For the first time ever, neurophysiologists of KU Leuven, Harvard and the University of Kyoto have succeeded in reversibly disabling a connection between two areas in the brains of primates while they were performing cognitive tasks and their whole brain activity was being monitored.

Firstly, they gauged the tendency of participants (440 Belgian French-speaking or Dutch-speaking non-Muslims ) to help - by contributing a hypothetical sum of money - a fictional person bearing either a Christian (and traditionally 'Belgian') or Muslim first name.

A group of researchers found that our learning capabilities are limited during slow wave sleep. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), they showed that while our brain is still able to perceive sounds during sleep, it is unable to group these sounds according to their organisation in a sequence.