Do Plants Have Memory?

Most of us see plants as passive organisms: they don't move, they don't run, and they don't retaliate when you put them under the chainsaw. 

Of course, plants do move. You can find plenty of timelapse videos of flower blossoming and twigs moving on youtube, and some plants can even act fast enough to capture insects.

Are You A Super-Recognizer?

Most of us have had this awkward experience: met someone for the first time, shook hands, got to know his name, went to the lavatory, came back and poof! Oh hi have we met before?

How good are you in remembering, or recognizing faces?

Image: Scienceblogs.com

Facial recognition is an important part of our lives, because without it we would probably have no friends. Even today, police still rely on facial composite sketched based on description by victims to identify potential suspect. Last month when I was travelling to China, the immigration officer took a hard, cold look at my face, and then at the photo in my passport, and asked me to reenact that smile I had in my passport.
Facial recognition, China-style.

Just a couple of months ago, Thai police launched a search for a young man in a yellow T-shirt, whom they believe blew up Bangkok's Erawan shrine on August 16. They had the CCTV footage of the suspect, but the quality was far from perfect. I've seen the snapshot of the footage: it's grainy, blur, and I could not even see his facial features. Worse, I would probably not recognize the suspect had he walked past me then and there.
Nonetheless, Thai police managed to arrest the suspect at the Cambodian border and said he matched the description of the yellow-shirted bomber in the footage.
But how can they be so sure?

Luckily for us, there are people who possess this seemingly unique ability to recognize faces. The Scotland Yard, for example, has formed a team of super-recognizers that specialize in recognizing faces, and one of their most important tasks is to sit in CCTV control centers to scan the crowd.

"Gary Collins is so good that he ID'd three people over his Sunday roast," says Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, speaking about one member of the super-recognizer team who likes to relax on weekends with an iPad loaded with photos of criminal suspects.

After London's 2011 riots, the super-recognizers combed through thousands of hours of footage, and Collins alone identified 190 faces among the rioters.

How hard can that be, you may ask.
Some of us have thousands of friends on Facebook and it's easy to remember all their names, right?

Well, we're not talking about recognizing the faces you're familiar with–like the faces of your friends and family–we're talking about recognizing the face of a stranger, a person whom you see for the very first time, say from two different photos laid side-by-side. Still don't think it's hard? You can take a simple test here, devised by Josh Davis, a psychologist at the University of Greenwich, to see how good you are at it. Note: I scored 11 out of 14. That's a B+.

However, the ability to recognize faces is not so rare. In fact, you might share this ability, too, and not even know it. According to David White of the University of New South Wales' forensic psychology laboratory, the ability to recognize faces, it seems, falls along a spectrum. At one end are the people who are "face-blind", also known as prosopagnosia, while the other end sit the super-recognizers. There are, however, fewer than 1 percent of people on this planet who falls into the super-recognizer end.

For the remaining 99%, hope is not all lost. There are, in fact, ways to improve your facial recognition skills. In a study published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, White's team tested a group of crack forensic examiners who specialize in face image analysis to see whether they would perform better than average. These group of expert super-recognizers, it turned out, did perform better than either untrained students or forensic experts who don't match faces regularly. These elite group of specialists are so good they could even identify faces that were shown upside-down. This leads White to suggest that with training, super-recognizers could further enhance their skills beyond their natural abilities.

Malcolm

According to Science, The Phrase "If You Smile, The World Will Smile Back At You" Is True

We smile when there is something good going on. We smile because we feel happy, we feel joy, or simply because we have to act polite when meeting other people.

Smiling can change your mood, because human emotion is highly malleable. Pretend that you are happy, and you will feel happy, pretend that you are angry, and you will feel angry—this is an effect well known to actors, and has been extensively studied by psychologists following the tradition of William James and self- perception theory.

Six Tips To Improve Your Memory

I'm not sitting for examination this semester. In fact I haven't taken any written examination since 2011, simply because I'm now a postgraduate researcher, and researcher don't take exams! :D

It's exam season now, and I feel bad when I see people trying so hard to memorize their notes. Boycotting Facebook is one way to stay focused, but you need some time off as well and immersing yourself in a sea of books isn't going to help.

Forget about your grandma's magic potion or the tips given by your CGPA 2.0 seniors. Here are six ways, backed up by solid science, for you to improve your memory.

The Tragic Story of Einstein's Brain

It was stolen. There, I've said it.

And if that's not tragic enough, then take this: the brain was then cut into 240 pieces by the thief.
And if that's still not tragic enough, consider this: after years of investigation, it turns out that (maybe, just maybe) Einstein's brain wasn't even special after all. Allow me to finish this.

Image: en.wikipedia.org

Einstein sorta knew what was coming after his death (why not? He's the smartest man to ever walk the Earth, of course he knew about the public's obsession with his remains). And so he "left behind specific instructions regarding his remains: cremate them, and scatter the ashes secretly in order to discourage idolaters"

How Do Blind People Dream?

Dreams can be fascinating, compelling, inspiring, or scary.
We attach such characters to our dreams because we can experience and feel our dreams through our visual and auditory senses. I'm sure nightmares will be less scary if we can't see nor hear the content.

What Does It Feel Like Getting Drunk?

I was part of the crowd that flooded the Haadrin beach for the Full Moon Countdown party in Koh Phangan, Thailand last week. 
If you haven't read about it already, please do it here. I drank three buckets of the infamous cocktail and then, according to my friends, I got drunk.
Very drunk.

So how does one know whether a person is drunk?
First, he murmurs sh*ts you don't understand. That includes those who present their final year project without knowing what the hell they have done.

Secondly, he can't stand/walk properly.

