China, Trying to Bolster Its Claims, Plants Islands in Disputed Waters

 

 

 

 

China, Trying to Bolster Its Claims, Plants Islands in Disputed Waters     A Philippine surveillance photo shows an island that China has created on a reef among the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.CreditPhilippine Department of Foreign Affairs, via Associated Press BEIJING — The islands have all that one could ask of a tropical resort destination: white sand, turquoise waters and sea winds. But they took shape only in the last several months, and they are already emerging as a major point of conflict in the increasingly bitter territorial disputes between China and other Asian nations. China has been moving sand onto reefs and shoals to add several new islands to the Spratly archipelago, in what foreign officials say is a new effort to expand the Chinese footprint in the South China Sea. The officials say the islands will be able to support large buildings, human habitation and surveillance equipment, including radar. The island-building has alarmed Vietnam, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that also claim sovereignty over the Spratlys. Since April, the Philippines has filed protests to China against land reclamation at two reefs. This month, the Philippine president, Benigno S. Aquino III, criticized the movements of Chinese ships that he said could be engaged in island-building at two other sites. Continue reading the main story 300 MILES CHINA TAIWAN LAOS Pacific Ocean HAINAN South China Sea PARACEL ISLANDS THAILAND VIETNAM Site of new island-building Johnson South Reef CAMBODIA PHILIPPINES Southwest Cay Island Fiery Cross Reef Second Thomas Shoal SPRATLY ISLANDS Sulu Sea BRUNEI Celebes Sea MALAYSIA INDONESIA SINGAPORE Chinese actions have also worried senior United States officials. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel scolded China for “land reclamation activities at multiple locations” in the South China Sea at a contentious security conference in Singapore in late May. Critics say the islands will allow China to install better surveillance technology and resupply stations for government vessels. Some analysts say the Chinese military is eyeing a perch in the Spratlys as part of a long-term strategy of power projection across the Western Pacific. Perhaps just as important, the new islands could allow China to claim it has an exclusive economic zone within 200 nautical miles of each island, which is defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Philippines has argued at an international tribunal that China occupies only rocks and reefs and not true islands that qualify for economic zones. “By creating the appearance of an island, China may be seeking to strengthen the merits of its claims,” said M. Taylor Fravel, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. China says it has the right to build in the Spratlys because they are Chinese territory. “China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Islands,” a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said last month, using the Chinese name for the Spratlys. Chinese officials also contend that Vietnam and the Philippines have built more structures in the disputed region than China, so China is free to pursue its projects. But analysts note that other countries did not build islands, and that they generally erected their structures before 2002, when China and nine Southeast Asian nations signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. One clause says the parties must “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities” that would escalate tensions and must refrain from inhabiting any currently uninhabited land features. Although the agreement is nonbinding and does not explicitly ban building on the islands or the creation of new ones, some analysts say those activities are covered. “It’s changing the status quo,” said Carlyle A. Thayer, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “It can only raise tensions.” Since January, China has been building three or four islands, projected to be 20 to 40 acres each, one Western official said. He added that there appeared to be at least one installation intended for military use, and that the new islands could be used for resupplying ships, including Chinese maritime patrol vessels. Last month, China set off alarms in the region and in Washington when a state-owned oil company placed an exploratory oil rig farther north in the South China Sea, by the contested Paracel Islands near Vietnam. The rig ignited diplomatic strife and violent anti-China protests in Vietnam. But the island-building “is bigger than the oil rig,” said the Western official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid upsetting diplomatic discussions. “These islands are here to stay.” Officials say Johnson South Reef, which China seized in 1988 after killing about 70 Vietnamese soldiers or sailors in a skirmish, is the most developed of the islands so far. “It’s Johnson Island now; it’s not Johnson Reef anymore,” the Western official said. Filipino officials released aerial photographs last month showing structures and a large ship.   Chinese-made structures stand on the Johnson South Reef. Photo: AP China is looking to expand its biggest installation in the Spratly Islands into a fully formed artificial island, complete with airstrip and sea port, to better project its military strength in the South China Sea, a Chinese scholar and a Chinese navy expert have said. The planned expansion on the disputed Fiery Cross Reef, if approved, would be a further indication of China's change of tack in handling long-running sovereignty disputes from a defensive stance to an offensive one, analysts said. They said it was seen as a step to the declaration of an air defence identification zone. The Philippines last month protested against China's reclamation activities at nearby Johnson South Reef, site of a 1988 skirmish between the Chinese and Vietnamese navies that was triggered by China's occupation of Fiery Cross Reef. With recent developments in the South China Sea having again focused the international spotlight on China, the analysts warned reclamation at the Fiery Cross atoll - which China, the Philippines and Vietnam all claim - would further strain Beijing's relations with neighbours. The proposal to build an artificial island there had been submitted to the central government, said Jin Canrong , a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. The artificial island would be at least double the size of the US military base of Diego Garcia, a remote coral atoll occupying an area of 44 square kilometres in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Jin added. The reef currently houses Chinese-built facilities including an observation post commissioned by Unesco's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Li Jie, a naval expert from the Chinese Naval Research Institute, said the expanded island would include the airstrip and port. After the expansion the island would continue to house the observation post and to provide military supplies and assistance, he said. A retired People's Liberation Army senior colonel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the construction of a landing strip on Fiery Cross Reef would allow China to better prepare for the establishment of an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea. Watch: What is the East China Sea dispute about? Beijing's declaration of such a zone over the East China Sea in December prompted concerns among Southeast Asian countries that a similar arrangement could be imposed in the South China Sea. Fiery Cross Reef, known as Yongshu in China, Kagitingan in the Philippines and Da Chu Thap in Vietnam, is close to sea lanes and could serve as a strategic naval staging post, said Alexander Neill, a Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow. Jin said consideration of whether and how to go ahead with the Fiery Cross Reef proposal would depend on progress on reclamation at Johnson South Reef. "It's a very complicated oceanic engineering project, so we need to learn from the experience" on Johnson South, Jin said. Late last month, renditions of a proposed artificial island were circulated among Chinese media. Citing a report posted on the website of the Shanghai-based China Shipbuilding NDRI Engineering, the Global Timessaid the unidentified artificial island could include a landing strip and a 5,000-tonne berth. Zhang Jie, an expert on regional security with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China had long been researching island reclamation. Institutes and companies had drafted various designs over the past decade, said Zhang, adding that she had attended deliberation of one proposal years ago. Building an artificial island ... would cause very severe negative impacts ZHANG JIE, SECURITY EXPERT "We had the ability to build artificial islands years ago, but we had refrained because we didn't want to cause too much controversy," she said. However, this year had seen a "turning point" in which Beijing appeared to be making more offensive moves in the area, said Zhang, citing the recent deployment of an oil rig to disputed waters near Vietnam. "Building an artificial island can no doubt provide supplies to ships and oil rigs nearby, but this would also cause very severe negative impacts in the region." Such moves, she added, would further deepen mistrust among China's neighbours and cause instability in the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment. This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as China plans to make disputed reef a vast island

