The comparison between the human brain and a computer is not a perfect one, but it does lend itself to some interesting lines of inquiry. For instance: what is the storage capacity of your brain?

The answer to the first question – how much storage space is there inside the average human head? – varies considerably, depending on who you ask. Some estimates come in as low as 1 terabyte, or approximately 1,000 gigabytes. These days, you can purchase an external hard drive with twice that capacity for under a hundred bucks.

Another commonly cited estimate puts the figure at closer to 100 terabytes of storage. Slate's Forrest Wickman explains the reasoning behind this number:

The human brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons [Ed. note: closer to 86-billion, actually, but now we're just being nitpicky]. Each of these neurons seems capable of making around 1,000 connections, representing about 1,000 potential synapses, which largely do the work of data storage. Multiply each of these 100 billion neurons by the approximately 1,000 connections it can make, and you get 100 trillion data points, or about 100 terabytes of information.

The reasoning behind the 100-terabyte estimate has its flaws. It assumes, for example, that each synapse stores 1 byte of information. In reality, each one could conceivably store more or less than that. Consider, for example, that a synapse can exist in more states than either on or off. As we've explained previously:

Your basic synapse is a connection between two neurons: a presynaptic neuron, and a postsynaptic neuron. Presynaptic neurons release neurotransmitters, which dock with receptors on the postsynaptic neuron and activate what are known as ion channels in the postsynaptic cell membrane.

Ion channels are like a neuron's gatekeepers; they allow charged atoms such as sodium, potassium and calcium into and out of the cell, and are thought to play an important role in the regulation of synaptic plasticity, i.e. the strengthening or weakening of neuronal connections over time.

All this is to say that when neurons talk to one another, there's more regulating their communication than a simple on/off switch.

Most of the computer chips that we use to model brain activity operate in this binary fashion – but the brain probably doesn't work this way.

Consider, also, that synapses are often interdependent, and will rely on one another to convey a single piece of information. While it's logical to assume that the brain's extensive neural networks greatly improve its processing speed (a couple years ago, researchers writing in Science concluded that the number of nerve impulses executed by one human brain per second is "in the same ballpark [as] the 6.4*10¹⁸ instructions per second that human kind [could] carry out on its general purpose computers in 2007"), it's also possible that they do so at the expense of storage capacity. Then again, Northwestern University psychologist Paul Reber argues precisely the opposite – and his storage capacity approximation blows our previous estimates out of the water:

... neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes [1 petabyte ≈ 1,000 terabytes]. For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

So, which is it? One terabyte? 100 terabytes? 2.5-thousand terabytes? Or can you fit an entire human consciousness into just 300 megabytes (approximately 60 3-minute MP3s), as suggested in an episode of Caprica? Perhaps these questions are irrelevant. As Reber himself says: "if your brain worked like a digital video recorder, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows." We've already established that our brains don't work like DVRs, or the vast majority of computers, for that matter, and so down the rabbit hole we go: how much brain-space does a memory occupy? Does a more detailed memory take up more space than a foggy one? Have forgotten memories been deleted, or have they been relegated to some forgotten subfolder in the dusty corners of your consciousness? Does a deeply rooted, subconscious bias take up more space than a transient dream? Is each encoded in different file format? And while we're exploring the brain/computer/file-size/file-type metaphor: what is the cognitive equivalent of a GIF, anyway?

Perhaps a better question is whether the size of memories and the storage capacity of the human mind are things that can be measured at all. Reason would suggest that the brain's capacity is, in fact, limited, and therefore can be measured. Determining what it's limited by, exactly, and how to quantify those limits, would be a significant boon to fields as diverse as neuroscience, robotics and computer science – especially where the three overlap.

On May 18th, Alaska's Pavlof volcano exploded in a paroxysm of gas, ash and magma – a violent eruption which was photographed from aboard the International Space Station.

Via NASA:

Situated in the Aleutian Arc about 625 miles (1,000 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, Pavlof began erupting on May 13, 2013. The volcano jetted lava into the air and spewed an ash cloud 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) high. When photograph ISS036-E-2105 (top) was taken, the space station was about 475 miles south-southeast of the volcano (49.1° North latitude, 157.4° West longitude). The volcanic plume extended southeastward over the North Pacific Ocean.

More info at NASA.

For the first time ever, planetary scientists have created a topographical map of Titan, the largest of Saturn's many moons, and the second-largest in the entire solar system. The map is a boon to researchers who study Titan, a mysterious moon that is arguably the most Earth-like body in our solar system – and it's beautiful, too.

Via JPL:

"Titan has so much interesting activity - like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes - but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes," said Ralph Lorenz, a member of the Cassini radar team based at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., who led the map-design team. "It's especially helpful to those studying hydrology and modeling Titan's climate and weather, who need to know whether there is high ground or low ground driving their models."

Titan's thick haze scatters light in ways that make it very hard for remote cameras to "see" landscape shapes and shadows, the usual approach to measuring topography on planetary bodies. Virtually all the data we have on Titan comes from NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft, which has flown past the moon nearly 100 times over the past decade. On many of those flybys, Cassini has used a radar imager, which can peer through the haze, and the radar data can be used to estimate the surface height.

"With this new topographic map, one of the most fascinating and dynamic worlds in our solar system now pops out in 3-D," said Steve Wall, the deputy team lead of Cassini's radar team, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "On Earth, rivers, volcanoes and even weather are closely related to heights of surfaces - we're now eager to see what we can learn from them on Titan."

NASA: To create the first global, topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, scientists analyzed data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and a mathematical process called splining. This method effectively uses smooth curved surfaces to "join" the areas between grids of existing topography profiles obtained by Cassini's radar instrument. In the upper panel of this graphic, gold colors show where radar images have been obtained over almost half of Titan's surface.

For more inforomation and hi-res images, visit JPL. If colorful, topographical representations of astronomical bodies is your bag, check out these gorgeous maps of the Moon, and this recently released map of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.

Researchers have discovered the molecular link between the cells in skin that sense itching and the nerve cells that relay the perception of that itch to the brain. Take that molecule away, and the itchy sensation vanishes. So far, the molecules, cells and circuitry in question have been identified in mice, but this discovery stands to improve research into itch-prevention in humans, as well.

The research, published in the latest issue of Science, shows that a small neurotransmitter called natriuretic polypeptide b (Nppb) is required to initiate the sensation of feeling itchy – due to an allergic reaction, an infection, or a dermatological disorder like eczema. A team led by National Institutes of Health researcher Mark Hoon discovered that mice which were genetically engineered to not produce the molecule were impervious to a broad range of itch-inducing chemicals and stimuli.

"We tested Nppb for its possible role in various sensations without success," said Santosh Mishra, first author on the study, in a statement. "When we exposed the Nppb-deficient mice to several itch-inducing substances, it was amazing to watch. Nothing happened. The mice wouldn't scratch."

In later investigations, the researchers injected Nppb into the animals and found it to induce scratching, further suggesting that the neurotransmitter serves as a universal first step in the itch-response pathway. Moreover, when Mishra, Hoon and their colleagues removed the cells in the mice's spinal cords that Nppb acts upon – a receptor neuron named Npra – they found the mice "displayed normal responses to thermal, touch, and painful stimulation," but they exhibited "a dramatic reduction in scratching evoked by histamine."

In other words: the removal of these cells led to a decrease in itch sensitivity, but not in other somatosensory responses. This, write the researchers, suggests that Nppb acting on Npra neurons are the initial steps in a dedicated biocircuit that communicates the sensation of itchiness to the brain.

Ultimately, the researchers conclude that Nppb "is both necessary and sufficient for transmission of peripheral signals that induce stereotypic itch responses." And yet, Nppb is an important molecule to processes — unrelated to itch response — in the heart, kidneys and elsewhere, which will make it tricky to target specifically in treatments geared toward itch control without triggering undesirable side effects. That said, being familiar with the neurotransmitters, cells, and neural circuitry specific to itch response at such unprecedented levels of detail should enable researchers to pursue newer, more focused avenues of research into itch-prevention.

"Now the challenge is to find similar biocircuitry in people, evaluate what's there, and identify unique molecules that can be targeted to turn off chronic itch without causing unwanted side effects," said Hoon. "So, this is a start, not a finish."

