Higgs Boson breakthrough was UK triumph, but British physics faces'catastrophic' cuts When the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced in Stockholm in October 2013, the world was watching. Among the names read out was Prof Peter Higgs, the British theorist who, nearly half a century earlier, had predicted the existence of a particle believed to hold the cosmos together - the Higgs boson. The announcement, broadcast live from Sweden, was what many scientists had hoped for since a year earlier, when experiments at CERN had finally confirmed Higgs's theory by discovering the Higgs boson - hailed as one of the biggest discoveries in a generation. At the time Higgs, who has since passed away, said in a statement: I hope this recognition of fundamental science will help raise awareness of the value of blue-sky research. Blue-sky research asks questions to understand the universe, rather than design new products.

The nature of this reorgani(cid:173) sation seems consistent with the behaviour of competitive neural net(cid:173) works, as has been demonstrated in the past by computer simulation. Expressions for changes in both receptive field size and mag(cid:173) nification factor are derived, which are consistent with owl monkey ex(cid:173) periments and make a prediction which goes beyond them.

Learning to read and wires rewires the brain in just six months, according to new research. A study of women in India who learned to read in their 30s has shown the human brain's incredible capacity to reorganise and transform itself, researchers said. Researchers recruited women in India, a country with an illiteracy rate of around 39 per cent, to see what they could learn about the areas of the brain devoted to reading. Learning to read and wires rewires the brain in just six months, according to new research. Pictured is an artist's impression of the brain Researchers studying Indian women learning to read for the first time in their 30s found looking at books can prompt the brain to reorganise itself.

The nature of this reorganisation seems consistent with the behaviour of competitive neural networks, as has been demonstrated in the past by computer simulation.

The nature of this reorganisation seems consistent with the behaviour of competitive neural networks, ashas been demonstrated in the past by computer simulation.