Localizing Language in the Brain: Study Pinpoints Areas of the Brain Used Exclusively for Language

New research from MIT suggests that there are parts of our brain dedicated to language and only language, a finding that marks a major advance in the search for brain regions specialized for sophisticated mental functions.Functional specificity, as it's known to cognitive scientists, refers to the idea that discrete parts of the brain handle distinct tasks. Scientists have long known that functional specificity exists in certain domains: In the motor system, for example, there is one patch of neurons that controls the fingers of your left hand, and another that controls your tongue. But what about more complex functions such as recognizing faces, usi

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Magnitude-5.8 Earthquake Strikes U.S. National Capital Area

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck the National Capital Area on Tuesday, August 23, at 1:51p.m. (EDT), causing moderate shaking and potentially significant damage, and was felt throughout Northern Virginia and neighboring areas. No casualties are expected. The earthquake occurred near Louisa and Mineral, Va., approximately 100 miles southwest of Washington, DC. It was a shallow earthquake, and shaking was recorded all along the Appalachians, from Georgia to New England.There have been several aftershocks.The information provided by the USGS is part of a government-wide response effort, in coordination with the Department of the Interior, the Department

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Monitoring Ground-Level Ozone from Space

Satellite views of the Midwestern United States show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion (ppb) along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than $1 billion in lost crop production, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. In a 5-year study led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) molecular biologist Lisa Ainsworth, ARS plant physiologist Fitz Booker, and university scientists surveyed widespread ozone damage to soybeans in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, using both ozone surface monitors and satellite instruments.Ainsworth works at the

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'Landlubber' Fish Leap for Love When Tide Is Right: Research Sheds Light On How Animal Life First Evolved to Colonize Land

One of the world's strangest animals -- a unique fish that lives on land and can leap large distances despite having no legs -- has a rich and complex social life, a new study has found. The odd lifestyle of the Pacific leaping blenny (Alticus arnoldorum) has been detailed for the first time in research findings that throw new light on how animal life first evolved to colonise the land.The Pacific leaping blenny is a marine fish yet is terrestrial in all aspects of its daily adult life, eking out a precarious existence in the intertidal zone of rocky shores in Micronesia, according to the study published in the journal Ethology, led by Dr Terry Ord,

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Karachi: 4 killed, five hurt in gun attacks

KARACHI: Fear gripped parts ofGulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauharand a few housing societies inScheme-33 on Monday after armed attacks and an exchange of firekilled at least four people and left at least five wounded, including a man and his 12-year-old son, police and witnesses said.The firing incidents that erupted about an hour before sunset continued into the night, prompting the police and theRangers only to cordon off the affected areas and launch a snap checking of motorists. Showing unawareness about the motive and people behind the firing, police said they had spotted the affected areas and would launch a ‘search operation’. In the first incid

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