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Monday, December 9, 2013

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fibre, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fibre of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons.[1] The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors. Silks are produced by several other insects, but generally only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacturing. There has been some research into other silks, which differ at the molecular level.[2] Many silks are mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, but some adult insects such as webspinners produce silk, and some insects such as raspy crickets produce silk throughout their lives.[3] Silk production also occurs in Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), silverfish, mayflies, thrips, leafhoppers, beetles, lacewings, fleas, flies and midges.[2] Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders (see spider silk).

Friday, December 6, 2013

I'm 2.6% Neanderthal

Got my 23and Me results back. Got Neanderthal DNA? An estimated 2.6% of your DNA is from Neanderthals. Trey Duffy (you) 2.6% 26th percentile Average European user 2.7% MODERN HUMANS Higher brow Narrower shoulders Slightly taller NEANDERTHALS Heavy eyebrow ridge Long, low, bigger skull Prominent nose with developed nasal chambers for cold-air protection

Blue Brain Project

The Blue Brain Project is an attempt to create a synthetic brain by reverse-engineering the mammalian brain down to the molecular level. The aim of the project, founded in May 2005 by the Brain and Mind Institute of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, is to study the brain's architectural and functional principles. The project is headed by the founding director Henry Markram and co-directed by Felix Schürmann and Sean Hill. Using a Blue Gene supercomputer running Michael Hines's NEURON software, the simulation does not consist simply of an artificial neural network, but involves a biologically realistic model of neurons.[1][2][3] It is hoped that it will eventually shed light on the nature of consciousness.[3] There are a number of sub-projects, including the Cajal Blue Brain, coordinated by the Supercomputing and Visualization Center of Madrid (CeSViMa), and others run by universities and independent laboratories.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Alpha Bravo Charlie

NATO Phonetic Alphabet Letter phonetic letter A Alpha B Bravo C Charlie D Delta E Echo F Foxtrot G Golf H Hotel I India J Juliet K Kilo L Lima M Mike N November O Oscar P Papa Q Quebec R Romeo S Sierra T Tango U Uniform V Victor W Whiskey X X-ray Y Yankee Z Zulu

Dave Elman (Hypnotist 1920’s)

