Minute organs in the ear can alter brain blood flow
Minute organs hidden deep within the ear appear to directly alter blood flow to the brain, scientists have revealed. Until now, experts thought the inner ear’s job was to control balance alone. But the Harvard Medical School team, working with Nasa, found the balance organs also affect brain blood flow in their study involving 24 people.
They told BMC Neuroscience journal that the connection probably evolved to enable man to stand upright and still get enough blood up to the brain. The organs of balance are deep within the ear, inside a maze of bony chambers.
Read more at BBC
Why doing nothing is good for you
“You might have been working out diligently since making last year’s resolution to get in shape. But what happens when you succumb to the inevitable under-activity and overindulgence of the festive season? Will hours spent popping chocolates in front of the TV and skipping the gym mean the past 12 months’ effort will count for nothing as your figure and fitness go to pot? Not necessarily, say leading exercise scientists. In fact, a break from the gym might be just what your body needs.
“Rest and recovery are often overlooked, but are as important as exercise itself,” says John Brewer, professor of sport at the University of Bedfordshire. “Even elite athletes have one easy day a week to allow their bodies to recover from the stresses of training and to encourage the positive physiological changes, such as muscle growth, that are induced by hard workouts.”
Without enough rest, Brewer says, a tough exercise regime is doomed. “You may improve in the short term, but each body part generally needs 24 hours to recover from hard exercise. If you have been lifting weights with your arms, for instance, it will take a full day for the tiny tears in muscle fibres to be repaired.” He says that most fitness injuries stem from a lack of rest. “Taking time out to let your body recover could save you weeks out through injury in the long run.””
Read more at Times online
Internet Use On The Up And Up, Is Anyone Surprised?
“Here’s some news you just won’t believe: on average, people spend more time on the Internet now than they did in the past. Shocking, isn’t it?! A new Harris Poll has found that adult Internet users are now online an average of 13 hours per week, though the actual usage of those surveyed varies rather significantly. 20% of adult users are online for only two hours or less per week, while 14% are spending 24 hours or more per week.
The results are being calculated from a telephone poll of 2029 adults between July 7th and 12th and October 13th and 18th, and the best part of this is looking at how the 13 hours compares to the past. Over the years the average hours spent online have increased from 7 hours in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, to between 8 and 9 hours in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, it increased to 11 hours. Last year (in October after the financial crisis broke and before the presidential election) Internet users were online for 14 hours a week, double what it was from 1999 to 2002.
So, are you online more and more these days? What for? We’re guessing that the influx of news online and the rapid increase of social networking popularity has led to the uptick, but feel free to tell us you’re just addicted to World of Warcraft.”
Read more at Hot Hardware
Review of the Year: 2009 (via Charlie Brooker)
We could have written a review of the highs and lows of 2009 – from the dizzy heights of “update ver1.2.3 of Fieldrunners” to the lows of Coops’ ear and nasal trimmer breaking down – but instead Charlie Brooker has done, as usual, an utterly perfect and undeniably hilarious rendition that is without question perfect in every way. Our very own Mr Brown gets a little mention where Charlie viciously cuts him to pieces. (OK that’s not true, but he does get a mention and is possibly let off because we know where CB lives).
Christian Registrar Loses Same-Sex Partnership Case
A Christian registrar disciplined for refusing to conduct same-sex civil partnerships has lost her appeal against the ruling.
Lillian Ladele said she could not carry out same-sex ceremonies “as a matter of religious conscience”.
In July 2008, an employment tribunal found north London’s Islington Council had discriminated against her. This was overturned by an appeal tribunal.
The Court of Appeal in London upheld the appeal tribunal’s ruling.
BBC (thanks, Tammy)
Don’t I Know You? How Cues And Context Kick-Start Memory Recall
We have all had the embarrassing experience of seeing an acquaintance in an unfamiliar setting. We know we know them but can’t recall who they are. But with the correct cues from conversation or context, something seems to click and we can readily access very rich and vivid memories about the individual.
A team of researchers from the University of Toronto and the Krembil Neuroscience Centre at the University Health Network have shed some light on this mysterious process, discovering that the hippocampus, a brain region in the temporal lobe, is only involved when cues enable us to recall these rich memories.
Science Daily (thanks, Berber)
Just Half Of Britons Now Call Themselves Christian After A “Sharp Decline” In Faith Over Past 25 Years
Only half of Britons now consider themselves Christian after a “sharp decline” in religious belief over the past quarter of a century, according to a new academic study.
Researchers describe a large proportion of the country as the “fuzzy faithful” who have a vague belief in God but do not necessarily belong to a particular denomination or attend services.
However, most people still say religion helps bring happiness and comfort, and regret its declining influence on modern society.
Telegraph (thanks, KirstyJ)
Why are some religious rituals more extreme than others?
While Christmas rituals can be exciting for children, they certainly don’t have any of the high drama of those practised by other faiths. Take the Australian Aboriginal religious initiation rites that includes scalp biting, fingernail extraction and cutting the initiate’s penis with a stone knife, without which a man is not considered spiritually mature.
Or the extremes of the sacred fire dances performed in New Guinea, where in order to commune with their ancestors men enter a trance state wearing masks decorated with blood drawn agonisingly from their own tongues. By contrast, the most extreme ritual a Christian is likely to engage in is being dunked during baptism. Why do some religions have rituals that are so much more traumatic than others?
What Poll: vote your favourite twitterer
DB is lagging behind and only YOU can help. 
Click on the thumbs up – then “Cancel” if you don’t want to log in – your vote is still counted.
UPDATE: – OK we got DB to no1 – but it seems as though the idea is to vote other people down (even though you don’t know who they are) which isn’t really a poll… is it?
Ah well fun at the top whilst we were there for a day. – Phillis
Why Some Shapes Are More Pleasing To The Eye Than Others
The ancient Egyptian pyramids, the Parthenon of Athens, Mona Lisa’s face and the peak of Derren Brown’s goatee all have one thing in common. Their attractiveness is said to be based on the “golden ratio”, which is supposed to be the most aesthetically pleasing shape to the human eye.
The golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion, produces a shape similar to a widescreen television or a cinema screen and describes a rectangle with a length roughly one and half times its width. The proportion is said to pervade art, architecture and nature.
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