What is Life

Faith found to reduce errors on psychological test

2009-05-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

At least for one type of test, belief in God can help reduce mistakes and anxiety, according to new research that also shows distinct brain activity patterns in believers.

In two studies led by University of Toronto psychologist Michael Inzlicht, participants performed a Stroop task, a well-known psychological test that asseses cognitive control. Meanwhile, electrodes measured brain activity in the test-takers.

Compared to non-believers, Inzlicht found, religious participants showed significantly less activity in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex. This structure is believed to help modify behavior by signaling when attention and control are needed, usually as a result of some anxiety-producing event like making a mistake.

The stronger their religious zeal and faith, the less cell activity in that zone—and the fewer errors subjects made, Inzlicht and colleagues reported. They detailed the findings in the current online issue of the research journal Psychological Science.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090306_god

Language of music may really be universal

2009-05-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Africans who have never listened to radio can pick up on emotions in Western music, according to a new report.

Native Africans who have never listened to the radio before can nonetheless pick up on happy, sad, and fearful emotions in Western music, according to a new report. The result shows that the expression of those three basic emotions in music can be universally recognized, the researchers said.

“These findings could explain why Western music has been so successful in global music distribution, even in music cultures that do not as strongly emphasize the role of emotional expression in their music,” said Thomas Fritz of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090320_music

A seat of wisdom in the brain?

2009-05-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Two researchers have compiled what they say is the first scholarly review of the basis in the brain of wisdom—once the sole province of religion and philosophy.

The study by Dilip V. Jeste and Thomas W. Meeks of the University of California, San Diego, was published in the research journal Archives of General Psychiatry on April 6.

“Defining wisdom is rather subjective, though there are many similarities in definition across time and cultures,” said Jeste, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. But “our research suggests that there may be a basis in neurobiology for wisdom’s most universal traits.”

Wisdom has been defined over centuries and civilizations to encompass numerous psychological traits. Components of wisdom are commonly agreed to include such attributes as empathy, compassion or altruism, emotional stability, self-understanding, and pro-social attitudes, including a tolerance for others’ values.

“But questions remain: is wisdom universal, or culturally based?” said Jeste. “Is it uniquely human, related to age? Is it dependent on experience or can wisdom be taught?”

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090424_wisdom

12 Surprising And Productive Brain Exercises

2008-12-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

Dorothea Brande was an American writer and editor, well known for her books Wake Up and Live and Becoming a Writer (a useful resource for writers, by the way).

In Wake Up and Live, she suggests twelve mental exercises to make your mind keener and more flexible. These exercises are meant to pull you out of your usual habits and to put you in situations that will demand resourcefulness and creative problem-solving. Brande argues that only by testing and stretching yourself can you develop mental strength.

Even apart from the goals of creativity and mental flexibility, Brande's exercises make sense from a happiness perspective. One thing is clear: novelty and challenge bring happiness. People who stray from their routines, try new things, explore, and experiment tend to be happier than those who don't. Of course, as Brande herself points out, novelty and challenge can also bring frustration, anxiety, confusion, and annoyance along the way; it's the process of facing those challenges that brings the "atmosphere of growth" so important to happiness. (It's the First Splendid Truth: to be happy, you must think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.)

I have to confess that I've tackled just a few of Brande's mental exercises - #6 and #10 - and only because they come naturally to me, which is hardly in the spirit of the exercises. I keep toying with the idea of trying the others. Maybe I'll do them for Happiness Project II.

Here are Dorothea Brande's twelve mental exercises. Note: she wrote these in 1936, so you need to adapt of few of them.

1. Spend an hour each day without saying anything except in answer to direct questions, in the midst of the usual group, without creating the impression that you're sulking or ill. Be as ordinary as possible. But do not volunteer remarks or try to draw out information.

