How Does The Brain Control Your Every Move? July 21, 2023, Part 1
b"We have a new podcast! It\\u2019s called\\xa0Universe Of Art, and it\\u2019s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on\\xa0Apple Podcasts,\\xa0Spotify, or\\xa0wherever you get your podcasts.\\n\\nAstronomers Spy A Two-Faced Star\\nThis week, astronomers report in the journal Nature that they\\u2019ve discovered a white dwarf\\u2014a dying star\\u2019s dense inner core\\u2014that, instead of being uniform in composition, has a surface that appears to be hydrogen on one face and helium on the other. The star rotates on its axis once every 15 minutes, bringing each face into view. Researchers spotted the unusual object with an instrument called the Zwicky Transient Facility, which initially singled out the star because of its rapidly changing brightness.\\nThe astronomers aren\\u2019t sure why the white dwarf, which they\\u2019ve nicknamed Janus after the two-faced Roman god, has this strange divided surface. Some possible theories include shifting magnetic fields which produce areas of different density, or that it\\u2019s a step in stellar evolution only partially complete.\\nTim Revell, deputy US editor at New Scientist, joins John Dankosky to talk about the two-faced star and other stories from the week in science, including the resignation of the Stanford University president amidst an ethics probe, discovery of ancient natural graphene, an earthworm invasion in the Arctic, and investigations of alcoholic fruit.\\n\\nHow Does The Brain Control Your Every Move?\\nAs you read this, every small action your body makes\\u2014eyes scanning the page, fingers scrolling a mouse, scratching an itch on your face\\u2014must be dictated by your brain. These actions usually happen without a second thought. But inside the brain, the motor cortex is hard at work making the body move.\\nFor nearly a century, every neuroscience student came across the \\u201chomunculus\\u201d\\u2014a visual representation of which areas of the brain control certain body parts. But for the last few decades, some researchers have disputed this traditional view of brain mapping. This includes a recent study, led by Washington University in St. Louis.\\nJoining guest host John Dankosky to discuss how the brain and body are connected are study lead author Evan Gordon, assistant professor of radiology at Wash U., and Michael Graziano, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.\\n\\nTo stay updated on all-things-science,\\xa0sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.\\nTranscripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on\\xa0sciencefriday.com."