We have not only a wealth of cool discoveries this month but at least a couple of these are huge findings that will likely cause huge waves in their respective fields for years if not decades to come.

• We start with an easy to understand but still important economics study about the effect of worries about global warming on the price of seaside properties. It finds that the prices of such properties that are exposed to the risk of rising sea levels are indeed being discounted and that the discount has been rising in response to growing fears of a critical level of global warming being reached. This is of course the rational response and proves that the market is indeed responding to the risks even as government policy is lagging behind.
• Anaesthetics obviously work and without it surgery would be impossible but until now scientists have had no idea why it works. This study proposes that they work by hijacking the neural circuitry that causes sleep. Specifically they activate neurons in the brain and causes hormones to be released into the bloodstream that in turn causes the animal to fall asleep. This means of course sleep is a much more active process than previously understood and this finding will no doubt open the way to much more research in the future.
• Next up is the public announcement of the discovery of a fossil dig site that is said to be paleontological find of the century. What makes this site, located in North Dakota in the US, is that it records precisely happened at the moment of the meteor impact 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs. The unique geological composition at the site seems to have preserved fine bones. Others have raised doubts about it however as the site is privately owned and access to it is restricted but it is certainly the most talked about subject in those circles for now.
• Then there’s this case of Chinese scientists being at it again, this time inserting a human gene thought to have connection to intelligence into macaque monkeys. Naturally this immediately prompted widespread accusations of unethical research and concerns about a Planet of the Apes scenario. In any case, the sample size here is small with only five surviving monkeys and they didn’t end up with larger brains and the only intelligence increase they noted was better short-term memory. Nevertheless the lead scientist involved seems intent on pushing ahead with larger sample sizes and more human genes.
• Finally to end on a lighter note, here’s a bit about research indicating that cats can indeed recognize their own names, it’s just that they don’t about showing this to their owners.