Interactions in the brain which enable us to pay attention to some of the things we see while barely Ânoticing Âothers have been discovered in Âresearch at the University of Melbourne. The findings are the first to show the complex interactions between two different areas of the brain when an object catches our eye. They were published in the international journal Science last week. The study was conducted by Dr Yuri Saalmann and Associate Professor Trichur Vidyasagar (Optometry and Vision Sciences), and Dr Ivan Pigarev, a visiting scientist from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Associate Professor Vidyasagar says knowing how different parts of the brain work to influence attention could ultimately lead to a better understanding of conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, dyslexia or schizophrenia. It could also lead to strategies which could prevent car and work place accidents caused by a loss of attention. Associate Professor Vidyasagar and his colleagues found that a higher brain area in the macaque, known as the lateral intraparietal cortex – which controls attention – stimulates activity in a lower area called the medial temporal area, which influences the processing of visual information. ‘Attention is necessary […]
MILAN — With the proliferation of Wi-Fi hotspots, it has become possible to open a laptop and connect to the Internet in just about any major airport as well as thousands of hotels, restaurants, cafes and bars. Yet logging on can sometimes be onerous, and pricing is likely to be expensive and opaque. That has opened the way for what are called aggregators, companies that bring together the Wi-Fi networks of many different operators and allow clients to connect in the same manner and at the same price whether they are at a café in Los Angeles, an airport in Milan or a hotel in Bangkok. While aggregators can make logging on easier by having a standardized system, costs have remained high – so high in fact that a recent survey found that almost two-thirds of people who use Wi-Fi outside of their homes consider the service overpriced. Boingo Wireless, one of the biggest aggregators with more than 100,000 hotspots, is introducing on Monday what it says is the first worldwide flat-rate plan for Wi-Fi hotspots. For a monthly fee of €29, or $39, subscribers can use any of the company’s affiliated hotspots for as long as they […]
At first glance, Rudolph W. Giuliani should be an appealing presidential candidate for observant Roman Catholics. The grandchild of Italian immigrants, Mr. Giuliani went to Catholic schools, considered joining the priesthood, and as mayor of New York battled a museum that exhibited a painting of the Virgin Mary adorned in elephant dung. But church leaders say they are frustrated by prominent Catholic politicians like Mr. Giuliani who argue that while they are personally opposed to abortion, they do not want to impose their beliefs on others. One American bishop, Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, R.I., recently wrote a caustic column for his Catholic newspaper calling Mr. Giuliani’s position ‘pathetic,’ ‘confusing’ and ‘hypocritical.’ Other bishops said that they would not criticize a candidate by name but would not hesitate to declare Mr. Giuliani’s stance contrary to Catholic teaching. Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark said: ‘I think he’s being illogical, as are all of those who take the stand that ‘I’m personally opposed to abortion but this is my public responsibility to permit it.’ To violate human life is always and everywhere wrong. In fact, we don’t think it’s a matter of church teaching, but a matter of […]
A major question in evolutionary studies today is how early did humans begin to think and behave in ways we would see as fundamentally modern’ One index of ‘behavioural modernity’ is in the appearance of objects used purely as decoration or ornaments. Such items are widely regarded as having symbolic rather than practical value. By displaying them on the body as necklaces, pendants or bracelets or attached to clothing this also greatly increased their visual impact. The appearance of ornaments may be linked to a growing sense of self-awareness and identity amongst humans and any symbolic meanings would have been shared by members of the same group. In Europe, amongst the oldest known symbolic ornaments are perforated animal teeth and shell beads, found in Upper Palaeolithic contexts that date to no more than 40,000 years ago. Such finds are apparently associated with both modern human and late Neanderthal sites. Together with cave paintings and engravings they offer the strongest indications that European societies of those times were capable of thinking in an abstract manner, and symbolising their ideas without relying on obvious links between a meaning and a sign. But, now, a growing body of evidence indicates symbolic material […]
The child raised as the eldest in a family is likely to have a higher IQ than his or her siblings, work reveals. A Norwegian team found first born children and those who had lost elder siblings and had hence become the eldest, scored higher on intelligence. The link, reported in Science, was found by looking at more than 250,000 male Norwegian conscripts. Experts have disagreed for decades about how birth order might influence intellect and achievement. Brainier Supporters of the theory argue the eldest child gets more undivided attention from their parents from an early age. Others claim differences occur in the womb before birth because with each subsequent pregnancy the mother produces higher levels of antibodies that may attack the foetal brain. While others claim the relationship between birth order and intelligence is false, being biased by family size – historically, couples with lower IQs have tended to have more children than couples with higher IQs. Professor Petter Kristensen, at the National Institute of Occupational Health in Oslo, and colleague Tor Bjerkedal, at the Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Service, said although the IQ difference they found in their study groups […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
