Muslim rights, escalators and virtue, earliest Christian writing in existence or fakes?, the best schools use erasers, envy as a source for good.
Senate hearing focuses on U.S. Muslims’ rights, not radical ties
The most striking change was the second hearing’s focus: Crimes committed against American Muslims, not by them.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he convened Tuesday’s hearing because of rising Islamophobia, manifested by Quran burnings, hate speech and restrictions on mosque construction.
If we want to have a sense of the daily life of the early Church we should be looking at Islam today
Up escalators bring out the best in people – Scientific American
If people were primed to think about height might they be more virtuous? In four different studies the authors found support for the idea. In the first study twice as many mall shoppers who had just ridden an up escalator contributed to the Salvation Army than shoppers who had just ridden the down escalator.
Can these results be replicated by different researchers?
Why people don’t walk on escalators
Envy is a virtue – BPS Research Digest
‘Is benign envy therefore better than admiration?’ the researchers asked rhetorically. ‘It might be, but although self-assertion increases performance, self-surrender feels better. So, the answer to the question whether to admire or to be envious might depend on what matters most: feeling better or performing better.’
Check out the Digest’s Sin Week special feature.
Lead-leafed books could change our understanding of early Christianity – BBC
They could be the earliest Christian writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian cave. Never has there been a discovery of relics on this scale from the early Christian movement, in its homeland and so early in its history.
If Mouse were a betting mouse, Mouse would lay money they are fakes
Best schools in D.C. made heavy use of erasers – Freakonomics
A USA Today investigation found what appears to be compelling evidence of teacher cheating in Washington, D.C., schools that were heralded as major successes due to test score increases. The smoking gun: too many erasures resulting in answers being changed from wrong to right.