Anyone who has visited a science museum, gone on a nature walk, or watched a science program on public television knows that one need not be in a classroom or lecture hall to learn about science. Indeed, opportunities to be immersed in science present themselves to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, in a myriad of locations.

Think you haven’t got the aptitude to learn foreign language? New research led by Northwestern University neuroscientists suggests that the problem, quite literally, could be in your head.

A century-old dream of neuroscientists to visualize a memory has been fulfilled, as University of California, Irvine researchers, using newly developing microscopic techniques, have captured first-time images of the changes in brain cell connections following a common form of learning.

Children whose mother tongue is Russian and who acquired literacy in their home language before entering first grade received higher grades on reading skills tests than their peers who speak only Hebrew or those who speak Russian but have not learned how to read it.