What makes us human? Unique brain area linked to higher cognitive powers
SCIENCE DAILY
An area of the brain that seems to be unique to humans (in red). IMAGE/University of Oxford
xford University researchers have identified an area of the human brain that appears unlike anything in the brains of some of our closest relatives.
The brain area pinpointed is known to be intimately involved in some of the most advanced planning and decision-making processes that we think of as being especially human.
‘We tend to think that being able to plan into the future, be flexible in our approach and learn from others are things that are particularly impressive about humans. We’ve identified an area of the brain that appears to be uniquely human and is likely to have something to do with these cognitive powers,’ says senior researcher Professor Matthew Rushworth of Oxford University’s Department of Experimental Psychology.
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This tiny animal can live an estimated 1,400 years
by RACHEL FELTMAN
Some of us age more gracefully than others, but perhaps no animal group does it better than the tiny freshwater polyps known as hydras. In 1998 one biologist ventured that the tentacled creatures, by continually renewing their own cells, may stave off aging altogether to achieve a kind of biological immortality.
More recently, the species Hydra magnipapillata was one of a few dozen organisms included in a study of aging diversity. Whereas female fertility in humans spikes early, then tapers off, and mortality rises sharply as we age, plenty of organisms follow a different path. The water flea, for example, experiences fluctuations in fertility throughout its life span and a more gradual rise in mortality. But the hydra takes the prize for life-cycle oddity. The polyp’s mortality appears to remain low for an indefinite period, the researchers reported in Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) In a controlled laboratory setting, they estimated that 5 percent of a hydra population would still be alive after 1,400 years.
Scientific American for more
‘Oldest star’ found from iron fingerprint
by RICHARD INGHAM
Australian astronomers on Sunday said they had found a star 13.6 billion years old, making it the most ancient star ever seen.
The star was formed just a couple of hundred million years after the Big Bang that brought the Universe into being, they believe.
Previous contenders for the title of oldest star are around 13.2 billion years old—two objects described by European and US teams respectively in 2007 and 2013.
Stefan Keller at the Australian National University in the Australian capital, Canberra, said the Methuselah star is—in cosmic terms—relatively close to us.
It lies in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, at a distance of around 6,000 light years from Earth. The star catalogues list it by the number of SMSS J031300.36-670839.3.
“The telltale sign that the star is so ancient is the complete absence of any detectable level of iron in the spectrum of light emerging from the star,” Keller said in an email exchange with AFP about the study.
Physorg for more
China Becomes World’s Third-largest Producer of Research Articles
by JESSICA MORRISON
Chinese science is on the rise: the country is now the third-largest producer of research articles, behind only the European Union (EU) bloc and the United States. China’s output has surged during the past decade, according to a report released today by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The number of papers authored by Chinese scientists grew an average of more than 15% annually between 2001 and 2011, rising from 3% of global research article output to 11% over the decade — even as production from the combined 28 nations of the EU and the United States declined.
Scientific American for more