Dave Elman (1900–1967) is primarily known today as an author of a book on hypnosis. Over the course of his life he was also well known as the creator and host of a popular radio show known as Hobby Lobby as well as a songwriter and lyricist This eventually led to the Vaudeville circuit, and he moved to New York in 1922. His stage name in Vaudeville was Elman, shortened from Kopelman when his billing as "The World's Youngest and Fastest Hypnotist" did not fit on marquees or promotional material. After being unsatisfied working the nightclubs, he later got a job working for music publishers. It was at this time that Dave became acquainted with the famous W. C. Handy, with whom he worked for some years.[3] The most well-known songs the duo wrote during this period were "Atlanta Blues", which was later recorded by dozens of other artists including Louis Armstrong, and "Oh Papa!" which was later recorded by the late Odetta.[6] It was while working with Handy that he met his future wife, Pauline Reffe. During the years 1923-1928, Elman was so anxious to break into radio that he made a living at a daytime job and worked for free on various radio networks in the evenings and on holidays and weekends because radio had started to have a major impact in this country. In 1928, he got his first paying job with radio station WHN, a large radio station in New York City. Soon after, he was hired by Columbia Broadcasting System and worked on every major radio station in the metropolitan New York area, where he became known as an idea man.[3] He wrote, produced, directed and performed in his own shows as well as others. Dave worked with many of the great names in radio. He wrote a number of Kate Smith shows and worked with all the major advertising agencies. CBS soon contracted with him to write, produce, direct and perform on several of their shows. Elman soon became one of the network’s top idea men. In 1937, he approached NBC, the biggest network on radio, with an idea for a new show: Ordinary people would become advocates about their unusual hobbies, which were judged by an invited celebrity. NBC liked the idea. Elman debuted “Hobby Lobby” on Oct. 6, 1937. It was an immediate hit. Thousands of letters poured in each week from people who wanted to talk about their hobbies. Many celebrities also sought to be on Elman’s show. When Elman went on vacation on Aug. 2, 1939, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt eagerly accepted the invitation to be his replacement as host. Later, when he was hospitalized for several weeks for a gall bladder operation, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was once more interim MC. Eleanor Roosevelt also collaborated with Dave Elman on a movie advocating the use of hobbies as activities for soldiers; see Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Diary" on the Internet.[7] “Hobby Lobby” was on the air until 1948, when Elman decided to pursue teaching hypnosis to doctors and dentists. Later he published his training course as a series of lessons before collecting the written material into book form titled 'Findings in Hypnosis', later to be re-titled 'Hypnotherapy' (published by Westwood Publishing). Perhaps the most well known aspect of Elman's legacy is his method of induction, which was originally fashioned for speed work and later adapted for the use of medical professionals; his students routinely obtained states of hypnosis adequate for medical and surgical procedures in under three minutes. His book and recordings provide much more than just his rapid induction techniques, however. The first heart operation using hypnosis rather than normal anesthesia (because of severe problems with the patient) was performed by his students with Dave Elman in the operating room as "coach." Elman died on 5 December 1967, having recovered from a heart attack five years earlier.[9] The audio recordings of the classes and his book HYPNOTHERAPY are regarded as classics in the field of Medical Hypnosis. [10] Books[edit] 1970 Explorations in Hypnosis. Nash Pub. ISBN 0-8402-1143-0 [1] 1970 Hypnotherapy, Westwood Pub. ISBN 0-930298-04-7 [2] References[edit] http://www.breakthroughinstitute.com/products_for_sale/others_products/dave_elman/dave_elman.htm

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

What is flint? ( for staring fire)

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz,[1][2] categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones.[3][4] Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture. From a petrological point of view, "flint" refers specifically to the form of chert which occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Similarly, "common chert" (sometimes referred to simply as "chert") occurs

Monday, September 2, 2013

Diamonds on my windshield

And these tears from heaven Well, I'm pulling into town on the Interstate I got a steel train in the rain And the wind bites my cheek through the wing And it's these late nights and this freeway flying It always makes me sing TW

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Tibetan Book of the Dead

The Tibetan Book of the Dead teaches that awareness, once freed from the physical body, creates its own reality like that of a dream. This dream unfolds in predictable ways, both frightening and beautiful; peaceful and wrathful visions often appear which can be overwhelming. Since this freed awareness is in a state of shock from being disconnected from the physical body, it needs guidance and forewarning so that key decisions can be made that will ultimately lead to enlightenment. The Book teaches how one can attain “heavenly” realms by recognizing the “enlightened” realms from those of “seduction” that pull the spirit into cyclic suffering. Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State, is recited at the time of death to act as a guide for the dead during the state between death and the next rebirth which is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the “bardo.”

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Monday, March 18, 2013

Income Inequality in America Explained

Income inequality explained in such a way you'll never accuse America of becoming a socialist state again. http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Zero

0 is the integer immediately preceding 1. Zero is an even number,[26] because it is divisible by 2. 0 is neither positive nor negative. By most definitions[27] 0 is a natural number, and then the only natural number not to be positive. Zero is a number which quantifies a count or an amount of null size. In most cultures, 0 was identified before the idea of negative things (quantities) that go lower than zero was accepted. The value, or number, zero is not the same as the digit zero, used in numeral systems using positional notation. Successive positions of digits have higher weights, so inside a numeral the digit zero is used to skip a position and give appropriate weights to the preceding and following digits. A zero digit is not always necessary in a positional number system, for example, in the number 02. In some instances, a leading zero may be used to distinguish a number.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Chasing the Higgs Boson NYT 3/5/13

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/science/chasing-the-higgs-boson-how-2-teams-of-rivals-at-CERN-searched-for-physics-most-elusive-particle.html?view=introduction At the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, two armies of scientists struggled to close in on physics' most elusive particle

Monday, March 4, 2013

How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?

