Researchers pinpoint area of brain linked to bipolar disorder

Researchers pinpoint area of brain linked to bipolar disorder
A volume decrease in specific parts of the brain’s hippocampus – long identified as a hub of mood and memory processing – was linked to bipolar disorder in a study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The research was published in Molecular Psychiatry, part of the Nature Publishing Group.

Bipolar I disorder is characterized by mood changes that can swing from a high-energy, manic state to a low-energy, depressive state. The disorder can affect sleep, energy level and the ability to think clearly, according to the National Institutes of Health. It can interfere with a person’s ability to work and perform daily living activities, and could lead to suicide attempts. Patients with bipolar II disorder do not experience the full-blown manic episodes, but may have a less severe high-energy state.

The research team used a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a state-of-the-art segmentation approach to discover differences in the volumes of subfields of the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped region in the brain. Subjects with bipolar disorder were compared to healthy subjects and subjects with major depressive disorder.

Researchers found that subjects with bipolar disorder had reduced volumes in subfield 4 of the cornu ammonis (CA), two cellular layers and the tail portion of hippocampus. The reduction was more severe in patients with bipolar I disorder than other mood disorders investigated.

Further, in patients with bipolar I disorder, the volumes of certain areas such as the right CA 1 decreased as the illness duration increased. Volumes of other CA areas and hippocampal tail were more reduced in subjects who had more manic episodes.

Journal article:
http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/mp2016262a.html

Source:
https://www.uth.edu/media/story.htm?id=5c9ad1ba-4cdb-4d93-9172-ee1b986a7331

#neuroscience #bipolardisorder #brain #hippocampus #research

Approaching the Bubble Nebula

Approaching the Bubble Nebula
What would it look like to approach the Bubble Nebula? Blown by the wind and radiation from a massive star, this bubble now spans seven light-years in diameter. The hot star inside is thousands of times more luminous than our Sun, and is now offset from the nebula's center. The visualization starts with a direct approach toward the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) and then moves around the nebula while continuing the approach.

The featured time-lapse visualization is extrapolated from images with the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and the WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona, USA. The 3D-computer model on which this visualization is based includes artistic interpretations, and distances are significantly compressed.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Visualization Credit: NASA, ESA, and F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, and L. Frattare (Viz 3D Team, STScI);

Acknowledgment: T. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF, NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

#space #NASA #ESA #Hubble #BubbleNebula #science

A Kalahari Sky

A Kalahari Sky
You wake up in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Africa. You go outside your tent, set up your camera, and take long exposures of the land and sky. What might you see? Besides a lot of blowing dust and the occasional acacia tree, you might catch many sky wonders. Pictured in 2015 September, sky highlights include the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, the Pleiades Star Cluster, Barnard's Loop, and both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, to name just a few. Although most of these faded in the morning light, they were quickly replaced by a partial eclipse of the Sun.

Info & images via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek

#space #universe #milkyway #magellanicClouds

Nicotine normalizes brain deficits key to schizophrenia

Nicotine normalizes brain deficits key to schizophrenia
A steady stream of nicotine normalizes genetically-induced impairments in brain activity associated with schizophrenia, according to new research involving CU Boulder researchers. The finding sheds light on what causes the disease and why those who have it tend to smoke heavily.

Ultimately the authors of the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, envision their work could lead to new non-addictive, nicotine-based treatments for some of the 51 million people worldwide who suffer from the disease. It could also potentially have applications for treating addiction, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Bipolar disorder and other psychiatric conditions.

Journal article:
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v23/n3/full/nm.4274.html

Source:
http://www.colorado.edu/today/2017/01/23/nicotine-normalizes-brain-deficits-key-schizophrenia

#neuroscience #nicotine #research #schizophrenia #brain

Sudivide your inner self ;)

Sudivide your inner self ;)

Work by Charlie Deck

#coding #processing #math #science

Beneath Jupiter

Beneath Jupiter
Jupiter is stranger than we knew. NASA's Juno spacecraft has now completed its sixth swoop past Jupiter as it moves around its highly elliptical orbit. Pictured, Jupiter is seen from below where, surprisingly, the horizontal bands that cover most of the planet disappear into swirls and complex patterns. A line of white oval clouds is visible nearer to the equator. Recent results from Juno show that Jupiter's weather phenomena can extend deep below its cloud tops, and that Jupiter's magnetic field varies greatly with location. Juno is scheduled to orbit Jupiter 37 times with each orbit taking about six weeks.

Image & info via APOD
Image Credit: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS, Gerald Eichstädt & Seán Doran

#space #NASA #Juno #Jupiter #science

Don't dismiss negative mass

Don't dismiss negative mass
The idea of matter with negative mass is mind-boggling: A –5 kg object would repel a +5 kg object, while the +5 kg object would attract the –5 kg object. As a result, the two of them would move off in the same direction along the line joining the two, with the negative-mass object following the positive-mass object indefinitely. However, despite that craziness, some physicists open to the idea that the universe contains negative-mass matter.
Theoretical physicist Manu Paranjape explains why.

