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As children grow, brambles of short brain connections are gradually pruned down to longer, stronger neural pathways. Research has shown this trend to follow a fairly standard curve during normal development to adulthood, and scientists are now using this information to create predictive models of brain maturation. [More] Magnetic resonance imaging – Brain – Research – Health – Neural pathway

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New MRI maps assess connectivity to establish "brain age" curve for children and adults

Despite frequent reports that regular exercise benefits the adult brain, when it comes to schoolchildren, the concept of the dumb jock persists. The star quarterback stands in stark contrast to the math-team champion. After all, the two types require seemingly disparate talents: physical prowess versus intellect. Letting kids run around or throw a ball seems, at best, tangential to the real work of learning and, at worst, a distraction from it. Parents, teachers and education policy makers have pitted athletics against academics even as they trumpet exercise as an antidote to obesity and poor health. From preschool onward, teachers encourage children to sit still rather than scamper. Many schools have cut back on physical education to make room for the three R’s. And when student scores on standardized tests become of primary importance to parents, politicians or other stakeholders in the education system, educators may feel pressured to direct students toward academic pursuits and away from athletic ones. [More] Education – Standardized test – Teacher – Child – Products and Services

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Smart Jocks: Sports Helps Kids Classroom Performance (preview)

Can the active ingredient in ” magic mushrooms ” help those with terminal cancer cope with their fate? That was the question asked by researchers, who published the results of their investigation September 6 in Archives of General Psychiatry . [More] Cancer – Psilocybin – Psilocybin mushroom – Health – Anxiety

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Psilocybin found to ease end-of-life anxiety in small study of patients with fatal cancer

Inspired by human studies showing that avid coffee drinkers and smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, scientists at the University of Washington decided to see what java and cigarettes do to fruit flies. [More] Cigarette – Coffee – University of Washington – Health – Specific Substances

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Prescription for a Healthier Brain: Coffee and Cigarettes?

In 1980, a scientist looking at bone fragments under an ultraviolet microscope noticed the bones were glowing green–a hallmark of the antibiotic tetracycline. The drug latches onto calcium and gets deposited in bone. Nothing unusual. Except these bones were from a Nubian mummy buried 1,600 years ago in Sudan–long before scientists discovered tetracycline, in 1948. [More] Sudan – Antibiotic – nubian – Ancient Egypt – Social Sciences

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Ancient Brewmasters Made Medicinal Beer

Most of us might think we are fairly good at spotting the one who has had a few too many. Slurred speech, red eyes, stumbling. Telltale signs obvious right? [More] Video game – Telltale Games – Directories – Business – Adventure

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It’s Very Tough to Tell Just How Drunk Someone Is

If you fall into one of three categories, this article is for you: 1) to have a sole proprietorship, 2) you are a member of a partnership, or 3) you are the.

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Tax Small Business – How to pay less taxes self-employment

It likely comes as no surprise that many common household chemicals and medical products as well as industrial and agricultural chemicals, may irritate human skin temporarily or, worse, cause permanent, corrosive burns. In order to prevent undue harm regulators in the U.S. and beyond require safety testing of many substances to identify their potential hazards and to ensure that the appropriate warning label appears on a product. Traditionally, such skin tests have been done on live animals–although in recent decades efforts to develop humane approaches , along with ones that are more relevant to people have resulted in new models based on laboratory-grown human skin. The most recent chapter of this ongoing effort was written on July 22 when the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)–an international group that, among other things, provides guidelines to its 32-member countries on methods to assess chemical safety–officially approved three commercially available in vitro models of human skin for use in chemical testing. Specifically, the new guideline ( OECD Test No. 439 ) stipulates that the models can serve as an alternative to animals in tests for skin irritation, one of several human health endpoints for which chemicals are tested. Similar 3-D models were approved for corrosion tests in 2004, leaving many hopeful that soon it may be possible to the assess the full spectrum of a chemical’s effects on human skin–from irritation to corrosion–without using live animals. [More] United States – Health – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Medicine – Irritation

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Rabbit Rest: Can Lab-grown Human Skin Replace Animals in Toxicity Testing?

