Epilespy patients’ brainwaves tend to synchronize with music, and that discovery may one day help prevent seizures.
That’s according to a new study, which neurologist Christine Charyton of Ohio State University recently presented at the American Psychological Association’s 123rd Annual Convention.
Read More → "Music may help treat epilepsy someday"
Virtual reality has unlimited potential, but it could make you sick. Stanford researchers are trying to solve that problem by tapping another new tech, light-field cameras. You see, VR devices can cause fatigue and nausea because of the “flat plane” 3D images they produce. Since those images don’t contain any depth information, your eyes can’t focus on near and far objects like you would in real life. Our brains want physical actions (like focusing) to jibe … Read More → "Researchers reduce VR sickness by letting your eyes focus"
City-dwelling song sparrows and their rural counterparts aren’t exactly birds of a feather, according to a new study published in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
Researchers at Virginia Tech played recordings of unfamiliar sparrows to two groups of birds: one comprised of sparrows hailing from the city, and the other made up of country denizens. The city sparrows behaved much more aggressively towards the phantom birds than the rural sparrows did, parking … Read More → "Urban song sparrows are more aggressive than rural birds"
If you thought your preference for online laughter was meaningless, think again. According to a post from the Facebook research team, “e-laughing is evolving” and the social network has been analyzing the data we use in its platform since the end of May. (Definitely hit the link for the deep dive; it’s a fascinating study.)
To likely no one’s surprise, the most common expression of e-laughing is “ … Read More → "Facebook knows how you laugh"
In a rather science fictional moment, the Expedition 44 crew members on the International Space Station are about to eat the very first space crops. On Monday, a batch of red romaine lettuce will be harvested from the Veggie plant growth system on the ISS orbiting laboratory. Cosmically delicious.
via Gizmodo
Read More → "Astronauts will eat space lettuce for the first time next week"
Winter makes people desperate. Being surrounded by snow for months saps the fun out of the world. Walking on a frozen ice lake is not comforting. But screw it all. Because people need to be, well, people, crazy folks that were sick of winter this year decided to chainsaw up a frozen lake and make a moving carousel on ice. It looks like so much fun!
via Gizomodo</ … Read More → "Crazy people chainsawed a frozen lake to make a spinning ice carousel"
Stand back behind the yellow tape, everyone! The CSI techs are on their way and they are coming to science—and it’s driving the real forensics experts crazy.
Dawnie Steadman is a forensic anthropologist and the director of the University of Tennesee’s “body … Read More → "A forensics expert explains just how far removed CSI is from reality"
Our ancestors weren’t blessed with smartphones, WiFi and Amazon Prime, but for what it’s worth they did have a little extra DNA. According to a study published today in Science, Homo sapiens have shed about 40.7 million base pairs of DNA since migrating out of Africa nearly two million years ago.
via Read More → "Ancient humans had more DNA than us"
A South Korean startup has created an active Braille smartwatch for the visually impaired that can be read by touch. Aptly named Dot, the wearable relays the time with a set of pins that rise and fall. Users will be able to receive and read text messages in real time, read e-books and even learn Braille.
via Gizmag
This flurry of neon color above may look like a blurry photography of a particularly wild party, but in fact it’s the first ever sample of human serotonin neurons to be grown in the bottom of a Petri dish.
Scientists have long known about serotonin neurons — which release and take up the neurotransmitter, which is linked to mood and … Read More → "Scientists have grown human serotonin neurons in the lab"