Article:
http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.3.20170524a/full/

Photo:
The large-scale structure of the universe, simulated here, may have been influenced by the presence of negative mass during the inflationary epoch. Credit: Springel et al. (Virgo consortium), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

#physics #science #negativemass #research

Sometimes skulls are thick.

Sometimes skulls are thick. Sometimes hearts are vacant. Sometimes words don’t work. And, sometimes you can start a day with a lemon.

#personalnonsense #behindmyamygdala

Nerve Therapy Study Finds Potential Way to Reduce Drug Cravings

Nerve Therapy Study Finds Potential Way to Reduce Drug Cravings
A new preclinical study led by a University of Texas at Dallas researcher shows that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy might have the potential to help people overcome drug addiction by helping them learn new behaviors to replace those associated with seeking drugs.

The new research, published in the January issue of the journal Learning and Memory, found that drug cravings in addicted rats were reduced when they were treated with VNS. It’s possible that the research could be applied to people who have been addicted to drugs, said senior author Dr. Sven Kroener, assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

“We are studying extinction learning and how vagus nerve stimulation can help subjects learn a new behavior that is opposed to an existing, maladaptive behavior like drug-taking,” Kroener said. “When a subject is addicted to a drug, extinction is a method to help them relearn behaviors — so they are able to take different actions.”

Vagus nerve stimulation involves sending a mild electric pulse through the vagus nerve, which is in the neck. VNS already has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for certain illnesses, such as depression and epilepsy.

UT Dallas is a major hub of VNS research, with studies currently being done on how the method can potentially help people recover from paralysis from stroke, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or tinnitus.

Source:
http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2017/1/24-32390_Nerve-Therapy-Study-Finds-Potential-Way-to-Reduce-_story-wide.html

Journal article/ paywall:
http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/24/1/35.full?sid=4d723e70-68fc-425a-8909-7d9cd33d1000

#science #neuroscience #VNS #research #brain #addiction #drugs

Collapse in Hebes Chasma on Mars

Collapse in Hebes Chasma on Mars
What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars? Hebes Chasma is a depression just north of the enormous Valles Marineris canyon. Since the depression is unconnected to other surface features, it is unclear where the internal material went. Inside Hebes Chasma is Hebes Mensa, a 5 kilometer high mesa that appears to have undergone an unusual partial collapse -- a collapse that might be providing clues.

The featured image, taken by ESA's robotic Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, shows great details of the chasm and the unusual horseshoe shaped indentation in the central mesa. Material from the mesa appears to have flowed onto the floor of the chasm, while a possible dark layer appears to have pooled like ink on a downslope landing. A recent hypothesis holds that salty rock composes some lower layers in Hebes Chasma, with the salt dissolving in melted ice flows that drained through holes into an underground aquifer.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

#nasa #space #Mars #science #ESA

NASA’s SDO Sees Partial Eclipse in Space

NASA’s SDO Sees Partial Eclipse in Space
On May 25, 2017, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, saw a partial solar eclipse in space when it caught the moon passing in front of the sun. The lunar transit lasted almost an hour, between 2:24 and 3:17 p.m. EDT, with the moon covering about 89 percent of the sun at the peak of its journey across the sun’s face. The moon’s crisp horizon can be seen from this view because the moon has no atmosphere to distort the sunlight.

While the moon’s edge appears smooth in these images, it’s actually quite uneven. The surface of the moon is rugged, sprinkled with craters, valleys and mountains. Peer closely at the image, and you may notice the subtle, bumpy outline of these topographical features.

Source:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-sdo-sees-partial-eclipse-in-space

#space #nasa #sdo #eclipse #science

Static fire test of a Falcon Heavy side booster completed in McGregor, TX last week.

Static fire test of a Falcon Heavy side booster completed in McGregor, TX last week. This booster previously launched Thaicom 8.

Article:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/25/watch-spacexs-falcon-heavy-booster-static-test-fire/

#spacex #science #innovation #scitech

Comet Clark is near the Edge

Comet Clark is near the Edge
Sweeping through this stunning field of view, Comet 71P/Clark really is in the foreground of these cosmic clouds. The 2 panel telescopic mosaic is color enhanced and is about 5 degrees (10 full moons) across. It captures the faint comet's position on the night of May 23/24 over 5 light-minutes from Earth, very near the line-of-sight to bright star Antares and the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.

In the frame Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii, is at bottom center surrounded by a dusty cosmic cloud reflecting the cool giant star's yellowish light. Globular star cluster M4 shines just right of Antares, but M4 lies some 7,000 light-years away compared to Antares' 500 light-year distance. Slightly closer than Antares, Rho Ophiuchi's bluish starlight is reflected by the dust in molecular clouds toward the top. You can spot the small coma and short tail of the comet as a faint smudge near the center of the left edge of the frame. Just look for the comet's striking greenish color, produced as diatomic carbon molecules fluoresce in sunlight.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Raul Villaverde Fraile

#nasa #space #science #comet

Vrai

Vrai
My tongue is well-trained in the sit-still, it's my hands that can't keep a secret.
S. Benaim


#personalnonsense

A Beautiful Trifid

A Beautiful Trifid
The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in colorful contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid illustrates three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light emitted by hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette.

