Prime Stream
thescian | August 17, 2006 A new program at the National Geographic channel that gets into the science of martial arts. [via]
thescian | August 17, 2006Lose what? The thing between our ears, dear reader. New brain cells die if they don't receive any inputs after they are formed. See this report in New Scientist. The experimenters used a virus to block inputs to the newly formed brain cells of a mice.
thescian | August 17, 2006An article in The Boston Globe on the recent research about how we make moral judgements.
"MORAL PHILOSOPHERS and academics interested in studying how humans choose between right and wrong often use thought experiments to tease out the principles that inform our decisions. One particular hypothetical scenario has become quite the rage in some top psychological journals. It involves a runaway trolley, five helpless people on the track, and a large-framed man looking on from a footbridge. He may or may not be about to tumble to his bloody demise: You get to make the call.
That's because in this…
thescian | August 16, 2006Toxoplasma must be one of the most mind-boggling (oh! sweet pun!) parasite. Maggie Wittlin has a fascinating report about this parasite at Seed Magazine.
"In a paper published in the online edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society, United States Geological Survey researcher Kevin Lafferty argues that a significant factor in why some countries exhibit higher levels of neuroticism than others may be the prevalence of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. The study also indicates that it may influence a society's preference for strict laws, an expression of uncertainty avoidance, and its valuation…
thescian | August 15, 2006Head over to nonoscience where Arunn has a very cool collection of science posts for the 20th edition of Melt.
thescian | August 14, 2006A post at Sowmya's blog caught my attention. The point being discussed there about reciting vedas is (I'll paraphrase), Can we use our vocal chords to increase our virility? Sounds like the vedic equivalent of viagra. I can already see many readers turning red with "blasphemy" written all over their red face. Well, I stand by the question. It is correct in its essentials.
This is not a complicated scientific question to answer. IMHO, a basic knowledge of physiology and voice production can provide the broader answers to this question. Vocal chords cannot be used to increase physical virility…