Stories by Tom Jacobs
Tom Jacobs is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years experience at daily newspapers. He has served as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Santa Barbara News-Press. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Ventura County Star.
Posted on Nov 23, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Plenty of people are reviled for their religious beliefs. But a lack of faith seems to inspire even more intense antipathy.
Posted on Oct 12, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Newly published research suggests nuggets of misinformation embedded in a fictional television program can seep into our brains and lodge there as perceived facts.
Posted on Sep 15, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Canadian researchers find playing a musical instrument delays the onset of age-related hearing decline.
Posted on Sep 9, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A large-scale study suggests 9/11-related stress led to a major increase in health problems across the U.S.
Posted on Jul 18, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune Magazine
A widely read 2009 study described a decline in self-reported well-being among American women. Newly published research finds this trend is also true for men.
Posted on Jul 12, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New research finds grocery shoppers who carry baskets are more likely to purchase unhealthy food than those pushing a cart.
Posted on Jun 17, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A new study shows how a macho conception of white masculinity leads to risky behavior among white males in Southern states.
Posted on May 10, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New research suggests white audiences tend to stay away from movies featuring minorities due to the assumption that the film “wasn’t made for me.”
Posted on Apr 25, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune Magazine
People who see dark conspiracies everywhere are offering some interesting information — about themselves.
Posted on Mar 30, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune Magazine
In "When the Killing’s Done," novelist T.C. Boyle once again examines humankind's conflicted attitudes toward the natural world.
Posted on Mar 30, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune Magazine
Research from Hong Kong suggests that, among men, the impulses to make love and war are deeply intertwined.
Posted on Mar 22, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Instead of falling in love with his own image in a pond, today’s narcissist apparently gazes adoringly at his own Facebook profile.
Posted on Mar 6, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Widely accepted beliefs regarding men, women and short-term sexual encounters may be significantly off-base.
Posted on Feb 7, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune Magazine
A new study shows that people who watched local TV news reports were likely to have a fatalistic attitude about cancer prevention.
Posted on Jan 21, 2011, Source: Miller-McCune Magazine
White college students exposed to images of a Confederate flag judged a black person more harshly and expressed less willingness to vote for Barack Obama in 2008.
Posted on Nov 22, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A new study finds a strange link between terrorist fearmongering and the impulse for corporal punishment.
Posted on Nov 7, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A new study shows that the Puritans' value system may remain lodged deep in our psyches, shaping our emotions, judgments and behaviors.
Posted on Oct 8, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New research finds we trust experts who agree with our own opinions, suggesting that subjective feelings override scientific information.
Posted on Aug 16, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New research finds suppressing thoughts of smoking just increases the likelihood you’ll light up later on.
Posted on Aug 9, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Researchers find evolutionary logic behind the way we lay out our bedrooms.
Posted on Jul 12, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A new study suggests that attractive people may be at a disadvantage in certain workplace situations: specifically, if they are being evaluated by a member of the same sex.
Posted on Jul 3, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A new study suggests that 27 to 45-year-old women think more about sex and have more sex than women in other age groups.
Posted on Jun 10, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
The perception that a politician is hungry for power apparently lessens support for female, but not male, candidates.
Posted on Jun 7, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Brain-scan research suggests celebrity faces evoke specific happy memories, and those positive feelings rub off on the products they endorse.
Posted on Apr 27, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
How the tendency to grab a quick bite at Burger King could affect other areas of life.
Posted on Apr 20, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Newly published research on belief in ESP suggests a public disregard for -- and perhaps even hostility toward -- the scientific consensus.
Posted on Apr 10, 2010, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New research suggests sexual objectification hinders some women’s cognitive ability.
Posted on Dec 22, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Does absurdist literature make you smarter? Giraffe carpet cleaner, it does!
Posted on Nov 19, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Thanks to lots of research (and, of course, to Jim Henson's genius), Sesame Street continues to aid in early childhood development.
Posted on Nov 17, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
In a recent study, prejudiced people were more likely to support the health plan when it was linked to Bill Clinton, than when it was linked to Obama.
Posted on Aug 26, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
A landmark experiment suggests reverse aging needn't be relegated to the realm of science fiction.
Posted on Jul 1, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Studies show that the current economic climate may be eroding months or even years from the lives of those on the bleeding edge of insecurity.
Posted on May 21, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Perfectionism, as a way of life, tends to be self-defeating. New research suggests it may also be deadly.
Posted on May 15, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New study finds that, even accounting for intelligence, income prospects are enhanced by being good-looking.
Posted on Apr 25, 2009, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Liberals and conservatives have highly different moral priorities. And we have to understand them if we want to accomplish anything.
Posted on Dec 12, 2008, Source: Miller-McCune.com
New research shows sugar addiction is real. Lab rats coming off it exhibit some of the same behavior as junkies in need of a fix.
Posted on Dec 8, 2008, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Two new studies point to a wonderful way to ward off Alzheimer's disease and other forms of age-related memory loss.
Posted on Nov 17, 2008, Source: Miller-McCune.com
Two recent studies conducted in two very different settings reveal a disturbing anti-Muslim bias among students.