Thirdly, he falls asleep, but he hears whatever sh*t you say about him.

Research Is A Dangerous Business

When people talk about risk at work, they normally mean the risk of getting fired, losing a business deal, and probably encountering some minor accidents like electrocution while charging their electronics. 

Unlike these risks, the risks you encounter during research are far more unpredictable because you work with unpredictable subjects; the weather (climate scientists), wild animals (zoologists), chemicals (chemists), and sometimes, the product of your own research (physicists). Even in social sciences, the research is often far more dangerous than your average nine-to-five job.

Image: www.specialtyexecutives.com

One particular technique in psychology, called participant observation, involves taking part in the activities of those you want to study. For example, if you wish to study the drug cartel, you would need to actually get your hands dirty. Sociologist Mick Bloor, a professor at the Cardiff School of Social Sciences once ended up in a bar fight while studying male prostitution in Glasgow. Lorraine Dowler from the Pennsylvania State University was forced to flee when her interviewee became the target of a street-level assassination attempt. Social scientist Frank Burton woke up one morning to find a submachine gun pointed at him. The body of Ken Pryce was found washed up on a Caribbean beach after investigating criminology in Jamaica.

Stroke in Bible

The book of Psalm was one of my favorite books of the Bible as a child. Many of those passages have been made into songs, extolling and praising the omnipotence of God. 

Image: uncyclopedia.wikia.com

But there are some chapters in Psalm that are less sympathetic; warning the people of the punishment that awaits them should they stray away from righteousness.

With Big Brains Comes Fewer Offspring

Ben Parker once said to his nephew Peter, "With great power comes great responsibility".

Scientists recently discovered that there is a trade-off in intelligence as well--with great intelligence comes fewer offspring. At least in the case of guppies. 

Image: aqua-fish.net

In fact, the 2006 movie "Idiocracy", starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph, highlights a same concept: dumb people outbreed smart people, because smarter folks tend to care too much about the cost of raising children, the insurance, the fuss, the pain. But dumb people couldn't care less. Just go on have fun and have sex.

Superstition: Even Animals Have It

There are a menagerie of routines in some of our behavior which, when we stop to think of it, make absolute no sense.
Retired French footballer Laurent Blanc kissed the shaved head of teammate Fabian Barthez before every match. Ancient sailors would throw salt over their shoulders to keep the devil at bay. Coldplay's front singer, Chris Martin, won't go on stage before brushing his teeth first.

A Sleep To Remember

Examination looming? But your waking-up-to-revise-early-in-the-morning method might not work. Try revise at night, right before you sleep to be precise.

207 healthy Harvard students were recruited by Jessica Payne from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana for this study. The participants were assigned to study semantically related or unrelated word pairs at 9am or 9pm.

Cara Menulis Tesis Yang Betul

Ramai di antara kita perlu menulis tesis pada akhir pengajian kita. Tesis merupakan laporan kajian yang kita lakukan terutamanya pada semester terakhir untuk memenuhi kehendak atau syarat kursus universiti.

Namun ramai di antara kita yang selalu menulis yang bukan-bukan dalam tesis, contohnya, mengarang Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa pada tesis fizik adalah sesuatu yang tidak wajar dilakukan, sebab profesor fizik memang tidak berminat pada hikayat tersebut. Mereka lebih berminat dengan Hikayat Sang Kancil dengan Buaya.

Payback‘s A Bitch: Neurotoxin BMAA In Shark Fins

We kill 100 million sharks a year to accommodate Asia's insatiable obsession for shark fins, and now the Elasmobranch is fighting back. Payback's a bitch ain't it?

Shark fins are just tasteless cartilage with fibrous protein collagen. Chinese believe that shark fins can boost sexual potency, enhance skin quality, and even prevent heart disease. But the benefits of shark fins have never been significantly proven, nor has shark cartilage been reviewed by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Entrepreneurs in Taiwan even substitute shark fins with Tilapia fins due to their bland similarities. But this hasn't stopped the massacre, yet.

Image: chinadecoded.com

A group of scientists from the University of Miami recently discovered that shark fins contain high level of cyanobacterial  neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA). BMAA is linked to a plethora of neurodegenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Amyothrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Why Do We Yawn?

We know that we yawn when we're sleepy. But why yawn?
Our knowledge has enabled us to put a man on the moon, and yet we have not the slightest idea when it comes to yawning, something we probably do every night.

The Incredible Naked Mole Rat

The naked mole rat is an awesome little creature despite its ugly look. Underneath the wrinkled skin lies one of the toughest operating systems of the animal kingdom--it's the Superman of the rodent's world.

Size wise, there's not much difference between a naked mole rat and a house mouse. A naked mole rat is typically 3 to 4 inches in length and weighs around 35 grams. A queen, meanwhile, can be as heavy as 80 grams.

Peeing Your Pants

Have you ever peed in your pants? Why do people pee in their pants when frightened?

Like A Girl? Don't Let Her Know

Let her know that you love her.

That's what we were taught to do by our mom, right guys? We all know that people like others who like them. But when it comes to attracting the opposite sex, it doesn't necessarily work that way.
A paper published by Erin R. Whitchurch et al. recently shows that ladies are attracted to men who play hard to get.

People Who Doodle Learn Faster

New research published recently shows that doodling helps you learn. In fact, say scientists, students should be encouraged to doodle while they take notes in class.


"A doodle is an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes."

Dancing Squid

Ed Yong tweeted a video last week on twitter, and the video went viral. A little surfing brought me another video, this time the entire process of decimating the poor cephalopod, from fishing to killing and finally, consumed.

Image: theawesomer.com

Yeah it freaked me out too.

A little while later someone posted an explanation for the phenomenon: