All posts tagged: hinder

Unpredictable childhoods may hinder a young adult’s ability to take positive risks

Unpredictable childhoods may hinder a young adult’s ability to take positive risks

Published by José Betancourt

A 7-year longitudinal study found that adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events tend to show higher levels of activation in the frontoparietal region of the brain during a cognitive control task. Because a maturing brain should require less effort to complete these tasks, this higher activation suggests a less efficient brain network. In turn, this inefficiency was associated with a lower willingness to take positive social risks (e.g., exploring a new career, voicing an unpopular opinion, starting a conversation) in young adulthood. The paper was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Positive social risks are situations in which a person takes a chance in social life in order to create a positive outcome or long-term benefit. They include actions such as starting a conversation, apologizing first, asking for help, offering help, admitting a mistake, or expressing honest feelings. These actions are “risks” because the other person may reject us, criticize us, misunderstand us, or fail to respond warmly. They are “positive” because they can lead to trust, friendship, cooperation, forgiveness, learning, and stronger …

Exposure to excessive heat appears to hinder psychological development

Exposure to excessive heat appears to hinder psychological development

Published by José Betancourt

New research has found that early childhood exposure to high ambient temperatures may hinder the development of foundational skills. The findings indicate that children living in environments with average maximum temperatures exceeding 32 degrees Celsius, or roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit, are less likely to reach developmental milestones, particularly in literacy and numeracy. This study was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Global temperatures reached record highs in 2024, raising concerns about the cascading effects of a warming planet on human health. Previous scientific inquiries have established links between extreme heat and various physical ailments in both children and adults. Less is known regarding how heat exposure during the formative years of life affects cognitive and psychosocial growth. The first few years of life represent a sensitive period for brain maturation. Biological systems in young children are not fully developed, making them less efficient at regulating body temperature through mechanisms like sweating. Young children also rely entirely on adults to modify their environment or provide hydration. Heat may disrupt development through several biological …

Europa’s thick ice may hinder the search for life in its oceans

Europa’s thick ice may hinder the search for life in its oceans

Published by skeptic

Europa has a vast, salty ocean covered by a thick shell of ice Claudio Caridi / Alamy Europa’s liquid ocean may be sealed off from the surface under a frozen sheet six times thicker than the deepest Antarctic ice, making it harder for any life there to be detected. Thanks to the abundance of liquid water, Jupiter’s moon Europa is seen as a high-priority target in the search for extraterrestrial life. Previous estimates of the thickness of the ice covering the ocean range from less than 10 kilometres to nearly 50. But it was also thought that cracks, fissures, pores and other imperfections in the frozen sheet might make it possible for nutrients to be transported between the surface and the ocean. Now, a team led by Steven Levin at the California Institute of Technology has studied data collected by the Juno spacecraft, which has been in orbit around Jupiter since 2016. On 29 September 2022, the probe flew within 360 kilometres of Europa and scanned the surface with its microwave radiometer, providing the first …