Scienceblogtwo

There hasn't been much research on how and why long-lasting, fulfilling relationships work for asexual people, or people with little to no sexual interest. The components of a successful relationship among asexual people are essentially the same as those in any other relationship, according to new research from Michigan State University, despite asexuals' lack of or aversion for sexual desire. William Chopik, associate professor in the MSU psychology department and coauthor of the study, said: "Asexuals don't have the urge for sexual interactions, but they nevertheless create romantic relationships and those connections seem at least somewhat comparable to non-asexuals' love relationships. The study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, is one of the biggest studies of asexual people's relationships ever done and it is the only one to look at the factors that influence commitment and stability in a relationship. The study examined a sampl...

Contrary to what was previously assumed, humans interpret music and speech differently. Researchers from Linköping University in Sweden and Oregon Health and Science University in the United States came at this result in their study. The findings, which have been published in Science Advances, could improve cochlear implant design. We are sociable beings. We value hearing other people's voices, and we use our hearing to recognize and identify human speech and voices. The ear drum transmits sound from the outer ear to the spiral-shaped cochlea, which is the inner ear. The cochlea is home to the outer and inner hair cells, which are the hearing sense cells. The inner hair cells' "hairs" flex as a result of the sound waves, sending a signal to the brain, which interprets the sound we hear, via the nerves. We have assumed that each sensory cell has its own "optimal frequency" for the past 100 years (a measure of the number of sound waves per second). This freque...