Want to think outside the box? Try actually thinking outside of a box. In a study to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researchers had students think up solutions to problems while acting out various metaphors about creative thinking and found that the instructions actually worked.
The authors of the new paper were inspired by metaphors about creativity found in boardrooms to movie studios to scientific laboratories around the world and previous linkages established between mind and body. Angela Leung …

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have created synthetic nanoparticles that target lymph nodes and greatly boost vaccine responses, said lead author Ashley St. John, Ph.D., a researcher at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.
The paper was published online in the journal Nature Materials on Jan. 22.
Currently all other adjuvants (substances added to vaccines to help to boost the immune response) are thought to enhance immunity at the skin site where the vaccine is injected rather than going to the lymph nodes, where the most effective immune reactions occur. The current study …

The ache, the hurt, the burn, the stab. We use all kinds of words to describe pain, but the truth is that there’s no way to know if what you experience as pain differs from anyone else’s – it’s a matter of individual perception.
Scientists are honing in on a disparity between men and women that may exist in that perception. In the largest study of its kind, Stanford researchers analyzed electronic medical records for ratings of pain, and found that women tend to report greater amounts of pain in a …

If you’re feeling the need to scratch an itch, the ankle is the best place to do so, claims a new study published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Dermatology (BJD).
According to a Sunday report by IndianExpress.com, the study, which was the work of researchers from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), states that the sensation of itchiness is felt most intensely at the ankle.
That area of the body is also the most satisfying place to scratch — edging out those tough-to-reach places on the back, the researchers …

Delirium develops in about 30 percent of patients hospitalized shortly after a stroke and is linked to poorer outcomes, according to a new meta-analysis published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In the first systematic analysis of the four common outcomes in acute stroke patients with delirium – inpatient and 12-month death rates, length of hospital stay and care arrangements after discharge – Canadian researchers analyzed 10 studies. The research included more than 2,000 patients hospitalized after suffering a stroke due to a vessel blockage or bleeding.
Delirium is an …