2. Think for 30 minutes a day about one subject exclusively. Start with five minutes.

3. Write a letter without using the words I, me, mine, my.

4. Talk for 15 minutes a day without using I, me, my, mine.

5. Write a letter in a "successful" or placid tone. No misstatements, no lying. Look for aspects or activities that can be honestly reported that way.

6. Pause on the threshold of any crowded room and size it up.

7. Keep a new acquaintance talking about himself or herself without allowing him to become conscious of it. Turn back any courteous reciprocal questions in a way that your auditor doesn't feel rebuffed.

8. Talk exclusively about yourself and your interests without complaining, boasting, or boring your companions.

10. Plan two hours of a day and stick to the plan.

11. Set yourself twelve tasks at random: e.g., go twenty miles from home using ordinary conveyance; go 12 hours without food; go eat a meal in the unlikelist place you can find; say nothing all day except in answer to questions; stay up all night and work.

12. From time to time, give yourself a day when you answer "yes" to any reasonable request.

If you'd like to read a more lengthy explanation of the twelve disciplines, or about Brande's explanation for these exercises, go here and search for Chapter 11 - Twelve Disciplines.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-rubin/12-surprising-and-product_b_147769.html

Same gene, different results

2008-11-09T05:10:00.000-08:00

Scientists are learning to their surprise that a single gene very often functions differently in different parts of the body.

Genes generally work by producing some molecule that serves a given function in the body. However, scientists have long known one gene can produce slightly different forms of the same molecule, by skipping or including certain alternative bits of genetic code.

The new research indicates this phenomenon, known as alternative splicing, is far more prevalent and varies more between tissues than previously believed. Nearly all human genes, about 94 percent, generate more than one form of their products, researchers reports in the Nov. 2 online edition of the research journal Nature.

“A decade ago, alternative splicing of a gene was considered unusual, exotic… it turns out that’s not true at all,” said Christopher Burge, senior author of the paper and a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Human genes typically contain several “exons,” or DNA sequences that code for amino acids, the building blocks of large molecules called proteins. A single gene can produce multiple sequences of amino acids, depending on which exons are included in the instructions that travel from the gene to a cell’s protein-building machinery.

Two different forms of the same protein, known as isoforms, can have different, even opposite functions. For example, one protein may set in motion chains of events that lead cells to commit suicide when necessary. A close relative of the same protein may instead promote longer cell survival.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/081102_genes

Mind-Reading Game Headset to Hit Market

2008-10-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

March 7, 2008 -- Imagine controlling a video game by thought alone. Two weeks ago at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Emotiv Systems showcased a new device, the Epoc, designed to help you do just that.

While Emotiv's futuristic, dueling-octopus looking headset will initially be developed for video games, it could eventually be used in medicine, virtual reality, robotics, education and many other areas.

The technology is based on electroencephalography, more commonly known as EEG. EEG has been around for over 100 years and is currently used to study sleep patterns and epilepsy by analyzing electrical activity in the brain. Until recently, though, EEG readings were regarded as too broad for most applications.

The breakthrough, notes Emotiv Systems' President Tan Le, is in the software algorithm that decodes a person's thoughts by analyzing the electrical impulses in the brain.

Many brain signals originate deep inside the brain and radiate outward. By time the signal reaches the outside of the brain, or cerebral cortex, the brain can appear to be firing randomly.

Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/03/07/mind-control-games.html

Helmet to Convey Messages by Thought

2008-10-28T05:38:00.001-07:00

Oct. 13, 2008 -- Vocal cords were overrated anyway. A new Army grant aims to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone. No need to type an email, dial a phone or even speak a word.

Known as synthetic telepathy, the technology is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG. Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought.

"I think that this will eventually become just another way of communicating," said Mike D'Zmura, from the University of California, Irvine and the lead scientist on the project.

"It will take a lot of research, and a lot of time, but there are also a lot of commercial applications, not just military applications," he said.

