Most people associate Stockholm Syndrome, a situation in which people being held captive feel sympathy toward their captors, with Patty Hearst and her ordeal with the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. But the first Stockholm Syndrome actually happened a year before in—you guessed it—Sweden.

The whole thing went down over a period of six days, from August 23 through August 28, 1973. On the first day, Jan-Erik Olsson … Read More → "The story behind Stockholm Syndrome"

A huge fan of TV artist Bob Ross, who for years created pieces of art for The Joy of Painting, Yoneda is fascinated by the way the artist would “almost automatically finish his pieces every 30 minutes,” and set out to replicate Ross’ work with code. It’s been quite a challenge. He quickly mastered the way colors bleed and run into each … Read More → "The computer algorithm that mimics Bob Ross (video)"

In a study out of the University of Helsinki that builds on previous investigations, a team used EEG scans on 33 newborn babies to reach that conclusion. Their research started, however, when those infants were still in the womb: moms-to-be in their third trimester were divided into two groups, with … Read More → "Baby talk: newborns recall words heard in the womb, research shows"

Ford has turned to space robots in an effort to make driving safer and more efficient. The motor car company has embarked on a three-year research partnership with the telematics department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia to study communications systems for space robots as a way of improving technology currently under development to produce cars able to communicate directly with one another and with the internet.
via Read More → "Ford studies space robots to improve car safety"

Human brain-to-brain interfacing seems like the stuff of fiction (Pacific Rim, anyone?), but researchers at the University of Washington have made it a reality. A team led by faculty members Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco claim to have pioneered the world’s first human-to-human experiment of the sort. Rao and Stocco were placed in different buildings and hooked up to two devices to record, interpret and … Read More → "Researchers link brains, control each other’s actions via the internet (video)"

To be considered a true geek in today’s geek friendly world, you can’t just be smart. You have to dedicate yourself to the right movies and TV shows. You have to be curious about all kinds of computer and technology. You need to know which video games to play, which superhero to root for, which quotes actually matter. But probably most important of all, you need to know how to … Read More → "50 things a geek should know"

Nerve cells communicate through short, fleeting pulses of electrical activity. Yet some memories stored in the brain can persist for decades. Research into how the nervous system bridges these two radically different time scales has been going on for decades, and a number of different ideas have picked up some experimental support.

For instance, based on their past activity, nerve cells can dictate which partners they make … Read More → "Memories of positive associations get written onto DNA"

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center is tasked with tracking all of the various storms and weather activity that happens on Earth. Using this wealth of data, the agency has released a stunningly beautiful map of 11,967 tropical cyclones from 1842 to 2012. … Read More → "Trace the paths of nearly 12,000 hurricanes on a beautiful map of the globe"

Fossils are three-dimensional objects, but you aren’t really supposed to touch them, and you can’t see their depth and detail very easily over the internet. But a new database of fossils from the British Geological Survey actually has the necessary files for you to 3D print fossils … Read More → "This database lets you 3D print and explore thousands of fossils"

The blaze raging its way through a national forest in the Yosemite National Park area, known as the Rim fire, can be seen with frightening clarity at the center of this image taken by NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite on August 23. The size of the fire is especially obvious in this view, as compared to Lake Tahoe outlined above it, San Francisco Bay to the left and Las Vegas … Read More → "Yosemite fire burns bright in incredible nighttime image from space"