To sleep, perchance to dream?
A woman in Switzerland who has not had a single dream in an entire year following a stroke seems to be perfectly healthy. The finding further complicates scientists’ efforts to understand why people dream. Some have suggested that it is the mind’s way of cataloging ideas and experiences at the end of the day; Freud famously thought it was the psyche’s method of fulfilling an unconscious wish-but no one really knows for sure. As the woman has suffered no ill effects from her loss, some psychologists think that dreams are essentially pointless, and may simply be the mind’s way of occupying itself while we sleep.
-Zoe Cormier
Source: Nature
Dinosaurs may have cared for young
A new fossil discovery strongly suggests that some species of dinosaurs raised their young. A skeleton of an adult Psittacosaurus was found surrounded by 34 youngsters, in what appears to have been a nest. Previous findings, such as a group of young Maiasaura found together, have suggested that dinosaurs exercised parental care. But this finding is the most convincing so far, as the skeletons are complete and frozen in life-like poses, suggesting that they were buried alive together and were not simply swept together after death. The babies are also considerably larger than hatchlings, meaning the parent would have taken care of them for some time. The idea of dinosaurs caring for their young would make some intuitive sense as birds and crocodiles, who care for their young, both sprang from the dino branch of the reptilian family tree.
-ZC
Source: New Scientist
First photograph of exoplanet?
Astronomers in Chile may have taken the first ever photo of an exoplanet, a planet outside of our solar system. The team captured an image of the star 2M1207, 230 light years away, with a smaller, dimmer object nearby. Although it may look like a planet, it might only be a smaller star in the background, or some other stellar object. The team first needs to present hard data, such as chemical analysis of the object’s atmosphere, to prove that it is a planet. Astronomers have been racing for several years to capture the first photo of an exoplanet, so if genuine, this discovery will make scientific history.
-ZC
Source: Nature
