No time to look at the camera when you're doing science

When they’re not headbanging or answering our inane questions, Columbia faculty enjoy getting dirty in the lab. Bwog takes a moment to look back on this week in science. Headlines were compiled by our Strong-Willed but Gentle- Handed Correspondent Ricky Raudales.

• A team of scientists recreated functioning enzymes that date back between one and four billion years ago, revealing, in turn, that the earth was once hotter and more acidic. Sorry 90’s retro junkies, but we’re not closer to hatching a baby Velociraptor anytime soon.
  
• When in doubt, adding more is better. Columbia neuroscientists discovered that mice with more hippocampal neurons make wiser decisions and, when combined with exercise, exhibit fewer signs of anxiety.
• Researchers at the B-school’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CERD) determined that various social factors, such as perception of the current weather affect people’s acceptance of global warming. In a less innocuous correlation, self-identifying Democrats are more likely acceptors than those who identify themselves as Republicans.
• Researchers at Columbia and Israel’s Ben Gurion University found that judges were hungry for justice. Literally. Apparently judges are less likely to grant prisoners parole if they have not eaten in a while.

Labrats via Wikimedia Commons.