What makes a market transaction morally repugnant?
Many people find it morally impermissible to put kidneys, children, or doctorates on the free market. But what makes a market transaction morally repugnant in the eyes of the public? And which transactions trigger the strongest collective disapproval? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Robert Koch Institute have addressed these questions. Their findings, published in Cognition, offer new entry points for policy interventions.
Searching for the origins of COVID-19
Clarifying the origin of the coronavirus is not only in the scientific interest but also in the geopolitical interest. But so far, there is a lack of reliable results. In an article in Nature Electronics, Manuel Cebrian, Leader of the Digital Mobilization Group at the Center for Humans and Machines, offers some technical considerations that could help get to the bottom of its origin. Investigating a twenty-first-century catastrophe, he says, requires a twenty-first-century technological response.
Taking the brain out for a walk
During the Corona pandemic, walks became a popular and regular pastime. Now a neuroscience study suggests: If you’re regularly out in the fresh air, you’re doing something good for both your brain and your well-being. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The longitudinal study using magnetic resonance imaging of brains recently appeared in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry.
Deliberate ignorance or when we (should) choose not to know
We may not always be aware of it, but we all practice deliberate ignorance. In other words, we consciously choose not to seek or use information. This is as true for individuals as it is, for example, for organizations, welfare economics, and law. But where exactly does deliberate ignorance play a role? And when is it a blessing, when a curse? In our feature, we present examples and consider possible implications.
Polarization and mobilization on social media affect infection figures
Measures to contain the Corona pandemic are the subject of politically charged debate and tend to polarize segments of the population. But how exactly do politicization and social mobilization affect the incidence of infection? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development have examined this question using the USA as an example. The findings were published in Applied Network Science.
How does the brain flexibly process complex information?
Human decision-making depends on the flexible processing of complex information, but how the brain may adapt processing to momentary task demands has remained unclear.
In a new study researchers have now outlined several crucial neural processes revealing that our brain networks may rapidly and flexibly shift from a rhythmic to a “noisy” state when the need to process more information increases.
Feeling Time - How the GDR Sang its Future. A History of Emotions
Citizens of East Germany wanted to use music and lyrical forms to propagate hopes, desires, and visions of socialist Germany’s future and to influence the coming generation on an emotional level. Writing of the GDR as a “modern time regime”, Juliane Brauer tells the story of a promised future and the results of its failure to be realized. The certainty and belief in progress that characterized the beginnings were replaced with mistrust and disappointment over shattered dreams.
Caution – toxic green!
Some plants produce toxins that can make us sick – or even kill us. Thus, a wariness of plants makes sense from an evolutionary point of view, especially for infants and toddlers. Annie Wertz is investigating which behaviors protect children from dangerous plants and how they learn from adults which plants are safe to eat. Read more about this in the current MaxPlanckResearch.
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July 7, 2021
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SWR2 Wissen | Das Gehirn altert unabhängig von der Bildung eines Menschen
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heise online | Forscher sehen Zusammenhang zwischen SARS-CoV-2-Infektionen und sozialen Medien
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