science

Our intrepid reporter performs an intimate act in an fMRI scanner to explore the pathways of pleasure and pain

You could be sitting alone and still be completely outnumbered for your body is home to trillions upon trillions of tiny passengers - bacteria. Your body is made up of around ten trillion cells, but you harbour a hundred trillion bacteria. For every gene in your genome, there are 100 bacterial ones. This is your 'microbiome' and it has a huge impact on your health, your ability to digest food and more. We, in turn, affect them. Everything from the food we eat to the way we're born influences the species of bacteria that take up residence in our bodies.This slideshow is a tour through this "universe of us". Every slide has links to previous pieces that I've written on the subject if you want to delve deeper.Image by David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2011) - Auditory working memory and attention, for example the ability to hear and then remember instructions while completing a task, are a necessary part of musical ability. But musical ability is also related to verbal memory and literacy in childhood.

Some argue that these genes bring benefits - mental illness and genius have a long-standing link - but archaeologist Penny Spikins at the University of York, UK, goes further. She believes that mental illness and conditions such as autism persist at such high levels because in the past they were advantageous to humanity. "I think that part of the reason Homo sapiens were so successful is because they were willing to include people with different minds in their society - people with autism or schizophrenia, for example."

A Libertarian Economist retracts a swipe at the left-after discovering that our political leanings leave us more biased than we think.

Amazing what can be made from a bit of background noise in the GEO600 with a bit of imagination (or desire). Intriguing article from 12 months ago. No new information since....

chemiosmosis - alternate and quite well explained possible origin of life

MIT scientists have discovered that endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels, secrete molecules that suppress tumor growth and keep cancer cells from invading other tissues, a finding that could lead to a new way to treat cancer.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2011) - Think you're overloaded with information? Not even close.

Cells within a tumour potentially not acting independantly, but more like an integrated organism.

A new study of twins released online on Monday marked an important shift in thinking about the causes of autism.

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life

Predictions by Mojib Latif that there may be a slow down in global warming over the next decade that could bely the overall trend.

The Unuverse is on the verge of becoming virtual...

"Freaky findings shed light on evolution of luminescence in nature"

"A large study from Children's Hospital Boston and the Boston-based Autism Consortium finds that a genetic test that samples the entire genome, known as chromosomal microarray analysis, has about three times the detection rate for genetic changes related to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) than standard tests. Publishing in the April issue of Pediatrics (and online March 15), the authors urge that CMA become part of the first-line genetic work-up for ASDs."

Extension of string theory.