Distractions help consumers make accurate decisions

October 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have helped to establish that femtosecond comb lasers can provide accurate measurement of absolute distance in formation flying space missions. NPL, along with collaborators, produced technical reports for the European Space Agency.

September 30th, 2009 AP source: Obama makes no decisions on Afghan warWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has heard from his top national security officials about their next step forward with Afghanistan but has not made any decisions. A senior administration official says Obama spent three hours in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday and pushed his team for specifics and details.

August 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - While many people complain of getting perturbed by the sound of blowing horns while trying to concentrate on something, researchers have now found that students with high memory storage capacity are better at ignoring distractions and staying focused on their assigned tasks. The study by University of Oregon researchers was conducted on 84 students divided into four separate experiments In the study, principal investigator Dr.

July 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - When it comes to decision-making in groups, ants turn out to be more rational than humans, according to a study conducted by researchers from Arizona State University and Princeton University. However, the study"s architects-Stephen Pratt and Susan Edwards-say that the findings do not mean that humans are "stupider" than ants, but this only implies that humans and animals simply often make irrational choices when faced with very challenging decisions.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research by scientists from the University of Victoria has shown that fish avoid the divers and snorkelers who try to count them, and that is why using snorkelers and SCUBA divers may misrepresent the number of fish. Not all types of fish are equally frightened by the divers, and Faculty of 1000 member Helen Yap, who recommended the study, explains that therefore "such methods may not provide an accurate picture of the actual diversity and abundance of fish communities." Counting coral reef fish informs researchers about local ecological changes.

July 1st, 2009 DC's Metro relaunches real-time bus arrival systemWASHINGTON — Metro is relaunching a service that allows riders to know when the next Metrobus will arrive at their stop. Travelers can now find out by phone, online or through electronic signs at some bus stops when buses are expected to arrive.

June 30th, 2009 Obama: consumer agency to enforce financial rulesWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says his new Consumer Financial Protection Agency will protect Americans from unscrupulous practices and make financial products easier to understand. The president sent Congress a 152-page bill to create the new agency, a key element in the sweeping overhaul of financial rules the administration unveiled two weeks ago.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Women are more accurate in hammering a nail in broad daylight than men, finds a new study. Duncan Irschick and his colleagues, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, measured hammering performances of men and women.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Men can hammer a nail with a few, clean sharp strokes and are better at it than women, says a new study. Duncan Irschick and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (U-M) measured hammering performance in men and women.

May 1st, 2009 Appeals Court cancels 300 NLRB decisionsWASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has wiped away with one opinion some 300 decisions made last year by the Bush administration's labor relations board. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said Friday that all the decisions handed down in 2008 by the National Labor Relations Board are invalid because they were made by just two members.

April 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Hollywood actress Miley Cyrus' musician father Billy Ray has revealed that he trusts his daughter and is sure she'll always make the right decisions.ay, who plays Cyrus' on-screen father in the Disney series and movie about teen sensation Hannah Montana, revealed that although he spends too much time with his daughter, he remains a 'laid back' father. "I just trust her so much," Contactmusic quoted Billy Ray as telling a London press conference ahead of the release of the film based on the Hannah Montana show.

March 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - With the aid of a new method developed by scientists in Germany, the output frequency of the atomic fountains clocks has become more stable. At present, Caesium fountain clocks are the most accurate clocks in the world, furnishing the second accurate to 15 places after the decimal point.

February 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - You make a decision based on a 'lucky guess' which feels right, but that may not be guesswork at all, says the latest research. A Northwestern University study offers precise electrophysiological evidence that such decisions may be due to the surprising accuracy of memories that can't be consciously accessed.

January 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Consumers do not end up always buying the product they really want, especially when their minds are preoccupied with other tasks, according to a new study. The research, conducted by Aimee Drolet of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Mary Frances Luce (Duke University) and Itamar Simonson (Stanford University) identified two factors that can lead consumers to use shortcuts (heuristics) when they make product choices.

January 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush said in his farewell address Thursday that there can be 'little debate' that the tough or controversial decisions he's made during his presidency have kept the US safe.