Grimm Reapers and Small brains

[dracodraconis]

ABC News: Technology

Married, Successful and Happy to Be Child-Free - The Jacksons are part of a growing trend — married couples who are choosing to remain childless. According to a recent Pew Research Center Survey, the findings are due in large part to the fact that fewer people, across all age groups, consider children to be an important part of a successful marriage.

Oscar the Cat Predicts Patients' Deaths - Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition

US Army eyes laser on a truck - The US Army is developing a truck-mounted laser weapon to destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortars. The solid state laser weapon would eventually be mounted on a 10-tonne, eight-wheel-drive tactical truck.

May looks to sky to complete PhD - Guitarist Brian May is to spend two days studying the night sky in the Canary Islands as he completes the PhD he abandoned in 1971 to join Queen.

Goats make nerve gas antidote - Scientists have genetically modified goats to make a drug in their milk that protects against deadly nerve agents such as sarin and VX.

Reuters: Science

Researchers reverse cocaine effects in mice: study - Researchers working with laboratory mice have found a way to reverse the effects of cocaine on the brain, according to a study published on Thursday that could lead to better treatments for drug addicts.

Tiny brain no obstacle to French civil servant - A man with an unusually tiny brain managed to live an entirely normal life despite his condition, caused by a fluid buildup in his skull, French researchers reported on Thursday. Scans of the 44-year-old man's brain showed that a huge fluid-filled chamber called a ventricle took up most of the room in his skull, leaving little more than a thin sheet of actual brain tissue.

Science Blog -

Circumcision May Not Impact Sexual Sensation - According to a new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, sexual sensation in circumcised and uncircumcised men may not be so different after all. The research, performed in the Department of Psychology of McGill University in Montreal, consisted of genital sensory testing conducted on circumcised and uncircumcised men during states of sexual arousal and non-arousal. Results showed that no difference between the two groups was found in sensitivity to touch or pain.

Faster-acting antidepressants closer to becoming a reality - A new study has revealed more about how the medication ketamine, when used experimentally for depression, relieves symptoms of the disorder in hours instead of the weeks or months it takes for current antidepressants to work. While ketamine itself probably won’t come into use as an antidepressant because of its side effects, the new finding moves scientists considerably closer to understanding how to develop faster-acting antidepressant medications – among the priorities of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Exercise, exercise, rest, repeat -- How a break can help your workout - Taking a break in the middle of your workout may metabolize more fat than exercising without stopping, according to a recent study in Japan. Researchers conducted the first known study to compare these two exercise methods—exercising continually in one long bout versus breaking up the same workout with a rest period. The findings could change the way we approach exercise. Who wouldn’t want to take a breather for that?