September 30, 2024: The brain subconsciously detects patterns, ancient mammoth DNA sequenced, and fallout from Hurricane Helene. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, N.C. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images | | | • Photons can seem to exit a material before entering it, revealing observational evidence of "negative time." | 5 min read | | | Active Subconscious Brain | Brain researchers examined 17 people with epilepsy who had electrodes implanted in their brains ahead of surgical treatment. They showed the participants photos of faces in a repeating sequence while monitoring two brain regions involved in memory and navigation. Neurons in both areas gradually started responding not only to the face being presented but also to the next faces in the sequence.
Why this is so cool: Participants' neurons began lighting up in anticipation of what face would appear next, even if the individual didn't seem to notice any pattern when asked by a researcher. This suggests that the brain learns patterns subconsciously and can predict future events based on those patterns.
What the experts say: Uncovering how the brain organizes and predicts sequences of events could help scientists develop memory-boosting therapies. "It's eventually a question of putting things together in time," says Itzhak Fried, a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. "This is really the crux of memory." | | | Woolly mammoths were famously hairy and sturdy against the cold. Leonello Calvetti/Science Photo Library/Getty Images | | | Scientists have mapped the three-dimensional structure of DNA from skin taken from a 52,000-year-old mammoth. Typically, such ancient DNA samples degrade soon after the animal's death. But this sample probably held up well because permafrost blanketed the animal's body soon after it died.
What they found: The researchers compared the mammoth DNA with its closest living descendants–the Asian elephant. They identified hundreds of genes that functioned differently in the two species' skins, namely a cluster of genes that contributed to the mammoth's hairiness and cold tolerance.
What the experts say: The researchers used a modified version of a genomic analysis called Hi-C, which could be used to examine DNA from animals up to two million years old, they say. Plus, the method could prove useful for species without a modern descendant, as is the case with woolly rhinoceroses and the saber-toothed cat. | | | • Debunking fake news on social media is not enough to combat misinformation, write researchers Jennifer Allen and David Rand. Academic institutions and social media companies must broaden their definitions of misinformation to hold prominent figures to account. "Combating misbelief is much more complicated—and politically and ethically fraught—than reducing the spread of explicitly false content," they say. "But this challenge must be bested if we want to solve the 'misinformation' problem." | 5 min read | | | It's hard for a self-diagnosed know-it-all like me to hear that fact-checking misinformation won't disabuse people of their wrong-thinking. In fact, it's relatively difficult to change someone's mind, even when facts aren't on their side. Our podcast host, Rachel Feltman, spoke to the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for global communications Melissa Fleming on how her office is combating misinformation online. One of the keys is to get quality info in the same spaces online where misinformation lurks, she says. Listen to their conversation here. | I'm happy to be back on this journey of discovery with you. Email me anytime: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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