, you know that male penguins take their role as parents pretty seriously. Now, a study from Montana State University shows that being a dutiful dad is something even dinosaurs did.

The scientists examined the fossilized remains of three different kinds of two-legged dinosaurs, which are thought to be the ancestors of modern birds. They focused on fossils in which an adult animal was found perched atop a clutch of eggs. And they found that the creatures that died while sitting on a nest did not seem to be female. Lady birds store the minerals they need for building egg shells inside their hollow limb bones. But these dinos did not have that mineral-rich bone tissue, which suggests they were males, results that appear in the December 19th issue of the journal Science.

These dino dads were probably polygamous, the scientists say, because their bones were found on top of some pretty big clutches. So it seems they may have wooed multiple mates, and were then left in charge of a veritable dinosaur day care center, filled with their various girlfriends’ eggs. Which they somehow apparently kept from getting scrambled.

—Karen Hopkin 

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