Scientists have long sought to understand the biological basis of thought. In the second century A.D., physician and philosopher Claudius Galen held that the brain was a gland that secreted fluids to the body via the nerves–a view that went unchallenged for centuries. In the late 1800s clinical researchers tied specific brain areas to dedicated functions by correlating anatomical abnormalities in the brain after death with behavioral or cognitive impairments. French surgeon Pierre Paul Broca, for example, found that a region on the brain’s left side controls speech. In the first half of the 20th century, neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield mapped the brain’s functions by electrically stimulating different places in conscious patients during neurosurgery, triggering vivid memories, localized body sensations, or movement of an arm or toe. In recent years new noninvasive ways of viewing the human brain in action have helped neuroscientists trace the anatomy of thought and behavior. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, for instance, researchers can see which areas of the brain “light up” when people perform simple movements such as lifting a finger or more complex mental leaps such as recognizing someone or making a moral judgment. These images reveal not only how the brain is divided functionally but also how the different areas work together while people go about their daily activities. Some investigators are using the technology in an attempt to detect lies and even to predict what kinds of items people will buy; others are seeking to understand the brain alterations that occur in disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, autism and dementia. [More] Brain – Functional magnetic resonance imaging – Neurosurgery – Health – Human brain

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Mapping the Mind: Online Interactive Atlas Shows Activity of 20,000 Brain-Related Genes (preview)

The adage “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” does not quite capture the following pair of situations. It’s more like “damned if you could (but you can’t), damned if you couldn’t (but you kind of did).” First, the “damned if you could (but you can’t)”. On April 4 at 3:40 p.m.,

Using a revolutionary new microscope, scientists can now peer into embryos and watch, in one of the world’s smallest 3-D movies, as brains, eyes and other organs form. A team at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, watched zebra fish and fruit fly embryos develop under the scope for as long as 58 hours, charting the location of every cell as it danced around the embryo. This experiment would have been impossible a mere two years ago before a recent spate of innovations advanced microscopy years into the future. When it comes to watching the inner workings of cells , fluorescence microscopy is second to none. In this technique, scientists attach fluorescent tags to cellular proteins and, by shining a laser on the cells, cause them to light up. [More] European Molecular Biology Laboratory – Heidelberg – Embryo – Biology – Zebrafish

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New Microscope Enables Real-Time 3-D Movies of Developing Embryos [Slide Show]

