Why studying for large chunks of time can be counter-productive

We’ve all had those days where no matter what good fortune comes our way in the morning or afternoon, we still walk around with a slight furrow in our brow knowing that a night chock-full of homework and studying awaits. It’s like a Utah Jazz fan watching the wildly entertaining 1997 NBA Finals on ESPN Classic – he or she might enjoy it for awhile, but in the back of their mind they know the Michael Jordan buzz saw is coming to ruin their hopes and dreams. (Too young to remember? That's fine, you get the point...)

Alright, so maybe Michael Jordan draining threes isn’t exactly the same as laboring through endless schoolwork. I have an attachment to sports analogies so bear with ...

Ah, the smell of a new semester. What? You aren't excited. Yeah, me neither.

There are a few tips, however, that will make the start of every new semester a little more bearable. I have 10 for you, and if you think I've missed any, make sure and post them for everyone else to see.

1. Don't buy your books until you attend the first class. Unless a teacher e-mails you to tell you otherwise, often you'll find that a book or two on the list isn't really needed. Or you might go to class and realize studying won't be necessary. Either way, it'll save you some much-needed cash.

2. Go out and have fun the weekend before the first day of class. Your first week back at school sets the tone for the rest of the semester. Cutting out some time to have fun ...

That's the longest string of words that Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who scientists raised as a human and taught sign language in the 1970s, ever signed. He was the subject of Project Nim, an experiment conducted by cognitive scientists at Columbia University to investigate whether chimps can learn language.

After years of exposing Nim to all things human, the researchers concluded that although he did learn to express demands - the desire for an orange, for instance - and knew 125 words, he couldn't fully grasp language, at least as they defined it. Language requires not just vocabulary but also syntax, they argued. "Give orange me," for example, means something different than "give me orange." From a very young age, humans understand that; w ...