A little bit of science news now, just to lighten the tone. I didn't mention the zombie dogs MadOgre posted on last week- but I couldn't resist this- "Human-brained monkeys". In a series of experiments scientists have injected human brain cells into monkey fetuses. Quite apart from questioning the usefulness of such research, there are major questions raised about the monkey subjects developing self-awareness or super-animal intelligence. Planet of the Apes here we come.
Bored and want time to pass more quickly? Move your eyes around a lot. Having a good time and want to make it last longer? Keep your eyes still. So indicates new research conducted by scientists "that subjective time is compressed around the onset of a saccadic eye movement. Saccades are the rapid, jerky eye movements that we perform thousands of times every day to align targets of interest with the high-acuity fovea at the centre of our eyes." It's worth a try anyway.
Research shows that walking on cobblestones can significantly lower blood pressure and improve balance. The latter seems like a report from the Institute of the Bleeding Obvious but the blood pressure effect doesn't seem to be clearly understood. Expect to see your pavements cobbled some time in the last century.
Super Size Me is a movie which I have absolutely no desire to see- particularly since more than one person has since lost weight by eating nothing but McDonalds. Morgan Spurlock can rant all he wants about "evil corporation" McDonalds but the simple fact of the matter is that they don't make people fat- people eating too many calories and not exercising enough makes people fat. Anyway, here's another pro-McDonalds story: A 35-year old woman has created her own low-cost McDonalds diet, limiting herself to 1400 calories a day.
Since April 22, when Morgan launched her diet with a Sausage Burrito and a medium Diet Coke, she's lost 33 pounds, putting her at about 195 pounds. At 5 feet, 9 inches tall, she's dropped from a size 22 or 24 to a size 15. The size 2X and 3X T-shirts she used to wear look like dresses on her. And despite her friends' fears about skyrocketing cholesterol, she feels great.
Good for her I say.
Finally, here's some startling news that I meant to post on days ago-
Human footprints discovered beside an ancient Mexican lake have been dated to 40,000 years ago. If the finding survives the controversy it is bound to stir up, it means that humans must have moved into the New World at least 30,000 years earlier than previously thought.
The conventional view is that humans arrived in the Americas via Beringia around 11,000 years ago, when a land bridge became available between Siberia and Alaska. There have been claims about earlier waves of settlers, who must have made the crossing over water, based mainly on sites with signs of habitation dated up to 40,000 years ago, but these claims have drawn intense criticism.
Some scientists need to pin stories like this to their notice boards to counter the notion that they know everything- I wonder how those who criticised the signs of habitation from 40,000 years ago feel now? Hopefully this will open some eyes- you just never know what the next discovery might be.
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