The researchers' findings are published in the latest issue of Science.

Top image via BigStock

Here's how to turn a bar of titanium into a ring with LED-illuminated jewels that light up when they're near a power source. One: fall in love. Two: a bunch of other stuff. Three: boom, magic-ring.

Ben Kokes did all three of these things. The result was a ring with an inductive loop – a copper coil assembly, hidden inside – that causes the stones lining the outside of the band to light up when the ring comes within close proximity of an induced alternating magnetic field. Probably the coolest ring-related craftsmanship we've seen since that guy who forged his own wedding band out of a meteorite.

Over on his website, Kokes has put together an awesome photo essay documenting the ring's creation:

I started this idea in January 2013, and presented the ring to my fiance on May 2013. From the start, I had to learn AutoCAD, design and develop a circuit that would inductively couple power to the ring, and also how to understand the nuances of working with titanium. In that time, I made several test models and explored several options before coming to this design. The presented ring represents version 10 of the cut metal rings. The previous 9 models were stepping stones to understand behaviors, or test out theories of how to perform an operation. A good scientist knows to do qualitative tests! The most recently made ring (ver 10) is on the left. The top bar is titanium rod that was used as the ring base. The smaller rod is the aluminum that was used for initial drilling and sizing tests.

Tons more photos and details over on Kokes' website.

[Spotted on boingboing]

Harvard engineers have a devised a technique for designing and producing intricate microscopic models, called "hierarchical microarchitectures," and the tiny sculptures it produces are nothing short of incredible.

Top image via Wim Noorduin/Harvard University

Via NPR:

The flowers sprout up spontaneously when a glass plate is dipped into a beaker filled with silicon and minerals (specifically, barium chloride). Then Wim Noorduin at Harvard coaxes the salts to spiral and swirl into smooth, curvaceous shapes, like vases, leaves and petals.

He sculpts the stems and blossoms by slightly tweaking the environment in which the crystals grow. Lowering the temperature makes the petals thicker. Bursts of carbon dioxide send ripples through the leaves and blossoms.

The result, writes Noorduin in the latest issue of Science, is "a bouquet of hierarchically assembled multiscale microstructures with unprecedented levels of complexity and precision." For a sense of scale, here are some of Noorduin's microflower sculptures lining the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, imprinted on the back of a penny:

But flowers are just the beginning. The ability to design and guide the fabrication of nanoscale structures in a manner similar to 3D-printing has enormous ramifications for fields ranging from optics to electronics.

For more info, and more pictures, visit NPR.

Brush your teeth before downing a glass of orange juice, and you're gonna have a bad time. But why?

There are four main ingredients in most any toothpaste. Water, abrasives, fluoride and detergent. The detergent sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) is known for nerfing sweetness receptors, and clears your mouth of phosphilipids which usually prevent orange juice's bitter molecules from reaching your tongue's bitterness receptors. More more details, check out the ByteSizeScience video above, created by the American Chemical Society.

We've always thought aye-ayes looked like a little like horrendously malformed koalas. In fact, they're actually lemurs — lemurs with the freakiest fingers we've ever seen.

In this, the latest in Ze Frank's outstanding "True Facts about _______" nature series, we investigate the aye-aye, its nightmarishly awesome middle digit, and, well, its general weirdness.

[Via Ze Frank]

The answer, obviously, is really, really fast. Here, Universe Today's Fraser Cain tells us exactly how fast, and gives us answers to a few other things you may have wondered about before. For instance: how much lighter are you on a spinning Earth as opposed to a stationary one?

[Via Universe Today]

From entomologist, blogger and insect photographer Alex Wild comes this remarkable image of a trapjaw ant, torn asunder to reveal the wriggling, 8-inch parasitic worm living inside. (The ant, by comparison, measures about half an inch long.)

Via Popular Science:

In the jungles of Belize last January, [Wild] noticed something odd about the trap-jaw ants passing through his outdoor insect photography class: They all had shrunken heads and swollen abdomens. A day after making the observation, Wild and his students came upon an ant with a worm bursting out of its side. Parasites were at work. Nematode worms enter the ants as larvae and grow inside the ants’ body cavity, siphoning off nutrients and distorting their hosts’ natural anatomy. When the eight-inch-long nematodes are ready to mate a few weeks later, they push their way out of their half-inch-long hosts, killing them.

