Uncategorized
- Anthropology
Advantage: Starch
An enhanced ability to digest starch may have given early humans an evolutionary advantage over their ape relatives.
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19882
This article brought to mind the history of pitch through the centuries. In the 17th century, what is now G sharp was an A. Maybe the “perfect” pitch is somewhere else. Stanton AlgerBainbridge Island, Wash. Before the 20th century, the tone that musicians called A ranged widely but was generally between 415 and 432 hertz […]
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Perfect pitch isn’t so perfect in many
Among people with perfect pitch, the most common error seems to be misidentifying G flat as A, the note on which orchestras traditionally tune.
- Astronomy
Major merger
Four galaxies are ramming into each other in one of the biggest cosmic collisions ever recorded.
- Health & Medicine
How platelets help cancer spread
A tumor cell protein influences blood platelets in a way that helps a cancer spread through the body.
- Health & Medicine
Curry Power
A component of the spice turmeric, the color-giving ingredient in yellow curries, may help prevent and possibly treat Alzheimer's disease.
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19881
Bjorn Merker says that “the tacit consensus concerning the cerebral cortex as the ‘organ of consciousness’ … may in fact be seriously in error.” But the real tacit consensus is that the cerebral cortex is the organ of conceptual consciousness, of thinking and reasoning, and that is not challenged by studies that identify the brain […]
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Consciousness in the Raw
Observations of children born without most of the brain's outer layer, or cortex, and evidence from animal studies suggest that a basic form of consciousness may arise from the brain stem alone.
- Humans
Letters from the September 15, 2007, issue of Science News
Talk talk talk “Hidden Smarts: Abstract thought trumps IQ scores in autism” (SN: 7/7/07, p. 4) didn’t mention that traditional IQ tests are in one sense “language” tests. The Ravens test doesn’t involve language processing in a typical manner. A person with a language disorder, as an autistic person is assumed to be, would do […]
- Math
Separate Is Never Equal
Economic forces alone can explain why social segregation leads to inequalities in wealth and achievement.
- Math
May the Best Team Win
In sports leagues and playoffs, the strongest teams often don't triumph, but redesigning the schedule of games can improve their chances.
- Humans
From the September 4, 1937, issue
Growling grizzlies star at Yellowstone, radioactive dating puts Earth's age at less than 3 billion years, and a suggestion that overanxious parents can turn their children into stutterers.
