Meghan Holohan

Meghan Holohan

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Meghan Holohan lives in Pittsburgh close to two universities where she pesters doctors and scientists about their research. Even her physician friends tire of telling her about teratomas and bug infestations in open wounds. Meghan plays dodgeball on a competitive intramural team and impresses friends with her ability to diagram sentences, a skill scared into her by Catholic school teachers. She spends a great deal of time spoiling her pets.

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New Study Shows Humans Feel Empathy for Robots

On the TV show Battlestar Galactica, the humans experience conflicting feelings when dealing with the humanoid Cylons. While some find it easy to torture the robots, even though they resemble humans, many cringe at the thought of terrorizing the Cylons. It turns out the writers got this right—humans empathize with robots as much as people.... READ ON

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Short-Term Hearing Loss Actually Protects Ears

For a few hours after particularly loud concert, the ringing in your ears makes it tough to hear. When your friends ask how the show was, you sheepishly ask them speak up so you can catch what they’re saying. This hearing loss, which is most often reversible, doesn’t mean you’re more likely to need a hearing aid later in life. In fact, researchers found the opposite—reversible hearing loss actually protects your ears.... READ ON

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Understanding Sleep Paralysis

In your dreams, you’re the star of your own movie—and your subconscious often has you performing stunts that would put Tom Cruise to shame. But even if you’re swinging around the top of the Burj Khalifa in your dream, you stay put in real life. This is thanks to a little thing called sleep paralysis, which keeps you locked in place while you slumber so you don’t hurt yourself. Until recently, scientists understood little about how sleep paralysis works; figuring it out could shed light on disorders... READ ON

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Roses Don't Smell as Sweet to Psychopaths

FBI.gov By most accounts, Ted Bundy was handsome, charming, and intelligent. He was also violent, manipulative, amoral—and exhibited many of the hallmarks of a psychopath. Psychologists use an extensive list of traits to identify psychopaths, and now they have one more marker that might diagnose them: a recent study suggests that psychopaths possess a poor sense of... READ ON

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How Drinking Can Solve All Your (Word Association) Problems

Ryan McVay/Photodisc Here's a gem for your next round of barstool trivia: a recent study shows that people who have a couple drinks solve brainteasers faster—and get more correct answers—than their sober... READ ON

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This Is Your Brain on Porn

Staring woman image via Shutterstock You'd think watching pornography would be a turn on. But a new study suggests it actually causes part of the brain to turn off, at least in women.  A team of researchers from the Netherlands studied brain activity in 12 heterosexual, pre-menopausal women on birth control while they viewed "female friendly" pornography. As a control in the study, the women also viewed a non-sexual video about marine life in the... READ ON

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This Just In: Men Dumbfounded by Chatting With Women

On Arrested Development, when George Michael Bluth finds himself around his cousin Maeby, he begins stammering and mumbling. He freezes up. And while George Michael's behavior elicits laughs, it might also cause some empathy. Researchers found that heterosexual men commonly experience cognitive deficits after interacting with women—and they think they understand... READ ON

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Is Your Name to Blame for All Your Problems?

Name tag image via Shutterstock As Juliet bemoans the grudge her family has against Romeo's based on their names, she says, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Apparently, there's a lot more in a name than Juliet thought—especially if your name is Mandy or Kevin. A study finds that people with these names—and other "bad" names—are unpopular on dating sites and tend to have poorer self esteem, are lonelier, are less intelligent, and even smoke... READ ON

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6 Infamous Arsonists and How They Got Caught

Image credit: REUTERS/GENE BLEVINS/LANDO Over 50 fires gutted cars in Los Angeles this past weekend. While most of the damage was limited to vehicles, some of the flames caused destruction to adjacent property, including to a home that once belonged to Jim Morrison. LA has not experienced this many fires since the 1992 riots. On Monday police detained a person of interest, 24-year-old German national Harry Burkhart, who was seen on security footage near one of the fires. While some people start fires... READ ON

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On Presidents and Life Expectancy

In September 1919, President Woodrow Wilson embarked on a cross-country tour to gain support for the Treaty of Versailles and his League of Nations. The grueling schedule required him to give as many as three speeches a day, and at the end of the month he collapsed after a presentation. When Wilson returned to Washington, D.C., he suffered a massive stroke, which left him partially paralyzed on his left side.Although most presidents do not experience such extreme stress-related illnesses while in... READ ON

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