The US space shuttle has made its final night launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
LINK : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8503690.stmThe US space shuttle has made its final night launch from the Kennedy Space Center in... more
Elastic Water could eventually replace plastic, or be used in an environmentally-safe plastic.
Bernama, a part of the Malaysian National News Agency, reports that Japanese scientists have created “elastic water." Developed at the Tokyo University, the new material consists mostly of water--95-percent--with an added two grams of clay and organic material. The resulting substance resembles jelly, but is extremely elastic and transparent.
The invention was originally revealed last week in the latest issue of the Nature scientific magazine. According to the article, the new material is quite safe for the environment and humans, and may be a “long-term” tool in medical technology, possibly to help wounded or surgically cut tissue to remain closed.
Bernama also reports that--by increasing its density--the new material could be used to produce "ecologically plastic materials," or could replace plastic altogether. This aspect is still under investigation until September 2010. However, if successful, the scientists may have found a way to make the world a little greener.
Scientists have learned that a fear of losing money is tied to a specific structure in the brain.
Caltech neuroscientists discovered the amygdalae, two almond-shaped clusters of tissue located in the medial temporal lobes appear to be involved with emotions related to money.
The finding, described in the latest online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers insight into economic behavior.
Traditionally, the amygdala is known to be involved in emotional reactions and is implicated in depression, anxiety, and autism.
The study involved an examination of two patients whose amygdalae had been destroyed due to a very rare genetic disease. Those patients, along with individuals without amygdala damage, volunteered to participate in a simple “experimental economics task.”
The research team that made these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, first author on the study; Colin Camerer, and Ralph Adolphs.
In the task, the subjects were asked whether they were willing to accept a variety of monetary gambles, each with a different possible gain or loss. For example, participants were asked whether they would take a gamble in which there was an equal probability they’d win $20 or lose $5 (a risk most people will choose to accept) and if they would take a 50/50 gamble to win $20 or lose $20 (a risk most people will not choose to accept).
They were also asked if they’d take a 50/50 gamble on winning $20 or losing $15—a risk most people will reject, “even though the net expected outcome is positive,” Adolphs says.
Both of the amygdala-damaged patients took risky gambles much more often than subjects of the same age and education who had no amygdala damage. In fact, the first group showed no aversion to monetary loss whatsoever, in sharp contrast to the control subjects.
“Monetary-loss aversion has been studied in behavioral economics for some time, but this is the first time that patients have been reported who lack it entirely,” says de Martino.
“We think this shows that the amygdala is critical for triggering a sense of caution toward making gambles in which you might lose,” explains Camerer. This function of the amygdala, he says, may be similar to its role in fear and anxiety.
“Loss aversion has been observed in many economic studies, from monkeys trading tokens for food to people on high-stakes game shows,” he adds, “but this is the first clear evidence of a special brain structure that is responsible for fear of such losses.”Scientists have learned that a fear of losing money is tied to a specific structure in... more
Scientists have unearthed an almost perfectly preserved spider fossil in China dating back to the middle Jurassic era, 165 million years ago. The fossilized spiders, Eoplectreurys gertschi, are older than the only two other specimens known by around 120 million years.
Kids used to dream of being Astronauts, Actors or Train Drivers. I personally wanted to be a Navy Top Gun Pilot.
However Fast Future, a firm which makes a living from predicting what might be about to happen has predicted that our children or even grand children could be dreaming of becoming Body Part makers, Social 'Networking' Workers or even Climate Change Reversal Specialists.
It has compiled a list of 20 new careers it expects to emerge over the next 20 years.Kids used to dream of being Astronauts, Actors or Train Drivers. I personally wanted... more
Active ingredient in cannabis may promote the generation of new neurons in the brain.
"The recent discovery that the hippocampus is able to generate new neurons throughout a human's lifespan has changed the way we think about the mechanisms of psychiatric disorders and drug addiction," says Wen Jian and colleagues in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2005.
It appears that cannabinoids are able to modulate pain, nausea, vomiting, epilepsy, ischemic stroke, cerebral trauma, multiple sclerosis, tumors, and many other disorders. Cannabinoids act on two types of receptors, the CB1 receptors (found mainly in the brain) and the CB2 receptors (found mainly in the immune system). The CB1 receptor is one of the most abundant G protein coupled receptors in the mammalian brain and it accounts for most, if not all, of the centrally mediated effects of cannabinoids. Cannabionoid receptors are evolutionarily conserved amoung various vertebrates and invertebrates which have been separate for 500 million years.
