Your mind and your brain aren’t always on the same page. An experiment using a magic trick shows that the success of the illusion depends on social cues. The magician’s gaze and head movements convince us that a ball vanishes in the air, even though our eyes are not looking where we think we see the ball disappear. The research supports the notion that perception and vision are separate systems.

They say that people who get rich tend to forget where they came from. It looks like this is a scientifically valid observation. A series of experiments shows that money makes people less helpful and makes them prefer to play and work alone and keep their physical distance.

A climate data analysis shows that global carbon emissions grew by 3.2 percent per year between 2000 and 2005, up dramatically from 0.8 percent per year between 1990 and 1999. The study also found that sea levels are rising at 1.5 to 2 millimeters per year and the rate is accelerating.

A computer model that examines the interaction between carbon dioxide doubling and land-use shows that soil moisture is a key variable for global warming. Drought increases the effects of carbon dioxide changes on crops and other vegetation, while high soil moisture decreases the effects.

A second computer model shows that phytoplankton blooms in the ocean increase cloud cover in the areas of the blooms. This implies that, in addition to being the foundation of the ocean food chain, the microscopic organisms play a role in moderating the effects of global warming.