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Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.
"The relationship between leaders and followers reflects a social contract wherein followers trust leaders to make decisions that benefit the group and leaders agree to pursue actions that are in the group's best interests. The prevalence of leadership throughout history and across species suggests that leadership provides a stable strategy for effective group functioning." But what happens, Dr. Shock wonders, when leaders sacrifice group galls for the sake of self-interest?
Albert Einstein once (allegedly) mused, "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute." At Psychothalamus, Jose asks: Why does Time Slow to a Crawl when we Engage in Laborous Tasks?
Over at The Quantum Lobe Chronicles, William Lu offers, "The next time your hipster artist friends tell you they're more "right brain" than anything else you can politely correct them by explaining..." the neuroscience of creativity and insight.
Finally, is it just me or are there more "science of fatherhood" posts than usual, lately? Mom and Pop Parenting: Determinism Strikes Again. Emily Anthes of Wonderland, one of the new PLoGsters, warns: "It's far too early to say that gender differences in parenting are all due to some wily little peptide."