This week’s biggest stories
Spectacular news this week from Alzheimer’s researchers - a preliminary drug trial has shown that a new tablet ‘switches off’ production of toxic amyloid proteins. If it is also shown to slow mental decline, it could be first treatment licensed in a decade. Also a valuable breakthrough, but with more rather sombre implications for smokers, is the information revealed by the first comprehensive study into the damage tobacco inflicts on human cells. All that makes the spooky fun of Halloween seem far away (was it only Monday?). But if you’re not ready to let go of witches and demons just yet, why not help out Historic England, who have asked the public to help them find and record witch marks on historic buildings? And finally, if you’re getting ready to bust a move on the dancefloor this weekend, researchers have provided some fascinating insights into why certain songs become earworms. We’ve even included a handy playlist ...
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Friday feature
Science editor Ian Sample takes a look inside the head of chess grandmaster Timur Gareyev, best know as the Blindfold King for his extraordinary ability to play chess from memory. Next month, Gareyev will play nearly 50 opponents at once - blindfolded. Can neuroscientists reveal how he performs such incredible mental feats?
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Straight from the lab – top picks from our experts on the blog network
The joy of steps: why humans are built to get a high from being on the move | Notes & Theories
The enormous influence of the drive to move on the evolution of Homo sapiens is an one that extends far deeper than the famous freeing of our hands and their opposable thumbs that occurred when our ancestors became full-time bipeds. Indeed, the opposable thumb itself likely developed as an adaptation to safe movement in the trees tens of millions of years before our forebears hit the savannah. But more importantly, our psychology is still adapted for a life on the move, even in the least energetic among us. Understanding how may help us to live more joyful lives.
Stem cells from schizophrenics produce fewer neurons | Neurophilosophy
Stem cells obtained from patients with schizophrenia carry a genetic mutation that alters the ratio of the different type of nerve cells they produce, according to a new study by researchers in Japan.
Dinosaur brains and other remarkable fossil finds | Lost Worlds Revisited
Ultimately, it all comes down to the decay of tissues. The reason that bones, teeth and shells (and for that matter wood) are common as fossils is that they decay only very slowly. Carnivores and scavengers don’t tend to eat bones (and if they do, the bones might still survive the process) and bacteria don’t break them down effectively. As a result, they can hang around for decades or centuries and have greater opportunities to be buried and potentially turn into a fossil. Soft tissues tend instead to be eaten so would need to be buried soon after the animal died in order to have a chance to be fossilised (and even here the bacteria or fungi may get to them). A more effective method of preservation, though, is to be in an environment where decay does not tend to occur.
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Monday Mind Games
As far as extraordinary claims go, suggesting that humans can possess psychic abilities is a pretty big one. But in 2011, that was the claim that was made in a famous psychology paper by Daryl Bem at Cornell University in New York. This week’s Mind Games examines what the experiments, and the paper, really showed.
Visit the Head quarters blog, home of Mind Games
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Science Weekly podcast
Astronaut Mike Massimino joins Hannah Devlin for this week’s podcast to reflect on the unlikely tale that took him from the streets of New York to the Hubble Telescope and back.
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Eye on science – this week’s top video
Puggle, puggle, puggle. It’s what baby echidnas are called and has become the word of the week here on the science desk, thanks to its inclusion in this month’s Zoology News gallery. Puggle.