The astonishing maps that reveal how our brain organises everything we see

 

 

The astonishing maps that reveal how our brain organises everything we see UC Berkeley team use fMRI to find out where semantically linked concepts are processed in the brain Findings are a quantum leap from previous research mapping concepts to brain regions Team create video and interactive website to present their incredible discoveries Scientists have put together the first ever map of how the brain organises the thousands of images that come flooding in through our eyes every day. A team at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the brain is wired to put in order all the categories of objects and actions that we see. To illustrate their findings, they have created the first map of how the brain organises these categories across the cortex. Click here to open the interactive version of the map in a new window (may take some time to load) The team used fMRI scans of patients to work out which how which regions of their brains process different categories of information (right). They were then able to show the regions on a virtual 3D brain (left) The result — achieved through computational models of brain imaging data collected while test subjects watched hours of video clips — is what researchers call 'a continuous semantic space'. The UC Berkeley team have mapped this data across the human cortex to show which areas of the brain deal with which categories of objects we see in the world around us. Some relationships between categories make sense - for example, that humans and animals share the same 'semantic neighbourhood' - while others - like the apparent link between hallways and buckets - seem less obvious. Nevertheless, the researchers found that different people share a similar semantic layout. The Berkeley team used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to record the brain activity of five researchers as they each watched two hours of film clips. Researchers then analysed the readings to find correlations in data and build a model showing how each of 30,000 subdivisions in the cortex responded to the 1,700 categories of objects and actions shown. Next, they used principal components analysis, a statistical method that can summarize large data sets, to find the 'semantic space' that was common to all the study subjects. The results are presented in multicoloured, multi-dimensional maps showing the more than 1,700 visual categories and their relationships to one another. Categories that activate the same brain areas have similar colours. For example, humans are green, animals are yellow, vehicles are pink and violet and buildings are blue. 'Our methods open a door that will quickly lead to a more complete and detailed understanding of how the brain is organised,' said Alexander Huth, lead author of the study published yesterday in the journal Neuron. 'Already, our online brain viewer appears to provide the most detailed look ever at the visual function and organisation of a single human brain.' His and his colleagues findings show that the brain efficiently represents the diversity of categories in a compact space. Instead of having a distinct brain area devoted to each category, as previous work had identified, for some but not all types of stimuli, the researchers found brain activity is organised by the relationship between categories. 'Humans can recognise thousands of categories. Given the limited size of the human brain, it seems unreasonable to expect that every category is represented in a distinct brain area,' said Mr Huth. A clearer understanding of how the brain organises visual input can help with the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders. The findings may also be used to create brain-machine interfaces, particularly for facial and other image recognition systems. 'Our discovery suggests that brain scans could soon be used to label an image that someone is seeing, and may also help teach computers how to better recognise images,' said Mr Huth. Semantic map of the brain: This images of subjects' brains scanned as part of the study shows how which regions of their brains process different categories of information.  See key below These three images are the key for the above brain scans: Different categories are represented in four semantic dimensions by different colours.  Categories that activate the same brain areas have similar colours. For example, humans are green, animals are yellow, vehicles are pink and violet and buildings are blue He has produced a video and interactive website to explain the science of what the researchers found. It was long believed that each category of object or action humans see — people, animals, vehicles, household appliances and movements — is represented in a separate region of the visual cortex. But this new study shows that these categories are actually represented in highly organised, overlapping maps that cover as much as 20 per cent of the brain, including the somato-sensory and frontal cortices. 'Using the semantic space as a visualisation tool, we immediately saw that categories are represented in these incredibly intricate maps that cover much more of the brain than we expected,' Mr Huth said. Dr Jack Gallant, at whose laboratory the work was carried out, said: 'Discovering the feature space that the brain uses to represent information helps us to recover functional maps across the cortical surface. 'The brain probably uses similar mechanisms to map other kinds of information across the cortical surface, so our approach should be widely applicable to other areas of cognitive neuroscience.'     Kaleidoscopic images reveal the complex and colourful inner workings of the human brain Colourful images of brain activity will go on show for the first time in St Andrew Square in Edinburgh this month The pictures consist of MRI scans, microscopic images and electrical monitoring results Researchers from Edinburgh created the exhibition to show the beauty of neurological disorders such as autism Exhibition also highlights the advanced technologies used by scientists to image the brain and its cells in action The brain differences between the young and the old, people with autism, and even female mice have been revealed in a series of beautiful rainbow images. The collection of pictures use a kaleidoscope of colours to highlight neurons, electrical connections between cells, and other brain activity, and will go on show for the first time in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh later this month. The pictures were created using MRI scans, microscopic images and electrical monitoring and are part of an exhibition called The Brain Is Wider Than The Sky. +7 Colourful images show the activity in the human brain in a kaleidoscope of colours and will go on show for the first time in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh. This Wiring The Brain image shows shows detailed maps of brain wiring in a sleeping newborn baby (left) and an adult in their seventies (right) visualised using an MRI scanner Researchers from the University of Edinburgh created the exhibition to show the beauty they encounter while studying neurological disorders, such as autism. The exhibition also highlights the advanced technologies used by scientists to image the brain and its cells in action. Some of the pictures, including one titled The Female Mosaic, look like impressionist artwork, but instead show neurons in the brain of a female mouse. During the course of their research, the scientists who created the images found that autism and intellectual disability - linked to the X chromosome - are more prevalent in men than women. +7 The