Brain waves predict successful memory for an event before it occurs
Memory has intrigued us for millenia, and is today one of the most active areas of neuroscience research. Much of this research has aimed to understand how memories are laid down, and a picture of how this happens is beginning to emerge. Hundreds of studies published over the past few decades provide evidence that memory formation involves widespread reorganization of connections in the brain.
The vast majority of memory research has therefore pertained to the neural processes which occur after the event that is being memorized. More recently, though, a number of studies have suggested that brain activity at the time of an event is experienced may play an important role in how memories of the event are encoded, and it is now thought that this activity determines the quality and strength of the memories.
A team of researchers from Germany now show that the activity which immediately precedes an event is also important for memory formation. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they report the identification of a signature brain state which occurs just before the appearance of a visual stimulus and predicts the successful encoding of it. The findings point to ways in which the process of memory formation could be enhanced.
Aliens visit London
Derek Burdon was left stunned when he took a scenic pictures of the UK capital then noticed four flying saucers on the far right of the picture. Mr Burdon took the photographs 16 floors up on the roof top of Orion House in Covent Garden in the morning.
Derek, 40, of Leverington, Cambs, said: “We couldn’t believe it when we came to look at the photo. I just thought I would take some scenic shots of the London Eye and also Big Ben.
“There was nothing unusual in the photo and it was only when we flicked through them later that we saw them and then it started a big UFO debate.
UN proposes Anti-Blasphemy Resolution
I’m personally not completely up to date about this particular issue but it seems like it will be a very hotly debated issue. The above footage is from the US but features Christopher Hitchens from the UK.
Monkey ‘kills cruel owner with coconut thrown from tree’
The animal threw the missile from the top of a tree after becoming frustrated with his tiring labour, according to reports. Leilit Janchoom, 48, had employed the monkey to pick coconuts which he could then sell for around 4p each.
The animal – named Brother Kwan – found the work tedious and strenuous but Mr Janchoom refused to let him rest, dishing out beatings if he refused to climb trees. It is believed that the monkey eventually snapped, and targeted his owner from a high branch with one of the hard-skinned fruits.
Mr Janchoom, from the province of Nakorn Sri Thammarat in Thailand, died on the spot after being struck by the coconut, according to reports in a local newspaper. The dead man’s wife said that the monkey had “seemed lovable” when they bought him for £130.
How was that Cadbury’s advert made
OK – not this way – but rather freak all the same.
Why we think it’s OK to cheat and steal
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it’s OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we’re predictably irrational — and can be influenced in ways we can’t grasp.
The MMR conspiracy theory
Summed up rather nicely.
Some things just make you feel so small
Other things make you look so small. This process is called Tilt-Shift. Amazing.
Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Tactile Illusions
New Scientist is running a set of articles on Tactile Illusions:
IMAGINE you are lying in the bath with your toes poking out of the water. A drip starts to form on the tap; you watch as it grows, then drops onto your big toe. Ooh! Not pleasant – but was the drip boiling hot or icy cold? It’s impossible to tell.
See the Seven ways to fool your sense of touch for more on this and linked to it are more effects you can recreate at home.
