the cocktail party effect September 6, 2012 American scientists have found out how “the cocktail party effect” works. The cocktail party effect is the well-known human ability to focus on the speech of one person in a large crowd and with a lot of background noise. The cocktail party effect has both psychological and neurological components, the researchers found. All the sounds enter the ears as a cacophonous roar, but the brain processes the information and tunes into one sound, e.g. a person’s voice, and filters out the rest. “The psychological component is that it’s a sound we want or need to hear which is why we can tune into it,” said co-author Dr. Cocktail party effect in the auditory cortex The researchers performed a series of trials on three volunteer patients with normal hearing who were undergoing brain surgery for severe epilepsy. 256 electrodes were placed directly over the cortex, the brain’s outer surface. Could predict speaker and words
Remembering the veterans of 'forgotten war' 10 July 2013Last updated at 19:59 ET By Stephen Robb BBC News The British contingent was mostly made up of young national servicemen Just a handful of years after World War II ended, the US, Britain, China and many more countries became embroiled in another conflict lasting three years and whose death toll is thought to be in the millions. Yet the Korean War is often referred to as the "forgotten war" by British veterans of it. "It was a war that seemed extremely remote, the other side of the world," says Keith Taylor, who served as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. In fact, as the Cold War turned hot for the first time, it involved a fundamental battle between democracy and communism. After the Soviet-installed communist dictatorship of North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, the US led a United Nations force from numerous countries that drove the North Koreans back. 2nd Lt Taylor fought in Operation Commando, a major assault on Chinese positions in 1951
Scientist believe humans 'may grow beaks instead of teeth like pufferfish' Scientists claim that longer life expectancy and modern diets make a limited supply of human teeth impracticalAre investigating a theory that humans will eventually evolve beyond teeth to grow a beak like a pufferfish which are 'far more robust and practical'Humans could grow an endless supply of teeth in the future By Fiona Macrae Published: 10:35 GMT, 3 July 2013 | Updated: 15:06 GMT, 5 July 2013 Scientists have been examining the jaws of pufferfish, which over millions of years have evolved special beaks to crack open crab shells and munch on crunchy food. For anyone who has regular trouble with their teeth, science has some good news. Humans could one day grow beaks, a biologist has predicted. Unlike teeth, a beak would not rot, chip or fall out. The bad news for anyone dreading an imminent trip to the dentist, is that the change – in which the teeth would fuse together to form a tough, pointy beak – is several million years away. This would allow us to grow extra teeth as needed.
Genocide in the 20th Century Adolf Hitler to his Army commanders, August 22, 1939: "Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my 'Death's Head Units' with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?" Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place. Facts About Airline Crashes By Peter Weber It hasn't been a good week for airlines. Or for airline passengers. And on Monday, a Japan Airlines 777 had to turn around mid-flight after its crew found a leak in the system that controls the flaps. Flying is still among the safest ways to travel, though: Your chances of dying in a plane crash are about 11 million to 1 . 1. Lots of what you've read about the Asiana crash is wrong, says longtime commercial pilot Patrick Smith at Slate . First, everyone is making too much of the Korean pilot's relative inexperience flying a Boeing 777. Worse, people are already starting to murmur about Korean airlines' "checkered past" when it comes to air safety, says Smith : Let's nip this storyline in the bud. 2. The rear seats of a commercial jetliner are annoying—cramped, near the lavatory, and you're the last one off the plane. In all, back-seaters had a 40 percent better chance of surviving a crash, Popular Mechanics found . 3. 4. 5. 6. More from The Week...
