A solution to the puzzle which came to be known as ‘Darwin’s Dilemma’ has been uncovered by scientists at the University of Oxford in a paper published in the Journal of the Geological Society. 

‘To the question of why we do not find rich fossiliferous deposits belonging to these…periods prior to the Cambrian system, I can give no satisfactory answer’, Charles Darwin wrote in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859, summarizing what came to be known as ‘Darwin’s Dilemma’ – the lack of fossils in sediment from the Precambrian (c. 4500 – 542 Mya).

Orientation is a puzzle to neuroscience researchers and ever more puzzling to us.   If you've ever been lost, or even just in a strange place, you know the feeling of mild panic.  But once you get your bearings, that feeling goes away.   

Disorientation is unpleasant but our brain quickly sorts it out.  Some researcher suggests that animals and young children mainly rely on geometric cues (e.g. lengths, distances, angles) to help them get reoriented while adults can also make use of feature cues (e.g. color, texture, landmarks) in the surrounding area.

Your brain has two methods to compile detail and help you regain orientation, a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS).   But the question for psychologists is which method do we use more often?

Many of the battles to desegregate buses, water fountains and colleges were fought in public but some were virtually unknown and are just now getting attention.  

A new University of Georgia study reveals how two men traveled the Deep South, facing hostility and risking violence, to ensure that students received fair and impartial treatment when it came to standardized testing, an important barrier to getting into many universities even then.

To make children happier, we may need to encourage them to develop a strong sense of 'personal worth', according to Dr. Mark Holder, Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia,  Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Ben Coleman and graduate student Judi Wallace.   Their research says that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships – what they term measures of spirituality – are happier.

But according to their paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies, actual religious practices have little effect on that happiness.

6 newly discovered genes for obesity have a neural effect, according to the international GIANT (Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Parameters) consortium.

So far, the scientists have analyzed two million DNA variations in 15 genome-wide association studies with a total of more than 32,000 participants and the identified candidate genes were validated in 14 further studies including 59,000 participants.

In addition to the FTO and MC4R genes already known, it was now possible for six more obesity genes to be identified: TMEM18, KCTD15, GNPDA2, SH2B1, MTCH2, and NEGR1.