science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie: Pareidolic reaction  There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon. Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock? The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face. The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.  Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.Images: Google. 
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science-junkie:

Pareidolic reaction
 

There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. —David Hume


Our brains are made to find faces. In fact, they’re so good at picking out human-like mugs we sometimes see them in a jumble of rocks, a bilious cloud of volcanic ash, or some craters on Moon.

Neuroscientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to investigate how the brain decides exactly what is and is not a face. Earlier studies have shown that the fusiform gyrus, located on the brain’s underside, responds to face-like shapes—but how does it sort flesh from rock?

The researchers could conclude that the left side of the brain ranks images on a scale of how face-like they are. The right side makes the categorical distinction between whether or not it’s a human face.

The left side of the fusiform gyrus actually flared up before the right side supporting the hypothesis that the left side does its job first and then passes information on to the right side.
 

Sources: Ars Technica - Skepdic.com.
Images: Google. 

(via thescienceofreality)

Source: science-junkie

NASA Year in Review 2012 Check out and read more on all of the groundbreaking scientific achievements from this past year, separated categorically as listed below, here. Curiosity Landing Commercial Space International Space Station  New Spacecraft Hubble Ice Sheets Aeronautics Digital Media Technology Hands On Learning  Ice on Mercury Interstellar Matter WISE Shuttle Popular on the Web Farewell Pioneers
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NASA Year in Review 2012 Check out and read more on all of the groundbreaking scientific achievements from this past year, separated categorically as listed below, here. Curiosity Landing Commercial Space International Space Station  New Spacecraft Hubble Ice Sheets Aeronautics Digital Media Technology Hands On Learning  Ice on Mercury Interstellar Matter WISE Shuttle Popular on the Web Farewell Pioneers
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NASA Year in Review 2012

Check out and read more on all of the groundbreaking scientific achievements from this past year, separated categorically as listed below, here.

  • Curiosity Landing
  • Commercial Space
  • International Space Station 
  • New Spacecraft
  • Hubble
  • Ice Sheets
  • Aeronautics
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Hands On Learning 
  • Ice on Mercury
  • Interstellar Matter
  • WISE
  • Shuttle
  • Popular on the Web
  • Farewell Pioneers

(via thescienceofreality)

mangledmetaphor: Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini, who died today at the age of 103, was a Jew and a woman in a place and an era where it was difficult to be either. She received her Nobel prize for her discovery of nerve growth factor, much of the work on which she performed, in hiding, in the hills near Turin in Mussolini’s Italy. She obtained the chicken eggs she needed for her research by begging them from farmers, under the pretext of needing them to feed her children (which she didn’t have). In the years before her death, she remained active in many endeavors, including a foundation to mentor young people. In honor of her passing, Scientific American is making this 1993 profile of her available for the next 30 days.
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mangledmetaphor:

Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini, who died today at the age of 103, was a Jew and a woman in a place and an era where it was difficult to be either. She received her Nobel prize for her discovery of nerve growth factor, much of the work on which she performed, in hiding, in the hills near Turin in Mussolini’s Italy. She obtained the chicken eggs she needed for her research by begging them from farmers, under the pretext of needing them to feed her children (which she didn’t have). In the years before her death, she remained active in many endeavors, including a foundation to mentor young people.

In honor of her passing, Scientific American is making this 1993 profile of her available for the next 30 days.

(via thescienceofreality)

Source: Wikipedia

mothernaturenetwork: When we think of scientists and researchers, a passion for discovery, not a penchant for daredevil antics, is usually what comes to mind. Yet many a researcher has faced injury, illness and even death in the name of scientific breakthroughs. After all, when dissecting the mysteries of plague and plutonium, it doesn’t take much for things to go terribly wrong. 7 scientists killed by their own experiments
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mothernaturenetwork:

When we think of scientists and researchers, a passion for discovery, not a penchant for daredevil antics, is usually what comes to mind. Yet many a researcher has faced injury, illness and even death in the name of scientific breakthroughs. After all, when dissecting the mysteries of plague and plutonium, it doesn’t take much for things to go terribly wrong.

