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"... a group of us have been studying ways to make sense of large amounts of language data generated by people on the ground in Libya. ... You won't be surprised when I tell you what event coincides with the most obvious peak in positive emotion as well as in volume of tweet traffic: Gaddafi's death. Specifically, the vertical dashed black line marks the time when news of Gadaffi's capture and death were first made public." Their report, Evolution of Sentiment in the Libyan Revolution, is here (PDF): https://webspace.utexas.edu/dib97/libya-report-10-30-11.pdf

Some neurons are more active than others, even when they are positioned right next to each other and are one and the same neuron type. Researchers now have discovered the cause for this phenomenon.

In a study published in the Journal of Memory and Language, Michael Vitevitch, KU professor of psychology, found there are words, like main players in a social network, that hold key positions on the word network and that we process them more quickly and accurately than similar words that they hold together in our memory." The finding may help lead to new insights into developmental and acquired language disorders and treatments for those ailments.

The recent advent of brain-mapping technology-which allows doctors to create a precise digital replica of a person's brain cartography--has made more surgeons comfortable with the concept of keeping patients awake while they operate. This article profiles a woman, Brittany Capone, who's having open-brain surgery to remove a tumor that's dangerously close to a region in the brain that controls speech and the ability to comprehend language. By doing the operation while she is awake and speaking, her surgeon, Dr. Philip Gutin, can figure out exactly where the offending growth ends and the area of the brain called the Wernicke's center begins. This way, Gutin can see how close he can cut without permanently affecting his patient's ability to talk. What neurosurgeons are learning through mapping and documenting their experiences is also informing general knowledge about where brain structures are located and the slightly different positions they can take in different people.

Short article about a study that proved that texting is positively associate with students' word reading abilities, and may be contributing to reading development.

Talking is arguably one of the most powerful forms of expression, alongside writing and art. We use our voices to ask questions, to deliver bad news, to tell someone we love them. But the way we talk to each other is changing. The uniqueness of our voices is being drowned out by the pitter-patter of keyboards; we're always typing, texting, responding. The positives: devices like cellphones complement face-to-face or ear-to-ear conversations. The negatives: expecting immediate responses; heightened miscommunication, and muted social interaction.

"Researchers at Harvard Business School conducted three experiments. They all showed that compliments remind us of when we have done well and motivate us to succeed again, so could have a big effect at work. They found that participants who had been given positive notes from friends before a job interview out- performed those who were not. Fishing for compliments may annoy some people, but the self-serving action may boost your future chances of success, researchers claim."

"Our analysis suggests that is an advantage to the attacker, not a disadvantage".

This is an interesting article adding a positive outlook on swearing and how it can be beneficial to us. It also emphasizes the difference between "swearing" and "cursing."

Stephen Porges, psychiatry professor and Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he directs the Trauma Research Center within the Kinsey Institute, speaks about the importance of safety in relationships. Porges' Polyvagal Theory describes how our autonomic nervous system mediates safety, trust, and intimacy through a subsystem he calls the social engagement system. Our brain is constantly detecting through our senses whether we are in a situation that is safe, dangerous, or life threatening. People's autonomic nervous system are designed to perceive threat: a protective, defensive survival mechanism, but a response that can also get us into trouble if we sense that our safety is at risk, causing us to misread the situation. However, humans also have a mammalian mechanism that mediates those gut-level ANS responses. This social engagement system enables us to interpret linguistic, facial, tonal, intonation, and gestural cues, and the intentionality of others. When our body and mind experience safety, our social engagement system enables us to collaborate, listen, empathize, and connect, as well as be creative, innovative, and bold in our thinking and ideas. This has positive benefits for our relationships as well as our lives in general. The takeaways: 1. Safety is paramount in crucial conversations and conflict-resolution. 2. Learning to deploy cues that display love, trust, and engagement in the midst of conflict can help disarm defensive, threat response mechanisms in other people, help restore safety in our social interactions, and reaffirm bonds.

Ana Homayoun, a life coach and consultant, offers the following tips for success in quelling anxiety over face: face conversations: 1. Visualize the end first. 2. Brainstorm many solutions, not just one. 3. Practice out loud. 4. Intentionally reset your attitude. 5. Reframe the experience as an opportunity.

This is about the "Mozart effect" and if it does indeed help babies become more intelligent by listening to classical music at a young age.

This BBC article notes how media totally misconstrued the modest results reported by the original UC Irvine study, which found that students who listened to Mozart did better at tasks where they had to create shapes in their minds. These students had stronger performance on spatial tasks: specifically, looking at folded up pieces of paper with cuts in them and predicting: how they would appear when unfolded. This effect, however, was sadly temporary: about fifteen minutes. A subsequent meta-analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to manipulate shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn't make us more intelligent. In 2010 a larger meta-analysis of a greater number of studies again found a positive effect, but that other kinds of music worked just as well, provided that listeners enjoyed what they were listening to. The article concludes that what's crucial in performance is "cognitive arousal": getting your brain more alert, whether it's through music, a Starbucks frappacino, or shooting hoops.

