Smarty fish

Fish can remember things for months, according to researchers, who have dismissed the myth that the animals have a three-second memory. The view that fish lack the brain power to retain memories is "absolute rubbish," said Dr Kevin Warburton of Charles Sturt University's Institute for Land, Water and Society in Australia.
He made his conclusions after studying the behavior of Australian freshwater fish such as the silver perch, which can remember a predator for several months after only one encounter. "They can learn to avoid predators after being attacked once and they retain this memory for several months," he added.

Say the Truth

Scientists have now discovered the physiological mechanisms in the brain, which they claim can enable predicting whether someone will break a promise. A team at the University of Zurich carried out an experiment in a brain scanner where the breach of a promise led both to monetary benefits for the promise breaker and to monetary costs for the partner. The study showed that there was increased activity in areas of the brain playing a vital role in processes of emotion and control.
The pattern suggests that breaking a promise triggers an emotional conflict in a promise breaker due to suppression of an honest response.

Italy for sale

Benito Mussolini's granddaughter demanded a police investigation on Friday after the late Italian dictator's blood and brain were reportedly offered for sale on eBay, the online auction website. The initial asking price was 15,000 euros, or £13,000, but nobody had had a chance to bid, eBay said. The online auctioneer does not permit the sale of body parts on its website and removed the listing hours after it was posted. Miss Mussolini said the remains could have been stolen from a hospital in Milan where an autopsy was carried out on the dictator's body after he was killed and strung up by partisans at the end of the Second World War.