SAM MCDOUGLE
Making the "Kids Are Addicted To Media" Argument Is a Terrible Habit
In a subtly patronizing tone that has come to be expected in arguments of this nature, researchers from the "International Center for Media and the Public Agenda":http://www.icmpa.umd.edu/index.html recently claimed in their "World Unplugged Study...
It Just Rained Methane On Titan
A recently observed rain storm on Saturn's moon Titan wasn't your normal Earth-like water gale – it was a methane storm.
Sleep Is Really Weird, But New Evidence Shows It Helps Your Mind
Sleep is weird -- scientists don't exactly know why we do it, and dreams/sleepwalking are totally wacky. Some new research, published in the Public Library of Science, provides some really striking data about sleepwalkers and the role of sleep in...
Stop Sleeping: It Makes You Too Rational
New research published in the _Journal of Neuroscience_ shows pretty strong evidence that sleep deprivation tips our decision-making scales in the optimistic direction, or more specifically, the over-optimistic direction.
RIP David Rumelhart, Godfather of Connectionism
The cognitive scientist David E. Rumelhart, who sadly "died last week":http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/health/19rumelhart.html of an Alzhemier’s-like disease, put forward some ground-breaking ideas about cognition in the ‘80s.
We're The Aliens: New Evidence Supports Idea That DNA Precursors Dropped From Space
Life evolved out of the primordial soup of the early Earth, but it’s not clear where the necessary organic ingredients of that soup came from.
I Speak, Therefore I Shred: New Research Explores Link Between Spoken Accents and Musical Styles
An intriguing new under-the-radar study implies that basic elements of music can be influenced by geography, or more specifically, how people in certain locations speak. Something as simple as a regional accent appears to have a strong rhythmic bond...
Let's Give Our Old Folks Fancy Self-Driving Google Cars
Using a customized driving simulation, researchers have found that elderly drivers noticed only half as many simulated pedestrian hazards, and appropriately braked half as often, as non-elderly drivers. That’s double disconcerting.
Welcome To The 6th Mass Extinction Event: Scientists Say A Human-Caused Mass Extinction Is At Hand
A new review in Nature argues that the earth’s sixth “mass extinction event” may have already started. Bummer.
On The Other Other Hand: How to Finally Get That Extra Limb You've Always Wanted
The mind, it seems, is not constrained by the four-limbed body plan it’s used to growing up with: there’s room in our brain’s blueprint of the body for more stuff.
The Muppets Take Uncanny Valley
A new Tumblr sprouted up last week featuring photoshopped portraits of well-known Muppets with human eyes where their Muppet eyes should be.
We’re Always Singing to Each Other
A new paper suggests that human speech carries major and minor pitches, just like music.