Brenna Farrell

This is the the kind of book that makes me long for a headlamp and blanket fort--reading it is too much of an adventure for an armchair, or a park bench. 

In 1910, Robert Falcon Scott led an expedition to Antarctica in a race to become the first explorer to reach the South Pole. The trip went down in history as one of the most grueling, terrible journeys imaginable.

In the summer of 1983, Antony Sher got word that he was in line to play one of the most evil characters in literature--Shakespeare's murderous King Richard III. He spent the next year of his life getting ready for the role--turning himself into the "bottled spider," and turning his ambitions, doubts, and inspirations into a stunning account of the inner life of an actor.

In our Animal Minds episode, we met a group of divers who rescued a humpback whale, then shared a really incredible moment...a moment in which the divers are convinced that the whale found a way to say thank you. We obviously can't know for sure, and that question--how well can we really know the minds of animals?--was at the heart of the show.

Last week, the band Neurotic and the PVCs brought new meaning to the idea of cultivating an audience. The band played to a crowd of human fans and a set of three robots. The robots are rigged with "neural networks" based on human neurology that allow them to make their own neural connections...and therefore develop a taste for music.

A great article in the Toronto Star explored a possible new frontier in sleep disorders…sleep texting. The article notes that claims of sleep texting are popping up on blogs and message boards.

Earlier this week, an article in the New York Times reported some good news about the genetic diversity of captive tigers. Apparently, a new study found that up to 20% of captive tigers are purebred, with genetic variations that no longer exist in the wild.

Remember that morality experiment about the oncoming train and the track workers dying? Dr. Joshua Greene explained how his neuroimaging research shows that making this kind of moral decision draws on a complex combination of emotional and “cognitive” processes in our brains. It seems that studying biology, as well as society, can help us understand how we decide what’s right and wrong.

Earlier this month, a NASA satellite detected a stellar explosion so big that it could be seen by the naked eye...even though it happened halfway across the visible universe. The gamma ray burst actually occurred before Earth was even formed--the light from the blast traveled over 7 billion years before it reached Earth.

Apparently the biggest factor in the amount of sleep we get is whether or not we have a job. Earlier this week, the Washington Post featured an article on a new report, 'Not So Deprived: Sleep in America, 1965-2005,' that found that employment status had a greater effect on sleep than age, race, or sex.

Are we living on borrowed time today? Should we celebrate having an extra day in 2008? One tradition apparently marked Leap Day as a time for women to propose to men (and no, February 29th is not Sadie Hawkins Day). I for one would love to start a tradition of writing yourself a letter every February 29th, not to be opened until the following Leap Year. And I thoroughly support the idea of wishing one another a 'Happy Bissextile Day.' Not to mention listening to Time and Beyond Time. And if you still have some extra time on your hands, check out this website on calendars.