How To Keep Your Brain Smart
“Until just a few years ago we doctors believed that the brain stopped making new neural connections ? meaning that your memory began to get irreversibly worse ? when the body stopped developing usually in your early 20s. And we knew that like any other body part neurons weaken as we age. Loss of brain function due to neural breakdown was assumed to be a normal unavoidable part of aging.
It turns out we were wrong. In the past few years it has become clear that you can in fact make new neurons starting in your 20s and continuing well into old age. You can literally rewire the brain with new parts as the older parts wear out. How? Simple: Keep learning. Just as your body can pack on and condition new muscle your brain can rebuild used-up neurons.
How strong is the evidence for this? Strong enough that a $200 million industry devoted to brain-boosting software ? products like Brain Age MindFit and Lumosity that supposedly improve your memory function ? has sprung up out of nowhere. The jury is still out on whether these programs actually sharpen the noggin as much as they claim to. But frankly you don’t need a fancy video game. All “mental fitness” means is keeping your memory intact ? everything from phone numbers to how to throw a football. So what can you do to stay smart?”
Read more at SFGate
Fetal Recall? Memory In Utero
“When does memory begin? We can’t consciously call up images from our infancy, but we surely learn important, lasting associations at very early ages. New work suggests this type of memory begins even in the womb.
In a study published in July in Child Development, researchers from the Netherlands reported short-term memory in 30- to 38-week-old fetuses. First they put a vibrating, honking device on the abdomens of 93 pregnant women. The fetuses quickly “habituated”—that is, they figured out that the noise was not dangerous. When they heard it again 10 minutes later, they did not squirm and their heart rates did not escalate.”
Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson and the Haitian earthquake crisis
Pat Robertson – southern Baptist and founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and various other religious organisations last week stated that Haiti’s founders had sworn a “pact to the Devil” in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners. He indirectly attributed the earthquake to the consequences of the Haitian people being “cursed” for doing so and said the quake was a “blessing in disguise“.
CBN later issued a statement saying that Robertson’s comments “were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French.” Various prominent voices of mainline Christianity promptly denounced Robertson’s remarks including this two word message from Pastor Chris Owens.
As a faith health he was surrounded in controversy claiming to have the power to deflect hurricanes through prayer. He’s claimed Protestant denominations harbor the spirit of the Antichrist, denounced Hinduism as “demonic” and Islam as “Satanic.” Robertson also had financial ties to former presidents Charles Taylor (Liberia) and Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire), both internationally denounced for their systemic human rights violations.
Robertson also predicted the end of the world in 1982.
Derelict psych hospital buildings in photos
“Chris says, “I recently visited Spring Grove hospital center in Catonsville, MD. Established is 1797, it is one of the country’s oldest psychiatric facilities and it is still (at least partially) in use today. It is a fairly large campus with a variety of buildings (including its own museum). These photos are from one of the buildings that is no longer in use and has become a time capsule of sorts… storing odd relics from the site’s long history. Hair dryers, exercise bikes and a variety of furniture.”"
More Spring Grove Hospital Photos (Thanks SuZi)
From Boing Boing
Do All Animals Sound the Same?
“What do a whale and a frog have in common? According to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, pound for pound, they sound the same. Sounds fishy? I mean, if you’ve ever heard the eerie song of the humpback whale, you know that it don’t sound like no spring peeper.
But scientists at the University of Florida Health Science Center have compared the calls made by 500 different animals, from crickets to crocodiles, and ostriches to chimps. And they find that the basic features of every animal’s cry, such as frequency and duration, depend on the creature’s metabolism. Which, in turn, depends on the animal’s size and body temperature.
And when the calls are adjusted to account for differences in body size and temperature, a whale sounds a lot like a frog. And vice versa for a whale-sized frog.
They think there’s a metabolic link, because energy use affects the nerves and muscles that animals use to sound off. ‘Course we still don’t know what they’re saying. And I’m not getting close enough to ask.”
The above text is an exact transcript of a podcast you can listen to at Scientific American
How To Brag
“No one likes a show-off. But to get ahead in this world, you’re going to need to let at least some people know what you’re capable of. Thankfully Nurit Tal-Or has arrived with a pair of studies that offer some insight into how to brag without coming across as big-headed.
