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Showing posts with label Amazing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazing. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Mind Blowing Fact About Atoms!
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SO MUCH DNA!!!!!!!!!!
DNA is a code in our bodies that is responsible for how our body operates. It controls how we grow what functions our organs do and how we differ from others.The human cell contains 23 DNA molecules each containing between 500,000 to 2,500,000 nucleotide pairs. When uncoiled these molecules are 5 cm long on average. In our bodies there are 37,000,000,000,000 (trillion) cells. So if you uncoil all of the DNA in your body and lay it end to end the distance it would stretch over would be 200,000,000,000,000 meters long which is enough to complete thee round trip from Pluto to the sun about 17 times. ( the round trip is 12,000,000,000,000 which if you divide the 2 distances would give you 16.6666666666667 round trips)
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Saturday, April 30, 2016
Creating False Memories
Neuroscientists in France have implanted false memories into the brains of sleeping mice. Using electrodes to directly stimulate and record the activity of nerves cells, they made artificial associative memories that lasted while the animals slept and then influenced their behavior when they woke up.
Manipulating memories by messing with brain cells is nothing new in neuroscience labs. In 2014, one team of researchers used a technique called optogenetics to label the cells encoding fearful memories in the mouse brain and switch them on and off, and another used it to identify the cells encoding positive and negative memories, so that they could change positive memories into negative ones and vice versa.
This new work, published March 9, 2015 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows for the first time that artificial memories can be put into the brains of sleeping animals. It also gives scientists more details about how populations of nerve cells encode spatial memories and the important role that slep plays in making these memories stronger.
Karim Benchenane of the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris and his colleagues put electrodes into the brains of 40 mice, targeting the medial forebrain bundle(MFB), a component of the reward circuitry which has at least 3 different cells types that encode the memories needed for spatial navigation. Then they left the mice to explore their environment and monitored the responses of their neurons to identify place cells, each of which fired when one of the animals was in a specific location in their surroundings. In one experiment, performed on 5 awake mice, they timed the electrical stimulation of the MFB to correspond with the firing of a specific place cell.
This paired stimulation gave the mice a false memory. The mice linked the MFB stimulation with the specific location encoded by the cell, and thus spent 4- to 5-times more time in that location than two control mice who received MFB stimulation that did not correspond with a place cell firing. Place cells are known to 'replay' their activity patterns during sleep, and this is thought to strengthen newly formed memories.
To research further, the researchers repeated their experiments in 5 sleeping mice. Having already identified place cells while the mice explored their environment, the researchers let them fall asleep, and then paired the firing of each selected place cell in each one with the stimulation of the MFB. Later on, these mice, as well, showed a large preference for that specific location. In contrast, the control mice, who received random MFB stimulation that was not paired with the firing of a place cell wandered around with no liking to any particular place.
Even so, other work shows that false memories can be implanted into the human brain without advanced technology. In a recent study, nearly 3/4 of participants reported having in depth false memories of a crime they didn't commit.
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Manipulating memories by messing with brain cells is nothing new in neuroscience labs. In 2014, one team of researchers used a technique called optogenetics to label the cells encoding fearful memories in the mouse brain and switch them on and off, and another used it to identify the cells encoding positive and negative memories, so that they could change positive memories into negative ones and vice versa.
This new work, published March 9, 2015 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows for the first time that artificial memories can be put into the brains of sleeping animals. It also gives scientists more details about how populations of nerve cells encode spatial memories and the important role that slep plays in making these memories stronger.
Karim Benchenane of the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris and his colleagues put electrodes into the brains of 40 mice, targeting the medial forebrain bundle(MFB), a component of the reward circuitry which has at least 3 different cells types that encode the memories needed for spatial navigation. Then they left the mice to explore their environment and monitored the responses of their neurons to identify place cells, each of which fired when one of the animals was in a specific location in their surroundings. In one experiment, performed on 5 awake mice, they timed the electrical stimulation of the MFB to correspond with the firing of a specific place cell.
This paired stimulation gave the mice a false memory. The mice linked the MFB stimulation with the specific location encoded by the cell, and thus spent 4- to 5-times more time in that location than two control mice who received MFB stimulation that did not correspond with a place cell firing. Place cells are known to 'replay' their activity patterns during sleep, and this is thought to strengthen newly formed memories.