The bright red emission region, roughly separated into three parts by obscuring, dark dust lanes, lends the Trifid its popular name. In this well met scene, the red emission is also juxtaposed with the telltale blue haze of reflection nebulae. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left of the emission nebula's center, appear in Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across.

Image and info via APOD
Image Credit & Copyright: R Jay Gabany

#space #nasa #universe #nebula #research #exploration #science

May 25 is reserved to Star Wars

May 25 is reserved to Star Wars
On this day 40 years ago, filmgoers were introduced to the events of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars premiered in the US on 25 May 1977. The space opera written and directed by George Lucas became a smash hit in the US and around the world. The torrent of prequels, sequels, and spin-offs continues this year: Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released in December.

Article:
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/whats-in-star-wars-the-last-jedi-and-whats-not

#starwars #history #thelastjedi

NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge

NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
Is our Galaxy this thin? We believe so. Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the galaxy's bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane.

An assortment of other background galaxies is included in the pretty field of view, with neighboring galaxy NGC 4562 at the upper left. NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed.

Image & info via APOD:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Lóránd Fényes

#nasa #space #universe #galaxy

May 23 is reserved to Willie Hobbs Moore

May 23 is reserved to Willie Hobbs Moore
Today is the birthday of Willie Hobbs Moore, the first African American woman to be awarded a PhD in physics in the US. She was born in 1934 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Moore entered the University of Michigan to study engineering in 1954, the same year as the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. She earned her PhD from the university in 1972, nearly a century after Edward Bouchet became the first African American to earn a physics PhD.

Her research focused on infrared spectroscopy for chemical analysis. She worked in industry throughout her career and published in many chemistry and physics journals. Moore also worked to improve STEM education for minority populations. She died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at age 60 in 1994. The University of Michigan College of Engineering created an award in her honor.

Reference:
https://www.aip.org/sites/default/files/history/files/AIP-Hobbs-Jackson-Handout.pdf
http://nsbp.org/willie-hobbs-moore/

Photo courtesy of the Ronald E. Mickens Collection, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics

#physics #history #womeninSTEM

Hyperbutterfly

Hyperbutterfly

Charlie Deck work.

#processing #math #coding

The Human Nose Knows More Than We Think

The Human Nose Knows More Than We Think
A look at the body of olfactory science shows people’s reputation for having a poor sense of smell is a myth.

Humans do not use smell the way other mammals do, and that contributes to our reputation for being lousy sniffers compared with dogs and other animals. But it turns out the human sense of smell is better than we think.
In a review paper published in Science last week neuroscientist John McGann of Rutgers University analyzed the state of human olfaction research, comparing recent and older studies to make the argument our smelling abilities are comparable with those of our fellow mammals.

McGann traces the origins of the idea that humans have a poor sense of smell to a single 19th-century scientist, comparative anatomist Paul Broca. Broca, known for discovering Broca’s area—the part of the brain responsible for speech production—noted that humans had larger frontal lobes than those of other animals, and that we possessed language and complex cognitive skills our fellow creatures lacked. Because our brains’ olfactory bulbs were smaller than those of other mammals and we did not display behavior motivated by smell, Broca extrapolated these brain areas shrank over evolutionary time as humans relied more on complex thought than on primal senses for survival. He never conducted sensory studies to confirm his theory, however, but the reputation stuck.

Now that more sensory tests are being done, the results are mixed.
Experiments conducted in previous decades have found humans are just as sensitive as dogs and mice to the aroma of bananas. Furthermore, a 2013 study found humans were more sensitive than mice to two urine odor components whereas mice could better detect four other sulfur-containing urine and fecal-gland odors tested. A 2017 study also revealed humans were more sensitive than mice to the smell of mammal blood.

One biological feature that does appear to be linked to smelling ability is the number of olfactory bulb neurons an animal has. This number is not linked to the size of the brain or bulb, however. Human women, whose sense of smell is more sensitive than men’s, have more olfactory neurons than the general population of mice but fewer than rats, and have much larger olfactory bulbs than both rodents. Men rank just below mice in olfactory neuron count, but all these species (as well as several other mammals) differ by just 10 million olfactory neurons or fewer.

The lack of a standard metric for scent is the main challenge, McGann says, in comparing absolute olfactory abilities across species. “It’s tempting to say humans are way more sensitive than mice at smelling human blood, and that sounds like a good ecological story,” he says. “But then you look at a whole range of other odors and realize that actually it just seems like there’s quite a lot of odors that humans are better at detecting than mice, dogs or rats, and other odors that we’re less good at detecting.” It’s impossible, therefore, to make sweeping generalizations about which species has the winning nose.

