KNOWLEDGE TO GAIN

IN AN INCREDIBLE FEAT  of remote engineering, NASA has fixed one of the most intrepid explorers in human history.  Voyager 2 , currently some  11.5 billion miles  from Earth, is back online and resuming its mission to collect scientific data on the solar system and the interstellar space beyond. On Wednesday, February 5 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern,  NASA's Voyager Twitter  account gave out the good news:  Voyager 2  is not only stable, but is back at its critical science mission. "My twin is back to taking science data, and the team at @NASAJPL is evaluating the health of the instruments after their brief shutoff," the account tweeted. Voyager 2  is sister craft to  Voyager 1 . Both have been traveling through the solar system — and now beyond it — for the last four decades. Together, they have  transformed our understanding  of our stellar neighborhood and are already revealing unprecedented information about the  interstellar space  beyond the Sun's sphere of influence. N

With just their input cables, human neurons can perform difficult logic calculations previously only seen in entire neural networks. To restate: human neurons are far more powerful devices than originally thought. And if deep learning algorithms—the AI method loosely based on the brain that's taken our world by storm—take note, they can be too. Those are unconventional, fighting words. For 70 years, neurons were considered the basic computational unit of the brain. Yet according to  a new study  published this month in  Science , the neurons in our cortex, the outermost "crust" of our brain, seem to have uniquely evolved to sustain incredibly complex computations in their input cables. It's as if someone finally obtained proof that your computer's electrical wiring is actually made up of mini-processors, each performing calculations before sending results to a CPU. It's weird. It's controversial. But it has also just been seen for the first time in human n

Scientists from Google and the Janelia Research Campus in Virginia have published the largest  high-resolution map  of brain connectivity in any animal, sharing a 3D model that traces 20 million synapses connecting some 25,000 neurons in the brain of a fruit fly.The model is a milestone in the field of connectomics, which uses  detailed imaging techniques  to map the physical pathways of the brain. This map, known as a "connectome," covers roughly one-third of the fruit fly's brain. To date, only a single organism, the roundworm  C. elegans , has had its brain  completely mapped  in this way. Connectomics has a  mixed reputation  in the science world. Advocates argue that it helps link physical parts of the brain to specific behaviors, which is a key goal in neuroscience. But  critics  note it has yet to produce any major breakthroughs, and they say that the painstaking work of mapping neurons is a drain on resources that might be better put to use elsewhere. "The re

Did You Know? Forgetting is good for the brain: deleting unnecessary information helps the nervous system retain its plasticity. In order to function properly, the human brain requires the ability not only to store but also to forget: Through memory loss, unnecessary information is deleted and the nervous system retains its plasticity. A disruption of this process can lead to serious mental disorders. Basel scientists have now discovered a molecular mechanism that actively regulates the process of forgetting.

Did You Know? On average you blink 28,000 times a day. And blinking provides mental rest, new research suggests. Scientists have shown that the average person blinks 15-20 times per minute. That's up to 1,200 times per hour and a whopping 28,800 times in a day—much more often than we need to keep our eyeballs lubricated. In fact, we spend about 10 percent of our waking hours with our eyes closed. So why do we blink so much? New research from Japan's Osaka University found that blinking may serve as a form of momentary rest for the brain, giving the mind a chance to wander and "go offline." These brief breaks may last just a split second, or even a few seconds. When our brains aren't concentrated on a task, brain regions known as the "default mode network" come alive, allowing our mind to switch into an idle mode—a phenomenon researchers discovered decades ago. But how does blinking affect this idle state? According to the new research, blinking and the b

Did You Know? Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body. Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All 11 are necessary for life. The remaining elements are trace elements, of which more than a dozen are thought on the basis of good evidence to be necessary for life. All of the mass of the trace elements put together (less than 10 grams for a human body) do not add up to the body mass of magnesium, the least common of the 11 non-trace elements. Not all elements which are found in the human body in trace quantities play a role in life. Some of these elements are thought to be simple common contaminants without function (examples: caesium, titanium), while many others are thought to be active toxins, depending on amount (cadmium, mercury, lead, radioactives). In humans,

Did You Know? French fries are originally from Belgium. Despite its name, the French fry is not French. The origins of the French fry have been traced back to Belgium, where historians claim potatoes were being fried in the late-1600s. According to local Belgian lore, poor villagers living in Meuse Valley often ate small fried fish they caught in the river.

Did You Know? The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves, which triggers relaxation. Eating a bar of chocolate may cheer you up, but sniffing it calms you down, says a British psychologist. Among several food smells tested, only chocolate had a significant calming effect on the brain—and only real chocolate at that. Neil Martin, a psychologist at Middlesex University in Enfield, asked 60 volunteers to sit in a "low-odour room", wearing goggles and headphones to block out other stimuli, while he wafted smells their way. He used EEG (electroencephalography) to record their brain waves as they sniffed. Half the volunteers were treated to the odours of real foods, while the others made do with synthetic smells. The real foods included chocolate and coffee, as well as the less aromatic baked beans and rotting pork. But apart from chocolate, the smells had little effect on the subjects' "theta" brain wave, which is associated with attentiveness. Only chocolate

Did You Know? The cloned dogs, six Canadian Labradors, started to work for South Korea's customs service as sniffers in 2009. They were quite a lot successful compared to their counterparts. South Korean customs authorities say they have successfully turned a group of cloned Labrador retrievers into world-class sniffer dogs. To create the ideal customs dogs, a team of Seoul National University scientists, led by researcher Lee Byung-Chun, cloned a successful Canadian sniffer dog in 2007. Lee was a former colleague of Hwang Woo-Suk, the scientist who was disgraced when his claims about his work with human stem cells were proved false. But Lee severed ties with Hwang in 2006, according to the Agence France-Presse. Seven cloned puppies were born, and six completed the 16-month training program to become sniffer dogs.(The seventh had to drop out of the training program due to injury.) Three of the six Labradors that completed the training program have now reported for duty at South Kor

Did You Know? In the middle ages, people believed that sperm coming from the left testicle produced girls. Men who wanted sons had it removed sometimes. As early as 330 BC, Aristotle prescribed the ligation (tying off) of the left testicle in men wishing to have boys. In the Middle Ages, men who wanted a boy sometimes had their left testicle removed. This was because people believed that the right testicle made "boy" sperm and the left made "girl" sperm.