Yea, no kidding.

I’m not cool enough to be in this group.

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:09:45 -0400

I’m not cool enough to be in this group.

humansofnewyork: “Before it was all about us. Now it’s all...

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:07:56 -0400

humansofnewyork:

“Before it was all about us. Now it’s all about him.”

nachodiet: sutcliffecateringco: lleveret: flower exposed to...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:36:47 -0400

nachodiet:

sutcliffecateringco:

lleveret:

flower exposed to radiation from Fukushima nuclear facility Japan

this makes me incredibly uncomfortable

eesh

fack

Creepy! “flower exposed to radiation from Fukushima nuclear facility Japan”

"[TW: domestic violence] The other question everybody asks is, why doesn’t she just leave? Why..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:39:03 -0400

“[TW: domestic violence] The other question everybody asks is, why doesn’t she just leave?...

Starting Blogging 101- need help

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:22:51 -0400

I’ve been having some good ideas lately that I think would be useful to put into writing....

currrentbiology: Cleveland Clinic researchers discover new link...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:19:39 -0400

currrentbiology:

Cleveland Clinic researchers discover new link between heart disease and red meat

A compound abundant in red meat and added as a supplement to popular energy drinks has been found to promote atherosclerosis — or the hardening or clogging of the arteries — according to Cleveland Clinic research published online this week in the journal Nature Medicine. The study shows that bacteria living in the human digestive tract metabolize the compound carnitine, turning it into trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite the researchers previously linked in a 2011 study to the promotion of atherosclerosis in humans. Further, the research finds that a diet high in carnitine promotes the growth of the bacteria that metabolize carnitine, compounding the problem by producing even more of the artery-clogging TMAO.

theatlantic: The Secret Life of Cats: What You Can Learn By...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:55:04 -0400

theatlantic:

The Secret Life of Cats: What You Can Learn By Putting a GPS on Your Kitty

A new book documents one family’s quest to understand their pet with the aid of technology.

Read more. [Images: Wendy MacNaughton]

Thinking of my husband as I read these Spy Store Notes. Have you seen his wishlist?

wwdtm: Everybody’s moonlighting these days. [via Dave Barry’s...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:51:11 -0400

wwdtm:

Everybody’s moonlighting these days.

[via Dave Barry’s blog]

theatlantic: Margaret Thatcher’s Trailblazing Career, in...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:41:42 -0400

theatlantic:

Margaret Thatcher’s Trailblazing Career, in Photos

[Images: AP, MargaretThatcher.org]

theatlantic: What Do Support For Gay Marriage and the Decline...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:55:21 -0400

theatlantic:

What Do Support For Gay Marriage and the Decline of Marriage Have to Do With Each Other?

The relationship between gay marriage and unwed moms isn’t a thing. Let’s stop trying to make it a thing.

No joke here- it’s April 1st and the trees are still naked in DC. A few Cherry Blossoms, and...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:30:40 -0400

No joke here- it’s April 1st and the trees are still naked in DC. A few Cherry Blossoms, and...

"I was by myself for a pretty long time. I needed to do that. I think everyone that I know has wanted..."

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:25:13 -0400

“I was by myself for a pretty long time. I needed to do that. I think everyone that I know has...

Sixth Engine mixing table (at Sixth Engine)

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 23:04:39 -0400

Sixth Engine mixing table (at Sixth Engine)

Can’t wait to replicate…

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:08:34 -0400

Can’t wait to replicate…

I don’t do well being “in between” things in life.

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:23:31 -0400

I don’t do well being “in between” things in life.

currrentbiology: Want to Make an Alligator Angrier Than Normal?...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:28:33 -0400

currrentbiology:

Want to Make an Alligator Angrier Than Normal? Make It Use a Treadmill (Wired)

Alligators, crocodiles, and gharials aren’t known for their easygoing nature—and they get even less friendly when you force them to run on a treadmill. But it’s worth it, because watching crocodilians exercise might teach us how dinosaurs breathed. Crocs and dinos are distant cousins and likely share some physiology.

Poor Croc. Clearly it would have been happier to just fall off and then lie still on the floor below.

currrentbiology: neurosciencestuff: Study indicates reverse...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:54:39 -0400

currrentbiology:

neurosciencestuff:

Study indicates reverse impulses clear useless information, prime brain for learning

When the mind is at rest, the electrical signals by which brain cells communicate appear to travel in reverse, wiping out unimportant information in the process, but sensitizing the cells for future sensory learning, according to a study of rats conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

The finding has implications not only for studies seeking to help people learn more efficiently, but also for attempts to understand and treat post-traumatic stress disorder—in which the mind has difficulty moving beyond a disturbing experience.

During waking hours, brain cells, or neurons, communicate via high-speed electrical signals that travel the length of the cell. These communications are the foundation for learning. As learning progresses, these signals travel across groups of neurons with increasing rapidity, forming circuits that work together to recall a memory.

It was previously known that, during sleep, these impulses were reversed, arising from waves of electrical activity originating deep within the brain. In the current study, the researchers found that these reverse signals weakened circuits formed during waking hours, apparently so that unimportant information could be erased from the brain. But the reverse signals also appeared to prime the brain to relearn at least some of the forgotten information. If the animals encountered the same information upon awakening, the circuits re-formed much more rapidly than when they originally encountered the information.

“The brain doesn’t store all the information it encounters, so there must be a mechanism for discarding what isn’t important,” said senior author R. Douglas Fields, Ph.D., head of the Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NIH institute where the research was conducted. “These reverse brain signals appear to be the mechanism by which the brain clears itself of unimportant information.”

Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers studied the activity of rats’ brain cells from the hippocampus, a tube-like structure deep in the brain. The hippocampus relays information to and from many other regions of the brain. It plays an important role in memory, orientation, and navigation.

The classic understanding of brain cell activity is that electrical signals travel from dendrites—antenna-like projections at one end of the cell—through the cell body. From the cell body, they then travel the length of the axon, a single long projection at the other end of the cell. This electrical signal stimulates the release of chemicals at the end of the axon, which bind to dendrites on adjacent cells, stimulating these recipient cells to fire electrical signals, and so on. When groups of cells repeatedly fire in this way, the electrical signals increase in intensity.

Dr. Bukalo and her team examined electrical signals that traveled in reverse—from the cell’s axon, to the cell body, and out its many dendrites. This reverse firing happens during sleep and at rest, appearing to reset the cell, the researchers found.

After first stimulating the cells with reverse electrical impulses, the researchers next stimulated the dendrites again with electrical impulses traveling in the forward direction. In response, the neurons generated a stronger signal, with the connections appearing to strengthen with repeated electrical stimulation.

This pattern appears to underlie the formation of new memories. A connection that is reset but never stimulated again may simply fade from use over time, Dr. Bukalo explained. But when a cell is stimulated again, it fires a stronger signal and may be more easily synchronized to the reinforced signals of other brain cells, all of which act in concert over time.

What a brilliant brain have we!

This might explain why I am terrible at remembering moments or what people call “making memories”. It’s something that only happens once, and if erased at night, would not be reformed and become stronger because the moment doesn’t happen again…hmmmm.

The inexplicable and unending annoyance that comes from realizing a section if your hair in the back...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:07:30 -0400

The inexplicable and unending annoyance that comes from realizing a section if your hair in the back...

literallyunbelievable: This is sick They know!… Glad to...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:21:04 -0400

literallyunbelievable:

This is sick

They know!… Glad to see I’m not the only one after his head! lol.

I’d like to thank my iTunes for putting together a ride-home playlist with some true gems in...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:10:48 -0400

I’d like to thank my iTunes for putting together a ride-home playlist with some true gems in...