This week’s biggest stories
If I said you had a beautiful body, would you ... freeze it after death and hope to be reanimated in the future? And does it really offer a chance to return from the dead? If you’re keen to try it, it might be worth considering that experts have raised the alarm over the declining effect of last-line antibiotics - you might be looking at a rather shorter second life than you’d hoped for. Still, a gene-editing breakthrough that has allowed scientists to restore sight to blind animals could in future be used to combat a range of devastating genetic diseases, so perhaps it’s worth a punt? Given that researchers have discovered that they can tell a frightening amount about you just from chemical traces on your mobile phone, maybe even cryogenics and reanimation will look old hat in a couple of years - will regeneration be possible one day? I’m privately hoping that when they wake me up in a thousand years, my first holiday will involve a dip in Pluto’s vast ocean. I reckon it’d be bracing enough to really blow those cobwebs away.
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Friday feature
She was subject to death threats, lawsuits, personal abuse and a campaign to have her sacked, but psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has now been awarded the prestigious John Maddox prize for her courage in standing up for science.
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Straight from the lab – top picks from our experts on the blog network
It’s only wrong when YOU do it! The psychology of hypocrisy | Brain flapping
It’s no surprise; the brain is riddled with cognitive and memory biases that are geared towards making us feel like we’re good and decent and capable, no matter what the reality. The problem is that our judgements of other people are far more “realistic”.
Sunny steppes? A tiny parrot fossil suggests Siberia was once subtropical | Lost Worlds Revisited
Siberia doesn’t exactly conjure up images of lush tropical ecosystems today, but the Tagay fossil locality dates to the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, a period 17-15 million years ago that saw temperatures as much as 4-8C warmer than today. Abundant fossils of pond turtles, skinks and other ectothermic vertebrates indicate that Middle Miocene Tagay was less chilly than it is today (Daxner-Hock et al., 2013)
Why it’s time to investigate the overlap between autism and ADHD | Notes & Theories
Until as late as 2013 a joint (or comorbid) diagnosis of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not permitted by the most influential psychiatric handbook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is an essential tool in psychiatry as it allows clinicians and researchers to use a standard framework for classifying mental disorders. Health insurance companies and drug regulation agencies also use the DSM, so its definition of what does or doesn’t constitute a particular disorder can have far-reaching consequences.
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Monday Mind Games
Ok, we’ve avoided mentioning the US elections until now, but voting is still very much on everyone’s minds. But what are the factors that make us vote the way we do? This week’s Monday Mind Game explores the moral matrix that influence voting.
Visit the Head quarters blog, home of Mind Games
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Science Weekly podcast
Free will has been debated by philosophers and theologians for centuries. Neuroscientists and psychologists have now entered the fray - but what new light can they shed? And just how free are we when it comes to “free” will? Listen to the experts tease out the issues in the latest Science Weekly podcast.
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Eye on science – this week’s top video
So this is marvellous - it’s what 150 years of global warming would sound like if it were a symphony. Grab your headphones - it’s an interesting listen (and not dissimilar to a Hitchcock soundtrack. Just saying).
