my serendipities

"In our interaction with our environment we constantly refer to past experiences stored as memories..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:42:19 +0200

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In our interaction with our environment we constantly refer to past experiences stored as memories to guide behavioral decisions. But how memories are formed, stored and then retrieved to assist decision-making remains a mystery. By observing whole-brain activity in live zebrafish, researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have visualized for the first time how information stored as long-term memory in the cerebral cortex is processed to guide behavioral choices.

The mammalian brain is too large to observe the whole neural circuit in action. But using a technique called calcium imaging, Aoki et al. were able to visualize for the first time the activity of the whole zebrafish brain during memory retrieval. Calcium imaging takes advantage of the fact that calcium ions enter neurons upon neural activation. By introducing a calcium sensitive fluorescent substance in the neural tissue, it becomes possible to trace the calcium influx in neurons and thus visualize neural activity. The researchers trained transgenic zebrafish expressing a calcium sensitive protein to avoid a mild electric shock using a red LED as cue. By observing the zebrafish brain activity upon presentation of the red LED they were could visualize the process of remembering the learned avoidance behavior.

They observe spot-like neural activity in the dorsal part of the fish telencephalon, which corresponds to the human cortex, upon presentation of the red LED 24 hours after the training session. No activity is observed when the cue is presented 30 minutes after training. In another experiment, Aoki et al. show that if this region of the brain is removed, the fish are able to learn the avoidance behavior, remember it short-term, but cannot form any long-term memory of it. “This indicates that short-term and long-term memories are formed and stored in different parts of the brain. We think that short-term memories must be transferred to the cortical region to be consolidated into long-term memories,” explains Dr. Aoki.

”

- Researchers visualize memory formation for the first time in zebrafish

"Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:21:58 +0200

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Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to become embryonic stem cells capable of transforming into any other cell type in the body. It is believed that stem cell therapies hold the promise of replacing cells damaged through injury or illness. Diseases or conditions that might be treated through stem cell therapy include Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cardiac disease and spinal cord injuries.

The technique used by Drs. Mitalipov, Paula Amato, M.D., and their colleagues in OHSU’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, is a variation of a commonly used method called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. It involves transplanting the nucleus of one cell, containing an individual’s DNA, into an egg cell that has had its genetic material removed. The unfertilized egg cell then develops and eventually produces stem cells.

“A thorough examination of the stem cells derived through this technique demonstrated their ability to convert just like normal embryonic stem cells, into several different cell types, including nerve cells, liver cells and heart cells. Furthermore, because these reprogrammed cells can be generated with nuclear genetic material from a patient, there is no concern of transplant rejection,” explained Dr. Mitalipov.

Another noteworthy aspect of this research is that it does not involve the use of fertilized embryos, a topic that has been the source of a significant ethical debate.

”

- Human skin cells converted into embryonic stem cells: First time human stem cells have been produced via nuclear transfer

"Women’s immune systems age more slowly than men’s, suggests research in BioMed..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:19:28 +0200

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Women’s immune systems age more slowly than men’s, suggests research in BioMed Central’s open access journal Immunity & Ageing. The slower decline in a woman’s immune system may contribute to women living longer than men.

Researchers looked at the blood of healthy volunteers in Japan, ranging in age between 20 and 90 years old; in both sexes the total number of white blood cells per person decreased with age. The number of neutrophils decreased for both sexes and lymphocytes decreased in men and increased in women. Younger men generally have higher levels of lymphocytes than similarly aged women, so as aging happens, the number of lymphocytes becomes comparable.

This difference in the aging of immune systems between men and women is one of many processes which alter as we grow older. Prof Katsuiku Hirokawa from the Tokyo Medical & Dental University Open Laboratory explained, “The process of aging is different for men and women for many reasons. Women have more oestrogen than men which seems to protect them from cardiovascular disease until menopause. Sex hormones also affect the immune system, especially certain types of lymphocytes. Because people age at different rates a person’s immunological parameters could be used to provide an indication of their true biological age.”

”

- Women’s immune systems remain younger for longer

"The song, “Get Happy,” famously performed by Judy Garland, has encouraged people to..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:13:12 +0200

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The song, “Get Happy,” famously performed by Judy Garland, has encouraged people to improve their mood for decades. Recent research at the University of Missouri discovered that an individual can indeed successfully try to be happier, especially when cheery music aids the process.

“Our work provides support for what many people already do — listen to music to improve their moods,” said lead author Yuna Ferguson, who performed the study while she was an MU doctoral student in psychological science. “Although pursuing personal happiness may be thought of as a self-centered venture, research suggests that happiness relates to a higher probability of socially beneficial behavior, better physical health, higher income and greater relationship satisfaction.”