pictures are created from MRI scans, microscopic images and electrical monitoring, and are part of an exhibition called The Brain Is Wider Than The Sky. This image, called The Breakdown In Communication, shows differences between a typical brain (left) and autism (right) +7 Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have created the exhibition to show the beauty that they come across while studying neurological disorders such as autism. The Sensory Superhighway is pictured, which shows the complex electrical connections between brain cells Males have one X and one Y chromosome, while females have two X chromosomes - one inherited from each parent. To compensate for this second X, each cell in a female body randomly ‘turns off’ one X chromosome. The picture shows that neurons in the mouse’s brain have turned off the X chromosome inherited from the mother (in green) and those that have silenced the X inherited from the father (in red). In another picture called Glial Grandeur, the image created looks almost like a picture of deep space taken from the Hubble Telescope. +7 An Electron's View Of The Brain shows that neurons talk to one another across a gap called the synaptic cleft, rather than being directly connected to one another. A trained eye can identify the wires +7 This image, titled High Fidelity, shows the difference in brain signals from a typical brain (left) and from a brain affected by a condition similar to Fragile X Syndrome, which is the most common inherited form of autism The brain has two main cell types - neurons and glia. Glia - named from the Greek word for glue - were originally thought of as the support cells for neurons. But it is now known that they are essential for many brain functions. The image in the collection shows two main types of glia from a human brain - astrocytes (in green) and a white oligodendrocyte. Researchers from the university’s Patrick Wild Centre collaborated with the Scottish charity Mindroom, to create the exhibition. ‘The human brain has more cells than there are stars in the Milky Way and these cells communicate through a thousand times as many connections,’ said Sally Till, a fellow at the centre. +7 This image, titled The Female Mosaic, shows neurons in the brain of a female mouse. It reveals the neurons that have switched off the X chromosome inherited from the mother (in green), and those that have silenced the X chromosome inherited from the father (in red) ‘Our goal is to understand how even small changes in these connections can have such detrimental effects on learning and memory.’ Sophie Dow, Founder of Mindroom, added: ‘These images are simply too beautiful to be hidden away in a lab. ‘They were created to further our understanding of the brain but they can also be viewed as stunning examples of abstract art. 'Our hope is that people admiring the pictures on show will also come away with a greater awareness of what it means to be affected by learning difficulties and other brain conditions.’ +7 This image might look like one taken by the Hubble Telescope of deep space, but Glial Grandeur shows the two main types of glia from a human brain - astrocytes (in green) and a white oligodendrocyte. They also look a little bit like a spider's web, only this web measures just 1/20 of a millimetre. Glia - named from the Greek word for glue - were originally thought of as the support cells for neurons. But it is now known they are essential for many brain functions         Researchers have found exactly how our brain make memories at the cellular level. They found the human brain locks down episodic memories in the hippocampus, committing each recollection to a distinct, distributed packet of individual cells. The breakthrough is the first time researchers have proved exactly how the process works. +2 Memories in the making: A human neuron showing actin formation in response to stimulation as a memory is stored HOW THEY DID IT Researchers assessed nine patients with epilepsy whose brains had been implanted with electrodes to monitor seizures. The monitoring recorded activity at the level of single neurons. The patients memorized a list of words on a computer screen, then viewed a second, longer list that contained those words and others. They were asked to identify words they had seen earlier, and to indicate how well they remembered them. The observed difference in the cell-firing activity between words seen on the first list and those not on the list clearly indicated that cells in the hippocampus were representing the patients' memories of the words. The findings, published in the June 16 Early Edition of PNAS, further illuminate the neural basis of human memory and may, ultimately, shed light on new treatments for diseases and conditions that adversely affect it, such as Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy. 'To really understand how the brain represents memory, we must understand how memory is represented by the fundamental computational units of the brain – single neurons – and their networks,' said Peter N. Steinmetz, MD, PhD, program director of neuroengineering at Barrow and senior author of the study. 'Knowing the mechanism of memory storage and retrieval is a critical step in understanding how to better treat the dementing illnesses affecting our growing elderly population.' Researchers assessed nine patients with epilepsy whose brains had been implanted with electrodes to monitor seizures. The monitoring recorded activity at the level of single neurons. The patients memorized a list of words on a computer screen, then viewed a second, longer list that contained those words and others. They were asked to identify words they had seen earlier, and to indicate how well they remembered them. The observed difference in the cell-firing activity between words seen on the first list and those not on the list clearly indicated that cells in the hippocampus were representing the patients' memories of the words. The researchers found that recently viewed words were stored in a distributed fashion throughout the hippocampus, with a small fraction of cells, about 2 percent, responding to any one word and a small fraction of words, about 3 percent, producing a strong change in firing in these cells. +2 Ultimately, the scientists said their goal is to fully understand how the human brain forms and represents memories of places and things in everyday life, which cells are involved and how those cells are affected by illness and disease. 'Intuitively, one might expect to find that any neuron that responds to one item from the list would also respond to the other items from the list, but our results did not look anything like that. 'The amazing thing about these counterintuitive findings is that they could not be more in line with what influential neurocomputational theorists long ago predicted must be true," said Wixted. Although only a small fraction of cells coded recent memory for any one word, the scientists said the absolute number of cells coding memory for each word was large nonetheless – on the order of hundreds of thousands at least. Thus, the loss of any one cell, they noted, would have a negligible impact on a person's ability to remember specific words recently seen. Ultimately, the scientists said their goal is to fully understand how the human brain forms and represents memories of places and things in everyday life, which cells are involved and how those cells are affected by illness and disease. The researchers will next attempt to determine whether similar coding is involved in memories of pictures of people and landmarks and how hippocampal cells representing memory are impacted in patients with more severe forms of epilepsy.

How our brains are hardwired for Facebook: Scientists astonished to discover that social network posts are much more memorable than books Difference is as big as that between normal memory and amnesia Faces are two and a half times harder to remember than posts Brains are likely to be hardwired to absorb 'natural' language of posts Professional writers may spend hours lovingly crafting their prose but if you want to be memorable it’s Facebook posts that stay in the mind. Words and sentences posted on Facebook are, researchers were surprised to discover, much more memorable than books or faces. Facebook posts are about one and a half times more memorable than sentences in books and two and a half times more memorable than faces. Posts on Facebook were shown to be more memorable than sentences from books. That’s as big a difference as that between people with normal memories and those suffering amnesia. So anyone hoping that the post detailing their embarrassing antics at the office party will be forgotten can, well, forget it. The key to Facebook being so memorable, researchers believe, is that the brain is hardwired for the most natural forms of language. Facebook posts come out naturally, closely resembling how we speak, and are written casually, with relatively little thought given to punctuation, spelling or grammar. It is this very casual and gossipy nature of posts that researchers concluded makes them so easy to remember because the brain is ‘mind-ready’ for them. ‘We were really surprised when we saw just how much stronger memory for Facebook posts was compared to other types of stimuli.," said Dr Laura Mickes, of the University of Warwick. EASY TO REMEMBER? Some of the Facebook posts that proved memorable i am 7,689 days old... The library is a place to study, not to talk on your phone My math professor told me that I was one of his brightest students Love clean sheets :) Bc sometimes it makes me wonder ‘These kinds of gaps in performance are on a scale similar to the differences between amnesiacs and people with healthy memory. ‘Facebook is updated roughly 30 million times an hour so it's easy to dismiss it as full of mundane, trivial bits of information that we will instantly forget as soon as we read them. ‘But our study turns that view on its head, and by doing so gives us a really useful glimpse into the kinds of information we're hardwired to remember.’ She added: ‘Knowing this could help in the design of better educational tools as well as offering useful insights for communications or advertising. ‘Of course we're not suggesting textbooks written entirely in tweets, nor should editors be rendered useless, – but textbook writers or lecturers using PowerPoint could certainly benefit from using more natural speech to get information across. ‘And outside these settings, at the very least maybe we should take more care about what we post on Facebook as it seems those posts might just be remembered for a long time.’ HARD TO REMEMBER? Some of the sentences from books that were less memorable How did he end up in this family? Underneath the mass of facial hair beamed a large smile. Even honor had its limits. Cody raised his .40 Sig Sauer in a shooter’s grip. My throat was burning from screaming so loudly. Facebook and other forms of amateur writing made possible by the digital age are, the researcher team suggest, a throw-back to pre-literate times. Nicolas Christenfeld, a professor of psychology at University of California San Diego, said: ‘One could view the past 5,000 years of painstaking, careful writing as the anomaly. ‘Modern technologies allow written language to return more closely to the casual, personal style of pre-literate communication. This is the style that resonates, and is remembered.’ In their report, published in the journal Memory and Cognition, the joint UK and US team said: ‘Our work introduces and investigates a new phenomenon - incredible memorability of microblogs. ‘These especially memorable Facebook posts, generated by ordinary people, may be far closer than professionally crafted sentences to tapping into the basic language capacities of our minds. ‘Perhaps the very sentences that were so effortlessly generated are, for such a reason, the same ones that are so readily remembered. 'It seems that, with the growth of blogging, text messaging, and the like, written language has moved closer to natural speech, with less editing and contemplation than was needed not only when the writing was done by monks with goose-feather quills or by Gutenberg with moveable type, but even when it is done by authors sitting patiently at their own keyboards.' Professor Christine Harris, of UC San Diego, added: ‘Our findings might not seem so surprising when one considers how important both memory and the social world have been for survival over humans' ancestral history. ‘We learn about rewards and threats from others. So it makes sense that our minds would be tuned to be particularly attentive to the activities and thoughts of people and to remember the information conveyed by them.’ Books and other forms of professional writing over thousands of years could be 'an anomaly'. Harvard scientists have developed hi-tech new methods to explore inside the human brain using magnetic resonance scanning. Professor Jan Wedeen claims that the rainbow-coloured scans offer the first real insight into the pathways of the human brain's 100 billion cells - and how it works. ‘The brain we’ve been looking at with conventional scans all these years is not the real brain,' says Wedeeen. 'We’re just seeing a shadow of its surfaces.’    A fluorescent 'brainbow' map of the connecting nerve cells in a brain by Harvard's Jeff Lichtman, which shows patterns of fibres interconnecting to form a 3D brain The 3D maps will allow us to see 'inside' the workings of the brain for the first time, claim the scientists Professor Jeff Lichtman, also from Harvard, has developed a related technique used for tracing the connecting pathways between each neuron on animal brains. Using just three colours he is able to tag nerve cells with a certain colour before tracing the connections - a task that would take hundred thousand years using traditional methods. Lichtman said, 'The human brain is the most complicated object in the known universe. It holds our memories and our fears, processes information and allows us to see, hear and feel. 'But we don’t have real tools to understand it it. There’s a whole class of disorders of the nervous system that people suspect are due to defects in the connections between nerve cells, but we just don’t have the means to trace the connections.' These pathways can then be used by scientists to create a 3-D map of the intricate networks that make up our brain. For a long time it was thought that the brain was a mass of tangled wires, but researchers recently found that its fibers are actually set up like a chess board, crossing at right-angles Thomas R Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health, said: 'Getting a high-resolution wiring diagram of our brains is a landmark in human neuroanatomy' A team from Harvard Medical School in the USA have set about meticulously logging more than 100 billion nerve cells and neurons in the human brain Professor Van Wedeen's team has cracked how to 'map' the interior of the brain for the first time For a long time it was thought that the brain was a mass of tangled wires, but researchers recently found that its fibers are actually set up like a chess board, crossing at right-angles. What’s more, this grid structure has now been revealed in amazing detail as part of a brain imaging study by a new state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Van Wedeen, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), who led study, said: ‘Far from being just a tangle of wires, the brain's connections turn out to be more like ribbon cables - folding 2D sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles, like the warp and weft of a fabric.   Geoff Lichtman's 'tagging' technique 'lights up' the fibres of a mouse brain Using advanced MRI screening technology they are uncovering the anatomical features of our minds that have previously been undetectable A map of the human brain showing the connecting nerve cells in our minds by Van Wedeen Curvature in this image of a whole human brain turns out to be folding of 2D sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles ‘This grid structure is continuous and consistent at all scales and across humans and other primate species.’ Thomas R Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health, said: ‘Getting a high-resolution wiring diagram of our brains is a landmark in human neuroanatomy. ‘This new technology may reveal individual differences in brain connections that could aid diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.’ The Connectom MRI scanner was installed at MGH last year and can visualise the networks of criss-crossing fibers – by which different parts of the brain communicate with each other – in 10-fold higher detail than conventional scanners, according to Wedeen. He said: ‘This one-of-a-kind instrument is bringing into sharper focus an astonishingly simple architecture that makes sense in light of how the brain grows. The wiring of the mature brain appears to mirror three primal pathways established in embryonic development.’ As the brain gets wired up in early development, its connections form along perpendicular pathways, running horizontally, vertically and transversely. Revelation: The fabric-like 3D grid structure of connections in a monkey brain This grid structure appears to guide connectivity like lane markers on a highway, which would limit options for growing nerve fibers to change direction during development. If they can turn in just four directions: left, right, up or down, this may enforce a more efficient, orderly way for the fibers to find their proper connections – and for the structure to adapt through evolution, suggest the researchers. Obtaining detailed images of these pathways in human brain has long eluded researchers, in part, because the human cortex, or outer mantle, develops many folds, nooks and crannies that obscure the structure of its connections. Although studies using chemical tracers in neural tracts of animal brains yielded hints of a grid structure, such invasive techniques could not be used in humans. It’s thought that with previous technology 25 per cent of the brain’s structure was revealed – the new scanner shows 75 per cent of it. ‘Before, we had just driving directions. Now, we have a map showing how all the highways and byways are interconnected,’ said Wedeen. ‘Brain wiring is not like the wiring in your basement, where it just needs to connect the right endpoints. Rather, the grid is the language of the brain and wiring and re-wiring work by modifying it.’ Results of the study appear in the journal Science.

ALL ABOUT ENGLISH Pomp, pageantry, Countryside

 

 

Pomp, pageantry and a (very smart) Prince: William leads the charge at spectacular musical tribute to Britain's armed forces at Beating Retreat The Beating Retreat at Whitehall marked the 70th anniversary of D-Day and centennial of First World War Servicemen and women impressed a 6,500-strong crowd during the London ceremony last night Crowds witnessed a procession of military musicians performing a series of war-time anthems Prince William wore the black and gold trimmed uniform of the Irish Guards of which he is a Royal Colonel The Duke of Cambridge led the charge at a spectacular musical and theatrical tribute to Britain's armed forces during a special performance of Beating Retreat. The annual display of military pomp and ceremony took on a special resonance this year, marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the centennial commemorations of the First World War. Servicemen and women marked the sacrifices made by those who served in both wars by impressing the 6,500-strong crowd with a display of horsemanship, pageantry and gunfire last night. +18 Support: The Duke of Edinburgh salutes at the special performance of Beating Retreat which took place at Horse Guards in Whitehall last night Adorned in the black and gold trimmed uniform of the Irish Guards, of which he is a Royal Colonel, Prince William opened the ceremony by taking the salute. At sunset fireworks sent streaks of green, silver and red sparks into the sky. A procession of military musicians, each in the signature uniform of their battalion, performed a series of war-time anthems at the Horse Guards in Whitehall, central London. The crowd saved one of their biggest cheers of the night for D-Day veteran Gordon Newton, who was shown on the big screen in the front row wearing his red beret and his medal adorning his chest. +18 +18 Dashing: Adorned in the black and gold trimmed uniform of the Irish Guards, of which he is a Royal Colonel, Prince William opened the ceremony +18 In good spirits: Prince William (centre) speaks with Major-General Edward Smyth-Osbourne during the Beating Retreat military pageant at Horse Guards Parade in London +18 Members of the Massed Bands of the Household Division, the French Troupes de Marine and the French Foreign Legion (Legion etrangere) perform at the Beating Retreat military pageant at Horse Guards Parade in London +18 The Massed Bands of the Household Division perform at the Beating Retreat which marked the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings and centennial of First World War He sang along as The Band of the Welsh Guards led a rendition of the First World War ballad 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary'. Asked what he thought of the display, he said simply: 'Wonderful'. British troops were joined by comrades from France and Canada, and William paid tribute to the work of Britain's close allies on the international stage. He said: 'As Colonel of the Irish Guards I am delighted to support the Household Division Beating Retreat. +18 Servicemen and women marked the sacrifices made by those who served in the First and Second World Wars by impressing the 6,500-strong crowd +18 +18 Smart: Prince William cut a dashing figure in the black and gold trimmed uniform of the Irish Guards of which he is a Royal Colonel +18 Pomp: Members of the Vancouver Police Pipe Band perform at the Beating Retreat military pageant at Horse Guards Parade last night +18 The Massed Bands of the Household Division perform at Beating Retreat which marked the 70th anniversary of D-Day landings and 100 years since the start of WWI 'Year after year this wonderful event showcases the skill and professionalism of our military musicians whilst reinforcing the traditions and heritage for which we as a nation are justifiably proud and envied the world over. 'As we begin our centenary commemorations of the First World War, I am particularly pleased to welcome our friends from Canada and France to Horse Guards Parade. 'Our linkage with both nations remain as strong as ever and continue to be reinforced through current military operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.' +18 The annual display of pomp took on a special resonance this year, marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the centennial commemorations of the First World War +18 Proud: Prince William praised the skill and professionalism of military musicians while reinforcing the traditions and heritage of the armed forces +18 As fireworks lit up the night sky, the Massed Band of the Household Division gave a performance of O Fortuna, accompanied by the Royal Choral Society +18 Dancers from the London Swing Dance Society perform alongside members of the Massed Bands of the Household Division in London last night +18 The role horses have played in defence was honoured in a display by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery in Horse Guards Parade in central London +18 The final performance of the Household Division's Beating Retreat when the Duke of Cambridge took salute at Horse Guards Parade +18 Spectacular: Fireworks lit up the London skyline as the Massed Band of the Household Division gave a performance of O Fortuna As fireworks lit up the night sky, the Massed Band of the Household Division gave a performance of O Fortuna, accompanied by the Royal Choral Society. They were followed by the Band of the French Foreign Legion who performed a medley of military songs. The role horses have played in defence was honoured in a display by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Galloping into the arena in two diagonal lines, the horse pulled small cannons mounted on carts in a choreographed routine. As a finale, all the bands assembled to perform The War of the Worlds to a backdrop of fireworks and cannon fire. London and the U.K. From Above Photographer Jason Hawkes has been making fascinating aerial images since 1991. With a gyro-stabilized camera, he takes photos directly from the open door of a helicopter. Hawkes has covered subjects around the world, but specializes in aerial shots of the United Kingdom. Once more, he's been kind enough to share some of his recent photos with us here. St Michael's Mount, situated just off the Mount's Bay coast of Cornwall. See it mapped here. (© Jason Hawkes) 2 View of Tower Bridge and the River Thames at night, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 3 People relaxing on the beach in Lyme Regis, Dorset. (© Jason Hawkes) # 4 Longships Lighthouse stands just West of Land's End, Cornwall. See it mapped here. (© Jason Hawkes) # 5 The