When did life on Earth begin? Darwin’s dilemma solved with new explanation for “Cambrian explosion” November 4, 2014 It's pretty well accepted that an event 542 million years ago known as the "Cambrian explosion" caused multicellular organisms to develop, paving the way for all the animal species we see around us today. But what brought that about? A new study has suggested it could have been caused by a major geographic change. [...]
Varied working hours and unusual sleep patterns lead to lower intelligence – and it takes over five years to recover November 4, 2014 Working shifts that vary between mornings, afternoons and nights is likely to result in a reduction in brain power, according to a group of UK researchers. By taking a sample of 3,000 people and looking at certain aspects of brain function, such as memory and information processing speed, they found that those who worked [...]
Plane bomb threat in UK: Researchers forming plans to prevent “cyberhijacking” November 4, 2014 In the future, it may not be necessary for a hijacker to actually board a plane in order to make it crash. As planes adopt more wireless communications, the potential for attacks made remotely on network systems becomes greater. This increased threat of “cyberhijacking” has led UK researchers to develop methods for minimising the [...]
The science of scariness: Who should you be most afraid of this Halloween? October 30, 2014 Steer clear of all evil clowns on Friday – if pitted against six other scary characters in a Halloween battle, these villainous individuals would win, hands down. Or at least, that's according to mathematician Thomas E Woolley from the University of Oxford, who has devised an empirical formula to calculate which of the seven [...]
How to be charming: The key to charisma lies in pitch and frequency of the voice October 30, 2014 Why is it that some people are more charming than others? In a completely platonic way, it is possible to feel attracted to someone based entirely on the way they move and speak. It's all down to how low your voice is, and how easily you can adapt it to suit the person you [...]
Penny for your thoughts? Scientists develop mind-reading “brain decoder” that reveals our inner thoughts using sound waves October 30, 2014 Mind reading has become possible for the first time ever, thanks to a brain decoder developed by a team of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley. In an interview with the New Scientist, the team explained that the decoder works by translating the signals fired off in your brain while you think into [...]
Viking babies in the UK: Why a lack of British sperm means we have to import it from Denmark October 30, 2014 A project to increase sperm donations within the UK has just been launched by the government, in an attempt to move away from importing sperm from other countries. The Department of Health is initially giving £77,000 to the UK national sperm bank at Birmingham Women's Hospital, before extending the project to all other parts [...]
Spread of Ebola appears to be slowing in west Africa: Number of new patient admissions in Liberia declines October 29, 2014 The spread of Ebola may be slowing down in Liberia, according to the World health Organisation (WHO). Dr Bruce Aylward, assistant director general of the UN's health agency, said during a news conference earlier today that there had been a drop in the number of burials in Liberia and no increases in laboratory-confirmed cases. [...]
How to cope with stress: Six scientifically proven ways to help you relax when work’s getting on top of you October 29, 2014 When work gets too intense, it becomes hard to unwind. Even during the quiet moments, you can end up feeling constantly preoccupied with that ever-growing to-do list waiting for you at the office, even though you know getting stressed about it won't solve any problems. But science has provided ways to help calm your [...]
Why untrained investors don’t need portfolio managers: Financial expertise makes no difference to investment returns October 29, 2014 Having financial expertise does not make you more likely to make the right investment decisions – most of it is just down to common sense, according to a business scholar at a Michigan State University. By studying the private portfolios of mutual fund managers, Andrei Simonov found they were surprisingly unsuccessful at outperforming untrained [...]
