Neuroscientists have accidentally discovered a whole new role for the cerebellum One of the best-known regions of the brain, the cerebellum accounts for just 10 percent of the organ's total volume, but contains more than 50 percent of its neurons. Despite all that processing power, it's been assumed that the cerebellum functions largely outside the realm of conscious awareness, instead coordinating physical activities like standing and breathing. But now neuroscientists have discovered that it plays an important role in the reward response - one of the main drives that motivate and shape human behaviour. Not only does this open up new research possibilities for the little region that has for centuries been primarily linked motor skills and sensory input, but it suggests that the neurons that make up much of the cerebellum - called granule cells - are functioning in ways we never anticipated. "I hope that this allows us to unify it with studies of more popular brain regions like the cerebral cortex, and we can put them together."
Égaux sans ego roost Phil McCarthy/Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 By Richard Webb You’re in London to receive the 1851 Royal Commission medal for outstanding influence on science. How does it feel to have achieved immortality? Many people thought the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider would be just the start, yet five years on nothing more has been discovered. You’re thinking of theories that go beyond the standard model that the Higgs is a component of, like supersymmetry? Isn’t finding the Higgs and nothing else the very worst of outcomes? Do you still feel a hint of embarrassment referring to the particle as the Higgs? How can fundamental physics get out of its current impasse? A lot of people would ask why we should bother trying to discover new physics. What was your motivation for becoming a theoretical physicist? What would your advice be to someone who has your sort of esoteric interests? Do you mean things like Brexit? Profile More on these topics:
Musée Galilée - Entièrement rénové, le musée Galilée présente une collection extraordinaire - Visiteflorence.com Entièrement rénové, le musée Galilée présente une collection extraordinaire et unique au monde d’objets scientifiques qui couvrent cinq siècles d’histoire et de passion. Grâce aux instruments astronomiques, aux globes terrestres et célestes, aux machines expérimentales du XVIIIe siècle, vous assisterez à la naissance d’une nouvelle vision du monde…Les Médicis puis les Lorraines ont eu le goût des Sciences, ils furent d’attentifs collectionneurs mais aussi les acteurs avertis de l’aventure scientifique de l’époque moderne. La fabuleuse collection d’instruments scientifiques des Médicis est aujourd’hui conservée au Musée Galilée. Et point est besoin d’être scientifique pour se délecter de la beauté de ces objets rares et précieux. Cette visite vous fera aussi mieux connaître la vie de Galilée, ses découvertes, son triomphe, ses déboires.
Matilda Physicists Say They've Created a Fluid With 'Negative Mass' Researchers in the US say they've created a fluid with negative mass in the lab... which is exactly as mind-bending as it sounds. What it means is that, unlike pretty much every other known physical object, when you push this fluid, it accelerates backwards instead of moving forwards. Such an oddity could tell scientists about some of the strange behaviour that happens within black holes and neutron stars. But let's take a step back for a second here, because how can something have negative mass? Hypothetically speaking, matter should be able to have negative mass in the same way that an electric charge can be either negative or positive. On paper that works, but it's still debated in the science world whether negative mass objects can really exist without breaking the laws of physics - something that's not helped by the fact that the very concept is hard for us mere humans to wrap our heads around. "Once you push, it accelerates backwards," said Forbes.
Astronomers have investigated a weird, isolated planet-like object Back in 2012, astronomers spotted a perplexing isolated object in our galactic neighbourhood - an object more massive than Jupiter, that looked very much like one of the closest rogue planets we'd ever found. The only problem was, it wasn't like any rogue planet we'd previously seen. Now scientists has investigated the strange object, known as CFBDSIR 2149-0403, and found evidence that it might not actually be a planet after all, and it's more 'rogue' than we expected. Although most planets are found neatly orbiting a host star, in recent years it's becoming increasingly common for scientists to detect the occasional 'rogue planet' - a planet that's either been kicked out of its star system, or never had one in the first place, and is now orbiting the entire galaxy. When researchers found CFBDSIR 2149-0403 back in 2012, they were particularly excited, as it appeared to be the closest rogue planet we'd ever detected, at just a little over 100 light-years away.
plaquette Ligue de l'enseignement Mutation in clock gene explains why some night owls stay up late DuKai/Getty By New Scientist staff and Press Association A gene variant may explain why some people prefer to stay up late and hate early mornings. The variant is a mutated form of the CRY1 gene, known to play a role in the circadian clock. Michael Young, at The Rockerfeller University, New York, and his team discovered the mutation in a person diagnosed with delayed sleep phase disorder – a condition that describes many so-called “night-owls”. The team found that five of this person’s relatives also had this mutation, all of whom had a history of sleep problems. Advertisement The mutation seems to slow the body’s internal biological clock, causing people to have a longer circadian cycle and making them stay awake later. But those who have a longer circadian cycle need not despair. Journal reference: Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.027 Read more: In sync: How to take control of your many body clocks More on these topics: sleep