Recently, scientists identified mechanism deep in brains of mice that can be tweaked to shorten or lengthen lives. They have found a biological command centre for the ageing process in a lump of brain the size of a nut. The key to stalling the harsh march of aging is likely deep inside your...

I wonder, when we write or compose musics, which part of the brain activate? When we play musical improvisations, instead of reading music notations, which part of the brain activate? Music is to mental health what sports is to physical health. Since sound recognition involves developing...

Not if we could work a way around our boredom, it could be a very different kind of future waiting for us   If you imagine yourself as an elf, live along side with men, dwarves, goblins and orcs, and any nasty creatures of Middle Earth for thousands of years, you might get frustrated...

“We all wonder why we don’t look like, act like, feel like everybody else. Each of our brains has the exact same parts. The Cortex, Hypothalamus, Fornix, Septal Nucleus so on.. and yet.. no two brains are exactly alike. So being different.. Being unique.. is undeniably a...

Human immortality is a broad subject. It is science and religion. It is futurism and conservatism. Since forever, human beings have wanted immortality. It literally goes back to the first epic that’s ever been written, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Sumerians’ epic poems that lead us into the...

One of the most common objections to my position on free will is that accepting it could have terrible consequences, psychologically or socially. This is a strange rejoinder, analogous to what many religious people allege against atheism: Without a belief in God, human beings will cease to be...

Truth is provisional, shifting, temporary and subjective, and the quest for elucidation is forever incomplete and wholly narrative. Fiction allows scientists to explore reality in the way the day job doesn’t allow   One of the mistakes that people – and I include scientists and...

Plumbing system found in mice makes scientist’s “heart sing.”   Talk about brainwashing—a newfound plumbing system, identified in mice, likely helps the brain empty its waste, a new study says. Because mouse biology is similar to ours, the same findings should apply to...

I believe that this presentation is not just theory; it is fact.  We live in a world, a galaxy, and a universe of six dimensions.  The physics used today do not reflect the last two dimensions and are thus limited in theory, especially where and when different fields are involved.  With six...

There’s a lot to be said for living a good, honest life. If you avoid lying, chances are you’ll have an easier time at work. You won’t have to sneak around with your significant other. You’ll be well liked by the clergy. And according to new research by scientists at the University of...

The Big Rip Theory might be the scariest scenario for the end of everything we’ve come across. That the universe will just tear itself apart.   Most experts believe the amount of matter in the universe will cause the expansion of the universe to slow down — and the universe may...

With respect to the cosmos, mankind has just been born. Hypothetically, if our 14 billion-year-old universe were scaled down to just 10 years (for the sake of comparison), dinosaurs would have been extinct 17 days ago, our earliest relative Lucy would have been playing around on the Savannah...

There’s a myth out there that has gained the status of a cliché: that scientists love proving themselves wrong, that the first thing they do after constructing a hypothesis is to try to falsify it. Professors tell students that this is the essence of science. Yet most scientists behave...

At some point, the Mongol military leader Kublai Khan (1215–94) realized that his empire had grown so vast that he would never be able to see what it contained. To remedy this, he commissioned emissaries to travel to the empire’s distant reaches and convey back news of what he owned....

Geneva, 4 July 2012. At a seminar held at CERN1 today as a curtain raiser to the year’s major particle physics conference, ICHEP2012 in Melbourne, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their latest preliminary results in the search for the long sought Higgs particle. Both experiments...

There’s trouble at the start of time: the theory of cosmic inflation has got way out of control. Can quantum theory and holograms tame it?   “You know how sometimes you meet somebody and they’re really nice, so you invite them over to your house and you keep talking with...

When it comes to light, Albert Einstein would agree with Daniel J. Boorstin‘s quote that “the greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.” Even though we know so much, we still are far from knowing enough. One aspect of this illusion is...

How evolution sculpts moral systems The most hotly debated issues in culture and politics tend to get framed in moralistic terms, such as the fairness of income inequality, the sanctity of heterosexual marriage, the ethics of campaign finance laws, and the obligation of society to protect...

There is this myth that scientists are unemotional, rational seekers of truth. This is typified by the quote from Bertrand Russell: But if philosophy is to attain truth, it is necessary first and foremost that philosophers should acquire the disinterested intellectual curiosity which...

We’re obsessed with relentless focus. We assume that if we encounter a difficult problem the best strategy is to chug red bull or drink coffee. Drugs including Adderall and Ritalin are prescribed to millions to improve focus. Taking a break is a faux pas, mind wandering even worse. Yet,...