Code-switching involves moving freely between two different languages or dialects of a single language. Many people of color, especially mixed-race and multi-cultural people naturally code-switch. This article shows us Sheena Cobb as an example because she uses both the American Sign Language (ASL) and Black ASL depending on who she is with. Elements of black culture appear in Black ASL such as religious practice, cooking, humor, music, hairstyles, words and phrases typically used in the black communities. People who use Black ASL tend to sign with two hands, in different positions, in a larger signing space and with more repetition than with regular ASL signs.

It's traditional during Chinese New Year to offer good wishes: positive language sets up the new year for happiness. This page provides some classic 4 word idioms （成語）to ensure good luck.

This discusses how and why humans would rather text each other than have an actual conversation. They discuss a few positive and negative points within the article. This talks about how technology is shaping the way we communicate with each other

In this article addressed to teachers, author Julia Csillag cites research on the use of wordless texts to teach students with autism spectrum disorder. Wordless texts can be used to address a variety of skills that autistic students typically struggle with, including diverse literacy skills, cognitive flexibility, and nonverbal communication. Removing words and auditory information also supports autistic students since integrating information from multiple senses can take longer in autistic individuals, particularly if this information is linguistic. Removing words can therefore positively influence processing. Using wordless books or movies can build diverse literacy skills in terms of making inferences, understanding narrative structure, and using evidence to support a claim. All wordless "texts" support individuals' ability to make inferences, which is helpful since research shows that "students with Asperger syndrome…had challenges in making inferences from the text" (Knight & Sartrini, 2014). Moreover, researchers have found that "similar processes contribute to comprehension of narratives across different media" (Kendeou, P. et al, 2009), meaning that addressing visual inferences can transfer to inferences made during reading. Images and silent books or movies necessarily require students to infer what is happening, who the characters are, etc.

There are many ways that what you do with your body can translate into a language to show what you are feeling. Words are not neccesary for others to know the type of person you are. By reading actions, people can know if you are fit for a job or your characteristics.

Body language is extremely important when in a leadership position. You may not think what you're doing with your head or hands is important, but studies show that everything from a head tilt, to walking on stage gives people a certain impression. For people to see you as a good leader, you need to be confident and aware of your actions. If you are on stage talking to a bunch of people, and you are playing with your hair or touching your neck, people pick up on this and make the assumption that you are nervous. It may not be intentional but subconsciously they think you are intimated even though a leader should be calm and controlled. This article explores other ways leaders and speakers can use body language to more powerfully convey their point.

Free speech, properly understood, is not violence. It is a cure for violence. Freedom of speech is the eternally radical idea that individuals will try to settle their differences through debate and discussion, through evidence and attempts at persuasion, rather than through the coercive power of administrative authorities-or violence. The authors of this article assert that while it may feel unpleasant grappling with ideas and perspectives that run counter to one's own, it creates positive stress that strengthens one's resilience and allows one to reap the longer-term benefits of learning.

The problem of looking at our devices nonstop is physiological and social. The average human head weighs between 10 and 12 pounds, and when we bend our neck to use digital devices, the gravitational pull on our head and the stress on our neck increases to as much as 60 pounds of pressure. That common position leads to incremental loss of the curve of the cervical spine. Posture has been proven to affect mood, behavior and memory, and frequent slouching can make us depressed, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The way we stand affects everything from the amount of energy we have to bone and muscle development, and even the amount of oxygen our lungs can take in. A study in 2010 found that adolescents ages 8 to 18 spent more than 7.5 hours a day consuming media. In 2015, the Pew Research Center reported that 24 percent of teenagers are "almost constantly" online. Adults aren't any better: Most adults spend 10 hours a day or more consuming electronic media, according to a Nielsen's Total Audience Report from last year. "Mobile devices are the mother of inattentional blindness," said Henry Alford, the author of "Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That: A Modern Guide to Manners." "That's the state of monomaniacal obliviousness that overcomes you when you're absorbed in an activity to the exclusion of everything else." Children now compete with their parents' devices for attention, resulting in a generation afraid of the spontaneity of a phone call or face-to-face interaction. Eye contact now seems to be optional, Dr. Turkle suggests, and sensory overload can often mean our feelings are constantly anesthetized. Researchers at the University of Michigan claim empathy levels have plummeted while narcissism is skyrocketing, with emotional development, confidence and health all affected