Difference Between UK, Britain, And England Old McDonald's Burger More tests, more results! Follow The Food Lab on Facebook or Twitter. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] A few weeks back, I started an experiment designed to prove or disprove whether or not the magic, non-decomposing McDonald's hamburgers that have been making their way around the internet are indeed worthy of disgust or even interest. By way of introduction, allow myself to quote myself. Back in 2008, Karen Hanrahan, of the blog Best of Mother Earth posted a picture of a hamburger that she uses as a prop for a class she teaches on how to help parents keep their children away from junk food... The problem with coming to that conclusion, of course, is that if you are a believer in science (and I certainly hope you are!) Thus far, I haven't located a single source that treats this McDonald's hamburger phenomenon in this fashion. The Theory Behind the Burger Things we know so far: Given those two facts, there are a number of theories as to why a McDonald's burger might not rot: The Results
Afghanistan in the 1950s and 60s - In Focus Fractured by internal conflict and foreign intervention for centuries, Afghanistan made several tentative steps toward modernization in the mid-20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, some of the biggest strides were made toward a more liberal and westernized lifestyle, while trying to maintain a respect for more conservative factions. Though officially a neutral nation, Afghanistan was courted and influenced by the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War, accepting Soviet machinery and weapons, and U.S. financial aid. Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose: Picture taken in 1962 at the Faculty of Medicine in Kabul of two Afghan medicine students listening to their professor (at right) as they examine a plaster cast showing a part of a human body. Men stroll past roadside vendors as a painted truck makes its way through the busy street in Kabul, Afghanistan, November, 1961. The modern new (completed 1966) government printing plant in Kabul, on June 9, 1966, which houses Kabul Times.
How to Survive a 35,000-Foot Fall - Plane Crash Survival Guide 35,000 Feet You have a late night and an early flight. Not long after takeoff, you drift to sleep. You’re 6 miles up. Things are bad. Or at least you will be. Granted, the odds of surviving a 6-mile plummet are extraordinarily slim, but at this point you’ve got nothing to lose by understanding your situation. Surviving a plunge surrounded by a semiprotective cocoon of debris is more common than surviving a pure free-fall, according to Hamilton’s statistics; 31 such confirmed or “plausible” incidents have occurred since the 1940s. Whether you’re attached to crumpled fuselage or just plain falling, the concept you’ll be most interested in is terminal velocity. Depending on your size and weight, and factors such as air density, your speed at that moment will be about 120 mph—and you’ll get there after a surprisingly brief bit of falling: just 1500 feet, about the same height as Chicago’s Sears (now Willis) Tower. 22,000 Feet By now, you’ve descended into breathable air. But at what? 0 Feet
Viewpoint: Could one man have shortened the Vietnam War? 8 July 2013Last updated at 23:58 GMT Konrad Kellen was an unknown defence analyst who might have changed the course of the Vietnam War if only people had listened to him, argues Malcolm Gladwell. Listening well is a gift. And I think we have a great deal of trouble with people who have this gift. There are many examples of this phenomenon, but I want to focus on the story of Konrad Kellen, a truly great listener. During the Vietnam War, he heard something that should have changed the course of history. Continue reading the main story About the author Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist and author Hear more on this story in Radio 4's Pop-Up Ideas, broadcast on Tuesday 9 July at 09:30 BST and repeated on 10 July at 20:45 BST This piece is based on an edited transcript Or catch up with iPlayer Kellen was born in 1913. Kellen was tall, handsome and charismatic. He lived one of those extraordinary 20th Century lives. Continue reading the main story Konrad Kellen Kellen was different.
The Grape Crusader During World War II, the United States had over 15 million men fighting in its armed services. Many of those men were deployed away from home and needed to be fed. Food items which were nutritious,tasty, and perhaps most importantly had a long natural shelf life were critical. (Even canning wasn’t a great idea, as the requisite metal could be better used in other wartime needs.) But when the war ended, demand for raisins crumbled. Marketing Order 989 lasted much longer. As one can imagine, not all raisin growers were fond of the forced forfeiture of their crop. For raisin lovers, that’s a big question, because if Horne wins, the price of raisins may fall dramatically. Bonus fact: Another way the U.S. government regulates raisins? From the Archives: Sandwich Law: What makes a sandwich a sandwich, legally speaking. Related: The California Raisin DVD, a key chain, a novelty bank, and … the official fan club watch set (?).