To look at this flourishing mass of plant life you'd think David Latimer was a green-fingered genius. Truth be told, however, his bottle garden – now almost in its 53rd year – hasn't taken up much of his time. In fact, on the last occasion he watered it Ted Heath was Prime Minister and Richard Nixon was in the White House.
As real as that daydream may seem, its path through your brain runs opposite reality.
Aiming to discern discrete neural circuits, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have tracked electrical activity in the brains of people who alternately imagined scenes or watched videos. "A really important problem in brain research is understanding how different parts of the brain are functionally connected. What areas are interacting? What is the direction of communication?" says Barry Van Veen, a UW-Madison professor of electrical and computer engineering. "We know that the brain does not function as a set of independent areas, but as a network of specialized areas that collaborate."
There's a lot in a name. Some stuff that should be taken more seriously like deep vein thrombosis or hurricane evacuation areas gets bogged down under a name more pleasant than it should be. Other things like particular food and games would sound less dangerous if the name was more accurate. Other stuff, particularly urinal cakes, could just use a much more fun update.
