Category Archives: Imaging

How the Brain Tunes in to the Music of Speech

Ken Probst/UCSF

Human voices convey meaning and emphasis by changing pitch. Now, scientists at University of California, San Francisco believe they have found the brain area that makes this possible.

Scientists increasingly believe home sapiens achieved language not only by evolving a sophisticated larynx, or voice box, but also by developing the neurological capacity to use it in a variety of ways.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Scientists Identify The Brain’s Pitch Area, Essential For Language

Scientists Spot Stutterstep in San Andreas Fault

Different segments of the San Andreas Fault display different behavior. Image courtesy USGS.

A new study suggests that a geologic “pressure release valve” in California’s San Andreas Fault might work more sporadically than previously thought, putting more stress on neighboring segments to the north and south.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Study Raises Concerns Over San Andreas Fault ‘Release Valve’

On Rarefied Pluto, Dunes Arise from Methane Puffs

Photos courtesy NASA/ Johns Hopkins University / Southwest Research Institute

Scientists analyzing Pluto data from the New Horizons spacecraft believe they have, for the first time, found dunes made of frozen methane.

On a planet with atmospheric pressure 100,000 times lower than Earth’s, the phenomenon is as remarkable as its explanation.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Scientists Discover Methane Dunes on Pluto

NASA to Send Mini-Copter to the Red Planet in 2020

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

When the next Mars rover launches in 2020, it will sport a sidekick: a football-sized scout helicopter.

Mars’s atmosphere is 1 percent as dense as Earth’s, so the copter will have to fly at the equivalent of 100,000 feet — 60,000 feet higher than any Earth-bound chopper has ever flown.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Mars 2020 Rover Mission To Include Scout Helicopter

Brain Combats Rare Dementia by Recruiting New Neurons

Image by Aneta Kielar / University of Arizona

A team of researchers at University of Arizona and the University of Toronto have published a study of a rare dementia called primary progressive aphasia, or PPA.

The research linked improved patient outcomes to the brain’s capacity to “recruit” other areas of the brain to make up for deficits.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
UA Study Examines How Brain Rewires Itself To Cope With Rare Dementia