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Link feast

In case you missed them – 10 of the best psychology links from the past week.

28 June 2013

By Christian Jarrett

1. “Every year, suicide peaks with the tulips and lilacs” – this article features poetic science writing at its best. David Dobbs describes a curious pattern in suicide rates that could provide clues to suicide risk in general.

2. “Over the years … research has shown again and again that even trained, professional palates are terrible at judging wine.” Related from the Digest archive: “Practising describing wines could help you become a connoisseur.”

3. Scott Barry Kaufman interviews autistic savant Temple Grandin.

4. There’s a lot more to neuroscience than media ‘neuromania’, argues Mark Stokes.

5. People get better looking when the bar is about to close.

6. Final episode in the current run of The Life Scientific featured social psychologist Elizabeth Stokoe who analyses people’s conversations.

7. New BBC Three series Don’t Call Me Crazy features teenagers staying at the The McGuinness psychiatric Unit.

8. The mere presence of other people can boost your performance, plus 8 further insights about the psychology of teams.

9. “Unintended anaesthetic awareness appears to be much more widespread than many imagine” – fascinating article in the new issue of The Psychologist on attempts to measure people’s awareness in the operating theatre. (Digital preview of the rest of the July issue).

10. Why Is It So Hard to Hire Great People? (related from the Digest archive).

Looking ahead to next week – Friday 5 July, a night of being wrong at the Wellcome Collection in London, with talks by neuroscientists and psychologists.