Over a hundred undergrads were presented with the script of a conversation between two people – a ‘show-off’ called Avi who boasted about his A-grade in stats exams, and his friend. Crucially, there were four versions of the conversation, with each undergrad participant reading just one version. In two versions, the friend raised the topic of the exam before he either did or did not ask Avi what grade he got; in the other two versions, Avi first raised the topic of the exam, which either did or did not provoke a question from his friend about his grade. In every version Avi ended up boasting that he got an ‘A+’. Afterwards, the students rated Avi’s character based on the version they’d read.
The crux of it: context is everything when it comes to boasting. If Avi’s friend raised the topic of the exams, Avi received favourable ratings in terms of his boastfulness and likeability, regardless of whether he was actually asked what grade he got. By contrast, if Avi raised the topic of the exams, but failed to provoke a question, then his likeability suffered and he was seen as more of a boaster. In other words, to pull off a successful boast, you need it to be appropriate to the conversation.”
Read more at BPS Research Digest (Thanks SC)
Humphrey Bogart – December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor and cultural icon. In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named him the number one movie legend of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked “Bogie” the greatest male star.
After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart also turned to film. His first great success was as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest. He had been acclaimed for his performance in the play, and his friend Leslie Howard saw to it that he reprised his role in the 1936 film version. Despite rave reviews, Bogart was typecast as a gangster in B-movies. His breakthrough came in 1941, with High Sierra (though he still played a criminal) and The Maltese Falcon.
The next year, his performance in Casablanca finally raised him to the peak of his profession and at the same time, cemented his trademark film persona, that of the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side. Other triumphs followed, including The Big Sleep (1946); Key Largo (1948), opposite his wife Lauren Bacall; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); The African Queen (1951), for which he won his only Academy Award (for Best Actor); and The Caine Mutiny (1954). Altogether, he appeared in 75 feature motion pictures.
The above painting by Derren is available in the art store.
Store Offers a ‘Make Your Own Robot Double’
Folks who envy Japanese scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro and his robot twin could have nabbed their very own mechanical look-alike at a recent New Year special. Organized by a department store called Sogo & Seibu, this promotional event offered to create and sell a mechanical ‘clone’ of the buyer.
The creators of these artificial duplicates were the famous Japanese firm called Kokoro. They are also the geniuses behind the Actroid humanoids, a human-like robot that catered mainly to the entertainment / marketing industry. Regarding this particular doppleganger offer, it was meant as a close enough resemblance of the customer. Thus, the robot twin would exhibit the same physical attributes, from the details of the body and face right down to the hair and eyelashes.
Read more at Weird Asia News
Swedish girl ‘grows back face’
A Swedish teenager has grown back her entire face after an allergic reaction to a single Paracetamol pill caused it to turn black and fall off. Eva Uhlin, aged 19, has recovered her looks after suffering a once-in-a-million allergic reaction to the commonly used household pain killer purchased over the counter. The deadly condition, known as Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, attacked her body causing her skin to blister, burn and to scab.
During her illness parts of her chest, arms, back and stomach fell off. At one point the damage to Miss Uhlin’s face was so bad that her lips grew together. “It felt like something was crawling around under my skin, I was in total shock – it was like something out of a horror film,” she said. “I couldn’t believe what was happening. I had taken Paracetamol many times before.”
Miss Uhlin’s nightmare began in September 2005 when she became ill with a fever on holiday. Then aged 15, she was told to take a couple of Paracetamol tablets to relieve her symptoms but the combination of her virus and the drug created a freak reaction. The teenager, now working as a waitress, woke up the next day to find blisters covering her face and spreading all over the rest of her body. “It was terrifying, because at the time they didn’t know what was wrong with me or what would happen to me,” she said. “When I looked in the mirror for the first time after it happened I didn’t recognise myself.” After years of treatment at Sweden’s University Hospital of Linkoping, Miss Uhlin has finally tried to return to the normal life of teenage girl.
Read more at The Telegraph (Thanks SuZi)
Tenth Dimension
Rather good animation offering an easy (ish) way to conceive of string theory. And some rather good gadgets to browse elsewhere in the site, which I have to confess is how I came across this.
