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They can make you smile.  Or cringe.  Or annoy the hell out of you if you're someone like me, who gets one in an email and doesn't have a clue what it stands for.   We're talking emojis . How can something invented barely 20 years ago in Japan (has it really been that long?).  And who came up with the word??? In any event, a new report investigates what effect they have on pretty much the last place you'd expect them.  The workplace.  Or, at least, the places I worked.  In fact,  sending and receiving emojis in the workplace could have an impact on productivity and innovation in the workplace, according to newswise.com. University of Delaware  management  professor  Kyle Emich  has explored the effects of emotions on teams and performance and is now taking on what effect, if any, they have on innovation and productivity. "In our lab, we normally induce emotional states by showing people happy or sad video clips or p...

Say it ain't so!  But that euphoric high you get from running is all chemical, not the least bit spiritual. According to a new survey, apparently that sense of freedom and joy we get from running is not just from endorphins but from a hormone called leptin (which also supposedly causes us to lose -- or not lose -- weight, but that's a story for another day). The "runner’s high" phenomenon is also caused by dopamine, an important neurotransmitter for motivation, newswise.com reports.  "We discovered that the rewarding effects of endurance activity are modulated by leptin, a key hormone in metabolism. Leptin inhibits physical activity through dopamine neurons in the brain," Stephanie Fulton, a researcher at the CRCHUM and lead author of an article published today in the journal Cell Metabolism , tells newswise. Secreted by adipose tissue, leptin helps control the feeling of satiety. This hormone also influences physical activity. "The more ...

OK, so it's Valentine's Day soon.  So let's talk about falling in love, and what it does to you physically. "Falling in love causes our body to release a flood of feel-good chemicals that trigger specific physical reactions," said Pat Mumby, PhD, co-director of the Loyola Sexual Wellness Clinic and professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM) at newswise.com. "This internal elixir of love is responsible for making our cheeks flush, our palms sweat and our hearts race." Levels of these substances, which include dopamine, adrenaline and norepinephrine, increase when two people fall in love. Dopamine creates feelings of euphoria while adrenaline and norepinephrine are responsible for the pitter-patter of the heart, and Otherrestlessness and overall preoccupation that go along with experiencing love.  MRI scans indicate that love lights up the pleasure center of the brain...