This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
This week on Picks: mother's experiences before birth affect offspring, psychology IS a science, near-death cognitive experiences, the weird case of antidepressants, inside the mind of a killer whale.
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Forewarned is Fore-armed: Crickets Exposed to Predators Have More Cautious Offspring by Sedeer el-Showk
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Organisms respond to their environment in a variety of ways, and natural selection operates by preserving the variations best suited to surviving and reproducing in a particular environment. In some cases, however, the environment itself acts to shape the next generation. One example is the fall field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus); in 2010, a pair of researchers at Indiana State University showed that young G. pennsylvanicus develop differently depending on whether or not their mother was exposed to predation.
Psychology’s brilliant, beautiful, scientific messiness by Melanie Tannenbaum
Today, sitting down to my Twitter feed, I saw a new link to Dr. Alex Berezow’s old piece on why psychology cannot call itself a science. The piece itself is over a year old, but seeing it linked again today brought up old, angry feelings that I never had the chance to publicly address when the editorial was first published. Others, like Dave Nussbaum, have already done a good job of dismantling the critiques in this article [...]
Could a final surge in brain activity after death explain near-death experiences? by Mark Stokes
Can neuroscience shed light on one of life's biggest mysteries - death? In a new study just published in PNAS, researchers observed a surge of brain activity just moments before death. This raises the fascinating possibility that they have identified the neural basis for near death experiences.
We don't know if antidepressants work, so stop bashing them by Pete Etchells
Lately, it seems as if everyone is anti-antidepressants. In a recent CiF article, Giles Fraser bemoaned the apparent need to treat anything vaguely resembling unhappiness with a pill. Just a week earlier, Will Self launched a scathing attack on psychiatry along similar lines.
Scientists make ‘impossible material’ … by accident by Andrew Bissette
Researchers in Uppsala, Sweden accidentally left a reaction running over the weekend and ended up resolving a century-old chemistry problem. Their work has led to the development of a new material, dubbed Upsalite, with remarkable water-binding properties. Upsalite promises to find applications in everything from humidity control at home to chemical manufacturing in industry.
The Case of the Heterodox Fox: Bergmann’s Rule North and South of the Equator by Anne-Marie Hodge
Ecology is a mind-bogglingly complex field. As such, ecologists make few "rules"--they're more like "tentative tenets." Nature presents an exception for nearly everything, so even "rules" are often framed less as absolute laws and more as hypotheses to continue testing.
Hide and Seek by Tania Browne
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are all very well as long as you have all the relevant information to compile them. But what if you don't? What if some trials, or even just some data from particular trials, is missing?
Inside the mind of a killer whale: A Q+A with the neuroscientist from ‘Blackfish’ by Aviva Hope Rutkin
Two weeks ago, I saw ‘Blackfish’, the fascinating new documentary about killer whales in captivity. Here’s the trailer. I enjoyed the movie, but it left me with questions. A lot of questions. Neuroscience questions. What makes whales different from other animals? How do whales perceive humans? What did the filmmakers mean when they said that killer whales have a wide range of emotions? How smart are these animals, really? So I called up Lori Marino, a neuroscientist prominently featured in ‘Blackfish’, and asked her to satiate my curiosity.
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A few more clicking required:
Reading skill linked to differences in brain structure by Suzi Gage
One step closer to effective personalised medicine? by Eliana Tacconi
Social networks shape monkey ‘culture’ too by Ana I. Leal Cervantes
Can imagination change what our senses perceive? by Chris Creese
Harm of e-cigarettes by Ellen Meet
ommunicating research by Tom Bragg
HFCS Kills Baby Giraffes; Myths about sugar, fructose, and your health by Luke De
Nanoscale bubbles can save you toil and trouble by Hannah Cheng