Ever wonder why older men move slower than the younger? Ask this question to a bunch of people and the most common answer is because old men have arthritis while younger men do not. While there is some truth to that, it’s not really the entire story.

Another factor discovered by scientists is a a fatty sheath of insulation in the brain that coats nerve axons which also allows for signaling bursts called myelin. What scientists did was gather a group of men from age 23 to 80 and asked them to tap their fingers as fast as they can. At the same time, the researchers also did brain scans to measure the amount of myelin in each subject’s brain.

Guess what? Lower levels of myelin go hand-in-hand with slower tapping speeds. They also found that the amount of myelin reduces dramatically after age 39.

The findings are detailed in the online version of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

Did you know that the lowly sponge is that looks like an underwater plant is actually an animal? Yes, odd as it is, the sponge is a primitive animal which lacks many of the things that we expect from well, animals. Primitive as they are though, scientists recently discovered that the nerves found in modern animals can be traced back to sponges.

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Seeing a star explode in the sky is something that not all humans will see in their lifetime. Sometimes, a star explodes so bright that it can be seen even during the day but sometimes it explodes just bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. One such Nova explosion occurred last July 5 2007 but sadly no-one noticed it. The star, now called V598 Puppis which can be found in the constellation Puppis is a white-dwarf star that gathered enough gas to cause an explosion.

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I’ve just read this over at Livescience.com and I found it to be quite interesting. The Garra Rufa fish also known as Doctor Fish or Nibble Fish is fast becoming a staple in foot spas worldwide especially in Turkey and in some Asian countries. I’ve yet to see one here in the Philippines though. I’m sure there’s a spa here that offers the service.

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Have you ever thought of the possibility that eating can actually help you reduce your weight? Studies have shown that eating a big breakfast actually helps in weight loss and here’s how it works.

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Dogs are said to be man’s best friend and as if that’s not enough, dogs are given one more task to strengthen the friendship between man and canine. Previous scientific studies showed that dogs can sniff early stage cancer. Back in 2004, the British Medical Journal found out that dogs can smell bladder cancer from human urine.

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Just when students from all over the globe are told that Pluto is no longer a planet, astronomers once more argue that it is a planet. What the?!?!?! Can’t they ever settle down for an actual definition. As an ordinary person, I don’t really care whether Pluto is a planet, a trans-Neptunian object, or a plutoid.

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If you’re in for some quick cash, all you really need to do is provide an unaltered clear photo of Bigfoot to Bushnell and “Field and Stream” magazine. The photo also has to be verified by scientific experts. If all goes well, you go home with 1 million dollars in your pocket.

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The Phoenix spacecraft will land on Mars in a few more hours but will it be successful? I personally hope so mainly because it’s another science vessel on Mars that will help us learn more about the red planet and possibly even find signs of life on it.

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It’s not everyday that astronomers take a snapshot of the International Space Station from the ground that actually show it’s shape. It takes perfect timing, patience and probably a huge amount of luck to get it. You just have to be in the right place at the right time to do it. However there are few who appear to have all these attributes and more and were able to capture photos of the ISS.

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