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It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, for many a time to seek rest, relaxation and a good book. The good news is that finding the time to sit and read could actually result in positive physical changes to our brains.

A recent study indicated that reading a novel caused long-lasting alterations in the resting-state connectivity of the brain.

“Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person,” commented neuroscientist Gregory Berns, lead author of the study and the director of Emory University’s Center for Neuropolicy. “We want to understand how stories get into your brain, and what they do to it.”
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West Africa is currently being assailed by the worst outbreak of Ebola virus ever recorded. As of 17th July, World Health Organisation (WHO) reports indicated that out of more than 1048 confirmed and suspected cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, 632 people had fallen victim to the deadly disease, and its rapid spread across the continent is creating serious concerns that the worst is yet to come.
 
The WHO report stated that the epidemic trend was “serious, with high numbers of new cases and deaths being reported” and health authorities are struggling to control the epidemic, though currently no travel or trade restrictions have been imposed on the affected areas.
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With the help of a smart tablet and Angry Birds, children can now do something typically reserved for engineers and computer scientists: program a robot to learn new skills. The Georgia Institute of Technology project is designed to serve as a rehabilitation tool and to help kids with disabilities.

The researchers have paired a small humanoid robot with an Android tablet. Kids teach it how to play Angry Birds, dragging their finger on the tablet to whiz the bird across the screen. In the meantime, the robot watches what happens and records “snapshots” in its memory.read more

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Scientists have detected that the earth’s magnetic field has been significantly weakening over the past six months. Data collated by the European Space Agency (ESA) Swarm satellite array indicates that the field has developed several weak areas over the Western Hemisphere.
Conversely, the field has strengthened in other areas such as the southern Indian Ocean, according to the magnetometers onboard the Swarm satellites.
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