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The mind is responsible for perception, thought, feeling, and action.

The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills, including both conscious and unconscious processes. Its exact nature is debated, like whether mental phenomena are internal activities of transforming information or dispositions to engage in observable behavior. The mind–body problem is the challenge of explaining the relation between matter and mind. According to physicalism, minds are not independent entities but certain aspects of material objects. The evolutionary history of the mind is tied to the development of brains, but it is controversial at which point minds emerged and which non-human animals possess minds. Similar theoretical challenges concern the possibility of artificial minds powered by computers. The main fields studying the mind include psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and the philosophy of mind. Their methods range from empirical observation and neuroimaging to conceptual analysis and thought experiments. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Seth Peterson Cottage

... that the Seth Peterson Cottage (pictured) was said to have "more architecture per square foot" than any of Frank Lloyd Wright's other designs?
... that Robert Van Damme played ice hockey professionally before pursuing a career in gay pornography?
... that a 2023 tornado damaged Selma, Alabama, known for civil-rights marches attended by Martin Luther King Jr., just eight days before MLK Day?
... that Pitty recorded Admirável Chip Novo with a band hastily assembled from Salvador musicians after rejecting Rio de Janeiro's session musicians because it felt "strange"?
... that Joseph Pearman played American football with F. Scott Fitzgerald at a preparatory school?
... that A Polish Book of Monsters features stories in which the line between monster and human is blurred, reflecting what the editor saw as a quintessentially Polish view of monstrosity?
... that an Indian restaurant chain has more than 800 combinations of kulfi flavours, toppings, and sauces?
... that some mill workers in a historic district in Virginia gave their ages as fourteen despite appearing much younger?
... that Yi chieftain Xiao Yedan and a Chinese Red Army military leader established an alliance by drinking chicken blood?

In the news

Mario Vargas Llosa

Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa (pictured) dies at the age of 89.
A nightclub roof collapse in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, kills 231 people.
In basketball, the UConn Huskies win the NCAA Division I women's championship and the Florida Gators win the men's championship.
In the National Hockey League, Alexander Ovechkin breaks Wayne Gretzky's record for most goals scored.
In horse racing, Nick Rockett, ridden by Patrick Mullins, wins the Grand National.

On this day

April 16

MV Sewol

1520 – A revolt of citizens in Toledo, Castile, opposed to the rule of the foreign-born Charles I began when the royal government attempted to unseat radical city councilors.
1862 – Slavery in Washington, D.C., ended when the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act became law.
1945 – Second World War: British and Canadian forces concluded the Liberation of Arnhem in the Netherlands from German occupation.
1948 – The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, headquartered in Paris, was founded.
2014 – The ferry MV Sewol (pictured) capsized and sank off Donggeochado, South Korea, killing 306 people, mainly students from Danwon High School.

Frederick I, Duke of Austria (d. 1198)
Molly Brant (d. 1796)
Ponnambalam Ramanathan (b. 1851)

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Today's featured picture

Galaxea fascicularis is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Euphylliidae, commonly known as octopus coral, fluorescence grass coral, or galaxy coral. It is found in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and in large areas of the Indo-Pacific, on coral-reef slopes at depths between between 2 metres (6.6 ft) and 15 metres (49 ft). Small colonies of G. fascicularis often form low domes but as they grow, the colonies become more irregular, massively hummocky or columnar, and may eventually reach 5 metres (16 ft) across. The individual polyps are embedded in circular, tube-shaped corallites less than 1 centimetre (0.39 in) across, made of a limy material extruded by the polyps. Lining the corallites are a large number of ridge-like septa radiating from the centre. The polyps often feed in the daytime, and when their tentacles are extended the basic skeleton of the coral is hidden. The general colour of the coral ranges from green and grey to reddish brown. The tentacles are often a contrasting colour and are usually tipped with white. This G. fascicularis colony was photographed in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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