If you have ever felt a yearning for a perfect picture of domestic bliss, take one look inside a simple beehive. The life of the social bee is a life of contentment and diligence, of strict order and unfailing discipline, of stratified classes and organized division of labor, and above…
Part 1: Going back to Nature The year is 1967. Thirty-two year old Satoshi Ōmura, in his lab at the prestigious Kitasato University in Japan, is giving serious thought to the direction his research career is going to take. In the two years he has spent at the University, he…
Hello Folks! As promised, here is part II of our roundup of the most interesting breakthroughs in the world of science in the last couple of weeks. If you missed Part I, you can read it here. You will learn about mysterious brain cells of male roundworms, methods for remote-controlling…
Hi everyone! I missed making a post on the last two Sundays, so today I’m bringing you a bunch of interesting discoveries that occurred over the last two weeks. Or rather, I am bringing you half of those stories, because there are simply too many to include in one post.…
Hi everyone! I meant to post this last Sunday, but as you can see, I’ve been running a little behind schedule. Nevertheless, it’s time for a short review of what has been happening in the world of science, and last week has been an interesting week as far as that…
Hi everyone! It has been an exciting week in science, and since it is Sunday evening, I thought I’d give you a brief overview of what has been happening in the scientific world this week. Discovery of a new Jupiter-like planet Scientists have discovered a new exoplanet that closely resembles…
Author’s note – This is the second post in a series titled ‘Demystifying the Brain‘. In this series, I will discuss some fundamental neuroscience concepts, and try to explain what scientists have been able to discover so far about how our brains work. You can find previous posts in the…
Scientists at the Salk Institute, USA have discovered a way to control brain cells using ultrasonic sound waves. Their method, which they call ‘sonogenetics’, has been applied to the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans, and can pave the way for advanced research into brain function by letting researchers target individual neurons…
Author’s note – This is the first post in a series of articles titled ‘Demystifying the Brain’. In this series, I will discuss some fundamental neuroscience concepts, and try to explain what scientists have been able to discover so far about how our brains work. I hope you find the…
Einstein is an African Grey parrot who can imitate a spaceship, a laser, and a chimp at will, besides uttering sage words of wisdom upon receiving a cue (and a peanut) from her trainer, Stephanie White. Einstein has a working vocabulary of over 200 words, an impressive number, but nowhere…