To research further, the researchers repeated their experiments in 5 sleeping mice. Having already identified place cells while the mice explored their environment, the researchers let them fall asleep, and then paired the firing of each selected place cell in each one with the stimulation of the MFB. Later on, these mice, as well, showed a large preference for that specific location. In contrast, the control mice, who received random MFB stimulation that was not paired with the firing of a place cell wandered around with no liking to any particular place.
Even so, other work shows that false memories can be implanted into the human brain without advanced technology. In a recent study, nearly 3/4 of participants reported having in depth false memories of a crime they didn't commit.
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The Neurobiology Behind Individuality
When a group of genetically identical mice lived together in the same complex for three months, mice that explored their surroundings more broadly grew more new neurons than those who were less adventurous, according to a study published May 9, 2013 in Science Magazine. This link between inquiring behaviors and the adult growth and development of nervous tissue shows that brain plasticity can be shaped by experience and suggests that this may promote individuality, even in genetically identical organisms.
Scientists have long tired to tackle the question of how individual differences in behavior and personality develop in terms of the way genes and the individual's surroundings interact. "But there is next to nothing [known] about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individuality" says Gerd Kempermann of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Dresden.
A logical way to study this would be to look at how the brain's structure and function change over time (the brain's plasticity). This plasticity is hard to study, though, because it takes place mostly at the synaptic level, so Kempermann and his colleagues decided to look at the growth of new neurons in the adult hippocampus, which can be found easily. Earlier studies have shown that activity increases the adult growth an development of nervous tissue in groups of genetically identical mice, but there were differences between individuals in the amount of neuron growth.
To find out why, Kempermann and his colleagues housed 40 genetically identical female inbred mice in a 5-square meter, 5-level enclosure filled with different sorts of objects made to encourage activity and exploration. The mice were tagged with radio-frequency-infer-red transponders and had 20 antennas in the complex that caught their every movement. After 3 months, the researchers assessed the growth and development of nervous tissue in the mice by counting their fast-multiplying precursor cells, which had been numbered before the study began.
The researchers saw that individual differences in exploratory behavior corresponded with individual differences in the numbers of new neurons generated. "To our knowledge, it's the first example of a direct link between individual behavior and individual brain plasticity," said Kempermann.
However, be cautious about putting all the differences on their surroundings. Even though the mice in the study were genetically the same, they were not behaviorally identical to begin with. It is clear that some variation happens at an extremely early stage, making the mice more or less likely to explore.
These findings could help explain why human identical twins raised in the environment end up with different personalities.
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Scientists have long tired to tackle the question of how individual differences in behavior and personality develop in terms of the way genes and the individual's surroundings interact. "But there is next to nothing [known] about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individuality" says Gerd Kempermann of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Dresden.
A logical way to study this would be to look at how the brain's structure and function change over time (the brain's plasticity). This plasticity is hard to study, though, because it takes place mostly at the synaptic level, so Kempermann and his colleagues decided to look at the growth of new neurons in the adult hippocampus, which can be found easily. Earlier studies have shown that activity increases the adult growth an development of nervous tissue in groups of genetically identical mice, but there were differences between individuals in the amount of neuron growth.
To find out why, Kempermann and his colleagues housed 40 genetically identical female inbred mice in a 5-square meter, 5-level enclosure filled with different sorts of objects made to encourage activity and exploration. The mice were tagged with radio-frequency-infer-red transponders and had 20 antennas in the complex that caught their every movement. After 3 months, the researchers assessed the growth and development of nervous tissue in the mice by counting their fast-multiplying precursor cells, which had been numbered before the study began.
The researchers saw that individual differences in exploratory behavior corresponded with individual differences in the numbers of new neurons generated. "To our knowledge, it's the first example of a direct link between individual behavior and individual brain plasticity," said Kempermann.
However, be cautious about putting all the differences on their surroundings. Even though the mice in the study were genetically the same, they were not behaviorally identical to begin with. It is clear that some variation happens at an extremely early stage, making the mice more or less likely to explore.
These findings could help explain why human identical twins raised in the environment end up with different personalities.
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Thursday, April 7, 2016
The Honey Badger
Thursday, May 14, 2015
The Shape Shifting Rain Frog!
This is a newly found species discovered on the slopes of the western Andes. These creatures are amazing because it can shape its form into something else like an octopus to blend in the with its surroundings in its swamp like environment in under 5 minutes. This is the first vertebrate that can shape shift which is super cool.
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