According to the Publication Research Bureau (http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth?aspx )107 billion people haved on Earth since 50,000 BC and just over 7 billion, 7% currently roam the planet. Of all who have lived, about 60% have been Asian.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

What's the Difference Between Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity

Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity: An Interview With Medical Experts Posted: 09/13/2012 8:11 am http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sz-berg/celiac-disease_b_1770781.html In honor of National Celiac Disease Awareness Day and to kick off my William Edwards book series, a new series of novels for kids ages 8-12 years in which the main character, William Edwards, has celiac and a food allergy, I'm writing a series of posts about celiac, gluten sensitivity and food allergies, including interviews with actress Jennifer Esposito (Crash) , musician Allie Moss (Corner), and Disney's Kenton Duty. What follows are email interviews with both Alessio Fasano, M.D., medical director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, and Daniel Leffler, M.D., director of clinical research, The Celiac Center at BIDMC. Both are NFCA scientific/medical advisory board members. S.Z. Berg: What is the difference between gluten sensitivity and celiac disease? Is it a spectrum? Can you have gluten sensitivity and not have the gene for celiac? Dr. Alessio Fasano: Think of gluten ingestion on a spectrum. At one end, you have people with celiac disease. This autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten causes intestinal damage leading to malabsorption of nutrients, which results in a wide variety of symptoms and potential complications. It can affect the gastrointestinal system, the central nervous system, and other areas of the body. It can affect anyone at any age and is treatable through the implementation of a strict gluten-free diet for life. People with celiac disease can't tolerate one "crumb" of gluten in their diet. At the other end are the lucky folks who can consume all the pasta, bread and beer they want with no ill effects whatsoever. In the middle, we have this murky area of gluten reactions, including gluten sensitivity. This is where we are looking for answers about how to best diagnose and treat this recently-identified group of gluten-sensitive individuals. Although symptoms of gluten sensitivity (particularly gastrointestinal) are often similar to those of celiac disease, the overall clinical picture is less severe. Recent research at the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research shows that gluten sensitivity is a different clinical entity. It doesn't seem to result in the intestinal inflammation that leads to a flattening of the villi of the small intestine that characterizes celiac disease. The development of tissue transglutaminase (tTG) autoantibodies, used to diagnose celiac disease, is not present in gluten sensitivity. A different immune mechanism, the innate immune response, comes into play in reactions of gluten sensitivity, as opposed to the long-term adaptive immune response that arises in celiac disease. We use the term gluten sensitivity when celiac disease, wheat allergy, and other clinically-overlapping diseases (Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases and Helicobacter pylori infection) have been ruled out. Symptoms in gluten sensitivity are triggered by gluten exposure and alleviated by gluten withdrawal. In gluten sensitivity, there is often a prevalence of extraintestinal instead of gastrointestinal symptoms, including behavioral changes, skin rash, bone or joint pain, muscle cramps, leg numbness, weight loss, "foggy mind," and fatigue. Typical gastrointestinal symptoms include abdominal bloating and gas. Typically, the diagnosis is made by exclusion, and an elimination diet and "open challenge" -- we carefully reintroduce foods with gluten -- are most often used to evaluate whether the patient's health improves with the elimination or reduction of gluten from the diet. Through clinical data from the Center for Celiac Research, we estimate that approximately six percent of the U.S. population, or 18 million people, suffers from gluten sensitivity. This group reacts with some of the same symptoms as people with celiac disease, but gluten-sensitive individuals typically test negative for celiac disease in diagnostic blood tests and show no signs of the damage to the small intestine that defines celiac disease. Contrary to celiac patients who almost invariably (the percentage is close to 100 percent) express the HLA DQ2 and/or DQ8 genes, only 50 percent of subjects with gluten sensitivity are positive for these genes (compared to approximately 35-40 percent of the general population). Dr. Daniel Leffler: Celiac disease is an immune-mediated disease triggered by gluten, which results in significant inflammation and damage to the small intestine as well as formation of antibodies, which can attack tissues in your body. Gluten sensitivity is a disorder where people have symptoms related to gluten exposure that may be indistinguishable from celiac disease but does not damage the intestine or result in abnormal antibody production. Whether gluten sensitivity is more related to celiac disease or irritable bowel syndrome is unclear, though most investigators currently favor the latter. One reason for this is that it is clear that you can have gluten sensitivity without the gene for celiac disease, while it is very rare for people with celiac disease not to carry these genes.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Same Genetic Basis Found in 5 Types of Mental Disorders