Hippocampal neurogenesis is suppressed following chronic administration of the major drugs of abuse (including opiates, alcohol, nicotine, and cocaine). However, CB1-knockout mice display significantly decreased hippocampal neurogenesis, suggesting that CB1 receptors activated by endogenous, plant-derived, or synthetic cannabinoids may promote hippocampal neurogenesis.
Wen Jiang and colleagues have given the first evidence suggesting that both embryonic and adult hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) express CB1 receptors. Cannabinoids can regulate the proliferation of hippocampal NS/PCs by acting on CB1 receptors. They found that both the synthetic cannabinoid HU210 and the endocannabinoid anandamide profoundly promote embryonic hippocampal NS/PC proliferation.
Chronic, but not acute, HU210 significantly increases the number of newborn hippocampal neurons in adult rats by promoting NS/PC proliferation. These promoting effects are not the outcome of hippocampal neuronal death, as no neuronal loss or dying hippocampal neurons were detected following chronic HU210 injection. A significant increase was observed in the hipoppocampal newborn neurons of mice following twice-daily HU210 injection for 10 days.
It has been shown that acute, high doses of cannabinoids produce anxiety-like effects in rats and depression-like effects in mice. But chronic administration of high, but not low, doses of HU210 exerts anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects. This suggests that cannabinoids are the only illicit drug that can promote adult hippocampal neurogenesis following chronic administration. "This increase in hippocampal neurogenesis underlies the mechanism of anxiolytic- and andtidepressant-like effects produced by a high dose chronic HU210 treatment."
The human race began as microbes brought to Earth by comets millions of years ago according to a British scientist, The Sun reported Wednesday.
British professor Chandra Wickramasinghe said: "We are all aliens. We share a cosmic ancestry.
"Each time a new planetary system forms, a few surviving microbes find their way into comets.
"These then multiply and seed other planets. We are thus part of a connected chain that extends over a large volume of the cosmos. Evidence is pointing inexorably in this direction."
Prof Wickramasinghe, an astrobiologist at Cardiff University, believes the first "seeds of life" were deposited on Earth 3,800 million years ago.
He said life through the universe was transferred from planet to planet over billions of years as comets hit them and pushed matter into space.
But Prof Wickramasinghe accepted that the theory did not explain how life originally came into being.
He and his late colleague - astronomer and science fiction writer Sir Fred Hoyle - championed the theory of panspermia from the 1960s.
It says that life did not start on Earth but was brought here from space.
The professor added: "Although we have no definite knowledge how life started in the first place, once started, its spread in the cosmos and survival is inevitable."
I need to look more into this 'panspermia theory', especially since he's a colleague of Sir Fred Hoyle, whose 'Big Bang Theory' or what I like to call the Vatican's 'Virgin Mary of Science Theory', is something I take great pride in debunking and proving false by promoting the Electric Universe Theory.
Its funny how Immanuel Velikovsky gets scientifically excommunicated for his theories, but Sir Fred Hoyle, Albert Einstein, Newton and Darwin are clinged to so tightly, even when overwhelming evidence can significantly discredit the totality of their arguments.
In addition, what is deemed silly and what is deemed credible by modern standards is so out of whack that even the highest level of governments promote scientific fraud in order to pursue an agenda. The pubic accepts not out of ignorance, but due to a false sense of understanding by allowing a mercenary scientific elite push corporate propaganda: Ex. Global Warming=Carbon Tax.
In 1610, I would have my head chopped off for supporting Galileo; in 2010, I get called a "crazy, conspiracy theorist" and get LOL-ed at by a bunch of brainwashed yuppie flakes and their Project Mockingbird henchmen.The human race began as microbes brought to Earth by comets millions of years ago... more
Illustrator extraordinaire Tomer Hanuka (Juxtapoz cover #84) has turned his hand towards the lustier side of things with two new commissioned works for a wine company that he has also decided to release as a set of prints.
This new set of two limited edition prints will be released this Wednesday, February 10th.
Fierce Allure and Lust Collides are 13″ x 19″ Giclees, each with an edition of 40. They also look pretty sweet on the side of a wine bottle.
More on Tomer Hanuka at www.thanuka.comhttp://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/beauty-is-a-beast-tomer-hanukaARTIST WATCH;
Illustrator extraordinaire Tomer Hanuka (Juxtapoz cover #84) has... more
Liquid glass spray is perhaps the most important nanotechnology product to emerge to date.
