Ronald Cotton went to prison for rape.The victim picked him from a lineup convinced she was accurate. She picked him again years later when his case was reopened. This second lineup included the actual rapist. After 11 years behind bars, Cotton was later exonerated by DNA evidence . Experts say that the current lineup format pressures witnesses to identify a suspect, even when they lack confidence.So researchers are trying to improve the accuracy of such identifications. One recent study had more than 900 participants watch a short film of a staged crime. Up to a week after watching the film, the viewers looked at photos of suspects one at a time, and rated how confident they were about each one's guilt. Half of the participants could take as long as they wanted to look at the photos. The other half had to decide within a few seconds. And the fast group was up to 66 percent more accurate. The study is in the Journal of Psychological Science. Strong memories are accessed more quickly than weak memories, which may explain why choosing fast tends to mean choosing right.Another factor that's putting the standard police lineup itself on trial.

One day the banana is perfect. Bright yellow, firm, flavorful. But even within that same day brown spots appear on your perfectly ripe banana, its flesh turns mushy, and it's destined for the compost or at best, banana bread. But scientists are developing a way to extend the life of ripe bananas. It's a spray-on coating made from chitosan—a substance found in crab and shrimp shells. The new gel can be sprayed on bananas to slow the ripening process by up to 12 days. Like other fruit bananas remain alive after being picked and they actually continue to respire.This means they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. The more the banana breathes the faster it ripens and then rots. Bananas ripen more quickly than most fruit because they don't naturally slow the respiration after being picked, in fact it speeds up, causing bananas to become mushy. Chitosan not only kills the bacteria on banana's skin that then leads to rot, it also significantly slows down the respiration in the first place. So bananas won't drive you bananas.

You just bought peanut butter. You chose the jar because, well, you've always eaten the crunchy variety. In reality, however, something else may have influenced your choice— the product you picked was centrally located on the store shelves. Researchers tracked eye movements of 67 subjects scanned a 3 by 3 matrix of fictitious brands. The tracking found that consumers tend to focus on the objects in the middle—specifically, five seconds before they make their choice. And they do this for all kinds of products, from vitamins to online movies. Also, subjects continued to go for the centrally-located brand even if the product was not in the middle of their specific visual field. So it's not in reference to one's view, it is literally about the product being central within the entire shelf layout . Past studies have shown that people tend to make a lot of choices based on central locations, like choosing the middle bathroom stall in a public washroom, a middle seat at a table, or even the middle items in a series of arbitrary objects.The test consumers had no conscious awareness that they had chosen centrally located brands.Makes you wonder what you've taken home without realizing why.

You might picture Neanderthals as cavemen gnawing on bones around a campfire. Which wouldn't be inaccurate. But Neanderthals may have also dined on roasted vegetables and known a bit about medicinal plants too. So says a study in the journal Naturwissenschaften (The Science of Nature) . Researchers analyzed hardened dental plaque from five Neanderthals found in El Sidr髇 cave, in northern Spain. Yes, 50,000-year-old dental plaque. And they found a lot lurking between the teeth. Like evidence of nuts, grasses and green veggies, chemical traces of wood smoke, and tiny, intact starch granules, proof Neanderthals ate their carbs. And in one individual, they detected compounds found in the medicinal herbs chamomile and yarrow. The herbs have no nutritional value, and since Neanderthals did have the gene to detect the herbs' bitter taste, the researchers speculate that the cave dwellers were munching on them not as food—but to self-medicate. Not too far-fetched, they say, because primates like chimps also use medicinal plants. Luckily for the scientists doing this detective work, Neanderthals may have known a thing or two about medicine, but they didn't get regular check-ups at the dentist.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. As such they can reveal if someone is lying, right? Cop shows, advice shows, even some organizational training courses hold that if somebody looks up and to the right, they're probably lying. Up and to the left means they're telling the truth. Now a study says that there is no connection between eye movement and lying. The work is in the journal Public Library of Science ONE. Researchers tested eye movement and honesty in multiple ways. For example, they tracked the eye movements of subjects who were lying or telling the truth about things they had recently done. There was no correlation between lying and eye direction. The researchers also closely analyzed 52 archived news videos of real people, making a public plea for the safe return of a missing relative .In half the videos the plea was sincere—but in half there was strong evidence that the speaker was involved in the crime. Again, no eye movement clue was evident . So when judging the honesty of a speaker, remember: the eyes do not have it.