Recently I saw a cartoon that read “Shcools are fer preyin, not fer ejucashun”. While the focus of the cartoon was on how conservative Christians are affecting school boards, it actually reflects a much larger issue. What is the purpose of public education in twenty first century America? Is it to convey information? To teach students the proper respect for authority? Is it to prepare students to be good future employees? What role does teaching critical thinking play? What if this critical thinking encourages students to challenge authority? Where does media education fit in? How does it relate to the future of journalism? Where does civics fit? How does all of this relate to having a properly functioning democracy? A few different articles have crossed my desk that tie into all of this, so I am going to go all meta for a moment and look at these articles, as well as the stories beneath the stories. The first message I want to look at is about a Free Webinar for Board of Education members. It starts off with: What would you do if the Assistant Principal of your high school threatened to quit if something is not done about a vulgar parody of him on MySpace? The parody portrays him as a violent pedophile and lists the names of his family and his address. Should your school board launch an investigation? If the perpetrator is a student, can you impose discipline?School districts across the country are being asked to address student misbehavior in the electronic world – both at school and away from school. When formulating an action plan or policy to address cyber-misbehavior, you need to consider state bullying laws, harassment liability, constitutional limitations on policy and action, and when law enforcement should be involved. What I find strikingly missing is what I like to call the ‘pedagogical imperative’. To me, it sounds like a wonderful teaching moment which the Assistant Principal completely missed. It comes back to the underlying purpose of public education in twenty first century America. If the purpose is to teach students to respect, and not question authority, then the questions of how to reply may need to be more focused on legal aspects. However, if the purpose of education is to teach critical thinking, effective communications and other skills, then a more creative response is called for. If I were in charge at the school in question, I would probably have told the Assistant Principal, you can’t quit, you’re fired. The message went on to say that the webinar “will discuss what the school district did in the above situation and how the court ruled in J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District and Layshock v. Hermitage School District.” The ACLU has a webpage up about LAYSHOCK V. HERMITAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT which includes a link to a PDF of the offending website . The criticism of the Assistant Principal? That his biggest weakness and his biggest fears were students laughing at him. His reactions to the website appear to substantiate the allegations of the website. While I imagine the webinar is going to be very interesting and cover a lot of very important legal issues, I would love to see a webinar on more creative approaches to these issues. Related to this is an email I received from a mailing list addressing the future of journalism. It pointed to Esther Wojcicki’s article Journalism: English for the 21st Century . Bill Densmore, who forwarded the article to the list highlighted several important paragraphs. The first two that he cited tie back very much to the Layshock case and many other cases about students rights. “Most schools do not allow their students access to an uncensored Web; this is a trait we usually ascribe to China and rarely acknowledge about ourselves.” “The Hazelwood decision is now two decades old. An entire generation has lived its entire academic life—and is now moving into the professional ranks—under Hazelwood’s influence. Far too many of our future journalists, citizens and leaders unquestioningly accept that school administrators—government officials—should have the authority to dictate what they read, write and talk about. What this means for the future of press freedom in America remains unknown …” The final paragraph that he quoted puts it very nicely into context, “America is a nation that thrives on independence and on the entrepreneurial spirit. Yet our schools’ curricula do just the opposite by driving teachers to teach to the test and kids to be effective multiple choice test takers. Let’s offer our kids at least one opportunity in school each day in which they truly act with an independence of mind and with freedom to speak to the issues in their lives. That course should be journalism.” Other paragraphs went into details about what this might look like: “The easiest way to pass on the skills and purpose of journalism is to have an online program, which is, after all, the future” “Today’s journalism curriculum can revolutionize English education by making the writing curriculum relevant and exciting. In the process, it can also train an entire generation of citizens—many of whom will be doing what journalists do today—to be responsible contributing members of the digital society.” “Journalism also teaches kids how to collaborate both online and offline and how to work effectively with their peers both as leaders and as participants. These are skills employers are seeking in prospective employees.” It seems like an appropriate response to the Layshock case, instead of giving him a 10-day, out-of-school suspension, ordering him to finish high school in the Alternative Education Program and forbidding him from attending his own graduation in the spring, the school might have found that his education was incomplete and required him to take a course in journalism, similar to what Ms. Wojcicki describes. Such a course would explore the rights and responsibilities of the press in our society, including legal issues, such as defamation as well as how to voice criticisms more effectively. This reflects some of the ideas that I’ve presented in the past about the Avery Doninger case here in Connecticut. Which takes me to the final message I want to explore. Today, Colin McEnroe wrote this on my Facebook page: Aldon, I’m headed to Truro Sunday, sharks and hurricanes permitting. You might find it interesting to listen and/or call in tomorrow as we discuss this: Traffic Problems | American Journalism Review When I read the title, I was tempted to respond back that we ran into very little traffic either going to or coming from Cape Cod. Yet that isn’t what the article is about. Instead it is about: How the drive to attract massive numbers of visitors to their Web sites (and the advertisers that might follow them) is having a profound effect on news judgment at traditional news organizations. The article explores what is happening to journalism today: High-minded headlines and stories about foreign wars, the federal deficit or environmental despoilage might have paid the bills in the age of Murrow and Cronkite, but they only go so far these days. Shark videos and “naked Lady Gaga” headlines get major play on “serious” news sites for an obvious and no longer terribly shocking reason: They draw traffic. I’m very interested in the stories behind the shark and Lady Gaga stories. Why are we seeing an increase in shark sighting stories? Is it the titillating factor? Are there more shark sightings? Is it because we are better at sighting sharks, or shark populations are changing? If shark populations are changing, is it because of an increase in the seal population? Is it because of climate change? Are their other factors? And what about Lady Gaga? Is Lady Gaga a ‘brand’? How do we understand personal brands in the age of social media? Is what she is doing ‘art’? How do we understand ‘art’? What is the relationship between Lady Gaga and Andy Warhol? What are the implications of personality in our political process, as we look at U.S. Senate candidate who is self-funding with millions of dollars obtained through entertainment based on sex and violence? To tie together Sharks, Lady Gaga, and Connecticut Politics, is Richard Blumenthal a shark and Linda McMahon Lady Gaga? I’ve always thought that good journalism is a careful mix between what people want to know and what people need to know. Great journalism is when a writer takes what people want to know and leads them to what they need to know. Yet this brings us back to education, and Ms. Wojcicki’s article. We need better education so that people will recognize and be drawn to great journalism, and we need better education so that students like Justin Layshock can become great journalists, instead of relying simply on the titillating without delving deeper into underlying issues. All of this, will hopefully lead to a better informed and more involved electorate. So, what will Colin cover on his show tomorrow? Tune in and find out.

