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Tech NewsWhy Does Music Make Us Feel Things?
Once a day, at least, I’ll tear up listening to music. Just a drop or two, or not even a drop, just a pre-cry convulsion, a sudden seizure of feeling. More often than not, I have no specific memories tied to the song in question—sometimes I’m hearing it for the first or second time. If … Continued
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ScienceBiology23andMe Data Shows That Kind People Might Have Empathy in Their Genes
Scientists have long been interested in understanding the underpinnings of empathy. Being able to share the feelings of another person plays a critical role in our inner lives, how we behave towards others, and the way human societies function as a whole. Harnessing the power of empathy, some suggest, could go a long way toward … Continued
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Tech NewsApparently People Trusted This Robot
Why would they give it lips?? Apparently, in order to make a robot as expressive as possible, researchers decided to give BERT2, a robot assistant a pouty pair of lips and wide eyes with… are those eyebrows? Researchers from the University College London and the University of Bristol, who dared to use BERT2 here to … Continued
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Tech NewsWhy It’s So Hard to Change American Minds About Refugees
Fleeing violence and starvation in their native country, the refugees arrived in their new home only to be ridiculed in the press, subject to overt racism, and faced with persecution in their places of worship. Sound like recent headlines? This was actually the reality for the first Irish refugees to come to the US. It … Continued
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Tech NewsMeanwhile in the Future: We’ve Invented an Empathy Machine
When you were a kid and stole your friends’ toys, your parent probably asked you this angry hypothetical: “How do you think that made them feel?” But what if you actually could feel what another person is feeling? This week, we travel to a future where humans have invented an empathy machine. Before we dive … Continued
By Rose Eveleth -
io9Cookie-Based Research Suggests Powerful People Are Sloppier Eaters
This week’s video in the University of California system’s Fig. 1 YouTube series (tag line: “Get inside the mind of a researcher!”) offers a bite-sized lesson in why, exactly, powerful people tend to be so selfish. Turns out when people feel more powerful, it has a curious effect on the “empathy network” in the brain’s … Continued
By Cheryl Eddy -
io9
Why Narcissism Is a Profoundly Misunderstood Psychological Disorder
The word “narcissist” is used so much these days that you might think we’re in the midst of an epidemic. But pathological narcissism is not just about having an inflated ego — it’s a very serious psychological disorder. Here’s why certain people are obsessed with themselves, and the gnawing fear that drives them. As a … Continued
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ScienceBiologyCan Animal Behavior Help Us Understand Empathy and Dehumanization?
She was just thirteen years old when my grandmother last saw her parents at Auschwitz. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, it’s worth pausing to reflect on how our species led my grandmother to find herself in such a horrific place, and how it might have been avoided. My grandmother was born in a small town in … Continued
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io9
When Was the Last Time You Felt Schadenfreude, and What Did It Mean?
So you’ve suffered an embarrassing and public setback, and the people who dislike you are rejoicing. Their glee at your misfortune is called schadenfreude. Should you hang your head in shame, or should you consider their happiness a huge compliment? The Joy of Shame Schadenfreude is the good, old-fashioned joy that we take in other … Continued
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io9
Why do we feel the pain of bad guys more than the good guys?
Whether it be in movies or real life, we don’t tend to feel sorry for the villains. But strangely, and even a bit disturbingly, we often empathize more with the pain they experience. A new study offers a potential answer to this puzzling phenomenon — and it may have something to do with wanting to … Continued
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io9Soldiers are developing relationships with their battlefield robots
Robots are playing an ever-increasing role on the battlefield. As a consequence, soldiers are becoming attached to their robots, assigning names, gender — and even holding funerals when they’re destroyed. But could these emotional bonds affect outcomes in the war zone? This is the concern of Julie Carpenter, a Ph.D in education at the University … Continued
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io9
So apparently men with small balls are better dads
Researchers from Emory University have discovered that fathers with smaller testicles are more likely to be involved in caregiving activities like diaper changes, feeding, and nap time. Brains scans also show higher activity in their reward system. But the study is far from complete in its assessment. It seems like a strange study to conduct, … Continued
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io9
Is human super-intelligence a bad idea?
Advocates of human enhancement often say that we ought to increase our intelligence as a species. But the consequences of actually doing this have never fully been explored. An excessive amount of intelligence might actually prove to be a bad thing — and a distraction from what really matters. Top image: The supremely intelligent Ozymandias … Continued
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io9
How could we engineer humans to have more empathy?
People are capable of amazing kindness, but also of unbelievable callousness. We go out of our way to help strangers, but we also turn a blind eye to misery. But what if you could make human beings kind all the time? What does science teach us about empathy, and how to create it in people? … Continued
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io9
What can we learn from the real superhumans among us?
Humans are a genetically diverse bunch. Some of us are born with extraordinary perceptual powers — neurological gifts that biologists might eventually be able to provide for the rest of us. But do we really want to have some of these ‘superhuman’ quirks? Most of us are familiar with savants and their remarkable cognitive abilities, … Continued
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io9If you can make it through this video without yawning, you’re probably a wizard
We’re really loving this yawn compilation exercise in sympathetic yawn repression. It’s a video by filmmaker Daniel Mercadante (titled “Yawns,” naturally). Assembled from clips of the best yawn footage the internet has to offer, it may be the most definitive proof ever that yawns are contagious. Seriously — we defy you to sit through this … Continued