The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. Soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass.
The liquid glass coating is breathable, which means it can be used on plants and seeds. Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites.
In the home, spray-on glass would eliminate the need for scrubbing and make most cleaning products obsolete. Since it is available in both water-based and alcohol-based solutions, it can be used in the oven, in bathrooms, tiles, sinks, and almost every other surface in the home, and one spray is said to last a year.Liquid glass spray is perhaps the most important nanotechnology product to emerge to... more
Gene variants that might show how fast people's bodies are actually ageing have been pinpointed by scientists.
LINK : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8500761.stmGene variants that might show how fast people's bodies are actually ageing have... more
Tara McPherson just shared this new in-progress piece with us before she takes off to Brazil. This painting seems to be following in her new direction to incorporate more animals and symbols from various cultures.
Tara told us that her new work this year will explore myths, folktales, and stories from various cultures. In her widely publicized world book tour, Tara was able to travel from Germany to Brazil; Mexico City to France. 2009 was a year of travel for this Queen of Poster Art, and she plans on incorporating new colors, more males, and influential imagery she absorbed while exploring new cultures.
Heroic behaviour among animals is far more common than previously thought, according to scientists.
Creatures including dolphins, monkeys, fruit bats and even ants are all capable of selflessly coming to the rescue of others, researchers found.
Dr Elise Nowbahari, from the University of Paris, said there is mounting evidence that willingness to go to the aid of others at personal risk is common in a range of species and far from a solely human trait.
Dolphins endanger themselves to rescue trapped dolphins, lifting an injured dolphin to the water's surface to help it breathe, she said.
Monkeys will drive away an attacker from a vulnerable female or infants and female fruit bats help other fruit bats in labour to ease the birth.
She also said that ants frequently help other ants from the same colony if they are caught in traps or by a predator – though their heroism does not extend to helping ants from other colonies whose actual cries for help are ignored.
One of the biggest internet hits is a film of buffalo fighting off lions that had attacked one of their young in the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
"We may be underestimating the extent of rescue behaviour in the wild," said Dr Nowbahari, whose work is published in the latest issue of Communicative and Integrative Biology.
"Reports of rescue behaviour in non-human animals are exceedingly rare but is far more common than thought."
She has drawn up a four-point model that could be applied to the behaviour of any creature, including humans, to identify heroic acts.
First, the individual being helped is in distress and unless it escapes on its own it will suffer severe physical harm.
Second, the rescuer places themselves in harm's way by helping.
Third, the rescuer's behaviour is suitable to the circumstances of the victim's distress.
And last, rescuing is not done for any inherent reward.
She said: "Human acts of heroism are often rewarded with medals and commendations, for example. But one needs to distinguish between the reward inherent in the rescuing someone and the reward that may or may not be given if the act is recognised."
Dr Nowbahari and her colleagues now intend to apply the four-point model to a range of non-human animal situations to determine if the rescuer's behaviour was indeed heroic.
By using this detached method she expects to be able to document an enormous range of animals being heroic.Heroic behaviour among animals is far more common than previously thought, according... more
From the article:
People keep asking me for books on evolution for their kids, and I have to keep telling them that there is a major gap in the library.From the article:
People keep asking me for books on evolution for their kids, and I... more
After the clone idea backfires, Mike and Stefan hold interviews for their 3rd member of BangBoomCrash.comAfter the clone idea backfires, Mike and Stefan hold interviews for their 3rd member... more
According to the mirror within three years the dentist drill and painful fillings will be replaced by a pain-free plasma jet that eradicates tooth decay.
Using electrically charged oxygen atoms to obliterate bacteria.
I know this is totally unrelated but I wonder how long we'll have to wait for hoverboards?
Mycologist Paul Stamets studies the mycelium -- and lists 6 ways that this astonishing fungus can help save the world.Mycologist Paul Stamets studies the mycelium -- and lists 6 ways that this astonishing... more
This hilarious video parody is a fly-on-the-wall view of what sometimes happens when a scientific research paper is sent out for peer-review and the mysterious reviewer #3 demands more experiments before the paper is accepted for publication.This hilarious video parody is a fly-on-the-wall view of what sometimes happens when a... more
NASA did redacted editing & cleaning up of the text, to cover what they really said in the written records of the Astronauts conversations.
ALL NASA FOOTAGE USED IN THIS VIDEO IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 § 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED.Astronaut Jokes That Ceiling Cable Supports Wore Out in The Nevada Fake Moon Bay.... more