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Going Meta – Student Speech, Education, Sharks, Lady Gaga, Richard Blumenthal, Linda McMahon and Colin McEnroe

With rhinoceros poaching in Africa approaching an all-time high , one nature preserve owner has had enough. Ed Hern, owner of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa, is experimenting with injecting cyanide into his rhinos’ horns. He believes the poison will not harm the rhinos, because there are no blood vessels in the horn to carry the poison the rest of the rhino’s body. But if anyone kills the animals and sells the horns for use in traditional Asian medicine, the end-consumer could pay the ultimate price. [More] South Africa – Africa – Poaching – Rhinoceros – Medicine

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Toxic avenger: One man’s desperate idea to save the rhinos–poison their horns

With this final column I will transition Sustainable Developments from Scientific American to the home page of the Earth Institute ( www.earth.columbia.edu ). Although I will continue to contribute occasional essays to the magazine, I will use this last regular column to say thank you and take stock of the deepening crisis of sustainable development. During the four years of this column, the world’s inability to face up to the reality of the growing environmental crisis has become even more palpable. Every major goal that international bodies have established for global environmental policy as of 2010 has been postponed, ignored or defeated. Sadly, this year will quite possibly become the warmest on record, yet another testimony to human-induced environmental catastrophes running out of control. [More] Sustainable development – Environment – Earth – The Earth Institute – Environmental policy

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The Deepening Crisis: When Will We Face the Planet’s Environmental Problems?

The ancient scourge smallpox was relegated to biowaste bin of history more than 30 years ago, the result of the world’s first and only successful disease eradication programs. Since then, however, cases of monkeypox–a serious, although less severe smallpoxlike illness–have substantially increased in central Africa, according to a study published August 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The authors stress that better surveillance and a thorough assessment of the public health threat posed by this once-rare viral infection are needed. “I’m concerned about monkeypox,” says Don Burke director of the Center for Vaccine Research at the University of Pittsburgh, who wasn’t involved in the study. “It isn’t going to emerge as pandemic tomorrow, but could at any time start to increase its transmission. It’s worrisome. This is the type of warning siren we need to take very seriously.” [More] Africa – University of Pittsburgh – Smallpox – Central Africa – Public health

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Pox Swap: 30 Years After the End of Smallpox, Monkeypox Cases Are on the Rise

Milk is well known as a great dietary source of protein and calcium, not to mention an indispensable companion to cookies. But “nature’s perfect food,” a label given to milk over time by a variety of boosters, including consumer activists, government nutritionists and the American Dairy Council, has become a great source of controversy, too. The long-running dispute over whether milk, both from cows and goats, should be consumed in raw or pasteurized form–an argument more than a century old–has heated up in the last five years, according to Bill Marler , a Washington State lawyer who takes raw milk and other food poisoning cases. [More] Raw Milk – Milk – Pasteurization – United States – Health

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Got E. coli ? Raw Milk’s Appeal Grows Despite Health Risks

Treatment of severe depression with magnetic stimulation is moving beyond large mental health centers and into private practices nationwide, following more than two decades of research on the treatment. Yet even as concern about its efficacy fades, one potential side effect–seizures–continues to shadow the technology. [More] Mental health – Health – Major depressive disorder – Disorders – Mood

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Attractive Therapy: Magnetic Brain Stimulation Gaining Favor as Treatment for Depression

Last September I wrote my first column for Scientific American , and this September marks my last one. In writing on science issues relevant to our culture and society, there is an inevitable tension between sticking just to science issues and commenting on potentially hot-button social issues. I have tried during the past 12 months to strike some balance, but without fail those issues that stir the greatest outrage also stir the greatest interest. Nothing seems to stir more discussion than pieces about science and religion, an observation that reminds me of the comment that Henry Kissinger reputedly made about academic disputes: they are so vicious because the stakes are so small. After all, science will continue irrespective of religious opinions, and I expect organized religion will continue to be a part of the cultural landscape, too, largely unaffected by the ongoing march of human knowledge, as it has been for centuries. [More] Religion – Science in Society – Science and Religion – Educational Resources – Christianity

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A Year of Living Dangerously: Reflections on Hot-Button Science

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but can knowing its genetic secrets help feed the nine billion people expected on this planet by 2050? Scientists hope so, especially considering they have added wheat this week to the list of crops that have had their genetic instruction set read. [More] Wheat – DNA – Apple – Agriculture – University of Liverpool

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Wheat and apple DNA sequenced, providing clues that may help eliminate famine

Are you listening to me through headphones? Because here’s a sample of what might be harming the ears of teenagers.