Fun fact: when they're not bursting at the seams with squirming parasites, trapjaw ants are capable of clamping their mandibles shut somewhere in the range of 35 to 64 meters per second (~78–145 miles per hour). The average duration of a trap-jaw clamp is just 0.13 milliseconds, making it among the fastest predatory strikes in the animal kingdom.

See more example of Wild's remarkable photography on his website.

It's been been covered with a heat-activated label that changes from black to a picture of a pizza once it's done a few thousand revolutions inside your DVD player. At which point it also smells like pizza. Utterly dumb, or totally brilliant? We report – YOU DECIDE.

Via Dvice:

In partnership with 10 local video rental stores, Domino's printed special labels with flavored varnish on movie discs including Argo, James Bond, and The Dark Knight. As the discs heat up, the label's movie title is gradually replaced with an image of a pizza. And, once the movie is over and the disc is removed from the player, the user is also treated to the smell of fresh pizza along with the message: "Did you enjoy the movie? The next one will be even better with a hot and delicious Domino's Pizza."

Anybody else find it a little distressing to think that the smell of a Domino's pizza can be reproduced on the label of a DVD? Like, we understand synthetic smells aren't new or anything, and the smell of pizza is one of the most enticing aromas on the planet, but to have it emanate from a warm DVD? How accurate of a smell can it really be? Has anybody encountered one of these things in the wild?

[Dvice]

Tyrannosaurus rex

Top image by Simon Farrell – for more examples of his stunning work, visit his website.

In the latest issue of Palaeontologia Electronica, a team of experts in biomechanics, computer visualization and dinosaur anatomy have produced some fantastic simulations of Allosaurus anatomy, which reveal the bird-like eating habits of the formidable predator. Led by Ohio University paleontologist Eric Snively, the researchers first performed CT scans on a high-resolution cast of an Allosaur head and neck (which you may recognize as a replica of "Big Al"):

The researchers then converted the data into a 3D model, and added musculature, a windpipe and other soft tissues to the skeletal frame. Borrowing an engineering method known as "multibody dynamics" from the field of robotics, Snively and his team conducted a series of motion simulations, which allowed them to analyze head and neck function in Allosaurus and examine their role in feeding mechanics:

Their analysis revealed that Allosaurus, unlike T. rex, had a relatively light-weight head, which, by their measurements, could be moved around with speed and precision. Snively compares the dinosaurs' differences in head-motion to the rotational inertia of a figure skater:

"Allosaurus, with its lighter head and neck, was like a skater who starts spinning with her arms tucked in," said Snively in a statement, "whereas T. rex, with its massive head and neck and heavy teeth out front, was more like the skater with her arms fully extended … and holding bowling balls in her hands. She and the T. rex need a lot more muscle force to get going."

The analysis also suggests that the unusual placement of a muscle called "longissimus capitis superficialis" would have enabled Allosaurus to drive its teeth downward into flesh while retracting its head, in a manner not unlike modern day falcons:

"Allosaurus was uniquely equipped to drive its head down into prey, hold it there, and then pull the head straight up and back with the neck and body, tearing flesh from the carcass," said Snively, "kind of like how a power shovel or backhoe rips into the ground."

Snively and his colleagues acknowledge Allosaurus was probably not limited to a single strategy for "defleshing" its prey (side note: awesome terminology). Its dental structure, for example, suggests "forceful alternating tugs to either side of the head, as seen in Komodo dragons," would also have been effective at ripping meat from a kill.

The researchers also hypothesize that Allosaurus' ability to, in Snively's words, "power shovel or backhoe" her prey may have enabled her to brace prey with her feet, "holding flesh with the head highly flexed, and pulling up and back with their legs," in a manner similar to modern raptorial birds, like Merlins:

Photo by Steve Mills via National Geographic

"Although Allosaurus has large bladelike teeth and lacks the hooked beak of raptorial birds, similarly energetic ventroflexion may have enabled analogous behavior," write the researchers in their newly published paper. "Assessing the likelihood of such action awaits fullbody simulations that combine leg and neck function."

