Doge in space :))
Gif via gusto1
Thursday, 31 October 2013
What are ferrofluids and how do they work?
What are ferrofluids and how do they work?
Ferrofluid is a type of strongly magnetic liquid that, when manipulated with magnets, does some crazy things — like build spikes, bubble up, and cluster into geometric patterns — all thanks to the attraction and the repulsion of the liquid’s individual particles.
Watch this video to understand more about this
http://www.ted.com/talks/fabian_oefner_psychedelic_science.html
Gif via Ted
Much like the internet, vampires think cats are awesome.
Much like the internet, vampires think cats are awesome.
Animation by The Moving Company Animation Studio
The Anatomy of Speed - Fantastic Infographic
The Anatomy of Speed - Fantastic Infographic
(cheetah infographic by Bryan Christie Design for National Geographic)
An amazing video about the grand champion of terrestrial velocity, the prima ballerina of deadly grace … the cheetah.
http://vimeo.com/53914149#at=0
More about Bryan Christie Design:
http://www.bryanchristiedesign.com/
'Hardtack Umbrella' underwater nuclear test
'Hardtack Umbrella' underwater nuclear test
Operation HARDTACK I consisted of 35 nuclear tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground between April 28 and August 18, 1958. These tests included balloon, surface, barge, underwater, and rocket-borne high-altitude tests.
Umbrella was a DOD sponsored weapons effects test for a medium depth underwater explosion. A Mk-7 bomb was used for the test (30 inches in diameter, 54 inches long, device weight 825 lb.) in a heavy pressure vessel (total weight 7000 lb.). Very similar to the Wahoo device. The device was detonated on the lagoon bottom NNE of Mut (Henry) Island. An underwater crater 3000 feet across and 20 feet deep was produced.
The purpose of these tests was to improve the understanding of the effects of underwater explosions on Navy ships and material.
Know more:
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Hardtack1.html
Watch the video:
Wahoo and Umbrella - Filmmaker recounts nuclear test
Story & picture via spaceplasma
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Chaetoceros debilis (marine diatom), a colonial plankton organism
Chaetoceros debilis (marine diatom), a colonial plankton organism
(250x)
Credit: Wim van Egmond
Micropolitan Museum
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1st place winner - Nikon’s Small World competition /2013 Photomicrography Competition
Should I come back later on? :)))
Should I come back later on? :)))
I remember all stupid things I did during med. school =)
DARPA’s Real-Time Brain Monitoring Implant Should Be Ready by 2018
DARPA’s Real-Time Brain Monitoring Implant Should Be Ready by 2018
DARPA is seeking to understand more about how the brain works in hopes of developing effective therapies for troops and veterans. It has announced a new $70 million project called the Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (Subnets).
Subnets is inspired by Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS, a surgical treatment that involves implanting a brain pacemaker in the patient’s skull to interfere with brain activity and help with symptoms of diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson’s. DARPA’s device will be similar, but rather than targeting one specific symptom, it will be able to monitor and analyze data in real time and issue a specific intervention according to brain activity.
"If Subnets is successful, it will advance neuropsychiatry beyond the realm of dialogue-driven observations and resultant trial and error and into the realm of therapy driven by quantifiable characteristics of neural state," DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez said…
DARPA will collate data from volunteers seeking treatment for unrelated neurological disorders as well as clinical research participants to construct models of how the brain behaves in normal and impaired conditions, with a focus on post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, borderline personality disorder, general anxiety disorder, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse/addiction, and fibromyalgia/chronic pain. It hopes to have its device ready in five years.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57609629-1/darpa-developing-implant-to-monitor-brain-in-real-time/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Life sized dinosaur skeletons made from carved pumpkins
Life sized dinosaur skeletons made from carved pumpkins
Source:
http://www.hudsonvalley.org/events/blaze
Nanoparticle Fights Cancer in Two Ways
Nanoparticle Fights Cancer in Two Ways
Univ. of New South Wales chemical engineers have synthesized a new iron oxide nanoparticle that delivers cancer drugs to cells while simultaneously monitoring the drug release in real time.
The result, published online in the journal ACS Nano, represents an important development for the emerging field of theranostics – a term that refers to nanoparticles that can treat and diagnose disease.