Interesting reading via Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-human-nose-knows-more-than-we-think/

Gif via It's Okay to Be Smart
http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/108016979277/how-does-sense-of-smell-work

#neuroscience #smell #research #humanbrain

Toxic brain cells may drive many neurodegenerative disorders

Toxic brain cells may drive many neurodegenerative disorders
While most of us haven’t heard of astrocytes, these cells are four times as plentiful in the human brain as nerve cells. Now, a team led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that astrocytes, which perform many indispensable functions in the brain, can take on a villainous character, destroying nerve cells and likely driving many neurodegenerative diseases.

“We’ve learned astrocytes aren’t always the good guys,” said the study’s senior author, Ben Barres, MD, PhD, professor of neurobiology, of developmental biology and of neurology and neurological sciences. “An aberrant version of them turns up in suspicious abundance in all the wrong places in brain-tissue samples from patients with brain injuries and major neurological disorders from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to multiple sclerosis. The implications for treating these diseases are profound.”

Journal article:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v541/n7638/full/nature21029.html

Source:
http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/01/toxic-brain-cells-may-drive-many-neurodegenerative-disorders.html

#neuroscience #medicine #astrocytes #braincells #immunecells

May 21 is reserved to Andrei Sakharov

May 21 is reserved to Andrei Sakharov
I've always thought that the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that's why I gave it to my people, but I've come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it's the truth.
~ A. Sakharov

Today is the birthday of Andrei Sakharov, who was born in 1921 in Moscow. Sakharov studied physics in Turkmenistan during World War II. After doing research on cosmic rays, he joined the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program. He was one of the architects of the country's first hydrogen bomb, but he became increasingly alarmed at the prospect of nuclear war.

He stopped working on weapons and became an activist—first against the weapons themselves and then against the repressive Soviet state. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his "struggle for human rights, for disarmament and for cooperation between all nations." Sakharov died in 1989.

Interesting reading via Physics Today:
http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.3525

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

#history #Sakharov #hydrogenbomb

What is natural caesarean?

What is natural caesarean?
A new method of caesarean section birth promises to deliver babies in a less stressful environment and strengthen the bond between mother and child.

Doctors make an incision into the womb and assist the baby by bringing out its head, before leaving it to force its shoulder and body out alone in a way that mimics a natural birth.

Rather than be removed immediately by doctors, babies born through natural caesarean are able to spend up to four minutes with their mother immediately after birth, helping to reinforce the maternal bond.

Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/19/new-natural-caesarean-procedure-allows-baby-to-deliver-itself/

Video source
https://www.instagram.com/fertilugo/

#naturalCsection #newborn #OBGYN #prolife #medicine

In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula

In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula
The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible on the lower left, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. The tremendously bright nearby star, Hershel 36, lights the area.

Vast walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. As energy from these stars pours into the cool dust and gas, large temperature differences in adjoining regions can be created generating shearing winds which may cause the funnels. This picture, spanning about 5 light years, was taken in 1995 by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, lies about 5000 light years distant toward the constellation of Sagittarius.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: Hubble, A. Caulet (ST-ECF, ESA), NASA

#nasa #Hubble #ESA #space #universe #exploration

Opioids produce analgesia via immune cells

Opioids produce analgesia via immune cells
Opioids are the most powerful painkillers. Researchers at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now found that the analgesic effects of opioids are not exclusively mediated by opioid receptors in the brain, but can also be mediated via the activation of receptors in immune cells. These findings represent a novel concept in our understanding of the mechanisms of opioid analgesia. Results from this research, published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, show that pain reduction in mice was mediated by the activation of opioid receptors in immune cells.

PR:
https://www.charite.de/en/service/press_reports/artikel/detail/opioids_produce_analgesia_via_immune_cells/

Journal article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep32799

#neuroscience #opioids #morphine #research

Approaching Jupiter

Approaching Jupiter

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UaOhvLUYA&feature=push-u&attr_tag=VYhBEdD_XzYpbucs-6
Video Composition & Copyright: Peter Rosén et al.

#space #jupiter #science #research

A View Toward M101

A View Toward M101
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. M101 shares this modern telescopic field of view with spiky foreground stars within the Milky Way, and more distant background galaxies.

The colors of the Milky Way stars can also be found in the starlight from the large island universe. Its core is dominated by light from cool yellowish stars. Along its grand spiral arms are the blue colors of hotter, young stars mixed with obscuring dust lanes and pinkish star forming regions. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Laszlo Bagi

#space #nasa #M101 #universe #research

Whether our speech is fast or slow, we say about the same

Whether our speech is fast or slow, we say about the same
The purpose of speech is communication, not speed — so perhaps some new research findings, while counterintuitive, should come as no surprise. Whether we speak quickly or slowly, the new study reports, we end up conveying information at about the same rate, because faster speech packs less information in each utterance.

The study suggests we tend to converse within a narrow channel of communication data so that we do not provide too much or too little information at a given time, said Uriel Cohen Priva, author of the study in the March issue of Cognition and assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University.

