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The full articles highlighted below are available on the Nature Press Site: http://press.nature.com/press.
The Social Cure – Why Socializing Is Healthful (p 26)
Recent studies show that a person’s involvement in social networks can be an important predictor of health – just as important as diet and exercise. The socially isolated tend to fall prey to illness more readily and deteriorate faster, both mentally and physically, than those who maintain active social lives. People who remain active in groups or clubs are less likely to experience memory loss and even see a decrease in susceptibility to the common cold.
MIND on pain – A Special Section
[1] When Pain Lingers – Searching for Causes of Chronic Pain (p 34)
Fifteen to 20 percent of adults worldwide suffer from chronic pain, with causes ranging from arthritis and cancer to metabolic diseases such as diabetes, which can damage nerves. Oftentimes, however, the pain’s origins are a mystery. Understanding the biology of chronic pain could lead to the development of new treatments to alleviate this condition’s debilitating effects.
[2] The Psychology of Pain – How Expectations Influence the Way Pain Is Perceived (p 42)
A circuit in the brain and spinal cord can adjust the amount of pain a person perceives depending on the circumstances. This circuit is active during the placebo effect, in which the expectation of pain relief becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Negative expectations, however, can cause a person to “catastrophize” pain, or interpret it as unbearable, which can bring about a more acute pain experience.
[3] I Do Not Feel Your Pain – Sensitivity to Pain: A Mind and Body Experience (p 51)
Tolerance to pain varies widely from individual to individual. Although activity in the brain’s pain-related regions seems to correspond closely with the pain response, often the severity of actual physical harm is much different from the perceived pain. An injury that causes extreme pain in one person may only result in mild discomfort for another. By identifying the causes of these individual variations in pain perception, doctors are already able to devise more successful treatments.
A New Vision for Teaching Science – Taking a “Science as Practice” Approach (p 62)
The 2006 Program for International Student Assessment yielded some startling news about the state of elementary science education in the U.S.: the average science score for U.S. 15-year-olds fell below that of teens in 28 out of 57 participating countries. A new approach, which introduces abstract concepts and requires logical thinking at an earlier age, may provide a much more fertile foundation to build on in later years.
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