By GINA KOLATA Published: February 28, 2013 The psychiatric illnesses seem very different — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Yet they share several genetic glitches that can nudge the brain along a path to mental illness, researchers report. Which disease, if any, develops is thought to depend on other genetic or environmental factors. Enlarge This Image Mark Ostow for The New York Times Steven McCarroll, of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., noted the significance of the study. Health Guides: Autism | Bipolar Disorder | Schizophrenia | ADHD Their study, published online Wednesday in the Lancet, was based on an examination of genetic data from more than 60,000 people worldwide. Its authors say it is the largest genetic study yet of psychiatric disorders. The findings strengthen an emerging view of mental illness that aims to make diagnoses based on the genetic aberrations underlying diseases instead of on the disease symptoms. Two of the aberrations discovered in the new study were in genes used in a major signaling system in the brain, giving clues to processes that might go awry and suggestions of how to treat the diseases. “What we identified here is probably just the tip of an iceberg,” said Dr. Jordan Smoller, lead author of the paper and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. “As these studies grow we expect to find additional genes that might overlap.” The new study does not mean that the genetics of psychiatric disorders are simple. Researchers say there seem to be hundreds of genes involved and the gene variations discovered in the new study confer only a small risk of psychiatric disease. Steven McCarroll, director of genetics for the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., said it was significant that the researchers had found common genetic factors that pointed to a specific signaling system. “It is very important that these were not just random hits on the dartboard of the genome,” said Dr. McCarroll, who was not involved in the new study. The work began in 2007 when a large group of researchers began investigating genetic data generated by studies in 19 countries and including 33,332 people with psychiatric illnesses and 27,888 people free of the illnesses for comparison. The researchers studied scans of people’s DNA, looking for variations in any of several million places along the long stretch of genetic material containing three billion DNA letters. The question: Did people with psychiatric illnesses tend to have a distinctive DNA pattern in any of those locations? Researchers had already seen some clues of overlapping genetic effects in identical twins. One twin might have schizophrenia while the other had bipolar disorder. About six years ago, around the time the new study began, researchers had examined the genes of a few rare families in which psychiatric disorders seemed especially prevalent. They found a few unusual disruptions of chromosomes that were linked to psychiatric illnesses. But what surprised them was that while one person with the aberration might get one disorder, a relative with the same mutation got a different one. Jonathan Sebat, chief of the Beyster Center for Molecular Genomics of Neuropsychiatric Diseases at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the discoverers of this effect, said that work on these rare genetic aberrations had opened his eyes. “Two different diagnoses can have the same genetic risk factor,” he said. In fact, the new paper reports, distinguishing psychiatric diseases by their symptoms has long been difficult. Autism, for example, was once called childhood schizophrenia. It was not until the 1970s that autism was distinguished as a separate disorder. But Dr. Sebat, who did not work on the new study, said that until now it was not clear whether the rare families he and others had studied were an exception or whether they were pointing to a rule about multiple disorders arising from a single genetic glitch. “No one had systematically looked at the common variations,” in DNA, he said. “We didn’t know if this was particularly true for rare mutations or if it would be true for all genetic risk.” The new study, he said, “shows all genetic risk is of this nature.” The new study found four DNA regions that conferred a small risk of psychiatric disorders. For two of them, it is not clear what genes are involved or what they do, Dr. Smoller said. The other two, though, involve genes that are part of calcium channels, which are used when neurons send signals in the brain. “The calcium channel findings suggest that perhaps — and this is a big if — treatments to affect calcium channel functioning might have effects across a range of disorders,” Dr. Smoller said. There are drugs on the market that block calcium channels — they are used to treat high blood pressure — and researchers had already postulated that they might be useful for bipolar disorder even before the current findings. One investigator, Dr. Roy Perlis of Massachusetts General Hospital, just completed a small study of a calcium channel blocker in 10 people with bipolar disorder and is about to expand it to a large randomized clinical trial. He also wants to study the drug in people with schizophrenia, in light of the new findings. He cautions, though, that people should not rush out to take a calcium channel blocker on their own. “We need to be sure it is safe and we need to be sure it works,” Dr. Perlis said.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

