Category: Science

New research reveals that trained musicians really do think differently than the rest of us. We have to wonder, does this mean they're thinking in stereo?

Supporting what many of us who are not musically talented have often felt, new research reveals that trained musicians really do think differently than the rest of us. Vanderbilt University psychologists have found that professionally trained musicians more effectively use a creative technique called divergent thinking, and also use both the left and the right sides of their frontal cortex more heavily than the average person.

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This figure illustrates the different uses of the left and right side of the frontal cortex by musicians and non-musicians while using a creative technique called divergent thinking. Non-musicians, indicated by the blue-green areas, show greater activity in the left frontal cortex, while musicians show greater activation on both sides, as indicated by the red-orange areas.

If the current financial climate has taught us anything, it's that a system where over-borrowing goes unchecked eventually ends in disaster. It turns out this rule applies as much to our bodies as it does to economics.

If the current financial climate has taught us anything, it's that a system where over-borrowing goes unchecked eventually ends in disaster. It turns out this rule applies as much to our bodies as it does to economics. Instead of cash, our body deals in energy borrowed from muscle and given to the brain.

Racing sled dogs are best known for their “mushing” each March during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the world’s longest sled race. They are the premier ultra-endurance competitors, covering 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, AK, sometimes in just nine days. It is unclear how they can keep running despite heavy blizzards, temperatures as low as –40°F, and winds up to 60 mph. An expert explains what he has discovered thus far.

Dogs are often called “man’s best friend,” and rightly so. Consider, for example, that they never interrupt us when we talk, are always happy to see us when we arrive home, and provide comfort when we are lovesick. Since dogs became domesticated 15,000 years ago, they have worked with and lived next to humans, which some say may account for the special bond. Each of the 400 breeds and varieties are unique, but only one stands out as the ultra-athlete canine: the racing sled dogs.

West Nile virus is present in almost every corner of our country and this is peak season. CDC and state and local health experts recommend using EPA-registered insect repellents to help protect against West Nile virus. The most popular of these repellents is DEET. Despite its popularity, or perhaps because if it, many myths persist about DEET.

West Nile virus is present in almost every corner of our country and this is the peak season. A new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on U.S. West Nile virus cases in 2007 found that most (89%) of the 3,630 cases were reported during July, August and September. All but six states reported cases of WNV infections in humans last year. The CDC says the mosquito-borne disease is underreported and under-diagnosed and estimates that approximately 175,000 Americans may have been infected with West Nile last year. There are at least 44 confirmed cases of WNV across 15 states so far this year.

Finding current geologic activity on Jupiter's moon Europa would present NASA the best opportunity for exploring the moon's vast ocean trapped beneath its icy exterior where many experts suggest life could exist.

With average temperatures of minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, an almost nonexistent atmosphere and a complex web of cracks in a layer of ice encompassing the entire surface, the environment on Jupiter’s moon Europa is about as alien as they come. So are the enormous forces behind the surface display, namely an ocean beneath the ice nine times deeper than Earth’s deepest ocean trench and gravitational affects from a planet 318 times the mass of Earth.

Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies.

Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and other instruments on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Children appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, according to researchers who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans. Children show responses to seeing someone in pain in the same areas of their brains. Additional aspects of the brain were activated when youngsters saw another person hurt.

Children between the ages of seven and 12 appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, according to researchers who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans to study responses in children.

North Carolina State University scientists have figured out one reason why pregnant yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), one of the most important disease transmitters worldwide, choose to lay their eggs in certain outdoor water containers while eschewing others.

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, North Carolina State University researchers show that certain chemicals emanating from bacteria in water containers stimulate the female mosquitoes to lay their eggs. The female mosquitoes sense these chemical cues and decide that the water container is a preferable environment for their larvae to develop.

Did you ever see a mouse in the kitchen, then find yourself seeing mice in every dust ball and dark corner? According to researchers, this is normal and is part of how the brain works.

Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery - what we see with the "mind's eye" - directly impacts our visual perception.

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Mental imagery is commonly referred to as seeing with the mind's eye. This image shows a graphic, yet literal representation of the the minds eye, by showing an eye peering out of the brain.

Can you hear what a person looks like? A growing body of research suggests so.

“The mere sound of a person’s voice contains important, embedded biological information,” says Susan Hughes, assistant professor of psychology at Albright College in Reading, Pa., who has researched vocal attractiveness and body symmetry. In her latest study, she finds a relationship between voice quality and another important biological marker: digit ratios. “The ratio of the second (index) finger to the fourth (ring) finger – the 2D:4D ratio – is an indirect measure of prenatal sex hormone exposure,” she says.