Simple sensory exercises superior to standard treatments Smelling lemons, listening to classical music and intense sensory exercises produced improvements in autism symptoms in children after just six months, scientists have found. The research, which appears in the online edition of Behavioral Neuroscience, shows that inexpensive, at-home exercises can reduce the severe symptoms of autism more   …Continue Reading

Too much security could affect your health As I mentioned yesterday, the White House launched its initiative of releasing massive amounts of data from U.S. government agencies, in formats that are machine-readable, open, and still—they say—safeguard privacy and security. But what does all this data do for us? Does it translate into more information? The   …Continue Reading

New information can fuel new technologies, speed up innovation “Open data provides huge opportunities for the U.S.” The White House and several agencies of the U.S. government are providing data–lots of data–that they believe can stimulate innovation. What’s being released ranges from census data about entrepreneurs in various cities, to healthcare costs in states and   …Continue Reading

Scientists tweak genes to create more efficient mini-computer The machinery inside every cell is an amazingly efficient and complex factory—every action, from reproduction to metabolism to fighting disease is carefully choreographed by a network of genes, RNA and proteins (at least). Now, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have taken this factory and turned   …Continue Reading

Men and women pay attention to babies differently Human infants require a lot of care, and our evolution owes a lot of how well, and how long we take, to raise our offspring. So, it’s very important that not only parents pay close attention to their young children, it’s also evolutionary important that extended family   …Continue Reading