Scientists have discovered that when jazz musicians improvise, areas of their brains associated with inhibition quiet down, and those involved with self-expression heat up. The study required a little technical ingenuity, since the scientists needed to use fMRI to read what was going on in the musicians brains, and the powerful magnets in those scanners mean you cant use standard instruments with metal parts. Charles Limb, a jazz saxophonist who doubles as a scientist at Johns Hopkins University, and his group recruited six jazz pianists, and had them jam on the special keyboard while watching the fMRI machine read their brain activity.

Small streets and pricey fuel have shaped the European car market to favor smaller cars. In fact, what we call a compact car is a midsize on the continent. But now that Ameri- cans are feeling the burn of expensive gas, automakers have responded by bringing a fleet of smaller-than-subcompact vehicles to our shores. Unlike previous stripped-down econoboxes, these will be equipped to appeal to both the budget-minded and the car-savvy consumer.