Emotional differences between the rich and poor, as depicted in such Charles Dickens classics as “A Christmas Carol” and “A Tale of Two Cities,” may have a scientific basis. Researchers have found that people in the lower socio-economic classes are more physiologically attuned to suffering, and quicker to express compassion than their more affluent counterparts.

Being able to define and measure patient complexity has important implications for how care is organized, how physicians and health care systems are paid, and how resources are allocated. Researchers have found that primary care physicians define patient complexity using a broader range of factors – including mental health, social factors and financial issues – than do commonly used approaches based only on diagnoses and prior costs.

New research has found that a protein associated with learning and memory plays an integral role in changing the behavior of locusts from that of harmless grasshoppers into swarming pests.

Cognitive function may be a better indicator of the impact of aging on an economy than age-distribution, with chronological age imposing less of a social and economic burden if the population is “functionally” younger, according to a new study.

Fifteen years ago, textbooks on human development stated that babies of six months of age or younger had no sense of “object permanence” — the psychological term that describes an infant’s belief that an object still exists even when it is out of sight. That meant that if mom or dad wasn’t in the same room with junior, junior didn’t have the sense that his parents were still in the world. These days, psychologists know that isn’t true: for young babies, out of sight doesn’t automatically mean out of mind. But how much do babies remember about the world around them, and what details do their brains need to absorb in order to help them keep track of those things? Babies may not remember what they saw, but they remember that they saw something.

Drinking enough alcohol to become intoxicated increases aggression significantly in people who have one particular personality trait, according to new research. But people without that trait don’t get any more aggressive when drunk than they would when they’re sober. That trait is the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions.

Your parents were right: Hard experiences may indeed make you tough. Psychological scientists have found that, while going through many experiences like assault, hurricanes, and bereavement can be psychologically damaging, small amounts of trauma may help people develop resilience.

The following is a statement by NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins on the Institute of Medicine report addressing the scientific need for the use of chimpanzees in research.

Uninformed individuals — as in those with no prior knowledge or strong feelings on a situation’s outcome — can actually be vital to achieving a democratic consensus, according to new research. These individuals tend to side with and embolden the numerical majority and dilute the influence of powerful minority factions who would otherwise dominate everyone else.

Researchers are reporting what could become the first reliable method to predict whether an antidepressant will work on a depressed patient.