Nuke Lint?

Afraid all life on earth is destined to die in a global thermonuclear holocaust? Check out the strange "lint" growing in tanks of water around spent fuel rods at the Savannah River Nuclear Site. We might bomb ourselves into oblivion, but fungus may yet prevail. Via the Augusta Chronicle.

Strange nuclear waste lint might be "biological in nature"

Bee Brains

SciGuru reports on new work showing similarities between how bees communicate and come to consensus to choose a new nesting site after a swarm, and how neurons in a human brain communicate to achieve consensus during the act of making a decision.

“This research shows that a key feature of a human brain – cross inhibition between evidence-accumulating populations of subunits – also exists in a swarm as it chooses its nesting site."

Basically, a quiet debate goes on between factions of bees - and between factions of neurons - and the process makes sure that different pros and cons are weighed before conscious choice is made. So when we spend an election season arguing with each other back and forth about the merits of any particular candidate or political stance, are we recreating the same process on a different scale? Interesting stuff.

House-hunting honey bees shed light on how human brains come to a decision

Expectations

Bobby McFerrin on the mysteries of the pentatonic scale.

The Language of Tantrums

Scientists have now studied and deconstructed the toddler temper tantrum, giving us a much better idea of what's actually going on behind all of that screaming...and a few better pieces of advice on how to deal with them. The old common wisdom is that tantrums always begin in anger and progress towards ending in tears, but vocal analysis shows that kids actually sway back and forth between anger and sadness as the tantrum goes on. There's a kind of pattern to them that can help us understand what's going on for the child a little better.

The best way to defuse a tantrum? Don't react. Rising with anger to the child's anger, or even just addressing it in any way, just prolongs it.

What's Behind A Temper Tantrum? Scientists Deconstruct The Screams

Child Abuse Never Really Stops

Kids who were abused as children grow up with brains tuned to be hypervigilant - similar changes have been observed in the brains of soldiers. Abused kids have a kind of permanent, low-grade Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that never really goes away. We have long known that abused kids grow up to be more anxious and depressed, and now we have the brain imaging showing permanent neural rewiring to go with that data.

Don't hit your kids. Just don't.

via SciGuru, Child abuse changes the brain

Honest Babies

Live Science reports on research showing that babies are inherently turned off by people who are dishonest or unreliable. Humans are, from an extremely early age, able to judge the behavior of others around them and to develop preferences for people they can rely upon. They also prefer to imitate and learn from those people. Let's live up to their expectations, shall we?

Babies Picky About Who They Imitate

Knowing

The Boston Globe has run a wonderful story about a set of identical twins, born as Jonas and Wyatt, who nevertheless have developed very differently. Wyatt, from as early as age 3, always self-identified as a girl. Now 14, Wyatt is now known as Nicole, and she is undergoing treatment to postpone male puberty until she can make the decision to undergo full male-to-female gender reassignment surgery after she's 18. The Globe's article details the tricky navigation of this social adjustment and the heartwarming bravery of Nicole and her family. Must-read.

Led by the child who simply knew