When rules change, brain falters

post from Top stories on 31 July 2012 10:04:20 PM. © Top stories

For the human brain, learning a new task when rules change can be a surprisingly difficult process marred by repeated mistakes, according to a new study by Michigan State University psychology researchers.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/when-rules-change-brain-falters

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Drug duo turns on cancer-fighting gene in some
cancers

post from Top stories on 31 July 2012 09:59:41 PM. © Top stories

Story Source

A potentially powerful new approach to treating two lethal metastatic cancers ? triple negative breast cancer and clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer ? has been discovered by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/drug-duo-turns-cancer-fighting-gene-some-cancers

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Men and women see things differently

post from Top stories on 31 July 2012 09:57:44 PM. © Top stories

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In a new study published in the journal Vision Research, researchers at the University of Southern California show that the eyes and attention of men and women meander in distinctly different ways.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/men-and-women-see-things-differently

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Concussions may accelerate brain aging

post from Top stories on 31 July 2012 09:54:23 PM. © Top stories

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Concussions and even lesser head impacts may speed up the brain's natural aging process by causing signaling pathways in the brain to break down more quickly than they would in someone who has never suffered a brain injury or concussion.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/concussions-may-accelerate-brain-aging

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When we forget to remember

post from Top stories on 31 July 2012 09:49:25 PM. © Top stories

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A surgical team closes an abdominal incision, successfully completing a difficult operation. Weeks later, the patient comes into the ER complaining of abdominal pain and an X-ray reveals that one of the forceps used in the operation was left inside the patient.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/when-we-forget-remember

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Confessions of a Boltzmann Brain

post from Top stories on 31 July 2012 09:43:05 PM. © Top stories

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If the universe is infinite, either in space or time, or if there is an infinite number of finite universes, or if there is even one actually existing infinite universe sufficiently like our own, then any event of finite probability will occur an infinite number of times (given certain assumption

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/confessions-boltzmann-brain

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NCBI ROFL: The science of disgusting family
dinners.

post from Discoblog » NCBI ROFL on 31 July 2012 07:00:18 PM. © Discoblog » NCBI ROFL

The social life of ‘eugh’: Disgust as assessment in family mealtimes.

“Disgust is a complex phenomenon that pervades a number of social situations. To date, disgust has primarily been understood as an individually experienced emotion or as a way of defining boundaries between people or objects; the detailed social practices through which disgust is choreographed, however, have yet to be fully explored. The social implications of disgust are particularly apparent when food and eating are involved, as it is in such settings that individuals, objects, and social boundaries coincide. In this paper, I argue that the enactment of disgust is an inherently social event, and that we can evidence it as such through the way in which it is produced and oriented to in everyday interaction. The setting for this paper is family mealtimes, as a situation in which children and parents explore the boundaries of what is, and what is not, disgusting. A large corpus of video and audio recordings of mealtimes in England and Scotland were analysed using a discursive psychological approach, with a focus on explicating the sequential and prosodic features of disgust markers (DMs), such as ‘eugh’ and ‘yuck’. The analysis ...

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NcbiRofl/~3/eKFbv5Mi4mo/

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Multimillionaire Physicists

The Nobel prize may be the most prestigious award for a physicist, but what can $1.2 million get you anymore nowadays, especially if you have to share it with a colleague or two? Physicists: fret no more. Now the most lucrative prize in academia -- the whopping $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize -- has been handed out for the first time.

Yuri Milner, a former physics student turned billionaire investor, started the prize to recognize advances in physics, especially theoretical advances that have yet to be corroborated by experiments. While he chose the winners this year, the nine winners from this year, who each received $3 million, will choose recipients in the future.

The New York Times has the full story and list of winners, and we have a partial list of the APS members who received the prize.

Juan Maldacena from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey
Nathan Seiberg also from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey is an APS fellow.
Ed Witten, yet another member of the Institute for Advanced Study, is an APS fellow as well.

All three were recognized for their theoretical work in fundamental physics topics like string theory and quantum field theory. Congratulations to Maldacena, Seiberg, Witten and all of the winners of this year's prize!

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/physicscentral/PhysicsBuzz/~3/sxpGVJTbsIs/multimil
lionaire-physicists.html

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Saving Planetary Science: Shoe Shines and Bake
Sales

NASA's planetary science program supports projects that explore our solar system's planets, moons, comets and asteroids. The program has led to many fascinating science discoveries and amazing images of our cosmic neighborhood. Unfortunately, the Obama administration's proposed 2013 federal budget currently aims to cut the program's funding by 20 percent.

So physicists took action. In events organized by Alan Stern, the Principal Investigator of the New Horizons spacecraft heading to Pluto, planetary scientists across the country sold baked goods, washed cars and shined shoes to "raise money" for the budget earlier this summer.

The actions were mostly symbolic, but they truly resonated with me -- a former undergraduate researcher who worked on an instrument aboard New Horizons. In my college town of Boulder, Colorado, Stern and other planetary scientists set up shop near a large pedestrian mall to shine shoes. No doubt, quite a few Boulder residents took notice.

Now leaders in Congress have taken notice too.

As Phil Plait reported on his Bad Astronomer blog, Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) has been spreading news of the "shoe shine" efforts throughout the halls of Congress. Now a few more Representatives have publicly joined the fight to restore NASA's planetary sciences budget.

In the video below, you can see Representatives Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) supporting Stern's efforts to publicize the regrettable drop in funding.

As Congress debates the budget, I hope our nation's leaders will rethink this massive cut in NASA funding. Bill Nye the (former) science guy and current "planetary guy" agrees. As head of the Planetary Society, Bill Nye has published a persuasive article today against the proposed budget cuts.

It's great to see prominent science supporters like Alan Stern, Bill Nye and Phil Plait making an impact at the national level. We'll see how fruitful their efforts prove when the budget is finalized.

Top image: One of the car washes in Houston. Image Courtesy SWRI via their Facebook page.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/physicscentral/PhysicsBuzz/~3/QmwLsAFN8y0/saving-p
lanetary-science-shoe-shines.html

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Ho hum, another GORGEOUS pic of the Sun

Just a reminder: the Sun is awesome:[You MUST click that to get the fully enGdwarfenated 2200 x 2200 pixel picture. It's stunning.]I’ve talked about Alan Friedman’s amazing Sun portraits so many times I need not elaborate here; just read the[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/k0kbnIDRV8k/

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