News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
As humans, we know we are conscious because we experience and feel things. But we are still unable to explain exactly what consciousness is or where it comes from. “Consciousness — or better, conscious experience — is obviously a part of reality,” Johannes Kleiner, a mathematician and theoretical physicist at the Munich Center For Mathematical … Read more
There’s still lots to explore and learn about the effects that space travel has on the body – and it seems those effects include some neuron rewiring that goes on in the brain. Researchers studying the brains of 12 cosmonauts found what they describe as “significant microstructural changes” in the white matter that manages … Read more
Our brains change as we age and grow here on Earth. But what happens to the human brain after being in space for a long time? In a new study, a collaborative effort between the European Space Agency and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, researchers have explored how cosmonauts’ brains change after traveling to space and … Read more
By Clare Wilson Hippocampus Science History Images / Alamy Hello, and welcome to this week’s Health Check, the weekly newsletter that gives you the health and fitness news you can really trust. To receive this free, weekly newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. I am learning to play the ukulele, and while progress is slow, … Read more
In a first for paleontology, scientists have found hundreds of tiny, fossilized fecal pellets crammed inside a fish braincase dating to about 9 million years ago. The wee fossil poops, also known as coprolites, were deposited by scavengers – probably worms – that devoured the fish’s decaying head, including its brain. As they munched the flesh … Read more
Our eyes are continuously bombarded by an enormous amount of visual information – millions of shapes, colors, and ever-changing motion all around us. For the brain, this is no easy feat. On the one hand, the visual world alters continuously because of changes in light, viewpoint, and other factors. On the other, our visual … Read more
As cats have become domesticated over the last 10,000 years or so, their brains have shrunk significantly in size, a new study confirms – a finding that could lead to important new insights into how animals adapt when they start being regularly kept by human beings. Researchers compared the size of craniums (an indicator … Read more
When it comes to killing and eating other creatures, chimpanzees—our closest relatives—have nothing on us. Animal flesh makes up much more of the average human’s diet than a chimp’s. Many scientists have long suggested our blood lust ramped up about 2 million years ago, based on the number of butchery marks found at ancient archaeological … Read more
Putting cash in the hands of mothers can help shape the brains of their babies, according to a rigorous randomized study in the United States. Family income has been linked to child development numerous times in the past in observational studies, but this is the first time researchers have found direct experimental evidence of how … Read more
Even as we slumber, our industrious brains continue working to keep us alive. They ensure our heartbeats and breathing remain on track, wash off the waste they’ve accumulated throughout the day, and sort and file our memories. Now it seems they achieve all this and more while also monitoring our surroundings for stranger danger, a new … Read more