Neuroscientists think they have some insight for evolutionary biologists into how humans, and other mammals, have evolved to have intelligence. They say they have identified the moment in history when the genes that enabled us to think and reason evolved.

This point 500 million years ago provided our ability to learn complex skills, analyze situations and have flexibility in the way in which we think, says Professor Seth Grant of the University of Edinburgh, who led the research -  "One of the greatest scientific problems is to explain how intelligence and complex behaviours arose during evolution." 

Kerosene is the the primary source of light for more than a billion people in developing nations and it is churning out black carbon previously overlooked in greenhouse gas estimates, says a new study. 

Results from field and lab tests found that 7 to 9 percent of the kerosene in wick lamps — used for light in 250-300 million households without electricity — is converted to black carbon when burned. In comparison, only half of 1 percent of the emissions from burning wood is converted to black carbon.

A previously invincible mutation in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been thwarted by an investigational drug in a phase I clinical trial.

12 patients in a trial with chronic phase CML and the T315I mutation had a complete hematologic response (absence of CML cells in the blood) after treatment with ponatinib. Eleven had a major reduction in CML cells in the bone marrow and nine achieved a complete cytogenetic response – no cells in the marrow. 
Twelve patients with acute myeloid leukemia also participated in the trial. A separate paper will address those results.

T315I is present in up to 20 percent of patients and blocks the docking station where three other successful CML drugs normally connect to the mutant protein.

An online calculator says it can predict at birth a baby's likelihood of becoming obese in childhood, according to a paper in PLOS ONE.

They estimate the child's obesity risk based on its birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people in the household, the mother's professional status and whether she smoked during pregnancy.

Yes, that determines if your child is going to be fat.  But it's PLoS One and the credit card cleared.

The researchers think their prediction method will be used to identify infants at high risk and help families take steps to prevent their children from putting on too much weight. Like what, getting mom a better job land quitting smoking before pregnancy? 

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. 

Black holes are again hitting the headlines. Another record super massive black hole has been unveiled. This time it is galaxy NGC 1277 at the center of which a true monster is discovered to be lurking. Dutch astronomer Remco van den Bosch and co-workers weighed the black hole at the center of this galaxy. They did so by interpreting the stellar kinematics from velocity dispersion measurements obtained with the Marcario Low Resolution Spectrograph on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Austin, Texas. They came to the conclusion that the giant weighs in at 17 billion suns.

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.