Fun (and Un-Fun) New Findings:

• Acute Stress Primes Brain for Better Cognitive and Mental Performance
• [Short-term] stress generates new nerve cells in the brain that, two weeks later, help you learn better. Thus, unlike chronic stress, acute stress primes the brain for improved cognitive and mental performance.
• Anxious About Life and Afraid of Death? Tylenol May Do the Trick
• Typically known to relieve physical pain, the study suggests the drug may also reduce the psychological effects of fear and anxiety over the human condition, or existential dread.
• Dramatic Changes in Bacteria Following Male Circumcision
• Male circumcision reduces the abundance of bacteria living on the penis and might help explain why circumcision offers men some protection against HIV
• Scientists Invent Microneedle Adhesive Stronger Than Surgical Staples
• "Drawing on how parasitic worms attach to and feed on fish, they have designed a way to close surgical wounds that appears better than anything currently available for clinical use."
• Impact of Portion Size On Overeating Is Hard to Overcome
• Those in the education group were given a brochure about how external factors, such as mood, advertising, portion size, and social and cultural influences can contribute to overeating, and then asked to write about how these factors had influenced their food intake in the past.
• Those in the mindfulness group were also taught how to focus on the internal sensations such as the taste of food and feelings of hunger and satiety, before they were offered the pasta.
• "Neither of these brief exercises reduced the effects of portion size. Overall, participants in the larger portion group consumed about a third more pasta -- 69 grams -- than those in the smaller portion group"...