Human beings are 'physics masters' when it comes to understanding and predicting how objects in the world will behave. A Johns Hopkins University cognitive scientist has found the source of that intuition, the brain's "physics engine." This engine, which comes alive when people watch physical events unfold, is not in the brain's vision center, but in a set of regions devoted to planning actions, suggesting the brain performs constant, real-time physics calculations so people are ready to catch, dodge, hoist or take any necessary action, on the fly. The findings could offer insight into movement disorders such as apraxia, as it's very possible that people with damage to the motor areas of the brain also have what Fischer calls "a hidden impairment"—trouble making physical judgments. A better understanding of how the brain runs physics calculations might also enrich robot design. A robot built with a physics model, constantly running in its programming almost like a video game, could navigate the world more fluidly. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-08-brain-physics-world.html Study:http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/05/1610344113
