Yuri Arcurs
Thinking hard? No biggie
"Everyday mental weariness makes sense, intuitively," writes Ferris Jabr in Scientific American. "Surely complex thought and intense concentration requires more energy than routine mental processes. Just as vigorous exercise tires our bodies, intellectual exertion should drain the brain. What the latest science reveals, however, is that the popular notion of mental exhaustion is too simplistic. The brain continuously slurps up huge amounts of energy for an organ of its size, regardless of whether we are tackling integral calculus or clicking through the week's top 10 LOLcats. Although firing neurons summon extra blood, oxygen and glucose, any local increases in energy consumption are tiny compared with the brain's gluttonous baseline intake. So, in most cases, short periods of additional mental effort require a little more brainpower than usual, but not much more."
Neanderthals domesticated?
"Neanderthal man may have preferred domestic chores to a rugged hunter-gatherer lifestyle, researchers have said," The Independent reports. "Archeologists at Cambridge University believe they have debunked the traditional image of our extinct prehistoric cousins. They found that compared to modern and most prehistoric Homo sapiens, Neanderthals had significantly overdeveloped right arms. In the past this has been interpreted as a sign they carried spears in their right hands, but now researchers say it was probably the result of less glamorous subsistence tasks."
Seven decades of play
"American Airlines is celebrating the seven-decade service of a New York mechanic who turns 87 next month and has no plans to retire," says Associated Press. Azriel (Al) Blackman was 16 when he started as an apprentice mechanic in July of 1942, long before bag fees, airport security or even the introduction of the jet engine. He was paid 50 cents an hour. Seventy years later, he still reports to work every day at American's aircraft maintenance hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "I don't consider it work, really," Mr. Blackman told AP. "If you like what you do, it's not work. My dear wife, when she was alive, she used to tell me, 'Go to work, bum,' he said. 'Go play with your friends.'"
Turtles make a break for it
"More than 1,000 turtles made a slow-speed escape from their turtle farm in northwest Georgia," Associated Press reports. "Turtle farmer David Driver tells sheriff's officials he suspects vandals might be to blame for tearing down fences around his turtle ponds in Summerville. Authorities say that allowed the turtles – including snappers, Eastern paints and yellow-bellied sliders – to leave the farm and make a beeline to nearby ponds and creeks. Mr. Driver tells The Chattanooga Times Free Press that about 1,600 of the 2,200 turtles escaped. He says his business involves selling some turtles to pet-growing operations and others to China. Sheriff's officials are continuing to look for the turtles."
Thought du jour
The surest way of ruining
a youth is to teach him
to respect those who think
as he does more highly
than those who think differently from him.
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844-1900)