Higgs Boson Confirmed?
In a press release from CERN on the 14th March, it has been announced that two and a half times more data has been collected from the Large Hadron Collider and analysed.
This new data points towards the particle in question being confirmed as the elusive Higgs boson. However more research is needed to truly be sure what kind of boson it is.
Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria On The Rise
In the last century, we have become ever more dependent on the use of antibiotic drugs. This is not particularly news to anyone who has been following various bacterial epidemic scares across the last few year and ideas to slow the development of resistance have been around almost as long as antibiotics themselves.
A recent report in the UK lead by Sally Davies has highlighted 17 key policies that should be followed to prevent the spread of such resistant pathogens and slow down the evolution of new, even more dangerous ones.
Sex Could Be Good For The Brain
In a study involving rats, researchers in Maryland have seen that sexual experience has a positive effect in increasing neurogenesis(growth of new brain cells) in adult rats.
This is due to the effect of the hormones released during what the paper euphemistically calls a "rewarding experience" on neuron growth and the function of the hippocampus - an area important in memory.
Unfortunately, improved mental function was only seen for some time after sexual experience, if behavioral testing was left too late, little or no improvement in cognitive task was actually seen. On the other hand, frequent sex and often could very well have a strong positive effect on your brain power, at least for a short while.
Congratulations Commander Hadfield
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has taken over the helm of the International Space Station (only the second leader not to be American or Russian).
Hadfield (here on Reddit...) has been part of a skeleton crew manning the station since 21st December, with cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and astronaut Thomas Marshburn. They will return to Earth on 13th May, a total of 144 days in orbit.
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