Read more:
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/10/nanoparticle-fights-cancer-two-ways
Pink Underwing Moth Caterpillar (Going as a Voodoo Warrior)
Pink Underwing Moth Caterpillar (Going as a Voodoo Warrior)
Alien creature? =)
That really is a mask: The whole thing is part of the creature’s dorsum, and its actual head is shielded underneath. When threatened, the caterpillar raises its dorsum like a dog raises its hackles. The big, black, vacant “eyes,” plus the chattering skull markings that surround them, create a nightmarish face that warns any would-be predators that they might want to back the hell away so quickly that their legs spin comically in place.
Read more:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19842_6-animals-that-look-like-theyre-dressed-up-halloween.html/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage
Ever wondered why carrots are sweeter in the winter?
Ever wondered why carrots are sweeter in the winter?
Read more:
http://scienceandfooducla.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/5-things-about-fruits-veggies/
Ash charges up volcanic lightning
Ash charges up volcanic lightning
Lightning in volcanic plumes is not completely understood, but there are several ideas about how it might work. Lightning is a giant spark that fires when large quantities of electric charge build up. Thunderclouds are made of water, ice and hail, and the electrification arises from collisions between light particles (ice) moving upwards in the cloud, and heavier water drops falling.
One way lightning in volcanic plumes could be generated is from ash particles colliding with each other. This is similar to the electric charge that can be generated by rubbing a balloon on a jumper.
Another way lightning can occur in volcanic plumes is from some volcanoes, like Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, that have glaciers on top of them. When the volcano erupts, the glacier melts, which both causes huge floods and makes a big cloud of ice and water that becomes mixed with the volcanic plume. This mixture of cloud and plume can generate volcanic lightning by ice, water, and ash collisions in what’s called a ‘dirty thunderstorm’.
Read more:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/130916.html
Story and Image via Karen Aplin, Pete Wilton
Used dental floss -SEM
Used dental floss -SEM
Magnification: x525.
Photo: Power And Syred/Science Photo Library
Pigeonhole principle
Pigeonhole principle
If you have 11 pigeons flying into 10 pigeon-holes, then what can you say about the resulting arrangement of pigeons? Well you can be sure that there will be at least one pigeon-hole with more than one pigeon in it. It’s impossible for all pigeon-holes to end up with less than 2 pigeons in them. This principle in mathematics is called the pigeon-hole principle, and is a really useful tool for proving things.
Know more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeonhole_principle
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
The compound eyes of a cynipid wasp (unidentified species).
The compound eyes of a cynipid wasp (unidentified species). Some insects have simple eyes in addition to compound eyes, three of which can be seen on the top of this wasp’s head.
Photo by Tomas Rak.
Second Solar System Detected
Second Solar System Detected
A team of astrophysicists at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und- Raumfahrt; DLR), together with German and European colleagues, has discovered the most extensive planetary system to date. Seven planets circle the star KOI-351 – more than in other known planetary systems.
They are arranged in a similar fashion to the eight planets in the Solar System, with small rocky planets close to the parent star and gas giant planets at greater distances. Although the planetary system around KOI-351 is packed together more tightly, it provides an interesting comparison to our cosmic home
Know more:
http://spacefellowship.com/news/art35734/second-solar-system-detected.html
Radiation burn scars, Hiroshima, 1945
Radiation burn scars, Hiroshima, 1945
Close-up of keloids (darker areas) formed on the shoulder of a victim of the Hiroshima nuclear explosion. Keloids are fibrous overgrowths of scar tissue that form following an injury, in this case radiation burns to the skin.
Image source:http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/152043/view
Watch astronaut Chris Hadfield wring out wet towel in space =)
Watch astronaut Chris Hadfield wring out wet towel in space =)
Watch the video:
Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science!
Monday, 28 October 2013
PCP (Angel Dust, Embalming Fluid, Killer Weed, Rocket Fuel, Supergrass, Wack, Ozone)
PCP (Angel Dust, Embalming Fluid, Killer Weed, Rocket Fuel, Supergrass, Wack, Ozone)
PCP is a drug, and can make you feel less inhibited about things like, oh, popping out your own eyeball.
What is PCP?
PCP, or phencyclidine, is a “dissociative” anesthetic that was developed in the 1950s as a surgical anesthetic. Its sedative and anesthetic effects are trance-like, and patients experience a feeling of being “out of body” and detached from their environment. Use of PCP in humans was discontinued in 1965, because it was found that patients often became agitated, delusional, and irrational while recovering from its anesthetic effects.
What does it look like?
PCP is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water or alcohol. It has a distinctive bitter chemical taste.
How is it used?