The researchers' work is published in the latest issue of Palaeontologia Electronica. See also the following illustration, created by Snively's team – what is hands down the single best dino/human/kestrel silhouette we've ever seen. We think it deserves a place in our ever-growing inventory of amusing journal figures:

All images courtesy of Witmer lab unless otherwise indicated

What's the illustrious Chris Hadfield – former commander of the International Space Station – been up to since departing low-Earth orbit? Re-adapting to gravity, for one (Hadfield: "my body was quite happy in space without gravity") and participating in this fantastic press conference, his first since he returned to Earth.

Hadfield kicks off the interview by responding in French, but he goes on to field questions in both French and English, addressing everything from how his neck feels now that he has to hold his head up to the power of social media in space.

[canadianspaceagency]

"Wind Map" is a stunning interactive datavisualization that presents wind patterns across the continental U.S. in real time. Picture above is what it looked like last night at 10:59 CDT, in the aftermath of yesterday's devastating Oklahoma tornado.

Tornados have been observed on every continent, with the exception of Antarctica – but no region on Earth is more prone to twisters than Tornado Alley. Loosely defined as a swath of the Central U.S. between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains (from central Texas, northward to northern Iowa, and from central Kansas and Nebraska east to western Ohio," according to NOAA), the Alley is where cool, dry air descending from the north meets with warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. When that air collides, the results – as we were reminded yesterday – can be cataclysmic.

Click here to see a live version of Wind Map. For information on how to help victims of the Oklahoma Tornado, see here.

Most people know perfectly well that rocks minerals can look incredible on the inside – but this cross-sectional view of a meteorite still caught us by surprise.

The space rock pictured above is a chunk of the Alvord Meteorite, discovered in Iowa in 1976. The criss-crossing, internal structure seen here is known as the Widmanstätten Pattern. Commonly found in iron meteorites, the distinctive design is formed as the liquid metal at the core of a newly formed meteorite (comprising mostly nickel and iron) cools very slowly over the course of millions of years. (One estimate puts the cooling rate of these molten-core meteorites at 1°C every thousand years.) The result is a lattice of nickel-iron crystals unlike anything seen here on Earth. (For a more detailed account of this cooling process, see here.)

More info, via the Iowa DNR Geological Survey Bureau:

ALVORD METEORITE: The Alvord Meteorite was found on or around June 5, 1976, on a farm about 13 miles southeast of the Lyon County town of Alvord. Arnis History of Meteorites lists it as weighing 17.5 kg (38.5 lbs) when found and being an iron octahedrite (IVA). The find location was listed as 43º 19’ 20” N, 96º 17’ 20” W. New information indicates that the meteorite was found by Herbert Van Engen on the John Mulhall farm, T98N, R46W, Sec 09, north half, about a mile southeast of Alvord. The meteorite was eventually sold to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution for $800, however a slab was cut and retained by the Van Engen family as a souvenir.

A second piece was found in 1981 during Fall plowing by Jim Kelly. This fragment weighed 39 pounds and was found in T98N, R46W, Sec 03, southwest quarter, about 1.5 miles southeast of Alvord. This sample was sold to the Smithsonian Institution for $800.

Jim Kelly also reported that a curve on the “outside” of the meteorite suggested that the original body was about the size of a “medicine ball” (about 18” in diameter) and he believes that it fell in the 19 teens when his father observed an explosion in the sky that was attributed at the time to an exploding meteorite.

H/T Jessica!

All images via Wikimedia Commons

Ellie may be a computer simulation, but she's incredibly perceptive. By reading the body language and vocal inflections of real live humans, she can engage in surprisingly meaningful exchanges, and even evoke emotional openness from her conversation partners. Her creators believe her receptivity to human emotional cues could revolutionize the field of mental health. Watching Ellie in action, it's not hard to see why.

NPR's Alix Spiegel has the details:

Under the wide screen where Ellie's image sits, there are three devices. A video camera tracks facial expressions of the person sitting opposite. A movement sensor — Microsoft Kinect — tracks the person's gestures, fidgeting and other movements. A microphone records every inflection and tone in his or her voice. The point, [explains Ellie's co-creator, USC psychologist Albert "Skip" Rizzo], is to analyze in almost microscopic detail the way people talk and move — to read their body language.