“It seems the constraints on how much information per second we should transmit are fairly strict, or stricter than we thought they were,” Cohen Priva said.

Source:
https://news.brown.edu/articles/2017/01/speechrate

Journal article:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027716302888

Gif: MRI of two people speaking in two different languages because I kind of love the graphic of this.

#neuroscience #Speech #research

"I'm very polite by nature, even the voices in my head let each other finish their sentences.”

"I'm very polite by nature, even the voices in my head let each other finish their sentences.”

On that note:
- when I talk do NOT interrupt me!!!
- your hyoid bone will NOT fall off your mouth if you say thank you, hello, goodbye


#politenessOCD

Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte

Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte
Named for the three astronomers instrumental in its discovery and identification, Wolf - Lundmark - Melotte (WLM) is a lonely dwarf galaxy. Seen toward the mostly southern constellation Cetus, about 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, it is one of the most remote members of our local galaxy group.

In fact, it may never have interacted with any other local group galaxy. Still, telltale pinkish star forming regions and hot, young, bluish stars speckle the isolated island universe. Older, cool yellowish stars fade into the small galaxy's halo, extending about 8,000 light-years across. This sharp portrait of WLM was captured by the 268-megapixel OmegaCAM widefield imager and survey telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory.

Source:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: ESO, VST/Omegacam Local Group Survey

#NASA #space #universe #ESO #wolfgalaxy #science

MRI of the Fetal Brain

MRI of the Fetal Brain
Advancements in MRI are giving us an unprecedented look at the fetal brain. Until approximately a decade ago, what researchers knew about the developing prenatal brain came primarily from analyzing the brains of aborted or miscarried fetuses. But studying postmortem brains can be confounding because scientists can’t definitively pinpoint whether the injuries to the brain occurred before or during birth.

Over the years, however, improvements to MRI are finally enabling researchers to study the developing brain in real time. With these advancements, researchers are just beginning to understand how normal brains develop, and how abnormalities can manifest over the course of development. Scientists cataloging typical infant brain development with the mini-MRI hope to use it eventually to study the brains of premature babies, who have a high risk of brain damage. Ultimately, clinicians hope to intervene early with therapies, if available and approved, to prevent developmental disorders when there are signs of brain damage in utero or shortly after birth.

If you wonder...
The answer is YES - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is very safe and most people can have the procedure, including pregnant women and babies. However, there are some instances where an MRI scan may not be recommended, because the strong magnets used during the scan can affect any metal implants or fragments in your body.

Read the article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nm0317-270.epdf?shared_access_token=toLr6snA3ztcCHr97M6T6NRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Mw3u3GvvC5lEMo_5e9kQOO3NJnjoknMeSwkrcVq9U9q1U-XLCwFQl-tmbuMokA2-KBdVP-pfRrohGxcILqlv4S-CznXSK6IDat6rkHcKBBu1-Ey85fM4lPSgEPo8WHSZo%3D

#neuroscience #MRI #neonatal #fetusbrain #science #research

Data from the four satellites of the MMS mission reveal the dance of electrons in space

Data from the four satellites of the MMS mission reveal the dance of electrons in space
You can’t see them, but swarms of electrons are buzzing through the magnetic environment — the magnetosphere — around Earth. The electrons spiral and dive around the planet in a complex dance dictated by the magnetic and electric fields. When they penetrate into the magnetosphere close enough to Earth, the high-energy electrons can damage satellites in orbit and trigger auroras. Scientists with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission study the electrons’ dynamics to better understand their behavior. A new study, published in Journal of Geophysical Research revealed a bizarre new type of motion exhibited by these electrons.

Electrons in a strong magnetic field usually exhibit a simple behavior: They spin tight spirals along the magnetic field. In a weaker field region, where the direction of the magnetic field reverses, the electrons go free style — bouncing and wagging back and forth in a type of movement called Speiser motion. New MMS results show for the first time what happens in an intermediate strength field. Then these electrons dance a hybrid, meandering motion — spiraling and bouncing about before being ejected from the region. This motion takes away some of the field’s energy and it plays a key role in magnetic reconnection, a dynamic process, which can explosively release large amounts of stored magnetic energy.

Read the article:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017JA024004/full

Source:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-mission-uncovers-dance-of-electrons-in-space

Gif: With no guide field to confine them, electrons (yellow) wiggle back in forth. The electron’s increasing speed is shown by warmer color tracks.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Tom Bridgman

#physics #NASA #MMS #magnetosphere #electrons #space #science #research

The stem cells that produce our blood have been created in the lab for the first time

The stem cells that produce our blood have been created in the lab for the first time
After 20 years of trying, scientists have transformed mature cells into primordial blood cells that regenerate themselves and the components of blood. The work, described in Nature, offers hope to people with leukaemia and other blood disorders who need bone-marrow transplants but can’t find a compatible donor. If the findings translate into the clinic, these patients could receive lab-grown versions of their own healthy cells.

