Here's a fun link to a piece by Jeff Houck of the Tampa Tribune. He pored through news archives to find 50 things we know now that we didn't know a year ago. What with Britney and war and politics we sometimes miss things that turn out to be significant later on. If he had gone through scientific journals he probably would have discovered stuff the news media missed altogether rather than stuff they simply downplayed or didn't feature.
It's hardly news to parents who have lived through those years that "The part of the brain that regulates reasoning, impulse control and judgment is still under construction during puberty and doesn't shift to autopilot until about age 25." Of course. But I'd like to know more about the "autopilot" phase. Does it suggest that after 25 people (or most people) stop reasoning originally or simply don't process new information that doesn't fit their preconceptions? I discover evidence for that hypothesis almost every day.
Blue light fends off drowsiness in the middle of the night. Certain brain chemicals in our tears are natural pain relievers. The hole in the earth's ozone layer is closing even though greenhouse gases are increasing. Hmmmm. 30 minutes of continuous kissing can diminish the body's allergic reaction to pollen. Red wine contains anti-inflammatories and the chemical resveratrol, found in red wine, can stave off obesity and the effects of aging in mice. DNA analysis has determined that the English are descended from a Spanish fishing tribe that crossed the Bay of Biscay some 6,000 years ago.
More things in heaven and earth . . .
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
that article was very interesting. my favorite was "A 145-million-year-old beach ball-sized meteorite found a half-mile below a giant crater in South Africa has a chemical composition unlike any known meteorite." i wonder where it came from....
Post a Comment