Like Civilization? Thank Tectonic Plates
Mesopotamia is Greek for “land between rivers” and indeed it sat between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, what is now basically modern Iraq.
Anthropology
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Archaeology
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Lady 56: A Swedish Grave Reveals A Famed Spanish Pilgrimage
If you see multiple graves in medieval graves, it is reasonable to assume children and adults were related, but a new study finds that was not the case.
Psychology
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Repressed Memories Nonsense Is Making A Comeback
Have you heard someone say online or in casual conversation, when responding to someone’s struggles, “well, the body keeps the score”? For many people, this phrase is a useful way to name the...
Science Education & Policy
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The Endangered Species Act Attempted To Define 'Habitat' And Controversy Ensued
It wouldn’t make much sense to prohibit people from shooting a threatened woodpecker while allowing its forest to be cut down, or to bar killing endangered salmon while allowing a dam to dry out...
Science History
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The Scorched Cherry Twig And Other Christmas Miracles Get A Science Look
Bleeding hosts and stigmatizations are the best-known medieval miracles but less known ones, like a scorched cherry twig miraculously sprouting, a diseased swamp becoming fertile land, and healing...
Philosophy & Ethics
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Editorial: This Week’s LA Non-riots
A Facebook friend opined that Los Angeles protesters could “turn LA into another Portland.” I expand for you my rejoinder to his post:
Declining Sense Of Smell May Predict Alzheimers
Older adults who have difficulty identifying common odors may have a greater risk of developing problems with thinking, learning and memory, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of…
Which came first, colorful food or colorful sex?
The adaptive significance of the unique ability in many primates to distinguish red hues from green ones (i.e., trichromatic color vision) has always enticed debate among evolutionary biologists.…
Bread Plus Folic Acid Equals Less Depression?
A unique study by researchers at the University of York and Hull York Medical School has confirmed a link between depression and low levels of folate, a vitamin which comes from vegetables.
In…
Scientists Reverse Mental Retardation In Mice
Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have, for the first time, reversed symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice.
The mice were genetically manipulated to…
Alzheimer's Drug CTS-21166 Goes Into Clinical Trials
CTS-21166, an experimental drug to treat Alzheimer's disease, began the first phase of human clinical trials this week.
"Millions of people suffer from this devastating disease and treatment options…
Blind People Have Better Memories
Compared to people with normal vision, those who were blind at birth tend to have excellent memories. A new study shows that blind individuals are particular whizzes when it comes to remembering…
Zeroing in on the brain's speech 'receiver'
A particular resonance pattern in the brain’s auditory processing region appears to be key to its ability to discriminate speech, researchers have found. They found that the inherent rhythm of neural…
The Neural Computer In The Cerebellum
Researchers have discovered a sophisticated neural computer, buried deep in the cerebellum, that performs inertial navigation calculations to figure out a person’s movement through space.
These…
Schizophrenia In The Third World
25 million people are living with schizophrenia in low and middle income countries and over two-thirds of them are not receiving any treatment.
Dr Vikram Patel discusses the crucial role that…
PINK1 protects from Parkinson's
Parkinson disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons.
Although the cause of PD is unknown, pathological analyses have…