“The Hedonic Adaptation Prevention model, developed in my earlier research, says that we can stay in the upper half of our ‘set range’ of potential happiness as long as we keep having positive experiences, and avoid wanting too much more than we have,” said Sheldon. “Yuna’s research suggests that we can intentionally seek to make mental changes leading to new positive experiences of life. The fact that we’re aware we’re doing this, has no detrimental effect.”

”

- Trying to be happier works when listening to upbeat music

"Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:36:07 +0200

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Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetites, sleep, moods and much more. But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression—even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells. It’s the first direct evidence of altered circadian rhythms in the brain of people with depression, and shows that they operate out of sync with the usual ingrained daily cycle.

What’s more, the research also reveals a previously unknown daily rhythm to the activity of many genes across many areas of the brain – expanding the sense of how crucial our master clock is. In a normal brain, the pattern of gene activity at a given time of the day is so distinctive that the authors could use it to accurately estimate the hour of death of the brain donor, suggesting that studying this “stopped clock” could conceivably be useful in forensics. By contrast, in severely depressed patients, the circadian clock was so disrupted that a patient’s “day” pattern of gene activity could look like a “night” pattern—and vice versa.

”

- Body clocks of depressed people altered at cell level, researchers show

wired: npr: This is Canadian astronaut Commander Chris...

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:18:29 +0200

wired:

npr:

This is Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield, performing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” while floating around the International Space Station. You may have last seen the space station team walking around in outer space fixing stuff.

You will never do anything this cool.

— ‘Space Oddity’ In Space: Yes, Astronauts Are Still The Coolest Humans : Monkey See

This is one of many reasons why Col. Hadfield is one of our favorite-est people in (above?) the world.

"We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is..."

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:09:35 +0200

“We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.”

- Richard Feynman, born on May 11, 1918, on the role of scientific culture in modern society – timeless, remarkably timely read.

Pair with how ignorance drives science.

(via explore-blog)

This is my guy. Thanks for the inspiration Dr. Feynman.

(via jtotheizzoe)

"Many people express objections against child labor, exploitation of the workforce or meat production..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:10:55 +0200

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Many people express objections against child labor, exploitation of the workforce or meat production involving cruelty against animals. At the same time, however, people ignore their own moral standards when acting as market participants, searching for the cheapest electronics, fashion or food. Thus, markets reduce moral concerns.

In addition, in markets with many buyers and sellers, subjects may justify their behavior by stressing that their impact on outcomes is negligible. “This logic is a general characteristic of markets,” says Prof. Falk. Excuses or justifications appeal to the saying, “If I don’t buy or sell now, someone else will.” For morally neutral goods, however, such effects are of minor importance. Nora Szech explains: “For goods without moral relevance, differences in decisions between the individual and the market conditions are small. The reason is simply that in such cases the need to share guilt or excuse behavior is absent.”

”

- Do markets erode moral values? People ignore their own moral standards when acting as market participants, researchers say

"The adult brain continues to grow with the challenges that it faces; its changes are linked to the..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:07:39 +0200

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The adult brain continues to grow with the challenges that it faces; its changes are linked to the development of personality and behavior. But what is the link between individual experience and brain structure? Why do identical twins not resemble each other perfectly even when they grew up together? To shed light on these questions, the scientists observed forty genetically identical mice that were kept in an enclosure offering a large variety of activity and exploration options.

“Though the animals shared the same life space, they increasingly differed in their activity levels. These differences were associated with differences in the generation of new neurons in the hippocampus, a region of the brain that supports learning and memory,” says Kempermann. “Animals that explored the environment to a greater degree also grew more new neurons than animals that were more passive.”

Adult neurogenesis, that is, the generation of new neurons in the hippocampus, allows the brain to react to new information flexibly. With this study, the authors show for the first time that personal experiences and ensuing behavior contribute to the „individualization of the brain.” The individualization they observed cannot be reduced to differences in environment or genetic makeup.

“Our findings show that development itself contributes to differences in adult behavior. This is what many have assumed, but now there is direct neurobiological evidence in support of this claim. Our results suggest that experience influences the aging of the human mind.”

“When viewed from educational and psychological perspectives, the results of our experiment suggest that an enriched environment fosters the development of individuality,” comments Lindenberger.

”

- How individuality develops: Experience leads to growth of new brain cells

"A curator ingests, analyzes and contextualizes web content and information of a particular nature..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:15:04 +0200

“A curator ingests, analyzes and contextualizes web content and information of a particular nature onto a platform or into a format we can understand. In other words, a curator is like that person at the beach with the metal detector, surfacing items and relics of perceived value. Only, a web curator shares those gems of content with their online audiences. And since people create 571 new websites every minute, tweet 175 million times per day and upload 48 hours of new video each minute, a curator’s work is never done. It seems everywhere you look on the web, a different kind of curation is cropping up. Do you use Pinterest or Tumblr? Believe it or not, you’re a social curator — or you’re following users who are. These social platforms are as much about repinning and reblogging content from other people (curation) as they are sharing your own ideas (creation).”

