Neuro News Nanos

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Here are this morning’s:

* What a nickel buys — how a five-cent tax on plastic bags cut bag usage in half — a grocery-store nudge

* The neuroscience of jazz — jazz musicians had to play a simple musical tune and an improvisation on this tune with the restriction to the use of C major scale — the prefrontal cortex was characterized by a deactivation during improvisation

* We can predict elections from the economy — but can we learn about the economy from elections? — also: there have been big changes over time in our impressions of the ability of presidents to intervene successfully in the economy

* What makes a great teacher — great teachers can’t be identified in any reliable, objective way — they have a gift: some mystical quality we revere but can’t replicate

* Diet soda will cost you — participants who drank regular soda, and therefore had higher blood glucose levels, were significantly more likely to choose receiving more money at a later date — those who drank diet sodas and had lower blood glucose levels were more likely to take the smaller amount of money upfront

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