Derren Brown's Blog, page 87

Saturn Moon Loses Its Ring, Gains a Mystery

"Until this week Saturn's small moon Rhea was the only known solid space object thought to have a ring. (Other known ringed bodies, such as Saturn, are mainly gaseous.) But a new study of optical images has failed to detect any signs of structures encircling the natural satellite.

Rhea orbits within Saturn's magnetic field, which creates a bubble of charged particles—ions and electrons—around the planet. During a 2005 flyby of Rhea, scientists working with NASA's Cassini spacecraft expected...

Brian Blessed to voice TomTom SatNav systems

"Bushy-bearded bellower Brian Blessed is probably the last person you'd think of taking on a long road trip, but it turns out 25,000 people petitioned to have his dulcet tones guide them around the twisty roads of Britain.

The Yorkshire-born thespian, who cut his teeth on the BBC's Z Cars before taking his booming personality to the stage as British and Shakespearean monarchs, is probably known more for his gigantic voice, than his acting chops.

That's exactly what lead Stewart Gore to mock up ...

Lightning in slo-mo

"This fantastic footage of a lightning storm was filmed at 9,000 frames a second and then played back real slow."

Via Sunday Mercury (Thanks @XxLadyClaireXx)

What Colliding Galaxies Look Like: Photos That Will Amaze

"Earlier today NASA released this gorgeous new image of two colliding galaxies that began colliding about 100 million years ago.

The imaging data, which were taken between 1999 and 2005, show the Antennae galaxies, so called because of the long antenna-like "arms," viewed in wide-angle views of the system. NASA says the features got generated by tidal forces produced during the collision, which is still occurring some 62 million light-years away from the Earth.

It must be one heck of a show...

Thinking About God Calms Believers, Stresses Atheists

"Researchers have determined that thinking about God can help relieve anxiety associated with making mistakes. However, the finding only holds for people who believe in a God. The researchers measured brain waves for a particular kind of distress response while participants made mistakes on a test. Those who had been prepared with religious thoughts had a less prominent response to mistakes than those who hadn't.

"Eighty-five percent of the world has some sort of religious beliefs," says...

Future Crimes Can Be Predicted Perfectly, Scientists Say

"A team from Northwestern University claim they have achieved 100 percent accuracy in reading the minds of make-believe terrorists — simply by attaching electrodes to their scalps and examining their brain waves.

For the study, 29 students were given mock terrorist plans and 30 minutes to learn about an attack on a certain U.S. city. They were asked to work out their own details based on information they were given regarding weapons and methods.

The researchers, who also knew about the mock...

Indian Officials Held Pigeon Captive on Suspicion of Spying

"Indian police, seemingly terrified that a rat with wings will glean some secrets for neighboring enemies in Pakistan, recently took into custody a white pigeon found near the border of the two countries. The cause for suspicion: a ring around the bird's foot and written on its body in red ink a phone number and address from Pakistan.

Although it was taken into captivity in late May, seeing as how Indian police took a pigeon to jail, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that it's...

Brain's reward system helps drive placebo effect

"Want to maximize the placebo effect? A good way to do this, according to a new study, is to tell someone they have a decent chance of getting the real treatment instead of a fake pill, but keep them guessing. In the study, Parkinson's disease patients given a placebo after being told they had a 75 percent chance of receiving an active drug produced significant amounts of dopamine, a chemical key to the brain's reward system that is scarce in the brains of patients with this disease. But no d...

Stephen Hawking's Warning: Abandon Earth—Or Face Extinction

"Let's face it: The planet is heating up, Earth's population is expanding at an exponential rate, and the the natural resources vital to our survival are running out faster than we can replace them with sustainable alternatives. Even if the human race manages not to push itself to the brink of nuclear extinction, it is still a foregone conclusion that our aging sun will expand and swallow the Earth in roughly 7.6 billion years.

So, according to famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking...

Win Tickets to Questival

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Questival is a weekend camping trip organised by The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies and Leeds Atheist Society, inspired by Camp Quest UK, and sponsored by the British Humanist Association.

Unlike Camp Quest, which is aimed at children, Questival is for fully grown atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and all those who are curious about the world in which we live. In addition to walks around the Dales, discussions about critical thinking and...