The idea of communicating by thought alone is not a new one. In the 1960s, a researcher strapped an EEG to his head and, with some training, could stop and start his brain's alpha waves to compose Morse code messages.

Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/13/thought-helmet.html

Circadian Rhythm Affects Memory

2008-10-28T05:37:00.001-07:00

Most people become aware of their internal circadian clock when they cross several time zones and experience jet lag, but scientists have known for decades that the rhythm of the internal human clock regulates almost every biological system.

Now researchers at Stanford University have shown that when the circadian system breaks down, so does memory. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, biologist Norman Ruby found that hamsters with disabled circadian systems were, unlike "normal" hamsters, unable to remember their environment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/circadianrhythmaffectsmemory

DNA as Topological Quantum Computer

2008-10-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 12, 2008 2:50 PM
From: matpitka@mappi.helsinki.fi

Dear Vic,

There is a series of 8 articles about TGD inspired theory of
consciousness and quantum biology including a summary of quantum TGD
as it stands now. I think that the easiest way to add these articles
is that You load them from theses addresses as pdfs rather than
attaching them to email. If this is not ok, I can send them also as
attachments.

"Topological Geometrodynamics: What Might Be the First Principles"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/tgd2008.pdf

"TGD Inspired Theory of Consciousness"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/tgdconsc.pdf

"TGD Inspired Quantum Model of Living Matter"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/quantumbio.pdf

"DNA as Topological Quantum Computer"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/dnatqcart.pdf

"Evolution in Many-Sheeted Space-time"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/prebiotic.pdf

"A Model for Protein Folding and Bio-Catalysis"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/foldcatalyst.pdf

"The Notion of Wave-Genome and DNA as Topological Quantum Computer"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/gari.pdf

"Quantum Model for Nervepulse and EEG"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/pulseeg.pdf

Also I would like to add two additional articles.

"About the Nature of Time"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/time.pdf

and

"Water Memory and the Realization of Genetic Code at Elementary
Particle Level"
http://www.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/articles/nuclearcode.pdf

The first article represents a model for water memory and homeopathic
mechanism based on nuclear string model, DNA as topological quantum
computer model, and the notion of dark matter as large hbar phases
and nuclear string model. The rather astonishing result is a direct
connection between biology and elementary particle physics: neutral
dark baryons are in 1-1 correspondence with DNA and RNA nucleotides,
and aminoacids and dark nuclear strings therefore realize vertebrate
genetic code exactly. I have constructed a handful of models
reproducing code: this model however predicts it correctly. Chemical
realization of genetic code can be seen as special representations of
something much deeper realized at the level of dark nuclear physics
and perhaps even ordinary nuclear physics.

Second article represents the TGD based view about time. After a work
of decade I dare say that I finally understand at the level of details
how the arrow of geometric time reflects the arrow of experienced time
identified as a sequence of quantum jumps. Consciousness is absolutely
essential for this understanding and also the assumptions that
space-time are surfaces and macroscopic and
macrotemporal quantum coherence.

With Best Regards,
M Pitkanen
matpitka@mappi.helsinki.fi

UK experts say Stonehenge was place of healing

2008-10-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

LONDON - The first excavation of Stonehenge in more than 40 years has uncovered evidence that the stone circle drew ailing pilgrims from around Europe for what they believed to be its healing properties, archaeologists said Monday.

Achaeologists Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill said the content of graves scattered around the monument and the ancient chipping of its rocks to produce amulets indicated that Stonehenge was the primeval equivalent of Lourdes, the French shrine venerated for its supposed ability to cure the sick.

An unusual number of skeletons recovered from the area showed signs of serious disease or injury. Analysis of their teeth showed that about half were from outside the Stonehenge area.

"People were in a state of distress, if I can put it as politely as that, when they came to the Stonehenge monument," Darvill told journalists assembled at London's Society of Antiquaries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080922/ap_on_sc/eu_britain_stonehenge

Faster genetic test for flu virus approved

2008-10-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

ATLANTA - The government approved a new genetic test for the flu virus Tuesday that will allow labs across the country to identify flu strains within four hours instead of four days.