PCP turns up on the illicit drug market in a variety of tablets, capsules, and colored powders. PCP can be snorted, smoked, injected, or swallowed and is most commonly sold as a powder or liquid and applied to a leafy material such as mint, parsley, oregano, tobacco, or marijuana.
Many people who use PCP may do it unknowingly because PCP is often used as an additive and can be found in marijuana, LSD, or methamphetamine
What are its short-term effects?
At low to moderate doses, PCP can cause distinct changes in body awareness, similar to those associated with alcohol intoxication. Other effects can include shallow breathing, flushing, profuse sweating, generalized numbness of the extremities and poor muscular coordination. Use of PCP among adolescents may interfere with hormones related to normal growth and development as well as with the learning process.
At high doses, PCP can cause hallucinations as well as seizures, coma, and death (though death more often results from accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). Other effects that can occur at high doses are nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, flicking up and down of the eyes, drooling, loss of balance, and dizziness. High doses can also cause effects similar to symptoms of schizophrenia, such as delusions, paranoia, disordered thinking, a sensation of distance from one’s environment, and catatonia. Speech is often sparse and garbled.
PCP has sedative effects, and interactions with other central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, can lead to coma or accidental overdose.
Many PCP users are brought to emergency rooms because of PCP’s unpleasant psychological effects or because of overdoses. In a hospital or detention setting, they often become violent or suicidal, and are very dangerous to themselves and to others. They should be kept in a calm setting and should not be left alone.
What are its long-term effects?
PCP is addicting; that is, its repeated use often leads to psychological dependence, craving, and compulsive PCP-seeking behavior.
People who use PCP for long periods report memory loss, difficulties with speech and thinking, depression, and weight loss. These symptoms can persist up to a year after cessation of PCP use. Mood disorders also have been reported.
Source:
http://www.drugfree.org/drug-guide/pcp
Image: http://imgur.com/w40wQ7N
Tour our cosmic neighborhood without such pesky requirements as spaceship, high-tech life support systems, warp...
Tour our cosmic neighborhood without such pesky requirements as spaceship, high-tech life support systems, warp drive, or putting on pants: 100,000 Stars from Google Chrome Workshop
http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/
What is colour blindness?
What is colour blindness?
Here are six test tubes filled with coloured dyes. How many different colours do you see? Most people say six, but some people would say only two or three. There are even some (very rare) people who see no colour at all.
How can it be that one person says two things have the same colour, yet somebody else says they are completely different?
Colour isn’t really there
Scientists know that Isaac Newton did more than just sit around watching apples fall into his garden. He linked gravity on Earth to the movements of planets, and his experiments with glass prisms showed that white light is a mixture of different wavelengths (he called them refrangible rays).
One of his many brilliant insights was that unlike size or weight, colour is not a property of the objects that fill our world. Colour depends precisely on which wavelengths of light are bounced from objects before they reach the eye.
Colour is a sensation, a property of the mind. No matter how bright and vivid and real they seem, colours are inside your head, not outside.
Why do people see colours?
Light is picked up in the eye by three types of cells called cone cells. They are called cones because in the microscope they look like tiny ice-cream cones.
They are nicknamed red, green, and blue because they pick up different wavelengths and there are millions of each type cone cells. Just as a painter can mix from three tubs of paint to produce a wide and vivid palette, your brain uses these three cone types to create thousands of colour sensations.
What causes colour blindness?
The cone cells are just like other cells in the body - they are controlled by genes. The genes controlling cones are prone to faulty replication during early development, and affected cones either fail to develop, or start to pick up abnormal wavelengths. The result is like taking away or diluting one of our painter’s tubs: the colour sensations are reduced or changed.
We can filter an image to show how a red-green colour blind person might see it; colour does not disappear but the range of colours is reduced.
How is colour blindness inherited?
Every cell in every woman’s body contains two gene packages called X chromosomes, but men have only one. The genes controlling red and green cones are located on X chromosomes.
If a woman has a faulty or missing gene on one X chromosome, the gene on the second X chromosome works as a backup and the cones develop normally.
But if the faulty X chromosome is transmitted from mother to son, there’s no backup, and the son will have reduced or altered colour sensations, called red-green colour blindness. Other forms of colour blindness are much more rare and are usually more severe.
Can colour blindness be cured?
Most scientific studies suggest that the wiring of the eye and brain is identical in people with normal and abnormal colour vision. The only difference is at the first stage of vision, where the cones can be faulty.
