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 Researchers in Belgium have developed a technique that allows coma patients that are in a minimally-conscious state to become aware enough to communicate — for up to a week — using mild electrical stimulation to their brains.

Building on the results of a 2014 study that showed that electrical stimulation of the brain could briefly help raise the state of awareness in coma patients, a research team from Belgium’s University of Liège performed a similar experiment using longer sessions, where 16 participants, either in a minimally conscious or vegetative state, were given 20-minute treatments for five days.
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A new equation has been published that has the potential to settle the debate of how big an impact human activity has had on the environment, in comparison to natural forces. This equation, created by the authors that proposed that we’re living in a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene, is meant to offer a mathematical formalization of our everyday discourse regarding global warming — putting hard numbers to what can oftentimes devolve into a nebulous argument — and the result of the equation is alarming.
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While we’re well aware of the ongoing plight of honeybees that are facing colony collapse disorder, and the potential impact on crops that depend on our little apian allies for pollination, it’s important to remember that there are a large number of plant species that we use for food that rely on species other than bees, both invertebrate and vertebrate. Toward that end, a new study, commissioned by the United Nations, has been released, warning that a shocking number of these alternate pollinators are at risk of extinction.
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Ten Thousand years from now, there will be two separate species of human beings: an intelligent ruling class and an underclass of what the Daily Mail calls “dim-witted, ugly, goblin-like creatures.”

Niall Firth reports that researcher Oliver Curry says that the ruling class will be between six and seven feet tall and live to be 120 years old. He quotes Curry as saying, “Physical features will be driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility that men and women have evolved to look for in potential mates.” He predicts that the males of this species will have “symmetrical facial features, deeper voices and bigger penises” and the women will have “glossy hair, smooth hairless skin, large eyes and pert breasts.”
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