"We can look at the position of the head, the eye gaze," Rizzo says. Does the head tilt? Does it lean forward? Is it static and fixed?" In fact, Ellie tracks and analyzes around 60 different features — various body and facial movements, and different aspects of the voice.

The theory of all this is that a detailed analysis of those movements and vocal features can give us new insights into people who are struggling with emotional issues. The body, face and voice express things that words sometimes obscure.

Those familiar with ELIZA will immediately recognize Ellie as the latest in a decades-long string of chat bots designed to engage in surprisingly human interactions – including person-centered psychotherapy. What makes Ellie different is her physical manifestation, and her ability to not just mirror her conversation partner's words and body language, but analyze and react to that information in a way that encourages people to continue talking; in this sense, Ellie has better social skills than a lot of people we know.

We anxiously await the video of two Ellie bots psychoanalyzing one another.

Read more about Ellie and her creators over at NPR.

Ever wonder what an internet climate science troll is like in person? Here's your chance to find out.

Via James West and Tim McDonnell at The Climate Desk:

Internet researchers at George Mason University recently found that when it comes to online commenting, throwing bombs gets more attention than being nice, and makes readers double down on their preexisting beliefs. What's more, trolls create a false sense that a topic is more controversial than it really is. Witness the overwhelming consensus on climate change amongst scientists—97 percent agreement that global warming is real, and caused by humans. But that doesn’t settle the question for Twitter addict and Climate Desk perennial thorn in the side Hoyt Connell:

"If you allow somebody to make a comment and there's no response, then they're controlling the definition of the statement," Hoyt says. "Then it can become a truth."

We first encountered Hoyt, or as we know him, @hoytc55, several months ago on our Twitter page, taking us to task for our climate coverage. And the screed hasn't stopped since: In April alone, Hoyt mentioned us on Twitter some 126 times, almost as much as our top nine other followers combined. So we did the only thing we knew how to do: track him down, meet him face to face…and ask a few questions of our own. So we did, in Episode One: Trollus Maximus

The results were surprisingly and refreshingly civil. In fact, West and McDonnell admit, "we kind of like [Hoyt]." You can watch Episode 1 up top; for Episode 2 ("The Troll Slayer") and 3 ("The Showdown"), visit The Climate Desk.

If aliens are listening in on Earth, a speed-of-light delay dictates that many of pop culture's jokes and catch phrases are only just now being heard.

By XKCD's estimation, that means Alpha Centauri system just learned about Rickrolling.

(Our sincerest apologies.)

A fantastic primer on descent with modification.

The video comes from the folks at Stated Clearly, and features illustrations from nature cartoonist Rosemary Mosco's Bird and Moon comics. It's cute, clever, and thorough – without being didactic. Good stuff.

Via Joe Hanson, who has one bone to pick with the video.

Looking to spend a wad of cash on some pseudoscientific sex-food? TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY.

Via Discovery News:

Billing itself as “the world’s first all-natural, GMO-free, gender-based breakfast cereal,” Sexcereal comes in two packages: “The Male cereal supports testosterone and energy levels,” according to the website, “while the Female cereal was created with hormonal balance and desire in mind.”

Created by Peter Ehrlich, a Canadian entrepreneur who won funding on the television show “Dragon’s Den,” Canada’s version of “Shark Tank,” Sexcereal is made from a long list of ingredients said to stimulate the sexual appetite. For women, there are chia seeds, almonds, cacao nibs, ginger and, among others, maca, a Peruvian plant known for its sex-enhancing benefits. Along with maca (a key ingredient in Horny Goat Weed), men’s ingredients include bee pollen, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, Vitimamin-C enriched camu camu berries and, for confidence, a sprinkle of powder made from the pulverized penis bone of a blue whale. Just kidding about that last ingredient. Ehrlich didn’t include that in his recipe. But as Wooderson once said, “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”

