Weekly Science Headlines

[Telarus]

http://termcoord.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/pictish-written-language-discovered-in-scotland/

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That's beautiful.

[Telarus]

Yes, I was very impressed by that line-work. The article and the linked paper are pretty damn interesting too.

[Telarus]

More busting the "adult brains stop growing" myth:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-nuclear-tests-brain-20130606,0,6051133.story

Neuroscientists have shifted from an old view that you'll never have more neurons than you had when your brain was a pup. Studies have suggested that adult brains generate new neurons, particularly in the hippocampus, an area crucial to learning and memory.

It's been hard to tell how many neurons are generated and if they are viable cells, because humans are not fond of having their brains removed. So a lot of the research uses mice and other animals.

Enter dead people and the carbon-14 isotope. The latter is a "heavy" carbon variant produced in nuclear reactions, such as blowing up a nuclear device out in the Pacific Ocean, a practice that was banned by treaty in 1963. Since photosynthesis doesn't discriminate among carbon atoms it uses, vegetables, fruit and everything that eats them carry a signature ratio of carbon isotopes from the early Cold War atmosphere.

So researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute measured the carbon ratios in gray matter that doesn't matter anymore: donated brains of dead people. They calculated that as many as 1,400 new neurons had been added to these hippocampuses every day during adulthood.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

More busting the "adult brains stop growing" myth:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-nuclear-tests-brain-20130606,0,6051133.story

Neuroscientists have shifted from an old view that you'll never have more neurons than you had when your brain was a pup. Studies have suggested that adult brains generate new neurons, particularly in the hippocampus, an area crucial to learning and memory.

It's been hard to tell how many neurons are generated and if they are viable cells, because humans are not fond of having their brains removed. So a lot of the research uses mice and other animals.

Enter dead people and the carbon-14 isotope. The latter is a "heavy" carbon variant produced in nuclear reactions, such as blowing up a nuclear device out in the Pacific Ocean, a practice that was banned by treaty in 1963. Since photosynthesis doesn't discriminate among carbon atoms it uses, vegetables, fruit and everything that eats them carry a signature ratio of carbon isotopes from the early Cold War atmosphere.

So researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute measured the carbon ratios in gray matter that doesn't matter anymore: donated brains of dead people. They calculated that as many as 1,400 new neurons had been added to these hippocampuses every day during adulthood.

Dude cooooool!

[Junkenstein]

Chopping off your deficient meat limbs takes another step forward:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/27/terminator-robot-hand-video

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Chopping off your deficient meat limbs takes another step forward:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/27/terminator-robot-hand-video

You noticed the date on that, right?

Like, it's cool, but robot arms have come a ways since then.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/06/cutting-edge-technology-helps-woman-who-lost-hand-during-sandy/

[Junkenstein]

I didn't.

Link appreciated, it's one of the few benefits to constant wars that this kind of stuff gets fairly constant funding.

[Junkenstein]

Had to check that this wasn't satire:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23059461

In a blog post on BitTorrent's website, vice president of marketing Matt Mason wrote: "We don't host infringing content. We don't point to it.

"It's literally impossible to illegally download something on BitTorrent.

"To pirate stuff, you need more than a protocol. You need search, a pirate content site and a content manager. We offer none of those things.

"If you're using BitTorrent for piracy, you're doing it wrong."

Sounds like someone's gearing up to sue. While technically correct, I doubt that this defence will do much good. Probably worth keeping an eye on.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/07/human-powered-helicopter-prize/

The Canadian AeroVelo team has done what many thought impossible. The crew has officially claimed the American Helicopter Society's Igor I. Sikorsky Human-Powered Helicopter Prize. And for keeping their lightweight contraption afloat, the team was awarded $250,000 in Toronto for the flight it completed on June 13. But meeting the criteria of a 33-year-old challenge takes time, so they had to wait for verification from the Federation d'Aviation Intenationale before the team could snag the prize.

Engineer Dr. Todd Reichert, along with Cameron Robertson, led the Kickstarter-funded team largely comprised of students from the University of Toronto. He was also the pilot and engine who successfully pedaled his way into aviation history by climbing above three meters and flying for at least 60 seconds while staying within a 10-by-10 meter area. Reichert, a nationally ranked speed skater in Canada, told us after so many flights and failures, the prize-winning attempt almost didn't happen.

Video at the link. Bloody marvellous. Looks like something Vinci sketched out too.

[Salty]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730091255.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

Online psychotherapy as good, if not better than, face to face psychotherapy.

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730091255.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

Online psychotherapy as good, if not better than, face to face psychotherapy.

I'm smelling business opportunity, Alty.

[Salty]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730091255.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

Online psychotherapy as good, if not better than, face to face psychotherapy.

I'm smelling business opportunity, Alty.

Yes. I have always wanted to help people's brains.

Actually, a friend of mine just finished a M.S. in Psychology and is going to work with me doing life coaching. I may try to do something similar, but more like fitness coaching.

This lends a lot of credibility to the flexibility of such programs. She was already planning on Skype sessions.

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730091255.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

Online psychotherapy as good, if not better than, face to face psychotherapy.

I'm smelling business opportunity, Alty.

Yes. I have always wanted to help people's brains.

Actually, a friend of mine just finished a M.S. in Psychology and is going to work with me doing life coaching. I may try to do something similar, but more like fitness coaching.

This lends a lot of credibility to the flexibility of such programs. She was already planning on Skype sessions.

You're not nearly evil enough, dude.

Roger's Online Mental Health Diagnostics EXTRAVAGANZA! 

We must be CRAZY to offer these rates!

[Salty]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730091255.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

Online psychotherapy as good, if not better than, face to face psychotherapy.

I'm smelling business opportunity, Alty.

Yes. I have always wanted to help people's brains.

Actually, a friend of mine just finished a M.S. in Psychology and is going to work with me doing life coaching. I may try to do something similar, but more like fitness coaching.

This lends a lot of credibility to the flexibility of such programs. She was already planning on Skype sessions.

You're not nearly evil enough, dude.

Roger's Online Mental Health Diagnostics EXTRAVAGANZA! 

We must be CRAZY to offer these rates!

Oh man, if I could manage I would make a MINT.

I'd just have stock answers on a dartboard and charge $99.99 per half hour Power Session.