The obvious solution is to fix the faulty cones, and this is what a team led by scientists Maureen and Jay Neitz at the University of Washington in Seattle have attempted.
Maureen and Jay Neitz study a species of monkey in which all the males are red-green colour blind. In gene therapy trials, their team injected colour-blind male monkeys with the gene controlling the missing cone type.
We don’t know what monkeys see, but we can see what they do. Two monkeys tested so far learnt how to tell red from green patterns after the injections.
These are promising results but the eye is a very delicate organ and the injections are still dangerous to sight. Colour blindness may be curable but there is still some way to go.
Read more: http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-colour-blindness-7651
Know more about Maureen and Jay Neitz study:
http://www.neitzvision.com/content/home.html
Wrinkly fingers
Wrinkly fingers
Wrinkly fingers have long been an indicator that it's time get out of the bath. But why do our fingers and toes wrinkle during a bath?
Scientists think that they have the answer to why the skin on human fingers and toes shrivels up like an old prune when we soak in the bath. Laboratory tests confirmed a theory that wrinkly fingers improve our grip on wet or submerged objects, working to channel away the water like the rain treads in car tires.
People often assume that wrinkling is the result of water passing into the outer layer of the skin and making it swell up. But researchers have known since the 1930s that the effect does not occur when there is nerve damage in the fingers. This points to the change being an involuntary reaction by the body's autonomic nervous system — the system that also controls breathing, heart rate and perspiration. In fact, the distinctive wrinkling is caused by blood vessels constricting below the skin.
In 2011, Mark Changizi, an evolutionary neurobiologist at 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho, and his colleagues, suggested that wrinkling, being an active process, must have an evolutionary function. The team also showed that the pattern of wrinkling appeared to be optimized for providing a drainage network that improved grip. But until now, there was no proof that wrinkly fingers did in fact offer an advantage.
In the latest study, participants picked up wet or dry objects including marbles of different sizes with normal hands or with fingers wrinkled after soaking in warm water for 30 minutes. The subjects were faster at picking up wet marbles with wrinkled fingers than with dry ones, but wrinkles made no difference for moving dry objects.
Read more:
http://www.nature.com/news/science-gets-a-grip-on-wrinkly-fingers-1.12175
Photo credit Lucien Dubois
Sunday, 27 October 2013
If you drop two stones in a pond one after the other, then two sets of concentric circles will emanate from where...
If you drop two stones in a pond one after the other, then two sets of concentric circles will emanate from where they were dropped. The curve formed by their points of intersection happens to be a hyperbola, this is the same type of curve which forms the shape of light cast on a wall by a lamp. Question is... What would the curve look like if you dropped the stones at the same time?
More about this:
http://mathforum.org/sanders/geometry/GP20Hyperbola.html
To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands,...
To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.
William Blake
Gif via Dimansao7
Mutator S is one of the first proteins on the scene when mismatched nucleotides make an appearance.
Mutator S is one of the first proteins on the scene when mismatched nucleotides make an appearance. And thanks to a new technique that involves hybrid nanomaterials and small angle X-ray scattering technology, researchers have for the first time been able to ‘observe’ the work being done by MutS, helping to validate the “beads-on-a-string” model of DNA repair.
Read more about this:
http://www.labmanager.com/?articles.view/articleNo/38031/title/Researchers-Get-a-Detailed-Look-at-a-DNA-Repair-Protein-in-Action/
Image via The Scientist Magazine
The truth about T. rex
The truth about T. rex
Stretching more than 12 metres from snout to tail and sporting dozens of serrated teeth the size of rail spikes, the 66-million-year-old T. rex remains the ultimate example of a prehistoric predator — so much so that a media frenzy erupted this year over a paper debating whether T. rex predominantly hunted or scavenged its meals. This infuriated many palaeontologists, who say the matter was resolved long ago by ample evidence showing that T. rex could take down prey and dismantle carrion. What particularly vexed researchers was that this non-issue overshadowed other, more important questions about T. rex.
The dinosaur's evolutionary origins, for example, are still a mystery. Researchers are eagerly trying to determine how these kings of the Cretaceous period (which spanned from 145 million to 66 million years ago) arose from a line of tiny dinosaurs during the Jurassic period (201 million to 145 million years ago). There is also considerable debate about what T. rex was like as a juvenile, and whether palaeontologists have spent decades mistaking its young for a separate species. Even the basic appearance of T. rex is in dispute: many researchers argue that the giant was covered in fluff or fuzz rather than scales. And then there is the vexing question of why T. rex had such a massive head and legs but relatively puny arms.
