There’s one type of article that appears over and over in newspapers and magazines. It concerns the differences in behaviour between men and women.

John Gray’s 1992 bestselling book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, was based on the premise that men and women live on different planets when it comes to relationships.

Gray has now published a sequel, Why Mars And Venus Collide, which attempts to show how to improve relationships by understanding how men and women cope with life and stress.

Here are six points from the book from a woman’s point of view on how to make your man a better partner.

1. Trust him
Show a positive belief in his abilities and intentions and he will become a more caring and attentive partner.

2. Acceptance
Don’t try to improve him, accept him as he is. When a man feels accepted it is much easier to listen and give you the understanding you need.

3. Appreciation
When a man feels his efforts are appreciated he is motivated to respect his partner more.

4. Admiration
When a man feels his unique characteristics, like sense of humor and strength, are admired, he will feel secure enough to devote himself to you.

5. Approval
An approving attitude recognizes the good behind what a man does. When he receives approval, it becomes easier for him to accept a woman’s feelings and point of view.

6. Encouragement
A woman’s encouragement gives hope and courage to a man by expressing confidence in his abilities and character. This motivates him to give her the loving reassurance she needs.

They all seem to be hovering around a similar point : flatter the chap rotten and he’ll do your bidding.

I wonder for how long that would last? He’s bound to smell a rat at some stage. Probably when he finds his lady’s copy of Gray’s book and discovers she’s been manipulating him all along.

Be yourself, but be generous toward those closest to you, is Mind Matter’s superior advice.

Do you have difficulty making decisions? Do you make decisions that you later regret or lead to worsening life situations?

The ability to make good decisions may be more important than intelligence in producing better life outcomes according to a study being done by Carnegie Mellon University and the RAND Corp.

The results of the study imply that teaching people decision-making skills could improve their quality of life.

“Intelligence doesn’t explain everything. Our results suggest that people with good decision-making skills obtain better real-life outcomes, even after controlling for cognitive ability, socio-economic status and other factors,” said Wändi Bruine de Bruin, a researcher in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon and the lead author of the study. “That is good news, because decision-making skills may be taught.”

Carnegie Mellon has a short version of the test online that you can take yourself to see how you score in comparison with other participants. The test takes about 15 minutes and is confidential but you do need to leave an email address for them to mail the test results back to you.

Read the article Good Decision-Makers May Be Made,
Not Born, Says Carnegie Mellon Study and take the test.

Research published by Grand Valley State University reports the conclusion that when it comes to brains, bigger is better.

Larger animals generally tend to have larger brains but part of the reason was assumed to be the need to control their larger bodies. But researchers found one other reason: larger animals also tend to be smarter.

The difference lies in cognitive ability related to environment. Domain-general cognitive ability allows species to adapt and deal with changes in the environment, whereas domain-specific skills are suited only to particular environments.

Larger animals may need to be smarter to control aspects of their environment, and because they generally live longer, they may have more to gain from being flexible and adaptable as the environment is more likely to change during their lifetimes.

Although the researchers concluded that it is not always necessary to adjust for the correlation between body size and brain size in comparing intelligence across species, they do allow that body size cannot always be dismissed as a factor - larger bodies may need larger brains to accomodate greater neural traffic. And although they do not assert that elephants or whales are smarter than humans or that men are more intelligent that women, in general, brain size seems to be linked with intelligence.

Bigger is Smarter!

Science fiction has long used the imagined futuristic ability to create and erase memory to build a plot. Total Recall, Paycheck, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are just a few movies using such a plot device. But new research at Brandeis University indicates that memory erasure may not be so far-fetched or impossible.

By manipulating a protein kinase called CaMKII, researchers say that memory storage can be induced and erased from the hippocampus. CaMKII has been termed a “memory molecule”. When CaMKII is chemically attacked, memory is erased.

Researchers cite the possible use of this discovery in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy but one has to wonder about the ethical uses of this ability to weaken synapses by attacking memory molecules, the ability to prevent or erase memory storage.

Read more: New Research Sheds Light On Memory By Erasing It