Brecon Beacons mountain range in South Wales. (© Jason Hawkes) # 6 Planes awaiting take off at Gatwick Airport Terminal at night. (© Jason Hawkes) # 7 The disused Cwm colliery in Beddau, Wales. (© Jason Hawkes) # 8 The bright lights of the landmark skyscrapers in the City at night, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 9 Paths through Hyde Park, one of the largest parks in London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 10 The domed greenhouses at the Eden Project in St. Blazey, Cornwall. See it mapped here. (© Jason Hawkes) # 11 View of pigs on a farm in Narborough, Norfolk. (© Jason Hawkes) # 12 An offshore wind farm standing in the North Sea off the coast of Kent. (© Jason Hawkes) # 13 An illuminated Emirates Stadium at night during a match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 14 The lifeboat shed in the coastal town of Tenby, Wales. (© Jason Hawkes) # 15 Crowds of people at a summer event in Hyde Park, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 16 Edinburgh Castle dominates the skyline from Castle Rock, Edinburgh. (© Jason Hawkes) # 17 Crossrail tunnel construction site at night, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 18 China clay pits near Trethurgy, Cornwall. (© Jason Hawkes) # 19 Farmers working beneath wind turbines, Wales. (© Jason Hawkes) # 20 The Scottish Parliament Building sits within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. (© Jason Hawkes) # 21 Low level aerial view of Nelsons Column, Trafalgar Square, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 22 People at the Duck and Waffle Restaurant at the top of the Heron Tower, London. (© Jason Hawkes) # 23 Thick sea fog hides the chalk headland at Beachy Head, East Sussex. (© Jason Hawkes) # 24 People at the top of The Shard at night, London. (© Jason Hawkes)   A Medieval fortress, a Home Counties idyll and a Cotswolds village: Britain's favourite picnic spots are revealed Bamburgh Castle in Northumbria, with its North Sea vista, is considered the ultimate spot to eat outside in the UK Seven of the top ten are overlooking a river, the sea or a reservoir, making water the best view while having lunch It may have been battered by the worst of the Bank Holiday weather, but even in the wind and rain Bamburgh Castle still has a lot going for it, because today it was named Britain's best-loved picnic spot. The Medieval fortress in Northumbria, which enjoys a dramatic view of the North Sea above a wide sandy beach, is officially the best place in the UK to eat a sandwich and watch the world go by. Once a common battleground for bloody combat between the Scottish and English, the now tranquil Bamburgh cannot be matched as a venue for a traditional picnic, experts have decided. A new poll has found that the key ingredient for the ultimate al fresco lunch is a view of water, with seven of the top ten overlooking a river, the sea or a reservoir. +10 Can't be matched: Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast has today been revealed as the best place in Britain to sit and have a picnic +10 Number two: Belfast City Hall in the heart of the capital of Northern Ireland was considered an outstanding spot for lunch and the top urban venue +10 Norfolk idyll: The harbour and beach at Blakeney in North Norfolk boasts the beast of coastal scenery as well as a wonderful village centre TOP TEN BEAUTY SPOTS FOR A PICNIC LUNCH IN BRITAIN 1. Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland 2. Belfast City Hall 3. Blakeney, Norfolk 4. Box Hill, Surrey 5. Coast Road, Barrow–in– Furness, Cumbria 6. Cow & Calf rocks, West Yorkshire 7. Elan Valley reservoir, Mid–Wales 8. Lower Slaughter, Gloucs 9. Rhosneigr Beach, north–west Wales 10. Stokes Bay Beach, Hampshire Following the stunning Bamburgh Castle in the rankings are Belfast City Hall in Northern Ireland, Blakeney in Norfolk, Box Hill in Surrey, Coast Road in Cumbria and the Calf and Cow rocks in West Yorkshire. The remaining places in the top ten go to the Elan Valley Reservoir in Mid-Wales, Lower Slaughter in Gloucestershire, Rhosneigr Beach in north-west Wales and finally Stoke Bay Beach in Hampshire. Experts said today that these places all offer one wonderful thing - people who decide to dine in the fresh air at any of these places will be genuinely happier when they leave. After several months of nominations, shortlisting and then a vote, VisitEngland, Visit Wales and bakers Kingsmill have announced the best of British lunch spots. 10,000 people put forward their own suggestions and this was whittled down to 25 before the top ten was announced today. They were not just judged on their beauty, they also had to have easy accessibility for all and are also free to visit. +10 English countryside: A group of people enjoying the view and a bite to eat on Box Hill in Surrey, which overlooks Dorking from the summit of the North Downs +10 Beautiful: After a walk the Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor near Bradford, West Yorkshire, was also considered one of the top places for an al fresco lunch +10 Best of British: This is the stunning, sweeping Coast Road, near Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, which ranks highly in the top ten +10 Pure drama: The Caban Coch Dam, Elan Valley, close to the area's reservoir in Powys received many votes as a great place to eat +10 Cotswolds: Tourists stop at the famous stone bridge over the River Eye, Lower Slaughter in Gloucestershire, one of England's most beautiful bridges Each of the top ten will receive a plaque and a bench for people to sit and eat their lunch on. James Berresford, the chief executive of VisitEngland, said he was pleased that the majority of the spots were in the country he represents. 'What better way to appreciate this green and pleasant land than to sit in a beautiful spot, unpack a delicious picnic and share lunch with friends and family?' he said. +10 Summer dream: Dog walkers and a family enjoy the beautiful sands at Rhosneigr Beach in North Wales, one of two places in Wales to make top the top ten +10 Final entry: Propping up the top picnic spots is Stokes Bay in Hampshire, which is renowned for its long sands and dramatic coastline Dr Manon Williams, the chief executive for Visit Wales, said: "I'm delighted that two locations in Wales have made it to the top 10 lunch spots in the UK. 'The contrast in the two locations voted for by the public shows the variety of what Wales has to offer. Rhosneigr is on the glorious Wales coast and part of the 870–mile Wales Coast Path, and the beautiful, tranquil Elan Valley is a great place to spot a red kite while eating lunch.'