Last week, Time treated readers to an explanation of what makes scary music scary. The short answer: our monkey brains. Taking the famous two-note theme from Jaws as Exhibit A, the article unleashed a whole lot of Science: “Those irregular minor chords trigger the same instinctual response a...

On May 7, 1824, Beethoven took to the stage for the first time in twelve years to direct what would be considered one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. His conductorship of Symphony No. 9 received standing ovations and tumultuous applause from a packed Viennese hall. But Beethoven...

Want to maximize your learning capacity? Get some sleep. That’s the takeaway from a study that examined the influence of sleep and time of day on learning and memory. This latest research is another piece of compelling evidence that sleeping helps to strengthen our ability to learn new...

Rosie Redfield (who blogs on this network) has just published a careful and decisive rebuttal to the “arsenic bacteria” fiasco in collaboration with a group at Princeton. The paper which will appear in Science is under embargo for now, but there is a copy available at that bastion...

A physicist presents a solution to present-day cosmic mysteries   Our universe may exist inside a black hole. This may sound strange, but it could actually be the best explanation of how the universe began, and what we observe today. It’s a theory that has been explored over the...

Everything that happens to us starts with a choice Whether you believe it or not, everything up to this point in your life that has or has not happened to you is because of the choices you have made. Every aspect or our life when examined a little closer can be traced back to a series of...

Based on conversations with a range of experts, the motivations—and the psychological mechanisms behind them—can be classified under three distinct roles: teller, researcher, and listener. The Teller Something to talk about. Grandparents may share family stories to bypass generational gaps...

We like to believe that a few bad apples spoil the virtuous bunch. But research shows that everyone cheats a little—right up to the point where they lose their sense of integrity Dan Ariely, author of the new book, “The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty,” explains why   Not...

In the 17th century, the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes famously argued that, “the mind or soul of man is entirely different from the body.” With this move, Descartes forever enshrined himself as a dualist. Modern science tells us that Descartes was wrong; our bodies...

David Eagleman‘s Laboratory for Perception is located on the ground floor of Baylor University’s Ben Taub Medical Center, but the vibe is more creative think tank than clinical academic enclave. The walls are enamelled in dry-erase paint and marked up with impromptu sketches,...

It is gratifying when people see you just as you want to be seen. But don’t count on it. If you like to think of yourself as a gentle person of few words others may nevertheless find you boring and pathetic. You may like to think of yourself as curious and passionate about ideas, while...

When someone else falls on their buttocks in a spectacular display of flailing limbs, or another spills some soup on a pristine white shirt at a fancy office party, aren’t these the moments that make life worth it? Commonly enough, most of us will have to suppress a naughty chuckle at the...

Why Good People Do Bad Things   Over the past decade or so, news stories about unethical behavior have been a regular feature on TV, a long, discouraging parade of misdeeds marching across our screens. And in the face of these scandals, psychologists and economists have been slowly...

WHY are we thinking so much about thinking these days? Near the top of best-seller lists around the country, you’ll find Jonah Lehrer’s “Imagine: How Creativity Works,” followed by Charles Duhigg’s book “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business,” and...

Speaking a second language can change everything from problem-solving skills to personality – almost as if you are two people   Cognitive enhancement is just the start. According to some studies, my memories, values, even my personality, may change depending on which language I happen...

In this lecture for Westmont College’s series titled “Beyond Two Cultures: The Sciences as Liberal Arts,” string theorist Jim Gates offers his thoughts on the complementary natures of science and the liberal arts — and how the human mind formulates “systems of belief” in both...

Spooky quantum entanglement just got spookier. Entanglement is a weird statewhere two particles remain intimately connected, even when separated over vast distances, like two die that must always show the same numbers when rolled. For the first time, scientists have entangled particles after...

Frank Wilczek, a physicist, MIT; recipient, 2004 Nobel Prize in physics; author, The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces When I first took up the piano, merely hitting each note required my full attention. With practice, I began to work in phrases and chords....

When it comes to stimulating creativity, brainstorming is one of the least efficient methods. The idea behind Groupthink models is that creativity and achievement requires other people. Lone geniuses are out, and collaboration is in. Society is snuffing out the potential of introverts –...

I just came back from a jazz festival at Katy High School in Texas that show-cased student stage bands from ten schools mostly near Houston, but some as far away as Beaumont and Brownsville (the latter band stole the show). The festival was also a teaching event, with each band or ensemble...