Read the article:
http://www.nature.com/news/lab-grown-blood-stem-cells-produced-at-last-1.22000

Reference:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22326.epdf?referrer_access_token=JSRMo_TBqp-vMJPthrPHhdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MuZysm1VqPnMUkVzpoZemdq4Kx98-IhPDyHl9KTQ1N2SnwKC3_fA1DklX_Vv3TjXAqJwil3u11CSB4IJnuolS2slGUwnK0gzd2Kg_uZbKqjLT9SmLxgs1_0erIXAe6xhNjxFHvNZ_WtYBhxZwzYc2P3whE3ZABXf5GoWqQlwVZ2xuJb04PeMd_gDH23Bw6zw0M1x6yAa5tEaVxDh3kWltB&tracking_referrer=www.nature.com

#scitech #stemcells #research #medicine #science #innovation

Two Prominences Unraveling

Two Prominences Unraveling
A pair of prominences began to shift, turn and fall apart over the sun's edge on May 8-9, seen in this SDO footage.
Prominences are notoriously unstable. Competing magnetic forces pulled the plasma back and forth until they dissipated. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

Source:
https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/potw/item/804

Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.

#space #NASA #SDO #sun

Study reveals for first time that talking therapy changes the brain's wiring

Study reveals for first time that talking therapy changes the brain's wiring
A new study from King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has shown for the first time that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) strengthens specific connections in the brains of people with psychosis, and that these stronger connections are associated with long-term reduction in symptoms and recovery eight years later.

CBT - a specific type of talking therapy - involves people changing the way they think about and respond to their thoughts and experiences. For individuals experiencing psychotic symptoms, common in schizophrenia and a number of other psychiatric disorders, the therapy involves learning to think differently about unusual experiences, such as distressing beliefs that others are out to get them. CBT also involves developing strategies to reduce distress and improve well-being.

The findings, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, follow the same researchers’ previous work which showed that people with psychosis who received CBT displayed strengthened connections between key regions of the brain involved in processing social threat accurately.

The new results show for the first time that these changes continue to have an impact years later on people’s long-term recovery.

Source:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/kcl-srf011617.php

Journal article:
https://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v7/n1/full/tp2016263a.html

#neuroscience #research #brainwiring

Galaxy Group Hickson 90

Galaxy Group Hickson 90
Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs). This sharp Hubble image shows one such galaxy group, HCG 90, in startling detail. Three galaxies -- two visible here -- are revealed to be strongly interacting: a dusty spiral galaxy stretched and distorted in the image center, and two large elliptical galaxies. The close encounter will trigger furious star formation.

On a cosmic timescale, the gravitational tug of war will eventually result in the merger of the trio into a large single galaxy. The merger process is now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. HCG 90 lies about 100 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Southern Fish (Piscis Austrinus). This Hubble view spans about 40,000 light-years at that estimated distance. Of course, Hickson Compact Groups also make for rewarding viewing for Earth-bound astronomers with more modest sized telescopes.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: NASA; ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive;
Processing: Oliver Czernetz

#space #nasa #science #galaxy #universe #Hubble

May 16, is reserved to Nancy Grace Roman

May 16, is reserved to Nancy Grace Roman
Happy birthday Nancy Grace Roman! She is a pioneering NASA astronomer who played a central role in the development of the Hubble Space Telescope. Roman was born in 1925 in Nashville, Tennessee. At age 11 she started an astronomy club with her friends in Reno, Nevada, using a 10-cent book called Seeing Stars as reference.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Swarthmore College in 1946 and a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1949. At Yerkes Observatory she catalogued high-velocity stars and analyzed stellar spectra to differentiate the ages of similar-looking stars across the galaxy. Roman took at job in radio astronomy at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in 1955. Four years later, a former NRL employee asked her if she knew anyone who would want to set up a program in space astronomy for a newly established agency called NASA.

Shortly after, Roman became NASA’s first chief of astronomy. Over the next two decades, she oversaw the development of space probes and telescopes. Her most famous success is Hubble, which launched in 1990 after years of development spearheaded by Roman. She retired from NASA in 1979 but has remained active teaching and lecturing across the country.

Bio:
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/dr-nancy-grace-roman-astronomer

Photo credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Roman Collection

#history #nasa #NancyGraceRoman #womenin STEM

Gemini Stars Pollux and Castor

Gemini Stars Pollux and Castor
Who are the twins of Gemini? It terms of astronomical objects, the famous constellation is dominated by two bright stars: Pollux (left) and Castor (right). Pictured, the two stars stand out because they are so bright, so close together both in angle and brightness, but so different in color. Pollux, at 33 light years distant, is an evolved red giant star twice as massive as our Sun. Castor, at 51 light years distant, is a blue main sequence star about 2.7 times more massive that our Sun. Castor is known to have at least two stellar companions, while Pollux is now known to be circled by at least one massive planet.

