Culture

Beginning in 2005, something strange began to happen in the futures grain market: The cash price and futures price, which normally converge by the time a grain contract matures, weren't coming together. Instead, they were moving farther apart - and not by just a little. By September 2008, the wheat futures price was an unprecedented $2 higher per bushel than the spot price in Toledo at delivery.

By Anderson Jeremiah, Lancaster University

The picture isn't pretty for guys who post a lot of "selfies" on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. A new analysis of survey results concluded that men who posted more online photos of themselves than others scored higher on measures of narcissism and psychopathy - and men who were more likely to edit selfies before posting also scored higher in narcissism and self-objectification.

A new paper by the Rand Corporation think tank finds that too many health plan choices for people who buy subsidized coverage through marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act results in them paying more than in plans where there are fewer choices.

Elderly patients admitted to intensive care units are about 35 percent more likely to die within five years of leaving the hospital if they develop an infection during their stay but preventing two of the most common health care-associated infections - bloodstream infections caused by central lines and pneumonia caused by ventilators - can increase the odds that these patients survive and reduce the cost of their care by more than $150,000, according to a study in American Journal of Infection Control.

Citizen science is making research projects possible that might otherwise be unachievable, tapping volunteer labor to help with tasks such as classifying animal photos, studying astronomical images, counting sea stars and examining cancer cell images. These efforts have attracted interest from policy makers, scientific agencies and others who want to leverage the crowd.

Can birds have fun? Is sense of humor nature or nurture?

"Fun is obviously--almost by definition--pleasurable, rewarding, but in a way that is distinct from the pleasures of satisfying basic needs, such as the drives to reduce thirst or hunger or to reproduce," says Current Biology Editor Geoffrey North about their episode dedicated to the biology of fun. "The articles in this special issue consider examples of what appear to be fun and play in a broad range of animal species and the insights that can be gained into how the behaviors might contribute to evolutionary fitness."

Immigrants to the U.S. with job offers are less likely to have those requests granted if they are from Latin America, according to a new paper, but the regional disparity does not exist when officials examine cases in greater detail.

Higher alcohol taxes curb binge drinking, according to a new paper by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers in the journal Addiction (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12818/full).

A new study that followed nearly 70,000 women for two decades concluded that three-quarters of heart attacks in young women could be prevented if women closely followed six healthy lifestyle practices.

Home appliances and electronics typically make 15-20 percent profit for companies but they can realize a 200 percent profit from selling extended warranties. A new paper in the January issue of Marketing Science finds independent warranties lower extended warranty prices but consumers may actually be worse off.

Two researchers are taking a new twist on long-published research about what an ancient civilization did for a living. W. Flint Dibble, a University of Cincinnati doctoral student in the Department of Classics, and Daniel J. Fallu, a doctoral student in archeology at Boston University, are going to present their insights surrounding a key site from the Greek Dark Age on Jan. 9, at the joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and Society for Classical Studies (SCS, formerly known as the American Philological Association), in New Orleans later this week.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced the extension of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Rebate program, which will continue to provide $2,000 rebates for large-battery system plug-in hybrid electric and battery-electric vehicles until June 30, 2015, or until the 500 vehicle benchmark is reached. To date, DEP has more than 150 rebates remaining at this amount and has spent $4.35 million on rebates for electric vehicles in Pennsylvania since 2011.

Obesity has gone up but it can't be because of larger portion sizes in fast food. Despite the perception that meals have gotten bigger, the sizes and formulations have been basically unchanged since 1996, according to two new reports from researchers at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

The federal budget package approved by the U.S. House and U.S. Senate includes a 50 percent increase in funding for a clean air program that targets older diesel powered engines, vehicles and equipment.

Funding for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) under the current funding package will increase from $20 million to $30 million. The DERA program gives rebates to owners of older diesel powered vehicles and equipment for the purchase of new technology engines, approved emission controls or retrofit devices to reduce emissions, and total engine replacements.