Neuroscie
When Music Falls Flat: Why Some Brains Don’t Enjoy Music
Summary: Some people feel absolutely nothing when listening to music—and not because of bad taste. A rare condition called specific musical anhedonia involves a disconnect between the brain’s auditory and…
Music May Help Kids Understand Emotions, Even Without Empathy
Summary: Music plays a powerful role in how we perceive and express emotion—and a new study finds that even very young children can match emotions in music to facial expressions.…
Promise of Reward Changes How We Pay Attention
Summary: A new study reveals that our brains treat sensitivity and decision bias as separate processes when rewards are at stake. Using eye-tracking and EEG during a visual task, researchers…
Do Dog Faces Shape Behavior?
Summary: Short-nosed dog breeds like Pugs and French Bulldogs are often perceived as calm, affectionate companions—but their behavior is influenced by more than just head shape. A new study of…
Life
Nature
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…
Astronomy
US astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, dead at 97
Astronaut Jim Lovell reads the news after his crew returned safely to Earth from a failed Moon mission in 1970. US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13…
Five astronauts leave space station for trip back to Earth
After nearly five months onboard the International Space Station, an international crew of five astronauts began their descent back down to Earth on a SpaceX capsule Friday. US astronauts Anne…
Mars life explorer should include an agnostic life finder
Artist’s concept of the Mars Life Explorer. Credit: Amy Williams Searching for life on Mars has been an explicit goal of the astrobiological community for decades. However, they have not…
