Our vision and hearing aren't as reliable as we might think, according to a new study.

The scholars conducted the research in part because there had never been a comprehensive study to examine whether humans' 'spatial localization' ability -- that is, whether we can immediately and accurately perceive where an object is located -- is as well-honed as we believe it to be. In the study, subjects were asked to sit facing a black screen, behind which were five loudspeakers. Mounted on the ceiling above was a projector capable of flashing bursts of light onto the screen, at the same spots where the speakers were located.

Various groups selling 'miracle' prevention techniques, and various United Nations groups (such as IARC) insist that cancer is a lifestyle disease, and if you just pay them, they will either give you something to prevent it or get something banned to prevent it.

ANN ARBOR--By studying videos from high-stakes court cases, University of Michigan researchers are building unique lie-detecting software based on real-world data.

Their prototype considers both the speaker's words and gestures, and unlike a polygraph, it doesn't need to touch the subject in order to work. In experiments, it was up to 75 percent accurate in identifying who was being deceptive (as defined by trial outcomes), compared with humans' scores of just above 50 percent.

London, UK (Dec. 11, 2015) As the hours of freelance or portfolio workers fluctuate, so does their well-being, finds a new study published in the SAGE journal Human Relations.

The study surveyed 45 freelance workers over a period of 6 months. With each participant completing an identical survey each week for 6 months, the researchers found that freelance workers are calmer and more enthusiastic when their hours are higher than their normal pattern of working. However, when the demands they face become increasingly difficult, their anxiety levels increase and they may even become depressed. As the researchers, Stephen Wood of the University of Leicester, and George Michaelides of Birkbeck, University of London, note:

The evolution of the striking, wing-like pectoral fins of skates and rays relied on repurposed genes, according to new research by scientists from the University of Chicago. Studying embryonic skates, they discovered that the rear portion of the fin is built by typical limb-development genes; but the front portion develops through a different set of genes that are usually found in the shoulder areas of other species.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Dec. 7, 2015, shed light on the genetic mechanisms responsible for the evolution and diversification of vertebrate appendages.

Not much is predictable about climate, despite assurances by politicians and activists meeting in Paris, and one claim that global warming skeptics use - that more CO2 is good for plants - is also correct but also not predictable.

Instead, inter-annual variation in climate has stronger effects on predators such as spiders than populations of their detritivorous prey, such as isopods, which could lead to changes in food chain length, which can in turn influence decomposition and plant growth. These findings emphasize the importance of combined approaches that consider food webs and physiological processes to understand the consequences of global climate change.