In this article, Nature examines how palaeontologists are investigating these and other hot topics for the most charismatic of carnivores.
Read more: http://www.nature.com/news/palaeontology-the-truth-about-t-rex-1.13988
Saturday, 26 October 2013
Solar mass ejection 2013/10/08
Solar mass ejection 2013/10/08
Taken with Coronado SolarMaxII 90 and ASI120MM from Málaga, España - Jose Cabello
Blow Out A Candle, Illuminate Your Mind
Blow Out A Candle, Illuminate Your Mind
Ever noticed the incredible beauty of a blown out candle? Well for sure I haven't. Apparently the smoke that wafts from the just-extinguished wick of a candle is not mere ash and soot. It is a nearly-invisible cloud of vaporized droplets of wax.
Indeed, the wax droplets are enough like water that they reflect and refract light to create a very special sight; this effect is call it waxbow =).
Read more about this:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/but-not-simpler/2013/09/09/waxbows-the-incredible-beauty-of-a-blown-out-candle/
Photo credit: Grover Schrayer
More about his work:
http://www.flickr.com/people/14833125@N02/
Half female, half male.
Half female, half male.
Bilateral gynandromorphism is a rare genetic disorder occurring in insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and birds, where a strange combination of genetic material splits a creature perfectly in half, with one side male and one side female.
Read more about this:
http://io9.com/5810962/bilateral-gynandromorphism-a-fancy-way-of-saying-youre-literally-half-male-and-half-female
I'm disgusted again about all this.
I'm disgusted again about all this.
Also the recent article in NY Times is outrageous.
Incarcerating anyone over what he or she "might" do is unconstitutional, and disgusting on so many levels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/us/case-explores-rights-of-fetus-versus-mother.html?hp&_r=0
So You Know, This Is How to Incubate Baby Cephalopods in a Soda Bottle
So You Know, This Is How to Incubate Baby Cephalopods in a Soda Bottle
Say you need to incubate some baby cuttlefish. Say you'd prefer to do so without buying commercial incubators that can cost hundreds of dollars a pop. Say you'd prefer a more DIY solution.
Well, here is that solution! All you'll need are soda bottles, netting material, plastic tubing, and silicone glue. Oh, and some cuttlefish eggs.
First, drink the soda. (Or, you know, empty the bottle of it.) Second, cut the bottle in half, and then affix a screen between the two pieces and also at the open end. (The idea is to create a water-permeable barrier between the inside and outside of the bottle.) Place your cuttlefish eggs into the screen-contained section of the bottle. Plunge the bottle underwater, eggs-side down. Then attach a tube that will inject air into the top half of the bottle, turning it into a "bubbler." The tube will draw water up through the whole device, aerating the eggs =)
Story via The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/so-you-know-this-is-how-to-incubate-baby-cephalopods-in-a-soda-bottle/280870/
Image credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Why Children Talk to Themselves
Why Children Talk to Themselves
Although children are often rebuked for talking to themselves out loud, doing so helps them control their behavior and master new skills.
As any parent, teacher, sitter or casual observer will notice, young children talk to themselves, sometimes as much or even more than they talk to other people. Depending on the situation, this private speech (as modern psychologists call the behavior) can account for 20 - 60% of the remarks a child younger than 10 years makes. Many parents and educators misinterpret this chatter as a sign of disobedience, inattentiveness or even mental instability. In fact, private speech is an essential part of cognitive development for all children. Recognition of this fact should strongly influence how both normal children and children who have trouble learning are taught.
According to studies of Laura E. Berk, professor of psychology and researcher, based on the papers of Lev S.Vygotsky- a prolific russian psychologist there's a strong link between social experience, speech and learning. According to the Russian, the aspects of reality a child is ready to master lie within what he called the zone of proximal (or potential) development. It refers to a range of tasks that a child cannot yet accomplish without the guidance from an adult or more skilled peer. The child incorporates the language of those dialogues into his or her private speech and then use it to guide independently.
By communicating with mature members of society, children learn to master activities and think in ways that have meaning in their culture.
Consequently, children omit words and phrases that refer to things they already know about a given situation.They state only those aspects that still seem puzzling. Once their cognitive operations become well practiced, children start "to think" words rather than saying them.