The joker in the pack! Prince Harry keeps Kate laughing as Royal Family gather to salute the Queen at Trooping the Colour parade Queen inspected 1,000 soldiers of the Household Division at Horse Guards Parade in central London She was joined by all adult senior royals as she celebrated her official birthday with spectacular parade Queen arrived in Ascot Landau carriage after short drive down The Mall, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh The Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Cambridge were all on horseback for the ceremony The Duchess of Cambridge arrived in a coach alongside the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry Prince Harry was playing the joker in the pack today as he kept the Royal Family entertained while the Queen celebrated her official birthday with a spectacular Trooping the Colour parade. Harry appeared to be the centre of attention as he was seen laughing and joking with his grandmother and grandfather, the Queen and Prince Philip, as well as his brother Prince William and sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge. Members of the Royal Family had gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for an RAF flypast following the Trooping the Colour ceremony. During the parade the Queen inspected 1,000 soldiers of the Household Division at Horse Guards Parade in central London. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO +43 The entertainers: Prince Harry and Prince Philip keep the rest of the family entertained as they stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the RAF flypast +43 Family: Prince Harry and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, share a joke on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Trooping the Colour parade today +43 Raising a smile: Prince Harry also shared a joke with the Duchess of Cambridge as they stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace where the RAF held their traditional flypast +43 Sharing a joke: The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of Cambridge (left to right), share a joke on the balcony at Buckingham Palace following the Trooping the Colour parade +43 Royal wave: The Queen is joined by members of her family as she steps out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Trooping the Colour parade to celebrate her official birthday +43 The Royal Family:The Queen is joined by members of the Royal Family as they watch a fly-past by the RAF, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace following Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards Parade +43 Crowds: Thousands gather outside Buckingham Palace as they watch the flypast during the Trooping the Colour ceremony +43 Aerial: A Lancaster Bomber flanked by two Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fly over Buckingham Palace as part of the flypast The Duchess of Cambridge, in an outfit similar in colour to that of the Queen, arrived in a coach alongside the Duchess of Cornwall, who was in peach. There was no sign of Prince George of Cambridge. The Colour being paraded on Horse Guards this year was the flag of Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards. +43 +43 +43 +43 Joker in the pack: Prince Harry shares a joke with Kate while his brother Prince William watches on during the flypast at Buckingham Palace +43 Impressive: An E-3D, or AWACS, is flanked by two HS 125s as they fly over Buckingham Palace during the flypast today +43 Aerobatics: The Red Arrows fly over central London as part of the flypast during the Trooping the Colour +43 Overhead: Among the 28 aircraft in the RAF flypast was 13 different types including Spitfires and a Lancaster bomber +43 Red Arrows: There was a display by the Red Arrows areobatic team during the fly-past, which also included Typhoon fighter jets and the RAF's largest transport aircraft, Voyager +43 Take a picture: The crowds take pictures of the flypast as members of the Royal Family watch the impressive display from the balcony of Buckingham Palace +43 Impressive: The Red Arrows fly over Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen's official birthday celebrations +43 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip step onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace during the Birthday Parade +43 All smiles: Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William look out on to the crowds as they gather outside Buckingham Palace +43 Prince William and Kate share a moment as Prince Harry takes in the atmosphere during the Queen's official birthday celebrations It is the first time since 2005 that the Grenadiers have not been on operations in Afghanistan, about to deploy to the country or recently returned from Helmand Province. Four of the five Foot Guards regiments of the Household Division - the Welsh Guards, Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards and the Coldstream Guards - marched in the parade wearing their traditional bearskin hats and red tunics. The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21, when she turned 88. +43 Parade: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh rode in a vintage carriage as they attended the Trooping the Colour parade today to celebrate her official birthday +43 +43 Ceremony: The Queen (left) arrived in an Ascot Landau carriage after the short drive down The Mall from Buckingham Palace, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. Pictured, right, is the Prince of Wales (left), the Princess Royal (right) and the Duke of Cambridge (centre), who were all on horseback for the ceremony +43 Royal wave: The Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry travelled together as the parade made its way along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade in central London +43 Arrival: Camilla, Duchess Of Cornwall, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry arrive for Trooping the Colour at The Royal Horseguards +43 Inspecting the troops: Wearing a powder blue satin silk coat, dress and hat with navy trim, all by Angela Kelly, with a Brigade of Guards brooch, the Queen then rode alone in the carriage - the first time she has ridden in it for this ceremony - to inspect her troops PARADE PLANNER MADE AN MBE The soldier who plans the Queen's birthday parade every year has been made an MBE on the day of this year's celebration. Warrant Officer Class 1 Sergeant Major David Lochrie, the ceremonial plan writer, was also involved in events including the Diamond Jubilee, the funeral of Baroness Thatcher and the ceremonial parts of the London Olympics in 2012. The father of two from Chester-le-Street, in County Durham, writes, drafts and delivers the orders for every major UK ceremonial event, including spending four months every year planning the Queen's Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour. Lieutenant Colonel Simon Soskin, Brigade Major for the Household Division, described him as 'indispensable'. The Household Division Bands and Corps of Drums also took part in the event, along with the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery. Major General Edward Smyth-Osbourne, commander of the Household Division, said: 'This year the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is particularly poignant as we honour those who served, remember those who died and strive to ensure that the lessons learnt live with us forever. 