Motivation doesn't have to be conscious; your brain can decide how much it wants something without input from your conscious mind. Now a new study shows that both halves of your brain don't even have to agree. Motivation can happen in one side of the brain at a time.

Scientists have used Computer Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI to reveal, for the first time noninvasively, how a snake adapts its internal organs in preparation for a big meal and during digestion, until it has disappeared completely. The images could be valuable supplements to traditional textbook sketches, diminishing the need for invasive research and dissections.

A planet about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed to orbit a sun-like star that's some 300 times farther from its own star than Earth is from its sun. The newly confirmed planet is the least massive planet known to orbit at such a great distance from its host star.

Well that didn't take long: Just six months after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down requests to close the locks between Chicago area waterways and Lake Michigan to stop the spread of invasive Asian carp the giant, voracious fish has almost made its way to the Great Lakes.

Last week, a one-meter-long, nine-kilogram bighead carp (pictured) was found in Lake Calumet, along the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS), just six miles from Lake Michigan. According to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee , this is the first carp that has been found in the CAWS above the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Electric Barrier System, a system put in place to try to control the spread of the fish.

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Great Lakes - Lake Michigan - Lake Calumet - Fish - Asian carps

Researchers in Spain have discovered a key mechanism by which virgin olive oil, in contrast to other vegetable oils, protects the body against breast cancer.

Those looking for a new treatment for a range of inflammatory diseases like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and lupus may need to look no further than a drug already available for treating cancer. Japanese scientists have used mice to show that bortezomib induces cell death only in harmful (active and proliferating) T cells, leaving the rest unharmed.

Scientists are planning a large-scale, long-term ecosystem experiment to test the effects of global warming on the icy layers of arctic permafrost.

Your hair contains a record of everywhere you've been. That's because your body uses the hydrogen and oxygen from water (and other beverages and foods) to make proteins--like the keratin in your hair. Because the ratio of the exact isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen varies depending on location--for instance, Denver's isotopic signature in liquids is quite different from Dallas's--forensic scientists may have a new way to piece together your past travels. [More]



Hydrogen - Oxygen - Dallas - Water - Energy

The large leviathan that was the bane of Ahab's existence in Herman Melville's Moby Dick has a new ancient relative that might have lived up to the fictional beast's monstrosity . [More]



Moby-Dick - Herman Melville - 19th century - Arts - World Literature

UK scientists show for the first time that high doses of caffeine directly increase muscle power and endurance during sub-maximal activities, which in humans ranges from everyday activities to running a marathon. With no current regulations in place, the scientists believe their findings may have implications for the use of caffeine in sport to improve performance.