Gradually private speech become internalized as silent, inner speech, those conscious dialogues we hold with ourselves while thinking and acting.
Nevertheless, the need to engage in private speech never disappears. Whenever we encounter unfamiliar or demanding activities in our lives, private speech resurfaces. It is a tool that help us overcome obstacles and acquire new skills.
References:
Scientific American Exclusive Online/ The child's Mind Book
Article and image by Laura E. Berk
If you want to read more about this article, or other articles like:
- The Moral Development of Children
- Scars That Won’t Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse
- How Should Reading be Taught?
- Uncommon Talents: Gifted Children, Prodigies and Savants
- Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Think Better: Learning to Focus
Download or read online The Child's Mind book:
http://www.federaljack.com/ebooks/Consciousness%20Books%20Collection/SciAm%20-%20Child's%20Mind.pdf
Friday, 25 October 2013
About Alzheimer's Disease
About Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease leads to nerve cell death and tissue loss throughout the brain. Over time, the brain shrinks dramatically, affecting nearly all its functions.
The microscopic changes that occur in the brain of a person with AD were first noted by German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906. He performed an autopsy on a woman who had become more and more confused in the years preceding her death. He called the changes he observed in her brain plaques and tangles. These features can only be seen upon autopsy. Tangles and plaques interfere with neuronal functions, such as communicating with each other and sending messages to other parts of the body.
Research suggests that the formation of tangles in the brain may be a part of the normal aging process. Dr. John Morris of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, published a report titled "Tangles and plaques in nondemented aging and preclinical Alzheimer's disease" in the March 1999 issue of Annals of Neurology. This study showed that of the 39 nondemented people (people with no behavioral evidence of Alzheimer's disease), all had tangles in their brains. So perhaps developing tangles is an inevitable part of growing old. "This is further evidence that there is such a thing as truly healthy aging and that Alzheimer's disease is not inevitable," states Morris. More research is needed to figure out what role tangles and plaques play in AD. Are only plaques responsible, or do tangles and plaques interact?
Other observed changes in the brain affected by AD include:
-neuronal degeneration in a part of the brain called the nucleus basalis of Meynert.
-decreased brain levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
What are tangles?
It is unclear how neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) form. NFTs are found inside of the neuron: the neurons themselves become deformed and clump together. NFTs have been described as looking like a rope tied in knots. A protein named tau has been shown to be involved in forming NFTs, but more research is needed to solve the mystery of how and why NFTs form, and how exactly they affect the brain.
What are plaques?
Unlike tangles, plaques occur outside the neuron. Plaques are mainly composed of a protein called beta amyloid, although other proteins contribute to plaque formation. Research has shown that a protein in our bodies called amyloid plays a significant role in AD. Proteins are vital molecules that control all sorts of processes in our body. The amyloid protein occurs naturally in our brains, but as we age, too much of it (in a form called beta amyloid) accumulates in the brain, forming plaques. Beta amyloid is formed when an enzyme clips the amyloid precursor protein; beta amyloid, a fragment from this process then aggregates in deposits. It is unknown whether these deposits are due to excess production or whether the enzymes that usually break it down are not functioning properly. This situation is similar that of cholesterol in our bodies. Some cholesterol is needed to keep our cells healthy, but too much cholesterol can block arteries and lead to heart attacks and other problems.
What Can You Do to Protect Your Brain As You Age?
As you age, some connections in your brain may fail due to tangles or plaques, so it makes sense that the more neural connections you have overall, the more you will be able to compensate for the damaged connections. It's like a sports team. If one player gets injured and there is a qualified player on the bench who can substitute, the team will still function well. The more players available to play for injured team members, the better the team will fare.
How do you get and maintain neural connections? It is thought that staying active, both mentally and physically, will help. Challenge your mind. Remember people's names. Work crossword puzzles. Do math. Read. Learn new words.
Know more about AD and watch a brain tour:
http://www.alz.org/braintour/3_main_parts.asp
References for AD:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer's_disease
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/159442.php
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alzheimersdisease.html
References for NFT's & amyloid plaques:
http://www.brightfocus.org/alzheimers/about/understanding/plaques-and-tangles.html
Image credit:US Alzheimer Organisation
Wow...this arouses my brain synapses.A bucket of feelings wrapped in a blanket of passion. An unfamiliar, sweet...
