Biodiversity reduces human, wildlife diseases and crop pests

"Their findings not only contribute substantially to a debate in ecology research, said the authors, but also have implications for public health and make a case for better management of natural systems, such as forests and croplands. The researchers suggest that biodiversity conservation programs might provide a strategy to minimize pests and mitigate disease outbreaks that are the consequence of human-induced decreases to biodiversity."

Churches Are Using Facial Recognition to Track Members

"'I can tell you in general that churches also don't like to be described as privacy invaders,' Greenshpan told me. 'Most of them would like to keep this confidential. We try to encourage churches to make Churchix more visible, so it will become like a checkpoint for registration. Of course, so far we haven’t had great success in doing that.'"

Green Spaces Make Kids Smarter

"The children who had more vegetation around their schools showed more progress in working memory and attention over the course of a year, a finding that held true even after the authors controlled for socioeconomic status."

Consciousness has less control than believed, according to new theory

"Consciousness, per Morsella's theory, is more reflexive and less purposeful than conventional wisdom would dictate. Because the human mind experiences its own consciousness as sifting through urges, thoughts, feelings and physical actions, people understand their consciousness to be in control of these myriad impulses. But in reality, Morsella argues, consciousness does the same simple task over and over, giving the impression that it is doing more than it actually is."

Nurture, not physical environment, explains human behavior

"Cultural inertia is not necessarily disadvantageous, the research noted. Learning from one's parent's generation could be beneficial because it allows for the accumulation of information through time. This capacity for cultural learning may be why modern humans were able to thrive in virtually every terrestrial habitat on Earth and why human societies vary to an extent unmatched in the animal world."

ET Go Home: Let’s Retire The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis

"Presumptions have kept us locked in a vicious circle because most of us don’t even realize that we’re in it. It would be nice to crack this circle so that we can move into the larger world of logic, interesting ideas and fun speculation. We might even begin to meet the phenomenon of UFOs more on its own terms (or at least without us getting in our own way.)"

'Transabled' people are cutting off their own limbs to become disabled in disturbing trend

"'I feel like my body is correct at last, and that's a way cool feeling,' he said. When asked if he would do anything differently if presented with a do-over, he answered, 'No, it came off better than I ever imagined.'"