In terms of ancient Babylonian, Greek, and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux represent twin brothers. Currently, the Earth's orbit is causing the Sun to appear to shift in front of the constellation of Gemini, with the result that, for much of humanity, Castor and Pollux will remain visible toward the west at sunset for only a few more weeks.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

#universe #NASA #stars #galaxies #science

Ptolemy of Alexandria - Claudius Ptolemaeus (~100-170) an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of...

Ptolemy of Alexandria - Claudius Ptolemaeus (~100-170) an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of Greek descent who flourished in Alexandria during the 2nd century ce. In several fields his writings represent the culminating achievement of Greco-Roman science, particularly his geocentric (Earth-centred) model of the universe now known as the Ptolemaic system.

His first major astronomical work, the Almagest, was completed about 150 ce and contains reports of astronomical observations that Ptolemy had made over the preceding quarter of a century. The size and content of his subsequent literary production suggests that he lived until about 170 ce.

Ptolemy has a prominent place in the history of mathematics primarily because of the mathematical methods he applied to astronomical problems. His contributions to trigonometry are especially important. For instance, Ptolemy’s table of the lengths of chords in a circle is the earliest surviving table of a trigonometric function. He also applied fundamental theorems in spherical trigonometry (apparently discovered half a century earlier by Menelaus of Alexandria) to the solution of many basic astronomical problems.

In Euclidean geometry, Ptolemy's theorem is a relation between the four sides and two diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral (a quadrilateral whose vertices lie on a common circle).

Animation:
We have three colored segment in this animation. Surprisingly the length of the longest one is always the sum of the length of the two smaller ones.
This is actually a very special case of Ptolemy’s theorem. The theorem gives a connection between the sides and the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral. In this case the length of the dashed lines is equal so the theorem can be simplified to the statement above.

Animation by szimmetria-airtemmizs
http://szimmetria-airtemmizs.tumblr.com/

Reference:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ptolemy
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Ptolemy.html

#math #Ptolemy #animation #processing #geogebra #science

Remedios Varo Uranga, one of the world famous para-surrealist painters of the 20th Century, was born in 1908 in a...

Remedios Varo Uranga, one of the world famous para-surrealist painters of the 20th Century, was born in 1908 in a small town called Angles in the province of Girona in Spain. Her unique art was a result of her upbringing and socialization in a world of art and philosophy, her life struggles as well as her amazing imagination.

Painting: Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst (cca 1960)

I absolutely love the work of Remedios Varo. She has a way of brushing my amygdala. Her work has a scent of "I know your soul...rest is just deco"

Bio:
http://totallyhistory.com/remedios-varo/

#history #art #RemediosVaro

Listen to me, your body is not a temple.

Listen to me, your body is not a temple. Temples can be destroyed and desecrated. Your body is a forest. Thick canopies of maple trees and sweet scented wildflowers sprouting in the under-wood. You will grow back, over and over, no matter how badly you are devastated.
~BP~

#personalnonsense

I think, therefore I am

I think, therefore I am
The brain of René Descartes (1650): A neuro-anatomical analysis

Brain of Monsieur Descartes is now dust, but it hasn't stopped researchers from scanning the inside of his skull to learn more about his grey matter - which it turns out is remarkably normal, except for a slight bulge at the front.

Research carried out by a team of French and Dutch scientists involved creating a virtual endocast based on a CT-scan of Descartes' brain case, which allowed them to study the size, shape, and surface of the philosopher's brain compared with 102 physical casts from a diversity of other specimens.

Descartes' revolutionary contributions to philosophy and mathematics suggest his mind was somewhat remarkable, but whether extraordinary minds reflect extraordinary lumps of brain meat has been a topic of interest for anatomists for centuries.

The researchers in this latest study concluded that – for the most part – Renee Descartes had a rather mundane brain.
The cast's total volume was 1540 cubic centimetres (94 cubic inches), which is in the ballpark of the average modern male brain.

One area did happen to stand out slightly, however.
The frontal cortex seemed to bulge on the left, due to a larger development of the front portion of the parietal lobe. It corresponds with a part of the brain called Brodmann area 45 – a zone responsible for our ability to apply words to concepts.

Journal article:
http://www.jns-journal.com/article/S0022-510X(17)30265-4/fulltext

Source:
http://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-scan-descartes-skull-to-recreate-a-cast-of-his-brain

Photo credit: C. Philippe et al. Journal of the Neurological Sciences 378

#Descartes #humanbrain #pathology #research #genius

Aphasia: The disorder that makes you lose your words

Aphasia: The disorder that makes you lose your words
It’s hard to imagine being unable to turn thoughts into words. But, if the delicate web of language networks in your brain became disrupted by stroke, illness or trauma, you could find yourself truly at a loss for words. This disorder, called “aphasia,” can impair all aspects of communication. Approximately 1 million people in the U.S. alone suffer from aphasia, with an estimated 80,000 new cases per year. About one-third of stroke survivors suffer from aphasia, making it more prevalent than Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis, yet less widely known.

