(Credit:
Simon & Schuster)
Two Harvard researchers have concluded that there's no data to support the notion that violent video games cause the kids who play them to act out violence in real life, contrary to the vast majority of media outlets that would have the public thinking otherwise. The $1.5 million study, which began in 2004, closely examined 1,200 children after bouts with violent games like Grand Theft Auto and not-so-violent titles like The Sims.
Psychologists Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson found that for most kids, playing these games was nothing more than a stress reliever. Sure, some children displayed a playful aggressiveness after hours spent with a violent game, but this was no different than what children experience after seeing a martial arts action movie.
Some researchers, including the Harvard psychologists, even suggest that video games have a positive effect on the brain. Steven Johnson explores this concept in his book Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter.
Kutner and Olson have documented their findings in Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games, where they stress the importance of parental education and awareness. In a society where children who don't play games are considered to be socially inept, it is important for parents to understand what their kids are playing. In addition, they need to be able to block out the seemingly endless attacks on the video game industry and use the scientific evidence available to make judgments for themselves and their family.
(Source: TG Daily)
There's nothing like nerd humor to keep the world's problems in perspective.
Harvard University once again played host to the Ig Nobel awards given out by the "Annals of Improbable Research," a parody of the Nobel prizes awarding people for scientific inventions that "first make people laugh, and then make them think."
This year's Ig Nobel peace prize brought new meaning to the phrase "make love, not war."
It went to the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. The group invented a chemical weapon, nicknamed the "gay bomb," that when dropped causes heterosexual men to become attracted to one another instead of aggressive.
Meanwhile, the Ig Nobel prize for medicine went to Dan Meyer and Brian Witcombe for studying the side effects of sword swallowing.
There also seemed to be an animal metaphor theme running through the winning entries.
Prizes included an aviation Ig Nobel to Patricia Agostino, who discovered that hamsters who take Viagra recover faster from jet lag, and an Ig Nobel in biology to Johanna E.M.H. van Bronswijk for determining the population of dust mites and other insects in beds.
Part of the ceremonial events also included a speech in which the word "chicken" was repeated in different ways for two minutes.
One winner was treated to a double honor.
Toscanini's Ice Cream named a flavor after Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of Japan called "Yum-A-Moto Vanilla Twist." Yamamoto won the Ig Nobel prize in chemistry for "developing a way to extract vanillin--vanilla fragrance and flavoring--from cow dung."
Last year the Ig Nobel Peace Prize went to Howard Stapleton for his "electromechanical teenager repellant," a high-pitch ringtone (MP3) that's usually only audible to people under 30.
It goes without saying that in addition to a stellar reputation for academic innovation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is renowned for its geeky pranks. The best-known of these was perhaps the time when students decorated the campus' Great Dome to look like Star Wars robot R2D2 in celebration of the legendary film series' first prequel in 1999.
But Star Wars prequels are so last decade. These days, it's all about the much-hyped Xbox 360 title Halo 3. And why prank your own campus when you can pull a fast one on those snotty Crimsons next door?
Consequently, MIT pranksters headed over to the neighboring campus of Harvard University and decorated Harvard Yard's legendary statue of founder John Harvard to look like a Spartan warrior. Enough said.
Click here to see the end result.
A caption in the MIT student newspaper, The Tech, explained the full prank: "The back of the helmet, which is worn by the protagonist of the game, Master Chief, was labeled with 'Master Chief in Training.' The statue was decorated with an assault rifle (bullet count of 2E), as well as a Beaver emblem on the right shoulder." (In case you didn't know, MIT's mascot is the beaver.)
Oh, Boston. What do they put in your water, anyway?
(Credit:
Robert Wood)
Leave it to Harvard to replace spies with flies.
According to the MIT Technology Review, robotic insects may be the future of military surveillance.
With funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a team of Harvard researchers led by Robert Wood have developed a robotic fly that could be used for surveillance and chemical-detecting missions.
Videos of the fly taking off and a slow-motion clip of the wing mechanics are available on the Technology Review site.
With a wingspan of 3 centimeters and a scant weight of just 60 milligrams, the fly's tiny robotic parts are made of carbon fiber and polymer. This iteration of the robotic fly is juiced by an external power source, but Wood and team are working on an onboard lithium-polymer battery.
So from here on in, beware of what you swat. It may cost taxpayers a pretty penny.
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