In 2013, a team led by Ning Zeng, a climate scientist from the University of Maryland, unearthed a remarkable find while conducting an experiment in Quebec, Canada. The researchers were digging a trench to test if burying wood under clay soil could prevent its decomposition and keep carbon locked away from the atmosphere. During this process, they unexpectedly discovered a 3,775-year-old Eastern red cedar log buried just two metres below the ground. This ancient log, still containing 95 percent of its carbon, demonstrated the potential effectiveness of clay as a carbon-preserving medium.

A Natural Solution to Carbon Storage

For years, scientists and environmental experts have been exploring new ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Ning Zeng’s team initially aimed to test if wood burial could be a low-cost, natural approach to long-term carbon storage. While researching clay soil’s ability to inhibit decomposition, their discovery suggested a promising solution already existed in nature. By covering wood with layers of clay, oxygen and microbes are kept from reaching it, thus helping to preserve its carbon content.

According to Daniel Sanchez who is an environmental scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, this affordable approach holds great potential. He notes that as global emissions continue, inexpensive solutions like these are critical. Burying wood could reduce emissions at an estimated $30 to $100 per tonne of CO2, significantly less than other carbon-capturing methods.

Affordable and Practical Potential

The researchers estimates that replicating these conditions could allow up to 10 billion tonnes of carbon to be stored annually by 2060. This will potentially help in reducing greenhouse gases. The wood vault design proposed by Zeng involves burying wood under clay, which forms a protective barrier. Although the long-term durability of these conditions is still under review, Zeng’s team has concluded their original study, and findings suggest practical applications for climate mitigation efforts.

In a significant advancement in neuroscience, researchers have developed a detailed functional map of the brain by studying brain activity in people watching movie clips. Conducted by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and published on November 6 in Neuron, the study used fMRI scans to observe how different brain networks respond to various film scenes. Clips from independent and popular Hollywood films, including Inception and The Social Network, were shown to participants, revealing how brain areas engage differently when processing scenes featuring people, objects, dialogue, and action.

Detailed Insights into Brain Network Functions

The study was published in Neuron. Dr Reza Rajimehr, neuroscientist and lead author from MIT, emphasised the study’s unique approach, noting how it highlights the brain’s organisation in more realistic settings. Traditionally, brain function research has been based on scans during resting states, limiting understanding of how complex external stimuli impact brain activity. By analysing responses to films, the research offers a broader view of how specific networks activate in response to varied audio-visual elements.

Rajimehr and his team applied machine learning to data from the Human Connectome Project, involving 176 participants who watched one-hour film compilations. They pinpointed 24 distinct brain networks related to sensory or cognitive processing, such as recognising faces, movements, and social interactions. Activity varied depending on the scene’s content, particularly when switching between straightforward dialogue and more ambiguous sequences.

Executive Control in Complex Scenes

Notably, the study identified how executive control regions—brain areas involved in planning and prioritising information—became more active during scenes that required greater cognitive engagement. Simple scenes, such as clear conversations, saw heightened language-processing activity, while complex sequences activated executive domains to interpret context and semantic details.

The researchers suggested that future studies might explore individual brain response variations, considering factors like age or mental health. Rajimehr stated that the findings could open doors to mapping how specific film content, including social cues and narrative context, drives activity in different networks. This research provides an initial framework for deeper studies into personalised brain mapping based on content-driven stimuli.

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