Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered what amounts to a reflexive negativity bias in our sense of smell, showing that bad smells are processed rapidly and unconsciously. The olfactory bulb can process and send a signal to the motor cortex in 300 milliseconds, alerting us to rotten food before we swallow or …
In a paper published this week, researchers at Florida State University demonstrated that having a sense of purpose makes our memories more vivid. It reminds me of past studies showing far less cognitive decline in residents of eldercare centers who were given a pet to care for—even a pet like a goldfish that required very …
With a possible submission from the obvious department, University College London ran a study demonstrating that vandalism is a response to social inequality. (Link in the comments.) They had teams of participants compete in the video game Parklife. In half of the games, one group was given an unfair advantage, which became obvious as the …
Here’s something I’d never heard of: The Great Unconformity. The Grand Canyon is like a timeline of earth’s history, with each layer going back farther in time as you descend its walls, all the way back to rock that formed 1.8 billion years ago at the bottom. The only problem is that a billion years …
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is the conveyor belt that transports warm water from the tropics northward and cold water south, balancing the heat distribution in the Northern Hemisphere and allowing for the relatively mild temperatures in Europe. New evidence has emerged this week from the Potsdam Institute providing further evidence that the AMOC is …
