Brainwaves Reveal IQ

What intelligence is and how to measure it are thorny questions.  If the brain’s information processing power could be measured directly with medical instruments, then the problematic assumptions, cultural biases, and pitfalls of IQ tests could be avoided. Moreover, direct measurement of the brain’s information processing power could reveal how specific brain circuits boost intelligence…

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Humans Mated with Neanderthals–They Still Are

We know that Homo sapiens (meaning the wise one) co-inhabited the earth with Neandertals. What’s more, DNA analysis proves that men and women of both species (or subspecies if you prefer), mated. Of course, there was no Valentine’s Day back when the daily grind for a working man meant bringing down a woolly mammoth with a sharp stick.…

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Snakes on the Brain

After repeated encounters with a friendly rattlesnake last week I have snakes on the brain. Serpents are a storehouse of fascinating neuroscience. Infrared vision, venom, fast-twitch muscles to energize its “warning buzzer,” and more… The western diamondback rattlesnake can rattle its tail at frequencies of 90 Hz and do this continuously for hours. This is…

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