Scientists r in ur Brain, Messin with ur Neurons
Imagine you’re in a room with only two tables. On each table is a kind of food. One table has a peanut butter jelly sandwich. The other table has a slice of pizza. When you approach the sandwich you consume it quickly. But when you move on to eat the pizza, you’re flooded with bad memories involving pizza; memories which are horrific enough to prevent you from wanting to touch, see, smell, or taste another slice of pizza ever again.
The only thing is – these memories are from events that never actually happened. These memories were implanted by scientists – scientists hellbent on the destruction of all pizza and anything pizza related.
The technology for this sort of memory-manipulation is closer then you may realize. Gero Miesenböck and other researchers from the University of Oxford have located and manipulated the neurons responsible for memory creation in flies. By manipulating these neurons, false memories of bad experiences can be created, causing them to avoid certain odors completely.
In order to locate which neurons are responsible for the creation of bad memories, Miesenböck and his colleagues used a method called “optogenetics.” In optogenetics, a simple flash of light will trigger the release of neuron-specific molecules. By targeting the correct molecules, their associated neurons can then be located and manipulated. In fruit flies, there are only 12 specific neurons that are responsible for “associative learning.” Associative learning is basically any cue that you link to an outcome; such as the ring of a bell linked to a tasty treat for Pavlov’s salivating pooches.
After identifying the neurons associated with this kind of learning, receptors were attached to them that could only be triggered by a specific chemical. The flies were then placed inside a cage, and presented with two odors. One odor was presented with an associated laser flash, the other odor was not. This laser flash activated the chemical that stimulated the receptors in the neurons. When the flies avoided the odor that had been paired with the flash, the researchers realized that the receptors in the neurons had successfully created a bad memory associated with the odor they avoided.
If I may backtrack a bit, the field of optogenetics is fascinating. It’s currently the closest thing we have to total mind control. In a similar study, optogenetics were used to stimulate certain neurons in the brain of a mouse. When the flash of light was turned on, it felt compelled to run around in circles, for no apparent reason. When the light was turned off, the mouse returned to its normal mouse-y duties – being frickin’ adorable and running mindlessly on exercise wheels.
Source: BBC
Pests Repelled with Sticky Fluids
All of your roach woes may soon be eliminated with one simple spray. Roaches secrete a sticky fluid that allows the roaches to travel up cupboards, stick to ceilings and other vertical or slippery surfaces. Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a polymide coating that absorbs part of the roaches’ sticky fluid, which cuts their ability to scale surfaces by about 40 percent. This formula can be sprayed on any surface that you don’t want the creepy crawlies scurrying around on.
Roaches aren’t the only pests being deterred from traveling to their preferred locales. Barnacles and other sea creatures that attach to the hulls of ships are being given their walking papers, too. Lead researcher, Rahul Ganguli, has developed a slime that can be secreted from the hulls of ships. A metal mesh encloses the hull, and as the ooze sifts out of the mesh’s pores, it fills in the gaps and eventually cover the entire hull in a viscous skin. Over time, the ooze wears away, and as it does, it takes away any life that might have started developing on it. It’s a self-cleaning hull; relieving the time consuming and expensive process of bringing in a ship to have its aquatic squatters scraped off.
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Juggling Makes Your Brain Grow
A recent study has shown that jugglers can see as much as a 5 percent increase in the white matter of their brain. White matter is the tissue which passes messages; think of it as a gigantic, efficient cabling network.
Researchers studied the brains of people learning to juggle for six weeks, and found that there were obvious changes in the rear section of the participant’s brains, a section called the intraparietal sulcus. This section contains nerves that control reaching and grasping reactions for objects that are in our peripheral vision.
The changes were directly related to how long the participants spent training, and not linked to how decent they became at juggling. Juggling might not be the only thing that increases white matter, either. Lead researcher, Heidi Johansen-Berg, says that they chose juggling simply because it was a complex task to learn, so I assume that the same results could be found from anything equally difficult, like horseback riding or earning a 0 keeper Yogg-Saron kill.
According to Johansen-Berg, “We tend to think of the brain as being static, or even beginning to degenerate, once we reach adulthood…. In fact we find the structure of the brain is ripe for change. We’ve shown that it is possible for the brain to condition its own wiring system to operate more efficiently.” Researchers say that this is the first time they have found that white matter can be altered.
Source: Discover
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Be the Hottest Fruit Fly in Town
In case you haven’t heard enough news involving fruit flies, fear not, there’s more! This week, scientists have created the sexiest fruit fly in the world; a fruit fly that is so irresistible, in fact, that it attracts flies of the same gender and completely different species.
It’s unknown how flies mate – how they know to choose the right mate, the right gender, the right species. Researchers have previously believed that it was due to a species-specific song and dance routine that male flies performed. Interestingly, the ol’ razzle and dazzle ’em approach has nothing to do with attraction between flies.
Fruit flies send a mix of about 30 pheromones; hormones which typically aid a fly in distinguishing between male and female and flies of other species. Scientists removed pheromone producing cells and came to a startling discovery.
They found that pheromones may not just produce the classic come-hither signals they’re best known for, but may also produce back-off signals. These “back-off” signals may be a key factor in how other males and species interpret the world and distinguish the difference between potential suitors and other species entirely.
A lack of pheromones causes the male and females to be accosted by suitors of all shapes and sizes. There’s a rather funny video here, where one male fly tries to hump the other male fly right in the face. According to Joel Levine, a researcher at University of Toronto: “These findings indicate that the chemical signals outweigh sight and sound in helping a male choose a mating partner, and that female pheromones may also serve as “slow down” or “back off” messages to keep males from getting too amorous.”
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Lauren Admire is grossed out just from looking at a photo of a roach.
