ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Optimistic people have healthier hearts, study finds Posted: 09 Jan 2015 09:35 AM PST Using the American Heart Association's criteria, a study of 5,000 adults found that the most optimistic people had twice the odds of being in ideal cardiovascular health as their pessimistic counterparts.

Ritual circumcision linked to increased risk of autism in young boys, research suggests Posted: 09 Jan 2015 06:37 AM PST Circumcised boys are more likely than intact boys to develop autism spectrum disorder before the age of 10, new research suggests. Painful experiences in neonates have been shown in animal and human studies to be associated with long-term alterations in pain perception, a characteristic often encountered among children with ASD.

What can your online avatar say about your personality? Posted: 09 Jan 2015 05:47 AM PST Researchers are looking to understand the potential impressions and their limitations of those we meet in a digital context. In a new study, the researchers specifically looked at what personality traits are conveyed by a user's avatar.

Mental health workers don't recognize their own burnout Posted: 09 Jan 2015 01:55 AM PST Some mental health workers find it difficult to recognize their own burnout and even when they do they struggle to admit it to others, research shows.

Workers' feedback vital to reduce time wasted in meetings Posted: 09 Jan 2015 01:55 AM PST Meetings in some organizations would be more cost effective and focused, taking less time, if employees had the opportunity to give feedback on how they are run and were involved in making improvements.

From the lab to your digital device, quantum dots have made quantum leaps Posted: 09 Jan 2015 01:51 AM PST Quantum dots have not only found their way into tablets, computer screens, and TVs, they are also used in biological and medical imaging tools, and now researchers are exploring them for solar cell as well as brain imaging applications.