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Schizophrenia: how the outer and inner world affects the voices in the head

One of the main symptoms of schizophrenia is hearing voices in the head (auditory hallucinations). Up to 75% of diagnosed patients have it. Some people report that voices are always there, while others only hear them from time to time. Voices can be soft and calming, or they can be harsh and demanding. Why do some patients hear disturbing voices that bother them, while others don't face such problems.

Yevno Azef - terrorist double agent

Yevno Azef was Russia's leading terrorist and most highly paid police informant. In 1904 he organized the assassination of Vyacheslav Plehve who was minister of the interior and a person who initially recruited him. This gave him a lot of credit in Socialist Revolutionary Party, which in turn allowed him to give away a lot of party members to the secret police without being suspected of treason.

Mimicry: a tale of natural born imposters

Mimicry is a phenomenon where organisms resemble other species or objects for their own advantage. It can be found in animals, plants and minerals. For example, you might find a plant that resembles some venomous insect or vice versa some predator that resembles a plant.

Linguistic relativity: Why understanding the world through language matters

Linguistic relativity or Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is a proposal that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition. The strongest version of the hypothesis holds that language shapes thought, but weaker versions suggest that it only influences thought.

Why Prairie dogs are actually smarter than meets the eye

These furry little creatures spend most of their time communicating with one another through vocalizations or visual signals like tail wagging or nose touching. Their language is now considered to be the most complex of all animal languages (more complex than chimpanzee and dolphin language).