How has the burden of different diseases, injuries, and risk factors moved up or down over time?

How has the burden of different diseases, injuries, and risk factors moved up or down over time? Explore ranks and changes for causes or risk factors based on deaths for 1990 and 2010. Also, see specific rank change of causes or risk factors from 1990 to 2010. You can explore these ranks by age group, sex, and region. http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/visualizations/gbd-2010-change-leading-causes-and-risks-between-1990-and-2010#.US9dyy7n4YM.email

Oddly, the moon rotates on it's axis.

Does the Moon rotate on its axis? Full moon. Image credit: NASA The Moon is familiar; it always looks the same. We know that the Earth rotates, that’s why the Sun, Moon and stars seem to move through the sky every day. But does the Moon rotate? And if the Moon rotates, why do we alway see the same side – it never seems to change. Well, the Moon does rotate. In fact, the Moon takes 27.3 days to turn once on its axis. But the Moon also takes 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the Earth. Because the Moon’s rotation time is exactly the same amount of time it takes to complete an orbit, it always presents the same face to the Earth, and one face away. Because it only presents one face to the Earth, astronomers say that the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth. Although the Moon looks like a perfectly smooth ball, it has slight differences in the shape of its gravity field. A long time ago, the Moon did rotate. But each time it turned, the Earth’s gravity tugged at it, slowing down its rotation until it only presented one face to the Earth. At that point, the Moon was tidally locked, and from our perspective, it doesn’t seem to rotate. Many other moons in the Solar System are also tidally locked to their planet. In fact, most of Jupiter’s large moons are tidally locked. So, to answer the question: does the Moon rotate? The Moon rotates once every 27.3 days; the same amount of time that it takes to go around the Earth, and so it always presents the same face to the Earth. Here’s an article about the far side of the Moon; the one we never see from Earth. Here’s an article about the rotation of the Sun. Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/19699/does-the-moon-rotate/#ixzz2MCbv5MSU

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Eukaryotes: Where would we be without them?

The origin of the eukaryotic cell is considered a milestone in the evolution of life, since they include all complex cells and almost all multicellular organisms. The timing of this series of events is hard to determine; Knoll (2006) suggests they developed approximately 1.6–2.1 billion years ago. Some acritarchs are known from at least 1650 million years ago, and the possible alga Grypania has been found as far back as 2100 million years ago.[8] Organized living structures have been found in black shales of the Palaeoproterozoic Francevillian B Formation in Gabon, dated at 2.1 billion years old. Eukaryotic life could have evolved at that time.[9] Fossils that are clearly related to modern groups start appearing an estimated 1.2 billion years ago, in the form of a red alga, though recent work suggests the existence of fossilized filamentous algae in the Vindhya basin dating back perhaps to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago.[10] Biomarkers suggest that at least stem eukaryotes arose even earlier. The presence of steranes in Australian shales indicates that eukaryotes were present in these rocks dated at 2.7 billion years old.[11][12]