The Myth of the Lazy Brain
Marcelo Magnasco is the Head of the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics at Rockefeller University, where he leads a group of physicists who use living beings as a source of inspiration for creating new mathematical descriptions of nature. His work often looks at many aspects of sensory processing, including auditory, visual and olfactory. Dr. Magnasco graduated from the National University of La Plata in Argentina with a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1987. He received his Ph.D. in physics from The University of Chicago in 1992.
Question: Is it really true that we only use 10% of our brains?
\r\nMarcelo Magnasco: I should really research the origin of the ten percent of the brain meaning which is widely repeated many places. I don’t know exactly what the original statement was referring to but probably it was referring to the fact that the neurons in the brain, the neurons in the cortex of the brain fire sparsely in the sense that they are not active all the time sending electrical impulses, they fire at much lower rates than their you know than they would be capable of otherwise and but this does not mean that they are not in use all the time. Namely a neuron being silent means something as opposed to not meaning anything and therefore I really have no idea what it would mean to say we are only using ten percent of the brain. As far as the way anybody uses most of their brain most of the time, you know I don’t know exactly how.
It is commonly said that we use only ten percent of our brain. The Rockefeller neuroscientist reveals this to be a misconception.
A dark matter hurricane is crashing into Earth
Giving our solar system a "slap in the face."
- A stream of galactic debris is hurtling at us, pulling dark matter along with it
- It's traveling so quickly it's been described as a hurricane of dark matter
- Scientists are excited to set their particle detectors at the onslffaught
Science confirms: Earth has more than one 'moon'
Two massive clouds of dust in orbit around the Earth have been discussed for years and finally proven to exist.
- Hungarian astronomers have proven the existence of two "pseudo-satellites" in orbit around the earth.
- These dust clouds were first discovered in the sixties, but are so difficult to spot that scientists have debated their existence since then.
- The findings may be used to decide where to put satellites in the future and will have to be considered when interplanetary space missions are undertaken.
New study reveals what time we burn the most calories
Once again, our circadian rhythm points the way.
- Seven individuals were locked inside a windowless, internetless room for 37 days.
- While at rest, they burned 130 more calories at 5 p.m. than at 5 a.m.
- Morning time again shown not to be the best time to eat.
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