There are several types of aphasia, grouped into two categories: fluent (or “receptive”) aphasia and non-fluent (or “expressive”) aphasia.
People with fluent aphasia may have normal vocal inflection, but use words that lack meaning. They have difficulty comprehending the speech of others and are frequently unable to recognize their own speech errors.

People with non-fluent aphasia, on the other hand, may have good comprehension, but will experience long hesitations between words and make grammatical errors. We all have that “tip-of-the-tongue” feeling from time to time when we can’t think of a word. But having aphasia can make it hard to name simple everyday objects. Even reading and writing can be difficult and frustrating.

It’s important to remember that aphasia does not signify a loss in intelligence. People who have aphasia know what they want to say, but can’t always get their words to come out correctly. They may unintentionally use substitutions, called “paraphasias” – switching related words, like saying dog for cat, or words that sound similar, such as house for horse. Sometimes their words may even be unrecognizable.

Watch & learn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GsVhbmecJA

Read & learn:
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Aphasia/

Story via Ted-Ed
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/aphasia-the-disorder-that-makes-you-lose-your-words-susan-wortman-jutt

#neuroscience #aphasia #humanbrain #stroke #research #medicine

Ganymede: The Largest Moon

Ganymede: The Largest Moon
What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like? Jupiter's moon Ganymede, larger than even Mercury and Pluto, has an icy surface speckled with bright young craters overlying a mixture of older, darker, more cratered terrain laced with grooves and ridges. The large circular feature on the upper right, called Galileo Regio, is an ancient region of unknown origin. Ganymede is thought to have an ocean layer that contains more water than Earth and might contain life.

Like Earth's Moon, Ganymede keeps the same face towards its central planet, in this case Jupiter. The featured image was taken about 20 years ago by NASA's Galileo probe, which ended its mission by diving into Jupiter's atmosphere in 2003. Currently, NASA's Juno spacecraft orbits Jupiter and is studying the giant planet's internal structure, among many other attributes.

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Galileo Probe

#nasa #space #Ganymede #GalileoProbe #science #jupiter

Dot Watch - Feel the time

Dot Watch - Feel the time
The "Dot Watch" is a braille smartwatch for the visually impaired. It not only tells time, but can show app notifications and map directions.

Unlike most assistive smartwatches for the blind which rely on audio prompts, the Dot displays messages four braille characters at a time on its screen.
Its round face displays four cells of six balls each, and allows users to send simple replies or actions back through its two side buttons.

Article:
http://mashable.com/2017/02/22/dot-smartwatch-retails/#k7vTRrTfuaq0

Reference:
https://dotincorp.com/shop/product/dot-watch/

#scitech #research #dotsmartwatch #innovation

Eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis)

Eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis)
The eastern long-necked turtle is an east Australian species of snake-necked turtle that inhabits a wide variety of water bodies and is an opportunistic feeder. It is a side-necked turtle (Pleurodire), meaning that it bends its head sideways into its shell rather than pulling it directly back.When it feels threatened, this turtle will emit an offensive smelling fluid from its musk glands.

References:
http://eol.org/pages/795417/details
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Chelodina_longicollis/

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

#biodiversity #coolcritters #turtle

Our senses can’t learn under stress

Our senses can’t learn under stress
Stress is part of our everyday lives – while some thrive on it, it makes others sick. But what does stress do to our senses?

When we train them, we can sharpen our senses thereby improve our perceptual performance. The stress hormone cortisol completely blocks this important ability. In the current issue of “Psychoneuroendocrinology” neuroscientists of the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) report on this finding.

“Previous research has already shown that stress can prevent the retrieval of memories. But now we have discovered that it also has a major effect on our perception and perceptual learning,” explains Dr Hubert Dinse, one of the authors of the study.

Source:
http://news.rub.de/english/press-releases/2017-01-11-neuroscience-our-senses-cant-learn-under-stress

Journal article:
http://www.psyneuen-journal.com/article/S0306-4530(16)30531-5/fulltext

#neuroscience #stress #cortisol #research #science

GOES-16's Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) captured this electrifying imagery of the lightning associated with...

GOES-16's Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) captured this electrifying imagery of the lightning associated with the recent severe weather over the Mississippi Valley and southern Plains this past weekend.

According to a variety of media reports, the storms caused the deaths of at least 13 people, produced widespread heavy rain resulting in flash floods, high winds that down trees and left thousands without power, a late-season blizzard in Kansas, and several tornadoes.

GLM observes total lightning, including in-cloud and cloud to ground lightning, and will continually observe lightning flashes day and night across the Western Hemisphere. Of particular note in this animation is the horizontal propagation of lightning flashes occurring behind the line of intense storms. Rapid increases of lightning are a signal that a storm is strengthening and could become more dangerous. GLM, in concert with other forecaster tools, will help provide more accurate and earlier warnings of developing severe storms and give communities more time to prepare for impending severe weather.

Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxJTQuWISbk

Source:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES-16

#space #weather #nasa #GOES #GLM #science