the eye of Nova's mind

White privilege 101: Here's the basic lesson Paul Ryan, Tal Fortgang and Donald Sterling need -- Really insightful article that dovetails with my recent "microaggressions" post.

Fox's Keith Ablow: Schools should ban leggings because they distract my son -- This is one step away from, "She was wearing a short skirt--she was asking for it."

Why America's favorite anarchist thinks most American workers are slaves -- Bad title for an article that proposes a minimal lump salary for all adult citizens (which is an interesting idea).

How yawning could help cool down your brain

Soy Sauce May Hold Secret Ingredient In Treatment Of HIV/AIDS

New metal eating plant may help to clean contaminated soil

Focus: Why We Can’t Remember the Future

Hashimoto's thyroiditis can affect quality of life: Even when thyroid gland function is normal -- "[Researchers] report that women with higher levels of anti-thyroid antibody had a significantly higher number of symptoms, even though their levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)--a measure of thyroid function--did not differ from TSH levels measured in women with lower antibody levels."

Listening to music is biological -- "[S]everal behavioral features in listening to music are closely related to attachment: lullabies are [sung] to infants to increase their attachment to a parent, and singing or playing music together is based on teamwork and may add group cohesion."

Advancing delirium care through research -- "Delirium is a state of confusion in which the individual has undergone a sudden alteration of mental status. Delirium is not dementia, but individuals with dementia are more susceptible to developing delirium during hospitalization than individuals without dementia. [...] For vulnerable older adults developing a urinary tract infection or taking an over-the-counter drug with anti-cholinergic effects (including many popular brands of sleeping pills) may lead to delirium."

Language Patterns Are Roller-Coaster Ride During Childhood Development -- "Research from North Carolina State University on African-American children presents an unexpected finding: language use can go on a roller-coaster ride during childhood as kids adopt and abandon vernacular language patterns. [...] Vernacular English is defined here as culturally specific speech patterns that are distinct from standard English; in this case, the vernacular is African-American English[.]"

Brain's preparation center gets 'juiced' by prospect of winning -- "[T]he left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, located in the brain approximately two inches above the left eyebrow, is a key area that both predicts a win, or successful outcome, and prepares the motivational cognitive control network to win again."

Brain gene expression changes when honey bees go the distance -- "Tricking honey bees into thinking they have traveled long distance to find food alters gene expression in their brains[.] [...] Foraging honey bees make unique research animals in part because they communicate in a language humans can decode[.] After a successful hunt, a forager performs a highly stylized 'dance' that tells her peers what direction to go to find the food, how good it is and how far away it is. The bee does a 'round dance' if the food is close to home, while a 'waggle dance' indicates it is farther away."

Brain Connections Break Down as We Age -- corpus callosum & "cross-talk"

Scripps Research scientists uncover possible cocaine addiction trigger -- "The results from the new study strongly suggest that a protein known as methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) interacts with a type of genetic material known as microRNA [specifically, microRNA-212] to control an individual's motivation to consume cocaine."

Spinal cord regeneration success in mice

Fate of Universe revealed by galactic lens -- "A 'galactic lens' has revealed that the Universe will probably expand forever."

Fears Influence Actual Risk of Falls

Turning wood into bones -- "Scientists in Italy have developed a way of turning rattan wood into bone that is almost identical to the human tissue."