The new test was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Applied Biosystems Inc. of Foster City, Calif. The Food and Drug Administration approved the test kit Tuesday, and state health labs are expected to start using it this fall.

CDC officials celebrated it as a potential lifesaver, especially if the nation is hit by a pandemic of bird flu or some other mutant influenza.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_he_me/med_fast_flu_test;_ylt=AqFU1uHy9xvIJ4xy.Ys.oZi9j7AB

Glucosamine and chondroitin don't slow arthritis

2008-09-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two hugely popular supplements used to fight arthritis and joint pain, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, do not seem to work any better than placebo to slow the loss of knee cartilage in osteoarthritis, researchers reported on Monday.

But the researchers said some of their findings were confusing and said more study was needed.

"At two years, no treatment showed what we determined to be a clinically important reduction in joint space width loss," said Dr. Allen Sawitzke of the University of Utah School of Medicine, who helped lead the study.

The study, funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, confirms other findings showing the supplements have few or no effects.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080929/hl_nm/us_arthritis_supplements;_ylt=AlQT3kQjZXzkMxxRoHKjXdER.3QA

Three more blind patients helped by gene therapy

2008-09-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three more patients treated with an experimental gene therapy approach have reported better vision, U.S. researchers reported on Monday in a study that lends further support to the approach.

The patients, all in their early 20s, reported markedly better vision after getting the treatment, Artur Cideciyan and James Wilson of the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues reported.

"Day vision improvement could range up to 50-fold from pre-treatment levels. Night vision was quite dramatic and ranged up to 63,000 times" better, Cideciyan said in a telephone interview.

Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, lend weight to similar results from rival teams all treating the same condition -- Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA.

The condition is caused by a mutation in a gene called RPE65, and experts have long thought it is a good target for gene therapy. Gene therapy is an experimental field of medicine that aims to correct diseases by replacing faulty genes.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080922/hl_nm/blindness_genetherapy_dc

“Smoothest” mirror could lead to new microscopes

2008-09-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Physicists have created the smoothest surface ever made, called a “quantum stabilised atom mirror,” according to this week’s edition of the research journal Advanced Materials.

The scientists from the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies in Nanoscience say the innovation is being used to design the world’s first atomic microscope.

The mirror is designed to reflect beams of atoms. One of the study’s authors, Rodolfo Miranda of the Autonomous University, said the mirror reflects “extraordinarily well” most of these atoms, through the use of materials of near-zero thickness whose properties are dominated by quantum, or atomic-scale effects.

The mirror resembles a curved wafer. It is made up of a thin silicon crystal with a thickness of one-twentieth of a millimeter, and covered with a layer of lead one or two millionths of a millimeter thick.

To study the reflection on this metal, the scientists used helium atoms. Until now mirrors made solely from silicon reflected one percent of helium atoms, but by adding the layer of lead they have managed to achieve a reflection of up to 67 percent, the scientists reported.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080922_mirror

Government probes chelation-heart disease study

2008-09-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

The largest alternative medicine study the government has ever launched has stopped enrolling people while officials investigate whether participants were fully informed of the risks and are being adequately protected, The Associated Press has learned.

The research was designed to test very high doses of vitamin and mineral supplements and chelation, which has not been proved effective for heart disease. Chelation (pronounced kee-LAY-shun) involves intravenous doses of a drug, in this case disodium EDTA, that proponents claim will bind to calcium built up in artery walls and help flush it from the body.

Conventional treatments for heart disease include medicines, surgery and artery-clearing angioplasty.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_he_me/med_heart_study_probe

Stressed plants produce an aspirin-like chemical

2008-09-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Aspirin is among the most popular remedies used by people. Turns out some plants like it, too. Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research were surprised to discover that stressed plants produce an aspirin-like chemical that can be detected in the air above the plants. The chemical may be a sort of immune response that helps protect the plants, the scientists speculated.

