Surprising Science — July 11, 2013

Worms Can Regrow Their Heads. And Their Memories!

The regenerative abilities of flatworms allow them to regrow their memories.

Planarians, more commonly called flatworms, have long been studied for their regenerative abilities, which allow them to regrow even their heads. Recent research has shown that when they regrow their heads, they regrow their memories too!

Read more here.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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Technology & Innovation

If Aluminum Foil And Bubble Wrap Had A Baby…

It might look similar to a material, developed by an engineer at North Carolina State University, that received high praise from attendees at a recent conference.