Posts published during February, 2012


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The Myth of the eight-hour sleep

February 22, 2012 by .

Today’s BBC website carries a fascinating article that challenges the commonly held view that an eight-hour period of continuous sleep is natural for human beings.

We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night – but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.
In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month.
Read the rest of this entry »

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High quality day care follow-up

February 13, 2012 by .

Back in the 1970s 111 infants from disadvantaged backgrounds were recruited into quite an intensive daycare programme, the Abecedarian Project. Thirty years later, 101 of them were still being monitored by researchers (Frances et al., 2012). This was a scientific, controlled investigation into the benefits of high quality daycare for children who were at risk of developmental delays or academic failure linked to their low-income backgrounds. The children attended full-time, all year, from infancy up to kindergarten. All sorts of educational activities were provided to support their language, cognitive, social and emotional development. The follow-up studies have supported other findings which have consistently shown that children who receive early educational intervention really do perform better at school, resulting in their having greater chance of adult educational success and a better life.

This longitudinal study challenges the idea that such programmes only provide short-term gain for the children.

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The A2 Exam Companion is on its way!

February 6, 2012 by .

A2 Exam CompanionWe wanted to share our good start to the week with you… our new AQA A2 Exam Companion has gone to print this morning. It is out in March and is publishing in perfect time for us to make sure it also matches the 2012 specification, so you can rest assured that it will help with preparation for the exams. Take a peek at the some preview material here.

For more information or to order an inspection copy of the AQA A2 Exam Companion or any of the rest of the Complete Companions for AQA A series, please email me at claire.beatt@oup.com with your school or college address.

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The human brain is shrinking

February 3, 2012 by .

According to palaeontologists (scientists who study fossils), over the last 20,000 years the average volume has been decreasing – possibly losing as much as 150cc (a chunk the size of a tennis ball). One possible explanation is related to the fact that brain size is correlated with body size. Humans have become smaller over the millennia. Early  humans were much brawnier for hunting and also for dealing with cold climates, but now we are smaller and therefore our brains have become correspondingly smaller.

Another possibility is that brain structure has become more efficient so that fewer cells and connections are needed. There is certainly evidence that brain size does not equate to intelligence and that what may be more significant is the organisation of the brain (see A2 Complete Companion page 131). This is the suggestion made by John Hawks, who argues that the brain consumes a lot of energy therefore individuals with intelligence and a smaller brain would be selected for.

On the other hand, cognitive psychologist David Geary proposes that our brains are getting smaller because we are becoming more stupid. The argument goes that brain size is related to social complexity but in a surprising way. Read the rest of this entry »