The Good News
Naltrexone, an antiaddiction drug, reduces the urge to steal in kleptomaniacs, according to a study from the University of Minnesota.
Federal conservation measures signed into law in March designate 2 million acres as protected wilderness and create a research program to study ocean acidification.
A straw house with a gravel foundation and plaster walls—designed as low-cost housing for earthquake-prone regions—was tested at the earthquake lab at the University of Nevada at Reno. It survived shaking twice as violent as the most intense tremor on record.
The Bad News
Depressed individuals have more difficulty learning positive information than nondepressed people, according to a study at Ohio State University.
Expert advice inhibited parts of the brain important for decision-making in a financial game as participants shifted responsibility to the expert, a brain imaging study by economists and psychiatrists at Emory University found.
The number of people hospitalized for eating disorders grew by 18 percent between 1999 and 2006 (pdf), according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Hospitalizations for children under 12 with such disorders more than doubled.
