By Subject - Social Science

  • Garbage, lipstick and flat-screens
    Garbage, lipstick and flat-screens

    Sick of stats on unemployment, the GDP or stock market? Then meet the alternative economic indicators. Some are sensible, some are zany, and some are even backed by real data. Other “indicators” are misleading, even downright dangerous.


    Thursday, January 12th, 2012
  • Holiday blue? NOT!
    Holiday blue? NOT!

    Sick of the scare stories about holiday stress? Over-eating, over-this, over-that? What’s the upside of holidays, in terms of ritual and getting together with family and friends? What’s more conducive to happiness: giving or receiving?


    Thursday, December 15th, 2011
  • Science Teachers: Hip yourself to a great resource!
    Science Teachers: Hip yourself to a great resource!

    For 15 years, we’ve presented the science behind the news. The Why Files are accurate, engaging, entertaining and educational. Check our links from national science teaching standards to specific Why Files — all 750 of them! Whether it’s geology or archaeology, weather or human behavior, The Why Files has it covered.


    Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
  • The psychological price of job loss
    The psychological price of job loss

    With the jobless rate still above 8%, what happens to depression, anxiety, brooding? Is job loss worse if you have more education? Could long-term job loss shorten your life?


    Thursday, September 15th, 2011
  • Civil war: Changing a stuck mind
    Civil war: Changing a stuck mind

    After six decades, the Palestine-Israel stalemate seems hopeless. But could that very hopelessness be blocking a solution? A new study of people on both sides of the struggle shows that learning about the peaceful resolution of other intractable conflicts can increase their willingness to compromise – a key to peace.


    Thursday, September 1st, 2011
  • Weather, climate, war
    Weather, climate, war

    If conflicts are more common near the equator, what will global warming affect do? A new study shows increases in conflict during el Niño periods — but only during the warm, dry part of the cycle, and only in places affected by these big climatic cycles.


    Thursday, August 25th, 2011
  • The secret life of cats
    The secret life of cats

    Humans and cats have enjoyed each other’s company for millennia, but scientists have discovered some troubling secrets of free-roaming felines that have wildlife and health experts worried. A new study reveals what free-roaming cats do all day, and The Why Files investigates some implications of their outdoor habits.


    Thursday, June 9th, 2011
  • In early life, your mother is likely to be your most important person, emotionally, cognitively and behaviorally.
    Honor thy mother

    Mother is your first — and most important — relationship. What does science tell us about the effects of mothering? What happens when groups of monkeys are raised without a mother? How does a “fragile family” affect young people? What are “social risk factors,” and why should we care about them?


    Thursday, May 5th, 2011
  • Peopling the Americas — New evidence
    Peopling the Americas — New evidence

    A report that people were in Texas 15,500 years ago settles a long dispute: The Americans who made Clovis-style spear-points were not the first Americans — despite heavy archeological skepticism. Pre-Clovis rules! But who were the pre-Clovis people, and why are scientists so dismissive of contrary evidence?


    Thursday, April 7th, 2011
  • Evidence of early-onset electrostatic compulsion?
    English is optional dep’t

    Must scientific literature be so darn murky? Do we really need clinkers like “biomedicine” and “astrolicism”? What if they just wrote English for a change? Join us for an entertaining tour of the dark side of the scientific enterprise!


    Monday, March 28th, 2011


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