Friday, December 30, 2011
When the motorway becomes a 30-hour maze
We all know what it’s like to get lost on the motorway – the way one wrong turn can lead us inexorably into a darkening vortex of frustration and disorientation.
So spare a thought for one 82-year-old man who was recently found by police after 30 hours lost on the motorway.The retired carpenter said that he had at first been “a little lost”, but that little wormhole of lostness had eventually led him to an abysmal blackhole of deepening displacement.
The police commented, “He had been driving around the south of the country, predominately on the M25 motorway but had also gone onto some A roads in the area.
“He had stopped to catch up on some much needed sleep – we think in a motorway service area, before setting off again.
“He is after all 82-years-old. Presumably he put fuel in the car during the service stops over the two days.”
The lost man had initially set off on a short and familiar trip to see family.
After his family reported him missing, his car was spotted by police using an automatic number plate recognition camera, the same as the kind used to identify those driving without car insurance.
We think he might have received a sat-nav from relieved family members this Christmas.
Image © Gene Hunt via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: 30 hours, car insurance, lost, motorway
Monday, November 21, 2011
Hippocampus GPS
Do you always get lost? Maybe you just need to update your brain with new maps.
Apparently, according to neuroscientists at the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College London our mind works like a sat-nav when we’re making our way somewhere by foot. One section analyses how far there is to go before we reach our final destination, and another part decided upon which route to take when we have several paths to choose from.
One of the scientists explained, "The posterior hippocampus cares about how long a route is going to be. It's like GPS. It knows how far you've got to go in the real world and it gets more excited the closer you are to your goal."
So, if you’re thinking about getting a sat-nav, maybe you don’t even need one!
On the other-hand, navigating your way through some of the UK’s more complicated roads, like the one-way systems which encircle whole towns or cities, might be a little easier with GPS technology on your side, and not just the posterior hippocampus.
Photo © dkwonsh via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: brain, destination, GPS, hippocampus, lost, map, navigating, road, route, sat-nav