Category: Science

Why do some people solve problems more creatively than others? Are people who think creatively different from those who tend to think in a more methodical fashion? A study led by John Kounios of Drexel University and Mark Jung-Beeman of Northwestern University answers these questions by comparing the brain activity of creative and noncreative thinkers.

Why do some people solve problems more creatively than others? Are people who think creatively different from those who tend to think in a more methodical fashion?

A survey of Israeli scientists, which explored their personal relationship to the creative process, indicated a high correlation between spirituality and creativity. Over 60% of the respondents expressed a strong belief that they had "experienced creativity as a spiritual process." The survey, the first of its kind in Israel and possibly the world, was commissioned by the Project Mind Foundation.

A recent survey of Israeli scientists, which explored their personal relationship to the creative process, points to a high correlation between spirituality and creativity. The survey, the first of its kind in Israel -- and possibly the world -- solicited over 3300 scientists in universities and research institutes to probe their perception of the role of creativity in their professional pursuits. Over 60% of the respondents, 237 in number, indicated a strong belief that they had "experienced creativity as a spiritual process."

Evidence of early humans living on the coast in South Africa 164,000 years ago, far earlier than previously documented, is being reported by a paleoanthropologist with the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.

Evidence of early humans living on the coast in South Africa, harvesting food from the sea, employing complex bladelet tools and using red pigments in symbolic behavior 164,000 years ago, far earlier than previously documented, is being reported in the Oct. 18 issue of the journal Nature. The international team of researchers reporting the findings include Curtis Marean, a paleoanthropologist with the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and three graduate students in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

Article Continues After Illustration

Ochre specimens with scrape marks, believed
to have been made by early humans who
used the red pigment in symbolic behavior.

New research suggests that, at least in birds, that alpha male might not be such a good catch after all.

The ability to ramp up testosterone production appears to drive male dark-eyed juncos to find and win mates, but it comes with an evolutionary cost. Big fluctuations in testosterone may also cause males to lose interest in parenting their own young, scientists have learned.

Article Continues After Illustration

How often a dark-eyed junco father feeds his young depends
on his tendency toward testosterone-fueled aggression.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered that we recognize fear in others quicker than we recognize any emotion. What emotion are we the slowest to recognize? Believe it or not, happiness.

You may not be fully dressed without a smile, but a look of horror will make a faster first impression. Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered that the brain becomes aware of fearful faces more quickly than those showing other emotions.

Article Continues After Illustration

New research from Vanderbilt University finds our brains
process the image of a frightened face faster than that of
neutral or happy face.

Everything, everywhere is made of atoms, right? Perhaps not, according to Howard Baer, professor of physics at Florida State University.

We’ve all been taught that our bodies, the Earth, and in fact all matter in the universe is composed of tiny building blocks called atoms. Now imagine if this weren’t the case. This mind-bending concept is at the core of the scientific research that one Florida State University professor -- and hundreds of his colleagues all over the world -- are pursuing.

Article Continues After Illustration

Dark/luminous matter separation in the bullet cluster of
galaxies.

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote a novel that centered around Saturn's largest moon. As strange as his tale was, it appears to be nowhere near as weird as real life on Titan.

If space travelers ever visit Saturn's largest moon, they will find a tropical world where temperatures plunge to minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit, methane rains from the sky and dunes of ice or tar cover the planet's most arid regions. These conditions reflect a cold mirror image of Earth's tropical climate, according to scientists at the University of Chicago.

Article Continues After Illustration

Orange clouds (at lower center) on Saturn's moon Titan as
seen by the Cassini spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer after closest approach on a July 22, 2006 flyby.
University of Chicago scientists are studying the dynamics
behind Titan's methane clouds.

In the Information Age, digital data powers our work, entertainment and economy, and helps shape the context for our daily lives. Yet, these precious electronic bits -- stored in memory sticks, on DVDs, in hard drives, and on magnetic tape -- are surprisingly fragile and far more susceptible to obsolescence and loss than more traditional ways of preserving information such as stone, parchment and paper.

The lifetime of electronic media is relatively short, often requiring the migration of data between new generations of storage, as well as the management of that information at every point of its life cycle. Understanding how to keep digital data safe now, and how to ensure its economic sustainability for the foreseeable future is fundamental to the Information Age, affecting virtually every aspect of modern life.

A scientific research team says they have uncovered a vital clue to help decode the neural language of electrical signals.

Decoding the complex electrical signals that brain cells use to "talk" to each other is a new and important frontier in neuroscience, one that could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disease.

Although the physicists are only speculating on how this discovery will be applied to the computer of the future, we can't help but see the magickal possibilities held in this discovery.

Physicists at the University of Michigan have coaxed two separate atoms to communicate with a sort of quantum intuition that Albert Einstein called "spooky."