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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Did We Forget the Leonids???
Listen to it all Here!
   
Um, in a word, yes. We forgot to mention the current Leonid meteor shower. But, it's not over... you can stay up into the dark hours of the night tonight for more intense meteoric action. Check out the Fluxtimator to discover the best viewing times in your area.
Does Making Memories Involve Erasing Memories?
Usually experiences become memories by first passing through the hippocampus, but then they get moved out to other areas of the brain for long-term storage by a process called consolidation. After a certain period of time, the memory is no longer expressed in the hippocampus. No one knows how this happens. Researchers at the University of Toyama in Japan found that by stopping neurogenesis in the hippocampus memories of a fearful experience were maintained within the hippocampus long after they should have been removed. They also found that voluntary exercise increased the birthrate of neurons and stimulated the turnover and formation of new memories. SO EXERCISE!
Oh Rats!
Abandoned landmines have a general life expectancy of over 50 years. They are dangerous, difficult to disable, and the equipment required is expensive and big. Bart Weejens from Belguim formed an organization called Apopo, which trains rats to seek out land mines in places such as Mozambique, Angloa and the Congo. The rats don't get hurt in the process, they just go out and detect the location of the landmines. An area that take a full day using traditional methods only takes fifteen minutes for the rat.
Hackers Hacking Pacemakers
No one has reported being hacked yet, but manufacturers have started enabling pacemakers with wifi technology so that they can be monitored wirelessly, which poses a potential hacker target. Researchers are developing a system with ultrasound sensing capabilities to verify and sync with any incoming signals to get around the hacker threat.
Grow your Own Breast Implants
New implants developed in Australia: a method of growing a breasts with patients own tissue. They implant a chamber with fat tissue into the breast, and within eight months fat tissue grows and fills the chamber. The procedure could be used to regrow other organs in the future.
A Tale of Two Drugs
Why is it that some drugs work well together, and others don't? Researchers at Harvard Medical school looked at the interactions between the antibiotics Cipro and Tetracycline. Cipro blocks DNA replication forcing the bacteria into a stressed out state, which includes the over-production of ribosomes. Tetracycline blocks protein synthesis and inhibits the ribosome, and therefore, counteracts the effects of Cipro. It was believed that two drugs together are better than one, but obviously this is not always the case.
iCough: Digital Diagnosing
High tech programs that will diagnose by the sound of a cough, for an instant diagnosis. This could cut down on trips to doctors. One quarter of a second of a cough contains distinct sounds the could help doctors diagnose a problem cough over the phone.
Genie in a Needle Builds Muscle
Researchers injected a protein producing transgene into the thigh muscle of primates. This new gene therapy process stimulated muscle growth and increased strength for three months after the treatment. It is being developed as therapy for people with muscle disorders, but there is definite potential for misuse as an athletic enhancement.
Making a Better Electric Car?
If you Could Push a Button and Turn your Current vehicle into an Electric Vehicle, Would You? Engineers have turned a 2002 Scion XB into an electric car. Their project involves analyzing the needs of actual people, and creating cars suited to their particular needs. their goal is to create a system that will use the skeletal system of existing cars in order to make them electric.
Golden Gloves, Golden Ears, or Golden Pipes?
The "golden ear" is closer than it ever was before. Scientists have created mice with a "golden ear." They bred a strain of mice with hearing that gets worse gradually over time with a strain where it stays good, but then gets bad really fast. In a seemingly unexpected turn, the offspring of these two genetic lineages can hear really well into old age. Now we have a new kind of mouse that opens up a new clear window into the aging brain.
Right-handed Chimpanzees and Language.
A recent study suggests there maybe some evolutionary roots between hand gestures and language. The majority of chimps in the study showed right handed gestures in communicating, mostly with humans (they resort to hand gesturing to try to communicate). Humans generally favor the right hand as well. These hand gestures were interpreted as universal gestures, the same as humans might use. The fact that most language functions and the right-handed gestures are controlled by the left hemisphere may point to the behavioral origins of language.
Minion Mailbag
Gary Ritter -- "Cat Lady" has 126 cats, used to be normal and somehow got caught up in the cat life. Was is the Toxoplasma gondii?
Logan Waterman -- proposed a new award show to award "2012" the award for the worst science in a science based movie for the use of the phrase"mutating neutrinos".
TWIS Book Club is currently reading 1491 by Charles C. Mann-- scientific history of the Americas:
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current science news posted by bob at 11/17/2009 10:48:00 AM
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