Wow...this arouses my brain synapses.A bucket of feelings wrapped in a blanket of passion. An unfamiliar, sweet entity, enchanted along the canopy above you....clouds with gelid voices whispering my name..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LXl4y6D-QI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LXl4y6D-QI
“It is not abstinence from pleasures that is best, but mastery over them without being worsted."
“It is not abstinence from pleasures that is best, but mastery over them without being worsted."
Aristippus
Aristippus
Marijuana Breathalyzer Close to Reality
Marijuana Breathalyzer Close to Reality
"If You Are Going to Get High, You Better Not Drive," or some other public service slogan will surely be plastered on billboards all across America as soon as science figures out a way to stick it to the average citizen with the marijuana breathalyzer.
A team of researchers recently published a document in the medical journal Clinical Chemistry that suggests a breath test -- similar to the testing procedures for alcohol intoxication -- may be the best way for law enforcement to analyze a motorist’s THC level.
Researchers believe that the breath method of testing could eventually phase out the controversial THC-blood test currently being used to prosecute people in courtrooms all over the country.
Researchers say that in a study group consisting of everyday stoners and weekend warrior-style occasional smokers, they were able to detect levels of THC, the principle psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana that would be most likely to affect the way a person drives, by collecting breath samples.
“Breath may offer an alternative matrix for testing for recent driving under the influence of cannabis, but is limited to a short detection window,” researchers concluded in their study.
Picture and story via High Times
http://www.hightimes.com/read/marijuana-breathalyzer-close-reality
Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24046200
6 Things About Eating Insects
6 Things About Eating Insects
It is estimated that at least 2 billion people worldwide already eats insects on a regular basis.
Source: http://scienceandfooducla.wordpress.com/2013/10/15/6-things-about-eating-insects/
Thursday, 24 October 2013
What are we made of?
What are we made of?
Our bodies are comprised of a vast array of elements, with oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen remaining the most abundant. But there are many other chemical elements present! The figure below lists each element that has been isolated from the human body in the order of decreasing mass.
This chart is based on the work of Ed Uthman, who derived the data from The Elements, by John Emsley.
http://web2.airmail.net/uthman/elements_of_body.html
Right and side hand: Tuberculous arthritis
Right and side hand: Tuberculous arthritis
An infection of the joints due to tuberculosis is called tuberculous arthritis.
The most commonly affected joints are the knees, ankle, hip, spine and wrist. In most cases a single joint is involved.
Limitation of movement of that joint is inevitable.
Joints will be swollen, tender and warm to the touch.
Low grade fever and sweating at night may be present.
Muscles may shrink in mass (muscle atrophy) and may spasm.
Tuberculous arthritis starts slowly; it does not have an acute or sudden onset.
Treatment of tuberculous arthritis
The goal of treatment is to cure the infection with drugs that fight the TB bacteria. Treatment of active TB will always involve a combination of many drugs (usually four drugs). All of the drugs are continued until lab tests show which medicines work best.
Complications of tuberculous arthritis
Joint destruction can occur if the diagnosis or treatment is incorrect. In severe cases, the person may not be able to walk due to the destruction of hip, knee or ankle joint.
References: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156518/
http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/old/184/97-361.pdf
http://www.amjmed.com/article/0002-9343(72)90113-1/abstract
Image credit: Musée Dupuytren / Paris, France.
Legally blind Ottawa girl, sees with high-tech glasses
Legally blind Ottawa girl, sees with high-tech glasses
Emma-Rose Gibson can see clearly no more than three centimeters in front of her, but a new device is allowing the nine-year-old Ottawa girl to watch TV.
The legally blind Grade 4 student, who is diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia, is one of the first users of the eSight eyewear, a pair of computerized glasses officially launched Tuesday in Toronto.
The device made by Ottawa-based eSight Corporation reconfigures images captured by its high-definition camera in a way to optimize a user’s vision. The processed images are then fed into two LED screens in front of the user’s eyes.
Gibson, who has been using the device since May, said it allows her to participate fully in class and grants her a degree of mobility she didn’t have before.
“When I first heard of it, I was like, ’Wow, this can actually change my life.”’
How does eSight Eyewear work? Know more about this:
http://www.esighteyewear.com/
Photo: Ethan Lou / The Canadian Press
Story via National Post
http://nationalpost.tumblr.com/post/64954198731/legally-blind-ottawa-girl-sees-with-high-tech
Boom boom pow =)
Boom boom pow =)
That's what happens if you mix liquid nitrogen with 1500 ping pong balls