Science

Tidy desk or messy desk? Each has its benefits

Working at a clean and prim desk may promote healthy eating, generosity, and conventionality, according to new research. But, the research also shows that a messy desk may confer its own benefits, promoting creative thinking and stimulating new ideas.
The new studies, conducted by psychological scientist Kathleen Vohs and her fellow researchers at the University of Minnesota are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
“Prior work has found that a clean setting leads people to do good things: Not engage in crime, not litter, and show more generosity," Vohs writes. "We found, however, that you can get really valuable outcomes from being in a messy setting."

How Cap'n Crunch's gaze is influencing your purchasing

In a study of 65 cereals in 10 different grocery stores, Cornell researchers found that cereals marketed to kids are placed half as high on supermarket shelves as adult cereals -- the average height for children's cereal boxes is 23 inches verses 48 inches for adult cereal. A second key finding from the same study is that the average angle of the gaze of cereal spokes-characters on cereal boxes marketed to kids is downward at a 9.6 degree angle whereas spokes-characters on adult cereal look almost straight ahead
Two key take-aways from this study are:
* If you are a parent who does not want your kids to go "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" avoid taking them down the cereal aisle.
* If you are a cereal company looking to market healthy cereals to kids, use spokes-characters that make eye contact with children to create brand loyalty!

Personal touch signature makes mobile devices more secure

Passwords, gestures and fingerprint scans are all helpful ways to keep a thief from unlocking and using a cell phone or tablet. Cybersecurity researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have gone a step further. They've developed a new security system that continuously monitors how a user taps and swipes a mobile device. If the movements don't match the owner's tendencies, the system recognizes the differences and can be programmed to lock the device.
The new system is called LatentGesture and was used during a Georgia Tech lab study using Android devices. The system was nearly 98 percent accurate on a smartphone and 97 percent correct on tablets.

Morning rays keep off pounds

A surprising new strategy for managing your weight? Bright morning light. People who had most of their daily exposure to bright light in the morning had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) than those who had most of their light exposure later in the day, reports a new study by a  new Northwestern Medicine  study. The earlier light exposure occurrs, the lower the BMI. The influence of morning light on weight was independent of physical activity, caloric intake, sleep timing, age or season.
"Light is the most potent agent to synchronize your internal body clock that regulates circadian rhythms, which in turn also regulate energy balance," wrote   senior author Phyllis C. Zee, M.D. "The message is that you should get more bright light between 8 a.m. and noon." About 20 to 30 minutes of morning light is enough to affect BMI.
The study was  published April 2 in the journal PLOS ONE.
– Collated by AMITAVA KAR