- If You Use the Web, You Are a ‘Curator’

"People who experience warmer, more upbeat emotions may have better physical health because they make..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:06:08 +0200

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People who experience warmer, more upbeat emotions may have better physical health because they make more social connections, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The research, led by Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Bethany Kok of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences also found it is possible for a person to self-generate positive emotions in ways that make him or her physically healthier.

“The daily moments of connection that people feel with others emerge as the tiny engines that drive the upward spiral between positivity and health,” Fredrickson explains.

These findings add another piece to the physical health puzzle, suggesting that positive emotions may be an essential psychological nutrient that builds health, just like getting enough exercise and eating leafy greens.

“Given that costly chronic diseases limit people’s lives and overburden healthcare systems worldwide, this is a message that applies to nearly everyone, citizens, educators, health care providers, and policy-makers alike,” Fredrickson observes.

”

- Social connections drive the ‘upward spiral’ of positive emotions and health

"There will be more mobile subscriptions than people in the world by the end of next year, according..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:01:12 +0200

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There will be more mobile subscriptions than people in the world by the end of next year, according to a UN agency report. The International Telecoms Union predicts that subscriptions will pass seven billion early in 2014. There are currently 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions and 7.1 billion people. The ITU World in 2013 report also found that more than a third of the global population are online. The Commonwealth of Independent States, the alliance of countries formerly in the Soviet Union, has the highest mobile penetration with 1.7 subscriptions for every person. Africa has the least, with 63 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

The report also found that 2.7 billion people, almost 40% of the world’s population, are online.

Europe has the highest penetration (75%), followed by the Americas (61%). Asia has 32% of its population online, Africa 16%.

ITU secretary-general Hamadoun Toure said the progress was “extraordinary” but that more needed to be done.

“Two-thirds of the world’s population, some 4.5 billion people, is still offline,” he said.

”

- BBC News - Mobiles ‘to outnumber people next year’, says UN agency

"It is in our nature to need stories. They are our earliest sciences, a kind of people-physics. Their..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:14:55 +0200

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It is in our nature to need stories. They are our earliest sciences, a kind of people-physics. Their logic is how we naturally think. They configure our biology, and how we feel, in ways long essential for our survival. Like our language instinct, a story drive—an inborn hunger for story hearing and story making—emerges untutored universally in healthy children. Every culture bathes their children in stories to explain how the world works and to engage and educate their emotions. Perhaps story patterns could be considered another higher layer of language. A sort of meta-grammar shaped by and shaping conventions of character types, plots, and social-rule dilemmas prevalent in our culture.

They are simulated experiments in people-physics, freeing us from the limits of our own direct experience.

The “human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor,” says Jonathan Haidt. Certainly we use logic inside stories better than we do outside.

Stories configure contextual triggers and the expected emotional reactions of our culture—perhaps defining a sort of emotional grammar.

Any story we tell of our species, any science of human nature, that leaves out much of what and how we feel is false. Nature shaped us to be ultra-social, and hence to be sharply attentive to character and plot. We are adapted to physiologically interact with stories. They are a key way in which our ruly culture configures our nature.

”

- It Is in Our Nature to Need Stories | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

"A new study suggests that your level of sleepiness or alertness during the day may be related to the..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:10:01 +0200

“A new study suggests that your level of sleepiness or alertness during the day may be related to the type of food that you eat. Results show that higher fat consumption was associated with increased objective daytime sleepiness, while higher carbohydrate intake was associated with increased alertness. There was no relationship between protein consumption and sleepiness or alertness. These findings were independent of the subjects’ gender, age, and body mass index as well as the total amount of sleep they were getting and their total caloric intake.”

- Diet linked to daytime sleepiness and alertness in healthy adults

"New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:07:33 +0200

“New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with ageing, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia. Champagne has relatively high levels of phenolics compared to white wine, deriving predominantly from the two red grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, which are used in its production along with the white grape Chardonnay. It is these phenolic compounds which are believed to be responsible for the beneficial effects of champagne on the brain.”

- Scientists reveal drinking champagne could improve memory

"Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure, cut the risk of heart attack and stroke..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:03:51 +0200

“Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure, cut the risk of heart attack and stroke - and even prolong life, a study suggests. Production of this pressure-reducing compound - called nitric oxide - is separate from the body’s manufacture of vitamin D, which rises after exposure to sunshine. Until now it had been thought to solely explain the sun’s benefit to human health, the scientists add.”

