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87
86
Sweet Science: A Cross-Cultural
Marshmallow Test
❯
THE UNIVERSAL
STRUGGLE: choosing
between immediate
gratification and long-term
rewards.
The “marshmallow test,”
a psychology classic from the early
’70s, evaluates this skill, called
self-regulation, in children. A
researcher asks a child to sit alone
in a room with a treat. The kid can
eat it right away, but waiting 10
to 15 minutes for the researcher
to return will grant the child a
second treat.
Previously, experts tested
primarily Western children. But
in June, German psychologists
published the first marshmallow
test using Western and
non-Western participants, about
200 kids total.
The team found that 4-year-
olds from Cameroonian farming
families in West Africa bested
their German middle-class
counterparts. Only 28 percent of
the German children earned an
extra treat, whereas 70 percent
of the Cameroonian children
scored a second one; 10 percent
even fell asleep waiting.
These children differ in many
ways, so the dramatic results,
reported in Child Development,
likely stem from a blend of
influences. Next, the researchers
say they want to investigate
strategies the children used to
help them wait. SYLVIA MORROW
Zika Kills Brain Cancer Cells
❯
ZIKA RECENTLY PROMPTED A GLOBAL
HEALTH PANIC, but the virus could have a
silver lining — as an effective combatant
against brain cancer in humans.
Mostly spread by infected mosquitoes, the Zika
virus caused near hysteria in 2015 after cases of
microcephaly — which impairs brain function —
were reported in infants. The condition is a result
of Zika’s ability to target developing brain cells
in fetuses. Because it homes in on young cells,
the virus may be effective against glioblastoma, a
deadly form of brain cancer in adults.
Zika seems to attack the still-developing cells
that cause glioblastoma, while leaving mature
brain cells unharmed. Researchers reported
in September in the Journal of Experimental
Medicine that Zika extended the lives of mice
with brain tumors and killed tumor cells in
human brain tissue in a lab. NATHANIEL SCHARPING
TOP: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES. BOTTOM: FLOORTJE/ISTOCK
Twins Heloisa and Heloa Barbosa of Brazil were born with
microcephaly after their mother contracted Zika during pregnancy.