According to the researchers, the finding raises the possibility that farmers, forest managers and others may eventually be able to start monitoring plants for early signs of a disease, an insect infestation or other types of stress.

"Unlike humans, who are advised to take aspirin as a fever suppressant, plants have the ability to produce their own mix of aspirin-like chemicals, triggering the formation of proteins that boost their biochemical defenses and reduce injury," NCAR scientist Thomas Karl, the lead researcher, said in a statement.

"Our measurements show that significant amounts of the chemical can be detected in the atmosphere as plants respond to drought, unseasonable temperatures or other stresses."

While researchers had known that plants in the laboratory produce a form of aspirin known as methyl salicylate, they had never looked for it in the forest.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/story/ap/20080918/ap_on_sc/sci_plants_aspirin

Bivacuum Mediated Interaction, as a Bridge between Normal and Paranormal

2008-09-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am glad to inform you that just yesterday evening I submitted to arXiv big part of my new book:

Unified Theory of Bivacuum, Particles Duality, Time & Fields. Bivacuum Mediated Interaction, as a Bridge between Normal and Paranormal

http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0103031

I hope you find there something interesting ;-)

Best wishes.

Alex Kaivarainen
==================

summary

The coherent physical theory of Psi phenomena is absent till now due to its high complexity and multilateral character. The original mechanism of Bivacuum mediated Psi phenomena, proposed here, is based on few stages of my long term efforts. They include creation of new theories: 1) Unified theory of Bivacuum, matter and fields duality, mass and charge origination as a result of Bivacuum fermions symmetry shift, fusion of elementary particles from sub-elementary fermions and dynamic mechanism of their corpuscle-wave [C - W] duality; 2) New quantitative Hierarchic theory of liquids and solids; 3) Elementary act of consciousness or cycle of mind; 4) Theory of Virtual Replica (VR) of material objects in Bivacuum (virtual hologram); 5) Theory of nonlocal Virtual Guides (VirG)of spin, momentum and energy - constructed from virtual Cooper pairs of Bivacuum fermions and antifermions, interacting side-by-side. The bundles of VirG, connecting coherent particles of Sender (S) and Receiver (R), are responsible for macroscopic entanglement and mediate different kinds of Psi phenomena. The 3D net of VirG forms part of Virtual Replica of any macroscopic object, interacting with other objects with similar properties in non equilibrium conditions. The correctness of our Unified Theory (UT) follows from its ability to explain a lot of unconventional experimental data, like remote vision, mind-matter interaction, etc. without contradictions with fundamental laws of nature.

“Junk DNA” key to human evolution?

2008-09-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

Scientists have identified a handful that they say may have contributed to the evolutionary changes that enabled people to use tools and walk upright.
The findings suggest our evolution may have been driven not only by changes in genes, but in areas of the genome once thought of as “junk DNA,” the researchers said.

The results come from a comparative analysis of the human, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and other genomes reported in the Sept. 5 issue of the research journal Science. The scientists noted alterations in this DNA that activated genes in primordial thumb and big toe in a mouse embryo.

“Our study identifies a potential genetic contributor to fundamental morphological [structural] differences between humans and apes,” said Yale University geneticist James Noonan, the senior author.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080904_upright

Peru archaeologists find pre-Inca sacrificial tomb

2008-09-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

LIMA, Peru - Archaeologists in Peru say they have discovered the jawbone of a fetus among the remains of a sacrificed woman in a pre-Inca tomb, suggesting the Lambayeque culture practiced the atypical sacrifice of pregnant women and their children.
In all, Wester La Torre's team reported finding the remains of seven women in two tombs at the Chotuna Chornancap archaeological site, each showing signs of having been cut at the throat.

The sacrifice of a pregnant woman "is very unusual" in the pre-Inca world, said respected Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva, who was not involved in the discovery.

