On the Radar

The pick of the science news

Brain boost

Surfing the web in middle-age could help keep your brain nimble as it ages, scientists have found.

While frequent reading, crosswords and Sudoku puzzles are believed to keep the brain active and help stave off cognitive decline in later life, using the internet could also be of benefit.

A study at UCLA used functional MRI to track the brain activity of 24 volunteers aged 55 and 76, half of whom were familiar with internet use.

Reading prompted the brains of all participants to light up, but when they tried web surfing the internet-savvy volunteers showed extra activity in areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning.

New route out of Africa

The Nile Valley may not have been the only route for humans to migrate out of Africa 120,000 years ago, according to new research that points to a "wet corridor" through Libya as a possible route north for early humans.

Using images taken from space as well as rock and fossil evidence, scientists from Bristol University worked out that monsoons fed rivers crossing the northern Sahara desert, providing potential routes for humans to reach the Mediterranean. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, helps explain similarities between Middle Stone Age artefacts from Libya and areas such as Chad.

By numbers

84The time in years it takes Uranus to orbit the sun. New images show seasonal change on the planet.

3The number of scientists who split this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on a fluorescent protein from jellyfish that can be used to tag genes and proteins in living cells.

9,000The number of years ago that the oldest-known case of tuberculosis erupted, off Israel's coast.