Globalwatch

The North American students of European background, as a group, spent more time gazing at the focal object a leopard in the photo8217;s foreground. Students from China spent more time studying the background the jungle around the leopard and absorbing the whole scene.

The researchers argue that these differences are cultural. 8220;East Asians live in relatively complex social networks,8221; they wrote in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 8220;Attention to context is, therefore, important for effective functioning. Westerners live in less constraining social worlds that stress independence and allow them to pay less attention to context.8221;

In a separate study by the same researchers, Japanese and American students were shown pictures of underwater scenes. Americans would go straight for the brightest or most rapidly moving object, they said, such as three trout swimming. The Japanese were more likely to report they saw a stream, the water was green, there were rocks on the bottom and then mention the fish.

Fresh olive oil contains natural painkiller: Study
Freshly pressed olive oil can ease the pain of living too well 8212; literally 8212; researchers said this week. The throat-stinging squeezings of the pulped olive 8212; the only vegetable oil that can be consumed without processing 8212; contains a compound that has the same pain-relieving effect of the popular over-the-counter drug ibuprofen, scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia reported in research published in Nature.

The discovery of a natural anti-inflammatory agent in extra-virgin olive oil offers a reliable biochemical insight into the well-documented but puzzling health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, which appears to lower the risk of cancer, heart ailments and some chronic diseases even though it is high in fat and salt.

8212; Agencies