Science News for Writers

Credit: UZH Preference-based decisions were less stable if the information flow between the two brain regions was disrupted. Don't know about you, but I find all of the current research on how our brains function fascinating. From a layman's point of view (mine), our brains are a highly complex organ consisting of 8 billion neurons organized into twenty modes, or functional regions.  Most of what constitutes our thoughts are generated almost randomly by the various modes and transmitted to our conscious minds which acts like traffic control at O'Hare Airport during a snow storm over the holidays. Each mode is calling for attention of the conscious mind.  You know how random thoughts go flittering through your mind while you're trying to sleep?  That's the result of various modes getting the attention of traffic control, if only for a moment.  One thing that research shows is that a person can only think about one thing at a time, the reason ...

Credit: Image courtesy of University of Cambridge A list detailing the names, ages and prices of slaves bought by British plantation owner William Philip Perrin from John Broomfield in 1796. Price of Britain’s slave trade revealed " What these letters reveal, apart from a total lack of empathy for their  human commodities is the sheer amount of money involved ." Letters and papers revealing in detail how human beings were priced for sale during the 18th century Transatlantic Slave Trade have been made available to researchers and the public. Letters discussing the value and sale of slaves in the 18th century, which provide a distressing reminder of the powerful business interests that sustained one of the darkest chapters in British history, are to be made available to researchers and the public by St John's College, University of Cambridge. The collection contains the business exchanges of an 18th century English landowner, William Philip Perrin, who...