On:

Scientists have discovered that different kinds of jokes stimulate different parts of the brain, which is why some people break up over a particular joke, while others don’t “get” it.

Vinod Goel of York University in Toronto and Raymond Dolan of the Institute of Neurology in London wanted to find out where laughter originates in the brain, so they used an MRI to scan the brains of 14 healthy people while they listened to 2 types of jokes.

Half of the jokes were the “Why did the chicken cross the road?” variety. The other half were puns. For controls, they also told jokes without punchlines.
read more

On:

Astronomers have figured out the exact hour when Vincent Van Gogh created his painting “White House at Night” because they have been able to identify a star in the painting as the planet Venus.

This painting shows a white house at twilight with a prominent yellow star in the sky. The painting surfaced in 1995, after being hidden from the Nazis since the 1930s.

Van Gogh painted 5 pictures of the night sky and astronomers have been astounded by their accuracy. “I was surprised his paintings have such a strong basis in reality,” says Donald Olson of Southwest Texas State University.
read more

On:

Botulism toxin is a “major biological weapons threat” because it’s easy to make and very deadly, according to a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Botulinum toxin is a serious threat as a weapon, because it is extremely lethal and easy to produce,” says Dr. Thomas Inglesby, of John Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Only a very low quantity of toxin is needed to cause a life-threatening or fatal illness.” Inglesby is a member of the university’s Biodefense Studies Department, which searches for ways to minimize the consequences of a bioterrorist attack.
read more

On:

After a lull in December and January, UFO reports have been increasing dramatically, according to George Filer’s UFO report, Filer’s Files.

But are UFOs real? The US Air Force says they can all be explained away. The media generally ignores them or publishes silly season stories about them. The skeptical community claims that no professional observer has ever had an unambiguous UFO sighting.

However, astronauts like Gordon Cooper, NASA engineers of the stature of the late Paul Hill and many other skilled professionals have seen UFOs and believe that they are a genuine unknown. In fact, the government’s refusal to acknowledge them is a coverup, and the media’s excessive skepticism represents a major failure of the press as an institution.
read more