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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 26, 2020 at 7:40am

The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 26, 2020 at 7:30am

The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 25, 2020 at 10:09am

How could stars help us detect life on other planets?

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 25, 2020 at 9:45am

There’s no magic way to boost your energy. But ‘perineum sunning’ isn’t the answer

Perineum sunning is said to have roots in an ancient Taoist practice, where the perineum, or “Hui Yin”, is regarded as a gateway where energy enters and exits the body.

It’s probably also related to the idea that the sun has healing powers. Many years ago sun exposure was recommended after childbirth, and sunlamps were used in labour wards to ostensibly aid healing. But there was no evidence for this.

Some of the appeal of the trend might also lie in the fact many pale-skinned people like to be tanned.

That said, tanning is not the motivation behind the perineum sunning wellness trend. People who do it say it gives their body an intense dose of vitamin D, and therefore a significant energy boost.

It can also supposedly increase creativity, improve sleep, and even promote a healthy libido, among other reported benefits.

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Read more: Your vagina cleans itself: why vagina cleaning fads are unnecessary...

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But there’s no evidence to support any of these supposed benefits. Although there have been no scientific studies on perineum sunning to date. 

However, we can’t dismiss the placebo effect. For example, if someone thinks sunning their perineum will improve their libido, it probably will.

The main risk of perineum sunning is sunburn. Sun-exposed skin adapts to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light by forming melanin, the natural protective pigment in skin that reduces the risk of sunburn. So when you get UV light on a part of your skin that’s not accustomed to sun exposure, you’re much more likely to get burnt.

If you do get sunburnt in this sensitive area, it’s likely to be very sore. You won’t be able to have sex for about a week, and it might sting to urinate.

And of course, UV is a known carcinogen, which is why nowadays we discourage any kind of tanning. Sunburn can increase your risk of skin cancer, and chronic UV exposure can raise skin cancer risk even without causing sunburn.

https://theconversation.com/theres-no-magic-way-to-boost-your-energ...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 25, 2020 at 9:41am

Study on health effects and citizen resistance during the lockdown

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-publish-health-effects-citiz...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 25, 2020 at 9:38am

Can't draw a mental picture? Aphantasia causes blind spots in the mind's eye

If you were asked to draw a picture of your grandparents' living room from memory, could you do it? For most people, certain details are easy to visualize: "There's a piano in the corner, a palm by the window and two seashells on the coffee table."

But for others, such a task would be almost impossible. These individuals have a rare condition called aphantasia, which prevents them from easily recreating images in their mind's eye—in fact, the phrase "mind's eye" may be meaningless to them.

"Some individuals with aphantasia have reported that they don't understand what it means to 'count sheep' before going to bed." They thought it was merely an expression, and had never realized until adulthood that other people could actually visualize sheep without seeing them.

The differences in the memory experiment were striking: Individuals with typical imagery usually drew the most salient objects in the room with a moderate amount of detail, like color and key design elements (a green carpet, rather than a rectangle).

Individuals with aphantasia had a harder time—they could place a few objects in the room, but their drawings were often simpler, and relied at times on written descriptions. For example, some wrote the word "window" inside an outline of a window rather than drawing the windowpanes.

While people with aphantasia lack visual imagery, they appear to have intact spatial memory, which is distinct from imagery and may be stored differently . People who are congenitally blind, for example, can still describe the layout of a familiar room.

even though people with aphantasia remembered fewer objects overall, they also made fewer mistakes: They didn't create any false memories of objects that hadn't been in any of the rooms, and placed objects in the correct location—but the wrong room—only three times.

"One possible explanation could be that because aphantasics have trouble with this task, they rely on other strategies like verbal-coding of the space. Their verbal representations and other compensatory strategies might actually make them better at avoiding false memories."

Wilma A. Bainbridge et al. Quantifying aphantasia through drawing: Those without visual imagery show deficits in object but not spatial memory, Cortex (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.11.014

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-mental-picture-aphantasia-mi...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 25, 2020 at 9:34am

Astrocytes eat connections to maintain plasticity in adult brains Developing brains constantly sprout new neuronal connections called synapses as they learn and remember. Important connections—the ones that are repeatedly introduced, such as how to avoid danger—are nurtured and reinforced, while connections deemed unnecessary are pruned away. Adult brains undergo similar pruning, but it was unclear how or why synapses in the adult brain get eliminated.

