Ancient Humans Wore Ancient Bling
Discovered: Fashion accessory trends date back 75,000 years; how we zone out at parties; the oldest human ancestor turned 338,000 years old; the Higgs Boson — or nearly so.
The president proposed a $100 million, long-term investment initiative Tuesday: the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or BRAIN for short, so scientists may better understand our noggin'.
Discovered: Fashion accessory trends date back 75,000 years; how we zone out at parties; the oldest human ancestor turned 338,000 years old; the Higgs Boson — or nearly so.
Funding-strapped researchers should be rejoicing at Obama's promise to put $3 billion towards mapping the human brain, right? Not according to scientists who say the project lacks clear goals and gobbles up money that could've gone to a lot more smaller studies.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Discovered: Some of our DNA is four-stranded, and that's not a good thing; the brain's selfishness center; men who can't smell don't have much sex; hearing loss foreshadows mental decline.
Discovered: Scientists dig up Frodo fossils; autistic people hear music better; babies' brains foretell adult diseases; Deepwater Horizon cleanup could hurt coral all over again.
Discovered: PBDEs in common household items hinder brain development; 16th century astronomer didn't die from mercury poisoning; brain activity translated into music; belly buttons are swarming with bacteria.
Discovered: A drug-resistant bug's life; a tiny tractor beam; the genetic mutations underlying brain cancer; how kids get hit by cars.
Discovered: Amateur astronomers find fascinating new planet; mapping Antarctica before it melts away; bigger brains correlate with greater cancer risk; shocking pants prevent bedsores.
Discovered: Evidence ancient Mars was dry; short kids depress moms; swine flu mutation; creating artificial memories in rat brain tissue is still a long way off from Total Recall.
Discovered: Antarctic ice methane could hasten global warming; tuning an instrument also tunes the brain; NASA survey finds millions of potential black holes; low-cal diets don't improve lifespan.
Discovered: A record-breaking galaxy cluster; how squids change hue; the way our brains deal with waste; engineering better toilets.
Discovered: We give up searching when targets are few and far between; studying the urban landscape; science teachers release invasive species into the wild; inside the brains of hoarders.
Happening today is a convergence of medicine, technology, social media and a testament ... oh nevermind. You know what? Houston's Memorial Hermann hospital is live-tweeting a brain surgery this morning.
Discovered: A hair regeneration technique using stem cells, a brand new dark matter theory, brain scans can predict future weight gain and future sex and another reason to drink.
The makers of the iBrain, a machine used to collect sleep data, have loftier plans for the EEG recording tool: mind reading.
Ever since the first tort suit that claimed a link between phone radiation and brain was filed in 1993, research into the subject has fallen on all ends of the spectrum.
More evidence that DNA and intelligence are related--but let's not get carried away
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