2016 Archive

Brain training video games help low-vision kids see better
Studies going back several years have shown that playing action video games (AVG) can help improve visual acuity.

The Evolutionary Reason Human Babies Are Born Helpless
From Fatherly: How did we, as a species, ever survive? University of Rochester professors Celeste Kidd and Steve Piantadosi who just published a new theory in the Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences about why babies aren’t born to run.

Jessica Cantlon makes the list of Science News 10 Scientists to Watch
From Science News: For the second year in a row, Science News is highlighting 10 early- and mid-career scientists on their way to widespread acclaim.

This is your brain on sentences
What does the meaning of a word look like? Researchers have, for the first time, decoded and predicted the brain activity patterns of word meanings within sentences, and successfully predicted what the brain patterns would be for new sentences.

What’s at stake when languages are lost?
Linguists estimate that by the end of this century, half of the 7,000 languages currently in use around the world will have vanished. Rochester scholars join the race to document the world’s linguistic diversity before it’s too late.

Brain tune-up from action video game play
Over the past 15 years numerous studies have found that playing action video games such as “Call of Duty” helps cognitive functioning.

Did human-like intelligence evolve to care for helpless babies?
A new study suggests that human intelligence may have evolved in response to the demands of caring for infants.