People with autism suffer from a pervasive developmental disorder of the brain that becomes evident in early childhood. Researchers Peter Scheiffele and Kaspar Vogt have identified a specific dysfunction in neuronal circuits that is caused by autism. In the journal Science, the scientists also report about their success in reversing these neuronal changes. These findings…
For decades, the field of regenerative medicine has been promising a future of ready-made replacement organs — livers, kidneys, even hearts — built in the laboratory. For the most part that future has remained a science-fiction fantasy. Now, however, researchers like Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm are building organs with a…
Brace yourself for a tidal wave of Facebook campaigning before November’s U.S. presidential election. A study of 61 million Facebook users finds that using online social networks to urge people to vote has a much stronger effect on their voting behavior than spamming them with information via television ads or phone calls. The study comes…
When His Holiness the Dalai Lama (HHDL) posted on Facebook recently that “religion is no longer adequate,” every journalist with a religious beat was up in arms over his words. What did this mean for the millions of practicing Buddhists, not to mention for his millions of spiritually-curious online followers? But his atheistic-toned words should…
First there was the “impact factor.” Then came the “h-index.” Now, for those who believe that scientific prowess can be measured by statistical metrics, comes the Acuna-Allesina-Kording formula. The formula, outlined in the journal Nature, is intended to improve upon the h-index—a tally of a researcher’s publications and citations—by adding a few more numerical measures…
Researchers have taken a key step towards recovering specific brain functions in sufferers of brain disease and injuries by successfully restoring the decision-making processes in monkeys. By placing a neural device onto the front part of the monkeys’ brains, the researchers, were able to recover, and even improve, the monkeys’ ability to make decisions when…
A new study of giant viruses supports the idea that viruses are ancient living organisms and not inanimate molecular remnants run amok, as some scientists have argued. The study reshapes the universal family tree, adding a fourth major branch to the three that most scientists agree represent the fundamental domains of life. The new findings…
A new algorithm developed at Brown University and the Technical University of Berlin is the first computer application designed for “semantic understanding” of abstract drawings, and the research team says it could improve search applications and sketch-based interfaces. Someday, building on this research and other line-drawing computer recognition, you might be able to finger-draw something…
Every time a new sea ice extent record for Arctic melting is broken, the same question comes up: how long until it’s gone? That is, how long will it be before the Arctic Ocean is functionally ice-free in the summer, legitimately opening the once-fabled Northwest Passage? The fact is, we don’t know. Climate models continue…
From climate change to vaccines, evolution to flu, denialists are on the march. Why are so many people refusing to accept what the evidence is telling them? In a special feature, New Scientist looks at the phenomenon in depth. What is denial? What attracts people to it? How does it start, and how does it…