Culture & the World

Google search terms can predict the stock market

Google search terms can predict the stock market

Google, as many researchers know well, is more than a search engine—it’s a remarkably comprehensive barometer of public opinion and the state of the world at any given time. By using Google Trends, which tracks the frequency particular search terms are entered into Google over time, scientists have found seasonal patterns, for example, in searches for information about mental illnesses and detected a link between searching behavior and a country’s GDP.

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/04/google-search-terms-can-predict-the-stock-market/#ixzz2RxicxtPz
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25 strangest patents ever filed

25 strangest patents ever filed

Classroom Technology – Turning our Kids into nerds

Classroom Technology – Turning our Kids into nerds

8 new things we’ve learned about music

8 new things we’ve learned about music

Why is it that music can affect us in such profound ways? “Because it does” seems like a pretty good answer to me, but scientists aren’t that easy. They’ve been wrestling with this for a long time, yet it was not that long ago that two researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre, came up with an explanation, at least a physiological one.

Durex Fundawear – touch over the Internet

Durex Fundawear – touch over the Internet

The story of frozen food

The story of frozen food

The key to growth? Race with the machines

The key to growth? Race with the machines

As machines take on more jobs, many find themselves out of work or with raises indefinitely postponed. Is this the end of growth? No, says Erik Brynjolfsson — it’s simply the growing pains of a radically reorganized economy. A riveting case for why big innovations are ahead of us … if we think of computers as our teammates. Be sure to watch the opposing viewpoint from Robert Gordon.

Stonehenge was an ancient burial ground for the rich: study

Stonehenge was an ancient burial ground for the rich: study

The site of Stonehenge — that mysterious collection of British rocks that could have served as a calendar using the stars — was also a graveyard for the elite, according to new research.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/101771/stonehenge-was-an-ancient-burial-ground-for-the-rich-study/#ixzz2Rxo17w3R

Merely a taste of beer can trigger a rush of chemical pleasure in the brain

Merely a taste of beer can trigger a rush of chemical pleasure in the brain

If you take just a sip of beer, and moments later—before you’ve had close to enough alcohol to get intoxicated, perhaps even before the beer has hit your stomach—feel a distinctly pleasurable sensation, it might not be strictly due to subtle aromas that result from the beverage’s blend of malt, hops and yeast. The cause of your pleasure might be due to tangible changes in your brain chemistry—specifically, a surge in levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

History & Future of the Television Upfront

History & Future of the Television Upfront

16 weird facts from around the Globe

16 weird facts from around the Globe

Interesting geographical facts that aren’t known to everyone. Learn more about the world in which we live in.

The Market Revolution

The Market Revolution

John Green teaches you about the Market Revolution. In the first half of the 19th century, the way people lived and worked in the United States changed drastically. At play was the classic (if anything in a 30 year old nation can be called classic) American struggle between the Jeffersonian ideal of individuals sustaining themselves on small farms vs. the Hamiltonian vision of an economy based on manufacturing and trade.

25 extremely notorious gangsters

25 extremely notorious gangsters

Gangsters are members of gangs or professional criminal organizations who are known for their involvement in the conduct of acts prohibited by law, especially assassination. For decades, these people have been active in several areas of the world particularly in Europe, Asia, United States and Latin America. Most of these gangsters have become infamous either because of the severity of crimes they committed in the past, the fashion through which they assassinated their victims, or because of the popularity of the people that they killed. Gangsters normally choose to become part of gangs as this provides them with a certain level of organization and support that they cannot get when they operate alone. Here is a list of the top 25 extremely notorious gangsters in history.

How much do Americans know about science?

How much do Americans know about science?

An exclusive poll shows Americans crave stronger mathematics, science schooling for U.S. kids and have a pretty strong grasp of the subjects themselves.

What Is Déjà Vu?

What Is Déjà Vu?

Dr. Michio Kaku explains one theory behind déjà vu and asks, “Is it ever possible on any scale to perhaps flip between different universes?”

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