Category: Biology Philosophy
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Life. A mess…
Life is built with three major components: RNA and DNA - the genetic code - and proteins, the cells that carry out their instructions. Most likely, the first cells had all three pieces. But first, RNA, DNA or proteins had to form without their partners. One common theory, known as the "RNA World" hypothesis, proposes…
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Being afraid of Nothing…
Scientists have created the fastest spinning object ever made, taking them a big step closer to being able to measure the mysterious quantum forces at play inside 'nothingness'. The record-breaking object will pave the way for scientists to detect unfathomably small amounts of drag caused by the 'friction' within a vacuum. The science of nothingness…
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Knowing thy self…
Interoception is the awareness of our physiological states; it's how animals and humans know they're hungry or thirsty, and how they know when they've had enough to eat or drink. But precisely how the brain estimates the state of the body and reacts to it remains unclear. In a paper published in the journal Neuron,…
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Conscious. Unconscious!
What does this mean for the EEG's ability to reflect consciousness? "The study does support the possibility that certain EEG features might not always accurately capture the level of consciousness in surgical patients," says senior author George A. Mashour, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the U-M Department of Anesthesiology. However, "EEG likely does have value in…
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Drawing. Seeing.
Drawing an object and naming it engages the brain in similar ways, according to research recently published in JNeurosci. The finding demonstrates the importance of the visual processing system for producing drawings of an object. In a study by Fan et al., healthy adults performed two tasks while the researchers recorded brain activity using functional…
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