Just a reminder: no reputable scientific studies to date have confirmed any food to have aphrodisiac powers (not in humans, at least). From Chapter 1, Subchapter D, section 310.528 of the FDA's Code of Federal Regulation (Title 21, Volume V), regarding products containing active ingredients for use as an aphrodisiac (emphasis in bold):

Any product that bears labeling claims that it will arouse or increase sexual desire, or that it will improve sexual performance, is an aphrodisiac drug product. Anise, cantharides, don qual, estrogens, fennel, ginseng, golden seal, gotu kola, Korean ginseng, licorice, mandrake, methyltestosterone, minerals, nux vomica, Pega Palo, sarsaparilla, strychnine, testosterone, vitamins, yohimbine, yohimbine hydrochloride, and yohimbinum have been present as ingredients in such drug products. Androgens (e.g., testosterone and methyltestosterone) and estrogens are powerful hormones when administered internally and are not safe for use except under the supervision of a physician. There is a lack of adequate data to establish general recognition of the safety and effectiveness of any of these ingredients, or any other ingredient, for OTC use as an aphrodisiac. Labeling claims for aphrodisiacs for OTC use are either false, misleading, or unsupported by scientific data. The following claims are examples of some that have been made for aphrodisiac drug products for OTC use: "acts as an aphrodisiac;" "arouses or increases sexual desire and improves sexual performance;" "helps restore sexual vigor, potency, and performance;" "improves performance, staying power, and sexual potency;" and "builds virility and sexual potency." Based on evidence currently available, any OTC drug product containing ingredients for use as an aphrodisiac cannot be generally recognized as safe and effective.

But if you feel like dropping 20 bucks on a two-pack of his & her Sexcereal (which is the going rate, reportedly), far be it from us to stop you. Just remember to sprinkle some in, on, and around your genitals – we hear that enhances the cereal's effects!

Image credit: Big Life Foods

Jurassic Park got a lot of things right – driving home the point that birds are dinosaurs, for example. It also got a LOT of things wrong.

CinemaSins counts 36. We – and others – have counted a lot more missteps than that, though most if not all of those have been of the scientific variety. CS, for its part, does a great job calling out plot holes, typos, shitty editing and faulty motivating elements. Which is fun.

For a great take on the movie's scientific accuracy – which, in many ways, is actually surprisingly on the mark – we recommend checking out dino expert Brian Switek's recent collection of JP retrospectives, penned in commemoration of the film's 20th anniversary.

[CinemaSins]

Nearly half of teens surveyed in a recent study admitted they'd texted while driving – a disquieting statistic, given that more than 3,000 teenagers died last year while sending/receiving SMS messages behind the wheel. (Compare that to the roughly 2,700 teens killed annually due to drunk driving.)

The study – which was conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and appears in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics – found that among high school students 16 and older, 45% of the 8,100 teens surveyed had texted or emailed while driving during the preceding 30 days. Teens who admitted to texting were also more likely to engage in other risky behavior. Via USA Today:

Teens who texted while driving were five times more likely than those who didn't to drive when they had been drinking alcohol. And the more they texted the worse their seat belt habit. Teens who texted every day while driving during the past month were more than 40% more likely to not always wear their seat belts than were teens who engaged in texting while driving once or twice in the past 30 days.

According to the study, teens who texted were also more likely to ride shotgun in the car of a drunk driver. The obvious question: why?

"Teens are pretty new drivers and less able to recognize hazardous driving situations and they tend to perceive risk a little bit differently than adults," said study author Emily O'Malley Olsen, a health statistician at the CDC, in a statement.

Other possible reasons: kids are kids. Which is to say: kids often act like complete idiots. They also look to parents and adults as role models, and it turns out adults are idiots, too. The CDC says 31% of US drivers 18–64 reported reading or sending text messages or emails while behind the wheel at least once in the 30 days prior to being surveyed. Data provided to USA Today by AT&T puts that number at closer to 50%.

Another explanation: everyone thinks they can multitask. "Multitasking is fine if you're sitting in your dorm room or at home in your bedroom, but multitasking in the car is a terrible idea," said CDC director Tom Frieden in an interview with NPR. "It's amazing how quickly things can go wrong in the car."

Fun fact: many people who think they can multitask effectively are actually really terrible at multitasking.