"The concept of fertility was well respected, so this could represent a sacrifice for a very important religious event," he said Wednesday.

Chotuna Chornancap is a sacred site of the Lambayeque culture, which flourished in northern Peru between 800 and 1350 A.D.

Wester La Torre said he believes the sacrifices were made to honor the reconstruction of the temple at Chotuna Chornancap or an important member of the Lambayeque culture possibly buried nearby.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_on_sc/peru_pre_inca_tomb

Strange New Source of Bladder Pain Discovered

2008-09-13T03:29:00.000-07:00

A painful bladder condition known as interstitial cystitis is not at all what it seemed, scientists have discovered.

The pain seems to originate not in the bladder but in the colon, and the body miscommunicates the source of the pain to the brain. The finding could open up new treatments to the roughly 1.3 million U.S. residents, mostly women, who suffer from the condition.

Among other causes, spicy food, citrus and caffeine are causes of interstitial cystitis. The pain can be debilitating. Patients typically also feel an urgent need to urinate up to 50 times a day.

"This disease has a devastating effect on people's lives," said David Klumpp, principal investigator and assistant professor of urology at the Feinberg School at Northwestern University. "It affects people's relationships with family and friends." Klumpp said some women who suffer from this become so depressed, they attempt suicide.

Researchers had long believed the spike in the patients' symptoms was triggered when foods they had digested produced chemicals in the urine that irritated the bladder.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080911/sc_livescience/strangenewsourceofbladderpaindiscovered

Study helps unlock secrets of how the brain sees

2008-09-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists who tricked monkeys by swapping images of sailboats for teacups have figured out how the brain learns to recognize objects, a finding that could lead to robots that "see."

"One of the central questions of how the brain recognizes objects and faces is that you never essentially see the same image twice," said James DiCarlo, an associate professor of neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He said humans have no trouble recognizing a dog, regardless of whether it is running, lying down, wagging its tail or begging for food.

"The pattern of light in your eyes is never the same when you view your wife or your dog, yet you can still recognize that as the person or creature that you love," said DiCarlo, whose research appears on Thursday in the journal Science.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080911/sc_nm/brain_vision_dc

Key to a Good Memory: Forget a Few Things

2008-09-13T03:27:00.001-07:00

Childhood memories might best be kept in a photo album, not in your mind. Turns out, storing old memories can make you forget an important appointment or what you needed to buy at the store today.

Too many long-term memories make it hard to properly filter new information and process short-term memories, according to a study last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"In our world, we are constantly bombarded by new information so we are constantly filtering, and if we did not do this, we would be overwhelmed," said study team member Gaël Malleret of Columbia University Medical Center.

The new research indicates that those with better working memory may have fewer new neurons being developed in their hippocampus—a region of the brain involved in formation of memories. This "helps them forget old and useless information sooner and enables them to take in new information faster,” Malleret said.

Researchers previously believed that growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, known as neurogenesis, was beneficial to memory.

But the results of the new study, in which Malleret and colleagues suppressed nuerogenesis in two independent groups of mice, showed improved working memory—short term memory that maintains a limited amount of information relevant to the task at hand.

The mice had to locate food within areas in a maze. Those with suppressed neurogenesis made better choices and found the food faster.

"We were surprised to find that halting neurogenesis caused an improvement of working memory, which suggests that too much memory is not always a good thing, and that forgetting is important for normal cognition and behavior," Malleret said.

The researchers believe that the findings could eventually help those battling with memory dysfunctions.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/health/070409_memory_overload.html

Humans Have Astonishing Memories, Study Finds

2008-09-13T03:25:00.000-07:00

If human memory were truly digital, it would have just received an upgrade from something like the capacity of a floppy disk to that of a flash drive. A new study found the brain can remember a lot more than previously believed.
In a recent experiment, people who viewed pictures of thousands of objects over five hours were able to remember astonishing details afterward about most of the objects.

