Daily French Roast

Anne is reading …

Developmental psychology student Jason G. Goldman writes What Is Classical Conditioning? (And Why Does It Matter?) for Scientific American’s ‘The Thoughtful Animal.

Before you say ‘yee gads, Anne, you’re getting too deep with this morning brew column’, jump to the end with us.

Classical conditioning is also being used in wildlife conservation efforts! At Extinction Countdown, John Platt pointed out last month that taste aversion, which is a form of classical conditioning, is being used to keep lions from preying on cattle. This should, in turn, prevent farmers from killing the lions.

Similar success has been used with planting empty bee hives to keep elephants away from agricultural fields in Africa. In this case, it’s believed that the association with bees is so negative, that the mere sight of a hive keeps elephants away.

Newt’s Anti-Romney Film

We support neither Newt nor Romney, but we do support telling the truth. From what we’re reading, there are major factual problems in Newt’s attack on Romney, all of which will become truths on The Ed Show by tonight. Politics is nauseating.

Anti-Romney Film Stretches Truth on Bain Bloomberg News

A 28-minute film that attacks Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for eliminating jobs at times stretches the truth and takes some reports out of context or selectively edits them.

The film, bankrolled by supporters of rival candidate Newt Gingrich and scheduled to be released today, focuses on Romney’s work as chief executive officer of Bain Capital LLC, a Boston- based private equity firm.

More Headlines

2011: The Year Anonymous Took On Cops, Dictators and Existential Dread Wired

Yoga Instructors Push Back at New York Times Article on Injury Risk The Daily Beast

Climate Change Driving Tropical Birds to Higher Elevations Science Daily

China’s ‘Demographic Tsunami’ Begins Bloomberg

More DFR

Outspoken Actress

Maggie Gyllenhall lashes out against the attacks on Planned Parenthood, telling Glamour Magazine:

My mother was very politically active and taught both my brother and me that it is everyone’s responsibility as a citizen and as a person in the world to fight for what you believe in. And what I believe very strongly is that every woman has the right to decide what she can do with her body.

Pregnant with her second child and the mother of a five-year-old daughter, the actress who stars in next month’s ‘Won’t Back Down’ assails politicians, saying:

With jobs bills waiting on legislative calendars, the unemployment rate at a crisis level and many Americans losing their homes, I find it incredibly frustrating that we’re being forced to spend so much time and energy (and, yes, money) defending something as basic as self-determination.

Scale and Personality

Anyone who’s faced endless battles with the scale knows the term “emotional eating”. In trying to understand the full range of lifestyle and personality issues that lead to obesity, researchers increasingly look at the brain. Several studies have already shown that the emotion-controlling center of the brain also governs appetite. “Early life experiences also set the stage for overeating years later, “writes today’s Wall Street Journal.

In a stury of 2000 Baltimore residents age 50 and older, researchers determined that those who scored high on neuroticism and low on conscientiousness, were the most likely to be obese.

The subjects in the top 10% of impulsivity weighed, on average, 24 pounds more than those in the lowest 10%. People who rated themselves low on “agreeableness” were the most likely to gain weight over the years.

Toddlers with low-quality emotional relationships with their mothers were more than twice as likely to be obese at age 15, according to another study of 977 children due out this month.