Trail Baboon

Now that the weather has turned warmer, I was not expecting to write about ice – especially after so many months with the opportunity right outside my window every single day. But this video from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory amazed me. The scientists there have figured out what might cause unusual markings they’ve seen on the surface of Mars. Downhill tracks that have a distinctive profile – a certain shape that helps explain how they were formed. Under the right […]

Categories: Science

My eye was caught by a recent newspaper article about what my ears have been up to. Neuroscientists Robert Zatorre and Valerie Salimpoor wrote in the New York Times about why music gives us pleasure. It turns out that the most emotional moments in music have been shown to release the chemical dopamine in the brain. That has been known for a while. But there’s more: “… what may be most interesting here is when this neurotransmitter is released: not […]

Categories: Science