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Dorion Sagan on the first ejaculation in the history of the world | Brain Pickings
Quote:
Long before humanity, the earliest preserved ejaculation took place among a member of the Rhyniophyta, a phylum that contains the first land plants, which began to diversify some four hundred million years ago.
Lab rats with brain implants sense invisible infrared light | BoingBoing
Quote:
Duke University researchers implanted lab rats with a device enabling them to perceive invisible infrared light. Miguel Nicolelis and his colleagues jacked a head-mounted infrared sensor into the rat's brain. It's wired into a region of the brain that processes touch, providing the rodents with a "sixth sense" for infrared. They published their research in the science journal Nature Communications. The possibilities aren't limited to infrared spectrum either. "We could create devices sensitive to any physical energy," Nicolelis says. "It could be magnetic fields, radio waves, or ultrasound. We chose infrared initially because it didn't interfere with our electrophysiological recordings." The technology could someday lead to improved neuroprosthetics to help blind people see.
Twelve-to 14-month-old infants can predict single-event probability with large set sizes | Stephanie Denison
This also showed up in the WSJ
Wise Beyond Their Years: What Babies Really Know - WSJ.com
As a parent I don't have to tell you how obvious this is, what's really more amazing is how our species survived considering how a baby will consciously do the dumbest thing possible if they only knew what they were doing.
Fish exposed to anxiety medication show altered behavior, study finds - The Washington Post
Quote:
“Normally, perch are shy and hunt in schools. This is a known strategy for survival and growth. But those who swam in oxazepam became considerably bolder,” ecologist Tomas Brodin, lead author of the article, explained. They “lost interest in hanging out with the group.”
Quote:
He said that researchers conducted a “boldness test” on the perch, opening a door that would allow them to swim from a small box into a much larger water tank. The fish with no drugs in their system remained timid and “didn’t come out at all,” he said, while those on oxazepam did.
The researchers said those behaviors, coupled with the tendency to scarf down food faster than normal, could alter the composition of the species and lead to ecological changes in the real world. For example, if they consumed more plankton, it could lead to an increase in algae.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield did a Reddit AMA from space.
I Am Astronaut Chris Hadfield, currently orbiting planet Earth. : IAmA
Good stuff.