7 scientists killed by their own experiments

(via thescienceofreality)

Source: mothernaturenetwork

psycholar: Scientists claim to decode contents of dreams Japanese researchers have scanned the brains of three volunteers as they slept to monitor activity changes, which they thought could be related to the content of their dreams.  They monitored the brain activity while these volunteers slept, and woke them up when t the activity patterns indicated that they were dreaming. Each time they woke, the participants were asked what they were dreaming about. From these accounts, the researchers picked out common themes, and created a list of pictures which represented the common categories (i.e. cars, computers etc.). Then, participants were asked to go back in the scanner, and look at the list of images.  By comparing the data from the first scan with the second, the researchers identified patterns in the electrical activity. The areas this activity was found in are three key brain areas that process visual information from our eyes.  Dr. Katamani, who led the study, said “Using a database of picture-elicited brain activity and a pattern recognition algorithm, we can read out, or decode, what a person might be seeing from brain scans during dreaming”.  Read the full story
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psycholar:

Scientists claim to decode contents of dreams

Japanese researchers have scanned the brains of three volunteers as they slept to monitor activity changes, which they thought could be related to the content of their dreams. 

They monitored the brain activity while these volunteers slept, and woke them up when t the activity patterns indicated that they were dreaming. Each time they woke, the participants were asked what they were dreaming about. From these accounts, the researchers picked out common themes, and created a list of pictures which represented the common categories (i.e. cars, computers etc.). Then, participants were asked to go back in the scanner, and look at the list of images. 

By comparing the data from the first scan with the second, the researchers identified patterns in the electrical activity. The areas this activity was found in are three key brain areas that process visual information from our eyes. 

Dr. Katamani, who led the study, said “Using a database of picture-elicited brain activity and a pattern recognition algorithm, we can read out, or decode, what a person might be seeing from brain scans during dreaming”. 

Read the full story

(via thescienceofreality)

Source: telegraph.co.uk

astronomerinprogress: How to Increase NASA funding? Vote! NASA is underfunded. NASA is underfunded not only to do all the science that they want to do (explore other worlds in the Solar System - in complain that they only focus on Mars), but also to plan a manned mission on a timescale that would keep us pumped. Not only that, NASA has also been charged with monitoring Earth and doing all the things that you would consider practical (monitoring weather, climate change, etc.) for this planet. If you want NASA to do all of the above, they need money. Is there something simple that you can do to get NASA more funding? Yes - vote. VOTE for the people who support science exploration. VOTE out of office the people who don’t fund NASA. It’s that simple.  Election day for the US is this Tuesday - November 6. This is a democracy. Let’s make it work for us.
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astronomerinprogress: How to Increase NASA funding? Vote! NASA is underfunded. NASA is underfunded not only to do all the science that they want to do (explore other worlds in the Solar System - in complain that they only focus on Mars), but also to plan a manned mission on a timescale that would keep us pumped. Not only that, NASA has also been charged with monitoring Earth and doing all the things that you would consider practical (monitoring weather, climate change, etc.) for this planet. If you want NASA to do all of the above, they need money. Is there something simple that you can do to get NASA more funding? Yes - vote. VOTE for the people who support science exploration. VOTE out of office the people who don’t fund NASA. It’s that simple.  Election day for the US is this Tuesday - November 6. This is a democracy. Let’s make it work for us.
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astronomerinprogress:

How to Increase NASA funding? Vote!

NASA is underfunded. NASA is underfunded not only to do all the science that they want to do (explore other worlds in the Solar System - in complain that they only focus on Mars), but also to plan a manned mission on a timescale that would keep us pumped. Not only that, NASA has also been charged with monitoring Earth and doing all the things that you would consider practical (monitoring weather, climate change, etc.) for this planet.

If you want NASA to do all of the above, they need money. Is there something simple that you can do to get NASA more funding? Yes - vote. VOTE for the people who support science exploration. VOTE out of office the people who don’t fund NASA. It’s that simple. 

Election day for the US is this Tuesday - November 6.

This is a democracy. Let’s make it work for us.

(via thescienceofreality)

Source: youtube.com