PhysOrg.com

'Stereotype threat' could affect exam performance of ethnic minority medical students
The underperformance in examinations of UK medical students from ethnic minorities could be partly down to a psychological phenomenon called 'stereotype threat', according to new UCL research published today in the British Medical Journal.

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Piling on the homework -- Does it work for everyone?
While U.S students continue to lag behind many countries academically, national statistics show that teachers have responded by assigning more homework. But according to a joint study by researchers at Binghamton University and the University of Nevada, when it comes to math, piling on the homework may not work for all students.

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Largest study of its kind implicates gene abnormalities in bipolar disorder
A large genetic study of bipolar disorder has implicated machinery that balances levels of sodium and calcium in neurons. The disorder was associated with variation in two genes that make components of such ion channels. Although it's not yet known if or how the suspect genetic variation might affect the balance machinery, the results point to the possibility that bipolar disorder might stem, at least in part, from malfunction of ion channels.

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Suicidal thoughts among college students more common than expected
More than half of 26,000 students across 70 colleges and universities who completed a survey on suicidal experiences reported having at least one episode of suicidal thinking at some point in their lives. Furthermore, 15 percent of students surveyed reported having seriously considered attempting suicide and more than 5 percent reported making a suicide attempt at least once in their lifetime.

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Toward Plastic Spin Transistors
(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah physicists successfully controlled an electrical current using the "spin" within electrons - a step toward building an organic "spin transistor": a plastic semiconductor switch for future ultrafast computers and electronics.

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Iran launches home-built satellite rocket
Iran said it had launched a rocket carrying a test-satellite into space on Sunday, in a move that could further exacerbate tensions with the West over its nuclear drive.

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Antidepressants may impair driving ability, new research finds
People taking prescription antidepressants appear to drive worse than people who aren't taking such drugs, and depressed people on antidepressants have even more trouble concentrating and reacting behind the wheel.

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Biracial Asian Americans and mental health
A new study of Chinese-Caucasian, Filipino-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian and Vietnamese-Caucasian individuals concludes that biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.

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Playing video games offers learning across life span, say studies
Certain types of video games can have beneficial effects, improving gamers' dexterity as well as their ability to problem-solve - attributes that have proven useful not only to students but to surgeons, according to research discussed Sunday at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

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Adults easily fooled by children's false denials
Adults are easily fooled when a child denies that an actual event took place, but do somewhat better at detecting when a child makes up information about something that never happened, according to new research from the University of California, Davis. The research, which has important implications for forensic child sexual abuse evaluations, will be presented Sunday, Aug. 17, at the annual meeting of the American Psychology Association in Boston.

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