Though previous studies have never measured such astounding feats of memory, it may be simply because no one really tried.

"People had never tested whether people could remember this much detail about this many objects," said researcher Timothy Brady, a cognitive neuroscientist at MIT. "Nobody actually pushed it this far."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080909/sc_livescience/humanshaveastonishingmemoriesstudyfinds

How Tiny Life Could Power the Future

2008-09-13T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hydrogen is the cleanest and most abundant fuel there is, but extracting it from water or organic material is currently not a very efficient process. Scientists are therefore studying certain bacteria that exhale hydrogen as part of their normal metabolism.

"The production of hydrogen by microorganisms is intimately linked to their cellular processes, which must be understood to optimize bioenergy yields," said Amy VanFossen of North Carolina State University.

Of particular interest are microbes that thrive in hot temperatures, near the boiling point of water. VanFossen and her colleagues carried out a detailed DNA study of one of these thermophilic (heat-loving) bacteria called Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus, which was first found in a hot spring in New Zealand.

The results, presented last week at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia, indicate which genes allow C. saccharolyticus to eat plant material, referred to as biomass, and expel hydrogen in the process.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080827/sc_livescience/howtinylifecouldpowerthefuture

People is happier

2008-09-13T03:22:00.000-07:00

The 2008 World Values Survey found that freedom of choice and tolerance—and not simply wealth—have lots to do with a rise in happiness

Happiness hunters have done it again. They've used an army of pollsters and a mountain of data to uncover the world's happiest countries. But this year, there are some unexpected winners—for unexpected reasons.

The World Values Survey, which has compiled data from 350,000 people in 97 countries since 1981, found Denmark to be home to the planet's most contented citizens (again) with Zimbabwe as the most miserable (again). Classic Scandinavian front-runners like Sweden and Finland were nudged out of the top 10 by Puerto Rico and Colombia. El Salvador placed a surprising 11th, beating out Malta and Luxembourg. Further down the list came the U.S., ranked in 16th place.

Directed by University of Michigan political scientist Ronald Inglehart and administered from Stockholm, the survey found that freedom of choice, gender equality, and increased tolerance are responsible for a considerable rise in overall world happiness. The results shatter the more simplistic and traditionally accepted notion that wealth is the determining factor, says Inglehart.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2008/gb20080820_874593.htm

Washington’s doctors absolved

2008-09-13T03:21:00.000-07:00

Poor medical care didn’t kill George Washington, a new study concludes—his final illness was a hopeless situation.

The death of the U.S. founding father from a throat infection at 67 triggered an immediate and still-smouldering debate over whether doctors contributed to his demise, in particular through their copious blood extractions. Bloodletting was standard medical practice then, though it was already questioned in some quarters.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/080819_washington

Cows seem to know which way is north

2008-09-13T03:20:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Talk about animal magnetism, cows seem to have a built-in compass. No bull: Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world.

Most cattle that were grazing or resting tended to align their bodies in a north-south direction, a team of German and Czech researchers reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

And the finding held true regardless of what continent the cattle were on, according to the study led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall of the faculty of biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.

"The magnetic field of the Earth has to be considered as a factor," the scientists said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080825/ap_on_sc/sci_cow_compass

Scientists: century-old drug might cure Parkinson’s,

2008-09-13T03:17:00.000-07:00

A study with mice suggests a century-old drug, methylene blue, could slow or even cure Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in small doses, researchers say.

“To find that such a common and inexpensive drug can be used to increase and prolong the quality of life by treating such serious diseases is truly exciting,” said Bruce Ames, a co-author of the study at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, in California.

In very low concentrations—the equivalent of a few raindrops in four Olympic-sized swimming pools—the drug slows cellular aging and enhances the function of cellular “power plants” called mitochondria, the experimenters said.

Their results appeared in the March issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal.

Source: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080818_blue