Just because you’re online doesn’t mean that you can’t experience the world first-hand — or as close to first-hand as possible. Here are websites that feature virtual learning experiences, exposing online visitors to everything from history to geography, astronomy to anatomy, literature to government.

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If you’re thinking of earning a degree from an online business school, here are 25 strong, reputable options that should be able to teach you what you need to know to get that cushy corner office job…or at least get you off of the emu farm.  We know our limitations as far as investigating the individual schools’ standards, so these rankings are a composite of rankings culled from dozens of studies conducted by people who have more time and more resources than we do.
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Online students beware: a new study conducted by researchers at Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada, indicates that heavy thought might contribute to obesity. The limited study — apparently, there are only 14 obese people in Quebec — suggests that intellectual activity causes increased fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels in your body. Since glucose is the only fuel used by brain cells, the brain may in turn tell the body to replenish the burned glucose by eating more. (more…)

They might need to come out with a new version of that “This is your brain on drugs” ad if a group of scientists get their way. In a paper titled “Towards Responsible Use of Cognitive-Enhancing Drugs by the Healthy” published in Nature, seven scientists from the US and UK advocate the use of brain-enhancing prescription drugs like Adderall and Ritalin as study and work aids in a manner similar to caffeine. Their Peter Tosh-like solution to “legalize it” aims to make these drugs legal, stopping an illicit trade that, according to the article, is sweeping through college campuses around the world. (more…)

It looks like the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Total Recall wasn’t too far off base. Scientists at Arizona State University have developed a technique that uses ultrasound — you know, the thing you use to see babies before the stork comes — to stimulate and manipulate circuits in the brain. In doing so, they’ve provided us with not only a potentially powerful, noninvasive treatment for brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, but also, as lead investigator William “Jamie” Tyler points out, a sci fi lover’s wet dream:

One might be able to envision potential applications ranging from medical interventions to use in video gaming or the creation of artificial memories along the lines of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in Total Recall. Imagine taking a vacation without actually going anywhere?

Perhaps envisioning the sea of nerds lining up outside his lab to implant wedgie-free memories of high school, Tyler hedged his comment:

Obviously, we need to conduct further research and development, but one of the most exhilarating prospects is that low intensity, low frequency ultrasound permit deep-brain stimulation procedures without requiring exogenous proteins or surgically implanted medical devices.

Pray that they perfect this technology before you finish school so that you can implant memories of the periodic table, the Pythagorean theorem and the dates of every battle in the Civil War.