Read more at USA Today and NPR, or check out the study, free of charge, in Pediatrics.

Top image via Shutterstock

In less than 24 hours, the Sun has unleashed a trio of X-Class solar flares. They are the first, second and third X-class eruptions of 2013, making them the most powerful of the year by a substantial margin. What's more, each burst has been more violent than the last. So uhh... what the hell is going on here?

The outbursts began late Sunday night with a powerful X1.7-explosion, pictured below. Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M, or X, in order of intensity, with each category 10-times stronger than the one before it. Long story short: X-class surges are biggies, and Sunday's was the first of 2013.

The flare was a surprise (it's impossible to predict when or where a solar storm will roil into existence), but its arrival was anticipated; this fall, our resident star will reach the peak of its 11-year sunspot cycle. With more sunspots comes more solar activity – and as solar activity ramps up, energetic flares like the doozy belched out on Sunday night are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity.

The next eruption came just 14 hours later – an X2.8-class flare, emanating from the same sunspot as before. This video, recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, compiles imagery from the first two flares:

Astronomers have since named the instigating region AR1748 [click to enlarge]:

On Sunday, AR1748 was lurking just beyond the view of NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Since then, however, solar rotation has brought the hyperactive region into view. The above image, captured this morning, shows AR1748 just beginning to peek around the Sun's eastern limb.

The third, and most powerful, paroxysm came 9 hours and 8 minutes later – an X3.2-class burst of electromagnetic radiation from the solar atmosphere above AR1748.

Via NASA: Four images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory of an X3.2-class flare from late at night on May 13, 2013. Starting in the upper left and going clockwise, the images show light in the 304-, 335-, 193- and 131-angstrom wavelengths. By looking at the sun in different wavelengths, scientists can view solar material at different temperatures, and thus learn more about what causes flares.

Remember: any one of these flares on its own would have been the strongest of the year. That we're seeing all three of them in immediate succession could be a sign that a significant increase in solar activity is at hand.

Spaceweather.com reports that the eruptions have been accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – epic waves of charged solar particles that emanate out into space:

Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory are tracking the clouds [see the GIF featured above]. The planet in the CME movie is Mercury. Although the CMEs appear to hit Mercury, they do not. In fact, no planets were in the line of fire. However, the CMEs appear to be on course to hit NASA's Epoxi and Spitzer spacecraft on May 15-16.

So that's what's happening. Should you worry? Probably not – at least not for the moment (though Epoxi and Spitzer may be in for a bit of a jolt come tomorrow). Fortunately for all of us, none of the flares or CMEs have been pointed toward Earth. On one hand, when directed at our planet, X-class flares and their associated coronal mass ejections can lead to mindblowing northern lights at very non-northern latitudes (in September 1859, one of the most powerful flares ever observed produced aurorae at latitudes as low as Cuba and Hawaii); but they can also trigger massive geomagnetic storms, jam satellites, ground airplanes, and precipitate global radio blackouts.

Back in January 2012, an M2-class solar flare had experts bracing for the strongest radiation storm in over half a decade. An X-class flare in our direction, combined with a colossal, interplanetary CME, could have serious consequencees here on Earth.

According to Spaceweather.com, NASA expects the explosions to continue for at least the next 24 to 48 hours, which they hope will reveal more about the sunspot, including its size, magnetic complexity, and potential for future flares. We'll keep you updated.

All images and video courtesy of the talented folks at Goddard Multimedia – head there for tons more hi-res footage.

Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss – author of The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe from Nothing, and producer of The Unbelievers – participated in one of reddit's Ask Me Anything chats last night. He fielded a slew of fantastic question in the process, offering his thoughts on what it's like to travel with Richard Dawkins, what the average person can do to make the most positive contribution to science literacy, and the best way to deal with pseudoscience.

If you're a fan of Krauss, cosmology, or thought-provoking people in general, you'll want to check this one out.

I am Lawrence Krauss, AMA!

See also:

• Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Pamela Gay and Lawrence Krauss discuss our future in space
• Dawkins, Nye, Tyson and Stephenson discuss science and storytelling
• Neil deGrasse Tyson moderates a debate on nothingness

[reddit]