- Sunshine could benefit health and prolong life, study suggests

"The primary influence on the way technologists have come to think about the future since the turn of..."

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:55:15 +0200

“The primary influence on the way technologists have come to think about the future since the turn of the century is their direct experience of digital networks through consumer electronics. It only takes a few years, not a lifetime, for a young person to experience Moore’s Law–like changes.”

- Jaron Lanier on the Cheap Treats and Religious Emotion of Moore’s Law | Wired Opinion | Wired.com

"In a twist straight out of the movie Inception, a duo of developers from Brooklyn, New York, have..."

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:54:31 +0200

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In a twist straight out of the movie Inception, a duo of developers from Brooklyn, New York, have built a sleeping mask designed to allow people to have lucid dreams that they can control. While it may look like a standard sleeping mask, Remee has been billed as a special REM (Rapid Eye Movement) enhancing device that is supposed to help steer the sleeper into lucid dreaming by making the brain aware that it is dreaming. The goal of the product is to allow people to have the dreams of their choice, from driving a race car to flying to having lunch with Abraham Lincoln.

The inside of the sleeping mask features a series of six red LED lights that are too faint to wake the sleeper up, but visible enough for the brain to register them. The lights can be programed to produce a sequence designed by the user.

Sleep stages are divided into two main categories: non-REM and REM. People go back and forth between these stages throughout the night, with REM stages, where most dreaming occurs, lasting the longest towards morning.

Remee apparently notices these longer REM stages and ‘enters’ the dream via the flashing lights. The device will wait for four to five hours for the sleeper to get into the heavy REM stages before the red lights turn on.

The idea is simple: you are playing a perfect round of golf in a dream, and you see a pattern of red lights flashing in the distance.

Because the pattern is in a particular sequence, it would signal to you that you are dreaming, not unlike the totem object in Inception.

Once you realize you are in a dream, you can then decide what happens next, whether it be a quick trip to Antarctica or time travel.

Rather than encumbering the mask with buttons and controls, its inventors set up a website called sleepwithremee.com where users can adjust the setups, such as when to start the light sequence and when to repeat it. The intensity of the lights can also be changed.

”

- Dream come true! Two ‘mad scientists’ create sleep mask that lets people CONTROL their dreams | Mail Online

"In fact, multitasking is a misnomer. In most situations, the person juggling e-mail, text messaging,..."

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:54:50 +0200

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In fact, multitasking is a misnomer. In most situations, the person juggling e-mail, text messaging, Facebook and a meeting is really doing something called “rapid toggling between tasks,” and is engaged in constant context switching. As economics students know, switching involves costs. But how much?

We expected the Interrupted group to make some mistakes, but the results were truly dismal, especially for those who think of themselves as multitaskers: during this first test, both interrupted groups answered correctly 20 percent less often than members of the control group.

In other words, the distraction of an interruption, combined with the brain drain of preparing for that interruption, made our test takers 20 percent dumber.

But in Part 2 of the experiment, the results were not as bleak. This time, part of the group was told they would be interrupted again, but they were actually left alone to focus on the questions.

Again, the Interrupted group underperformed the control group, but this time they closed the gap significantly, to a respectable 14 percent. Dr. Peer said this suggested that people who experience an interruption, and expect another, can learn to improve how they deal with it.

But among the On High Alert group, there was a twist. Those who were warned of an interruption that never came improved by a whopping 43 percent, and even outperformed the control test takers who were left alone. This unexpected, counterintuitive finding requires further research, but Dr. Peer thinks there’s a simple explanation: participants learned from their experience, and their brains adapted.

Clifford Nass, a Stanford sociologist who conducted some of the first tests on multitasking, has said that those who can’t resist the lure of doing two things at once are “suckers for irrelevancy.” There is some evidence that we’re not just suckers for that new text message, or addicted to it; it’s actually robbing us of brain power, too.

What the Carnegie Mellon study shows, however, is that it is possible to train yourself for distractions, even if you don’t know when they’ll hit.

”

- A Focus on Distraction - NYTimes.com

"The cure for gray hair is coming. That’s right, the need to cover up one of the classic signs..."

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:42:13 +0200

“The cure for gray hair is coming. That’s right, the need to cover up one of the classic signs of aging with chemical pigments will be a thing of the past thanks to a team of European researchers. In a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal people who are going gray develop massive oxidative stress via accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the hair follicle, which causes our hair to bleach itself from the inside out, and most importantly, the report shows that this massive accumulation of hydrogen peroxide can be remedied with a proprietary treatment developed by the researchers described as a topical, UVB-activated compound called PC-KUS (a modified pseudocatalase). What’s more, the study also shows that the same treatment works for the skin condition, vitiligo.”

- Gray hair and vitiligo reversed at the root