How exactly does the technology we use to read change the way we read? Ferris Jabr, writing for Scientific America, attempts to explain: As digital texts and technologies become more prevalent, we gain new and more mobile ways of reading—but are we still reading as attentively and thoroughly? How do our brains respond differently to [...]
Science
Turns out that using green food labels on a candy bar or granola bar (my candy bar of choice) tricks eaters into believing that the sugary item is more healthy for you.
Calories, as defined on the back of food packaging labels as a number, presents a challenge of equivalence for dieters or those who are calorie counting. I know a bag of chips might have 300 calories if I eat the whole bag, but I don’t really have a way to understand what that means in [...]
The human face has changed quite a bit over the past 7 million years or so — at least according to “scientists”. [via kottke]
Mark Bittman breaks it down: Thus: for every 12 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverage introduced per person per day into a country’s food system, the rate of diabetes goes up 1 percent. (The study found no significant difference in results between those countries that rely more heavily on high-fructose corn syrup and those that rely primarily [...]
The theory of Cosmological Natural Selection, basically Darwinian selection on a macro level, was conjured by Lee Smolin, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He theorizes that the point of our universe is nothing more than to be a black hole generator — or a means to produce as many baby universes as possible.
The risk of heart disease is reduced by a third in non-meat-eaters, according to researchers at the University of Oxford. Vegetarians also had lower BMIs and fewer cases of diabetes.
Popsci believes that stress is a good indication the evolutionary future of the human race is about to change: The best evidence that we are growing ragged at the hands of the Brave New World we have busily been rolling off the assembly line is that growing numbers of us freely admit to being thoroughly [...]
Whoa. Our DNA might become more than just the building blocks of life. cientists announced yesterday that they successfully converted 739 kilobytes of hard drive data in genetic code and then retrieved the content with 100 percent accuracy. The researchers began with the computer files from some notable cultural highlights: an audio recording of MLK [...]