Love and hate in the mouse brain Mounting behavior, that awkward thrusting motion dogs sometimes do against your leg, is usually associated with sexual arousal in animals, but this is not always the case. New research by Caltech neuroscientists that explores the motivations behind mounting behavior in mice finds that sometimes there is a thin line between love and hate (or anger) in the mouse brain. **

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 25, 2020 at 9:28am

Scientists pioneer new method of measuring electricity in cells

Electricity is a key ingredient in living bodies. We know that voltage differences are important in biological systems; they drive the beating of the heart and allow neurons to communicate with one another. But for decades, it wasn't possible to measure voltage differences between organelles—the membrane-wrapped structures inside the cell—and the rest of the cell.

A pioneering technology now developed  allows researchers to peer into cells to see how many different organelles use voltages to carry out functions.

Tiny sensors were built to travel inside cells and report back on what's happening, so that researchers can understand how cells work—and how they break down in disease or disorders. Previously, they have built such machines to study neurons and lysosomes, among others.

In this case, they decided to use the technique to investigate the electric activities of the organelles inside live cells.

In the membranes of neurons, there are proteins called ion channels which act as gateways for charged ions to enter and exit the cell. These channels are essential for neurons to communicate. Previous research had shown that organelles have similar ion channels, but we weren't sure what roles they played.

The researchers' new tool, called Voltair, makes it possible to explore this question further. It works as a voltmeter measuring the voltage difference of two different areas inside a cell. Voltair is constructed out of DNA, which means it can go directly into the cell and access deeper structures.

In their initial studies, the researchers looked for membrane potentials—a difference in voltage inside an organelle versus outside. They found evidence for such potentials in several organelles, such as trans-Golgi networks and recycling endosomes, that were previously thought not to have membrane potentials at all.

The membrane potential in organelles could play a larger role—maybe it helps organelles communicate.

Anand Saminathan et al. A DNA-based voltmeter for organelles, Nature Nanotechnology (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-00784-1

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-method-electricity-cells.h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 24, 2020 at 10:34am

We Now Have Shocking Evidence That Microplastic Particles Can Enter The Placenta

First evidence of microplastics in human placenta

The 21st century human is born into a world coated in a fine dust of petrochemical waste.

Our personal connection with microscopic fragments of plastic might even stretch back to the womb, with traces of the material recently found in the human placenta.

Placentas collected in a plastic-free environment from six mothers were sectioned, dissolved, and filtered to reveal 12 small pieces of coloured plastic, all somewhere between 5 and 10 micrometres in size. All came from just four of the placentas.

While four of the fragments were found in tissues belonging on the mother's side of the placenta, five were identified closer to the developing foetus. The last three were found embedded in the fine membrane that forms a wall around the amniotic fluid.

It might not seem like a huge number of particles, especially given their size. But it's important to remember the amount of tissue removed for analysis represents just a few percent of the organ's mass, hinting at far more microplastic fragments in total.

The placenta is an insanely complex aggregation of tissues shaped by millions of years of evolution to isolate an emerging life at the most crucial stage of its development.

Its function involves filtering pathogens and other potentially hazardous materials from the mother's bloodstream, while permitting various nutrients, antibodies, and oxygen to pass.

More than just a protective wall of meat, the organ also comprises diverse and dynamic systems of cells managed by a delicate balance of hormones and carefully timed biochemical reactions.

Whether any of the intrusive particles pose some kind of health risk to an unborn baby isn't yet clear. We'll need a lot more research before we can conclusively draw any firm links.

Since many plastic additives like the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A are known to interfere with our body's functions, their presence alone in such a sensitive part of the human body is deeply concerning.

"Due to the crucial role of placenta in supporting the foetus's development and in acting as an interface with the external environment, the presence of potentially harmful plastic particles is a matter of great concern," the team writes in their report.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020322297

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-now-have-shocking-evidence-that-mic...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 24, 2020 at 9:42am

Tiny Medical Devices with Shape Memory Polymers

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