'It is also the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Campaign and the subsequent liberation of Nijmegen, the action for which this year's Escort is named. 'Next year is the 200th anniversary of Waterloo, the battle at which the Grenadiers earned their name. 'The Household Division Regiments have played their part in the momentous events of the past and, I am confident, stand ready for whatever we face in the future.' Prince Harry's appearance at the Trooping ceremony comes months after he gave up his role as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner for a military desk job with responsibilities that include organising major ceremonial events involving the Army. But he has not been involved in planning the Trooping the Colour event. A huge crowd later descended on Buckingham Palace, where senior royals appeared on the balcony to cheers. But there was again no sign of Prince George with his parents. +43 +43 Parade: The Duchess of Cambridge (left), in an outfit similar in colour to that of the Queen, arrived in a coach alongside the Duchess of Cornwall, who was in peach. Princess Eugenie (right) rode with the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex +43 Carriage: There was no sign of Prince George of Cambridge as the Duchess of Cambridge rode alongside the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry for the ceremony +43 +43 Brothers: Prince Harry rode alongside Kate and Camilla for the ceremony while his brother Prince William, Colonel of the Irish Guards, rode on horseback +43 Troops: The Queen rides down The Mall as she returns to Buckingham Palace during the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony +43 Traditional uniform: It is the first time since 2005 that the Grenadiers have not been on operations in Afghanistan, about to deploy to the country or recently returned from Helmand Province +43 +43 Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Princess Alexandra travel by carriage (left) as Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha watch the parade (right) +43 Cavalry: Members of the Household Cavalry passes prior to the Trooping the Colour - the Queen's Birthday Parade, at The Royal Horseguards The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery provided a 41-gun salute in Green Park to mark the Queen's official birthday before the royals appeared for the traditional RAF flypast. Among the 28 aircraft which buzzed over the royal residence were 13 different types, from Spitfires and a Lancaster Bomber of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and a DC3 Dacota with D-Day stripes, days after the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. They were followed by modern Typhoon fighter jets, the Red Arrows aerobatic team and the RAF's largest transport aircraft, Voyager.  Prince William took part in his first Trooping the Colour in 2011 after he was appointed Colonel of the Irish Guards. +43 On the march: Members of the Foot Guards march past the Queen, military dignitary and members of the public during the Trooping the Colour parade +43 Ceremony: The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery provided a 41-gun salute in Green Park to mark the Queen's official birthday before the royals appeared for the traditional RAF flypast +43 March: Members of the Queen's Guard march prior to the Trooping the Colour. More than 1,000 soldiers took part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry +43 Traditional: The Colour being paraded on Horse Guards this year was the flag of Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards +43 Queen's Guard: Four of the five Foot Guards regiments of the Household Division - the Welsh Guards, Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards and the Coldstream Guards - marched in the parade wearing their traditional bearskin hats and red tunics +43 Getting ready: Preparations are made to the parade ground ahead of the Trooping the Colour parade in London Prince Charles takes part in the parade as Colonel of the Welsh Guards, while Princess Anne is Colonel of the Blues and Royals. Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle. Colours, or flags, were carried, or 'trooped', down the rank so that it could be seen and recognised by the soldiers. In the 18th century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to 'troop the colours', and in 1748 it was announced that the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday. 'THE SISTER I NEVER HAD': HOW HARRY AND KATE'S FRIENDSHIP HAS BLOSSOMED OVER THE YEARS Prince Harry has gained something of a reputation for livening up formal Royal events. He has also been pictured on numerous occasions sharing a joke with the Duchess of Cambridge, who he has described as the sister he never had, at events over the years. While he spent part of this year's Birthday Parade entertaining the rest of the family, Harry was also seen making a joke with Camilla and Kate at last year's event. Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge share a joke on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during last year's Trooping the Colour Kate and Harry also smiled and giggled their way through the royal balcony appearance during the Queen's Jubilee celebrations in 2012. While William stood formally, hands clasped, his cheeky brother whispered a series of humorous asides to his sister-in-law. Kate and Harry also chatted the day before as they rode in an open-topped carriage together and at the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral where they whispered as they waited for the Queen. They quite clearly share the same sense of humour, as they were seen laughing together as Prince William was invested into the Order of the Garter in 2008. Kate and Harry also smiled and giggled their way through the royal balcony appearance during the Queen's Jubilee celebrations in 2012 The future king watched on as his younger brother and Kate collapsed in giggles as he strode past in his ceremonial gown. In 2012 the Daily Mail revealed how Harry had moved near to William and Kate at Kensington Palace, living in a one-bedroomed flat close to their home, Nottingham Cottage. The three young Royals appear to be utterly at ease in each other's company.