“The Netherlands is well known for its excellent cycling infrastructure. How did the Dutch get this network of bicycle paths?… Time to find out.”

“The United States is a boozy bunch. Americans consumed the equivalence of 3.73billion bottles of wine in 2011, making it the top global consumer of fermented grapes. Old World wine drinkers came in next, with Italy, France, and Germany coming in second, third, and fourth places, respectively. The report, released by trade show Vinexpo and International Wine and Spirit Research, revealed that the New World and the Far East greatly increased their consumption in recent years. The study surveyed 114 consumer markets and 28 producer countries, AFP reports.” w/ photos

“The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunities. But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.”

“Poltergeists are not the typical kind of haunting ghosts, as they interact with the material world, sometimes with malevolent force. Organizations like the American Paranormal Research Association routinely study these phenomenon, as seen in the series Haunted Discoveries, searching to rule out all possibility of foul play and confirm true paranormal activity. A few separate 20th century studies by parapsychologists trace poltergeist activity to humans. The theories say that humans cause inexplicable physical manifestations such as levitation through emotional and mental triggers. The human-poltergeist connection has caused controversy around many poltergeist cases, as they normally center around one person and are witnessed by very few… until now.” w/ photos + videos

“Babies understand what their mothers say, even when they speak in a language their children have never heard before, scientists claim. They found one-year-olds reacted in exactly same way to their mother’s voice regardless of whether she was speaking in English or Greek. It proves what mothers have long known – that babies pick up on tone of voice rather than the words. The researchers, from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, observed babies as they watched their mothers perform actions with toys using the English words ‘whoops’ and ‘there’. The scientists studied reactions from one-year-old babies to their mum’s voice even when she was speaking either languages… And the same process was repeated in Greek with the same tone in the voice. The academics found that babies reproduced the same reaction regardless of whether they knew the language – proving it was all Greek to them.” w/ photos

“Being placed into a machine for another experiment, these mice are playing a big part in the continuing fight against obesity. A team from the the Integrated Research and Treatment Center for Adipositas at Leipzig University are using the animals to test a number of developments they hope will lead to an obesity pill. The team, of whom Eva Boege, pictured below, is a member are analyzing tissue samples of both obese people and animals. They are 800 samples currently stored there, with an expansion in the pipeline. Scientists at the university are looking at ways that hunger and satisfy appetite can lead to university. They are focusing on parts of the brain that are involved in the regulation of hunger in the hope of developing a treatment.” w/ photos

“Many cats seem to know, for example, when they are going to the vet’s — hiding away in the hope that their owners might get bored of looking for them and give up on the idea. More dramatically, some animals seem to sense when their owners have had accidents or have died in distant places — as documented on my database of more than 5,000 case histories involving psychic phenomena in animals. This includes 177 cases of dogs apparently responding to the death or suffering of their absent masters or mistresses, mostly by howling, whining or whimpering, and 62 accounts of cats showing similar signs of distress. Conversely, in 32 instances people knew when their pet had died or was in dire need, even when they were many miles away at the time. As we will see, these paranormal powers are of potentially huge value to human beings in the prediction of natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. And yet, as someone who has spent his entire adult life working as a biologist, holding senior academic posts both here and in the U.S., I am constantly surprised and frustrated by the refusal of my colleagues in the scientific world to take them seriously.” w/ photo

“People suffering from depression and bipolar disorder who don’t respond to drugs and therapy could finally find relief from their symptoms thanks to a brain pacemaker. The medical device is implanted under the skull and sends electrical impulses deep into the brain. Scientists led by Dr Helen Mayberg from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, found 41 per cent responded to the treatment and one in five went into remission after just six months. The trial included patients with bipolar disorder along with those with severe depression. It followed on from an earlier study by Dr Mayberg that was the first to show deep brain stimulation could help people with major depressive disorder.” w/ photos

“This makes me feel special… hehe!” — iamawesomecat

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