Weather Predictions from Siberia

Most of us have heard that big weather patterns such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the tropics play a seasonal role in local weather. Knowing about changes in tropical sea surface temperatures and snow cover at higher latitudes are important to many industries (e.g., agriculture and water management). It's even thought that $3 trillion in the U.S. economy is linked to weather conditions.

So when researchers at Atmospheric Environmental Research (AER) and MIT started looking past El Nino to the relationship between Siberian snow cover in October and Northern Hemisphere climate variability in the winter people took notice. 

AER scientist Judah Cohen, PhD developed a fairly accurate forecast model for major industrialized cities based upon October Siberian snow cover, sea level pressure anomalies, and predicted El Nino/Southern Oscillation anomalies. For the first time, sea ice changes in September/October and circulation in the North Pacific, were applied to the experimental winter forecast. 

Since it's currently snowing in my area, I can attest to the model working. Check it for yourself at this National Science Foundation page. Go science!

Flying Objects With Your Thoughts

Humans 2.0 won't necessarily have to undergo invasive procedures, receive implants and be subject to gene manipulation. A researcher at the Univ. of Minnesota has been working on software that interprets brain signals and permits a trained person to move a flying quadcopter with only his/her thoughts. Totally non-invasive.

This is beyond cool. It will open all kinds of possibilities to independence for people with disabilities. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), biomedical engineer Bin He and his team at the University of Minnesota have created a brain-computer software program interface with the goal of helping people with disabilities, such as paralysis, do everyday tasks. 

For the experiments, the team uses both an actual flying quadcopter and a virtual one. Go science!

The Science of Sound

Sounds affect us in positive and negative ways. Depending on your upbringing or personal preferences the sound of a Harley Davidson motorcycle either makes you crazy annoyed or crazy happy. No idea why this is, but rarely are humans or most living creatures completely unaffected by sound. 

The vibration and frequency of sound has a lot to do with our responses. For me, low frequency sounds are much more appealing than high pitched frequencies. A french horn sounds a lot more pleasing than an ambulance siren. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get out of the way as quickly for an emergency french horn. It just doesn't say, "red alert" like a shrill siren does.

Anyway, the above video describes the science of sound in a simple and much better way than I have. Go science!

Caffeine Enhances Memory

According to the USDA, 80% of Americans consume caffeine everyday. That number goes up to 90% worldwide. So we know coffee is the drink of choice for a lot of people trying to jump start their brains in the morning. Now, however, there is evidence it also increases your memory. Wahoo!

Michael Yassa, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, along with a team of researcher discovered that caffeine (~200mg, about 1 strong cup of coffee per day) has a positive effect on long-term memory. This research, published in Nature Neuroscience describes how caffeine was found to enhance tested memories for up to 24 hours after the caffeine was consumed.

“We’ve always known that caffeine has cognitive enhancing effects, but its particular effects on strengthening memories and making them resistant to forgetting has never been examined in detail in humans,” said Yassa, the senior author on the paper. 

This research, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and National Science Foundation may just have given us a pass to continue our national caffeine devotion in the hope of keeping memory sharp. Check out the video for a brief summary on Yassa's memory research. Enjoy your coffee and tea today. Go science!