When people witness a hurtful action they make a moral determination based on whether it is intentional or accidental instantly, according to a new paper.

The paper says the brain is hard-wired to recognize when another person is being intentionally harmed. It also provides new insights into how such recognition is connected with emotion and morality, according to lead author Jean Decety, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UChicago.

We'll never cure things that shorten life span, like cancer and aging, but a roadmap to under cells at the molecular level might one day help push them to the background, and so a team of researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison have created an "atlas" that maps more than 1,500 unique landmarks within mitochondria that could provide clues to the metabolic connections between caloric restriction and aging. 

The creation and dispersal of modern humans and of modern human behavior are of great interest to archeology and anthropology and engraved objects are a hallmark of cognition and symbolism, important features of modern human behavior. 

Why aren't there more discoveries of these in Asia? In recent years, engraved ochre, bones and ostrich eggs unearthed from various Paleolithic sites in Africa, the Near East and Europe have attracted the attention of many scholars but they are rarely encountered at Paleolithic sites in East Asia.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin have shown that synchronization emerges between brains when making music together, and even when musicians play different voices. This synchronization is used by tutors such as takelessons to help their students learn how to play.

Johanna Sänger and her team used electrodes to record the brain waves of guitarists while they played different voices of the same duet. They say the results point to brain synchronicity that cannot be explained away by similitudes in external stimulation but can be attributed to a more profound interpersonal coordination.

In California, there is mandatory smog testing.  It isn't really meaningful, the worst polluters are actually exempt and the system has even led to a special class of smog testing company - test only shops - which means they won't be able to fix the problem so it will pass the test, but drivers may still be required by law to use one by law but then take their car somewhere else to get fixed if it does not pass

Smog testing companies know these things are dumb and a bad test result can be caused by various issues and the employees at those companies are in the people business, not the arbitrary law business, so they sometimes take pity on the customer because they would like for people to return.