5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Babies' capacity for pain and the surprising motivation of straight men are on the list this week:

• Babies Feel Pain Same as Adults Do: The belief that babies don't have fully developed pain receptors may have been smashed by Oxford scientists who poked and prodded newborns' feet and found their brains respond much the same way to pain that adult brains do. In fact, the little ones may be even more sensitive than the grown-ups.
• Scientists Find Biggest Structure Ever: Researchers say the "largest individual structure ever identified by humanity"—a so-called supervoid—has been spotted 3 billion light-years away, in the middle of an unusually chilly area of the sky known as, fittingly, the Cold Spot. They say some "exotic physics" may account for it.

• Scientists Find Way to Distinguish Twins' DNA: Identical twins share an identical DNA profile, and when you're an investigator examining DNA evidence, that can be a problem. (It's rare, but it happens.) British scientists say they've finally found a way to distinguish between twins, but it takes some heat.
• Some Brain Cancers Grow When Patients Think: Thoughts can be deadly. So posits new research on the link between brain activity and tumor growth. Specifically, researchers at Stanford found that activity in the cerebral cortex promoted the growth of high-grade gliomas, which account for most brain tumors. Next challenge: what to do with this knowledge.
• It's Not the Ladies Who Make Straight Men Gamble More: Scientists have found that heterosexual men take greater risks with money after seeing pictures of other people—but not good-looking women. Straight male subjects were shown photos of male Abercrombie models, female Victoria's Secret models, or just regular-looking folks. Who got them fired up might surprise you.

Click to read about more discoveries. (More discoveries stories.)