Author: Tom Patriot

Rapid genetic evolution linked to lighter skin pigmentation

Tom Patriot

Populations of indigenous people in southern Africa carry a gene that causes lighter skin, and scientists have now identified the rapid evolution of this gene in recent human history. The gene that causes lighter skin pigmentation, SLC24A5, was introduced from eastern African to southern African populations just 2,000 years ago. Strong positive selection caused this gene to rise in frequency among some KhoeSan populations. UC Davis anthropologist Brenna Henn and colleagues have shown that a gene for lighter skin spread rapidly among people in southern Africa in the last 2,000…

Read More

Laughter may be best medicine — for brain surgery

Tom Patriot

Neuroscientists at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered a focal pathway in the brain that when electrically stimulated causes immediate laughter, followed by a sense of calm and happiness, even during awake brain surgery. The effects of stimulation were observed in an epilepsy patient undergoing diagnostic monitoring for seizure diagnosis. These effects were then harnessed to help her complete a separate awake brain surgery two days later. The behavioral effects of direct electrical stimulation of the cingulum bundle, a white matter tract in the brain, were confirmed in two…

Read More

Offset Reveals Album Release Date—With Intimate Footage of Cardi B Delivering Their Daughter

Tom Patriot

Offset has our attention. The Migos rapper, 27, revealed the release date of his upcoming solo album and accompanying documentary on Sunday evening, sharing a video montage of himself in the recording studio, FaceTiming with his son, performing on stage — and being in the room during the July 10 birth of daughter Kulture Kiari, his first child with wife Cardi B. In the latter clip, shown at the end of the montage, Offset stands behind Cardi B‘s shoulders as she gives birth, looking concerned as his wife yells out in pain and throws her head…

Read More

Exercise gives older men a better brain boost

Tom Patriot

New research suggests that the relationship between physical and brain fitness varies in older adults by virtue of their sex. The study is published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Cardiorespiratory fitness is the measure of how much — and how well — oxygen is delivered to the muscles during exercise. Fitness level has also been associated with changes in the brain’s nerve-rich tissue, called gray matter, and better cognitive function in later life. Previous studies have also found cardiorespiratory fitness to be related to how the brain…

Read More