Back in 1974, Roger and I had been married for two years and had this picture taken at the UCLA Track and Field Banquet. Today we’ve been married 43 years!
Here’s what we are reading today:
“Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Washington report new research that sheds light on how the retina sets its own biological rhythm using a novel light-sensitive pigment, called neuropsin, found in nerve cells at the back of the eye.
“No one knew what neuropsin actually did,” says King-Wai Yau, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “We only knew it existed in the mammalian genome and may help set the timing of reproduction for some birds. Now we think we know what it does in mammals.” The new study, described in a report online on Sept. 21 of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ushers in a more complex view of the retina, according to Zheng Jiang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow and one of the authors of the paper.”
““We are excited that UC San Diego will coordinate this unprecedented study including premier research institutions across the nation,” said Brown. “Working together and using new assessment technologies, this diversified team of scientists will answer important questions about brain and behavior development through adolescence and into young adulthood. Our findings can lead to novel approaches to education as well as new types of interventions for common problems emerging during adolescence.””
“ome studies suggest that coffee and tea drinkers have lower rates of cognitive decline, too, but the evidence is mixed. Research in rodents that has focused on specific compounds in coffee and tea supports the idea that some of these chemicals reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. In one such study, published online last June in Neurobiology of Aging, supplementing rats’ diets with a component of coffee called eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide shielded the animals’ brains against the pathological changes typical of Alzheimer’s. In 2013 another experiment found the same compound to have protective effects against a mouse model of Parkinson’s. Caffeine may not just defend the brain but help it, too—a paper in September in the same publication reports that spiking the mice’s drinking water with caffeine reduced the protein tangles seen in Alzheimer’s, and it also prevented spatial memory deficits.”
“Coffee, said the Napoleon-era French diplomat Talleyrand, should be hot as hell, black as the devil, pure as an angel, sweet as love. Bach wrote a cantata in its honor, writers rely on it, and, according to legend, a pope blessed it. Lady Astor once reportedly remarked that if she were Winston Churchill’s wife, she’d poison his coffee, to which Churchill acerbically replied: “If I were married to you, I’d drink it.””
A full size jello mold in the shape of a brain!
“The neural mechanism for the perceptual phenomenon in which size was perceived to be stable even if the distance from the object changed (known as size constancy) was unknown. Many neurons in the visual cortex change their activity according to the size of visual stimulus. It was believed that neurons responded to the size of the image formed on the eye (retinal image); however, size constancy cannot be achieved by such cells alone.
Ichiro Fujita and Shingo Tanaka, then student in the doctoral course of Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, examined if there were cells that express not the retinal image size, but the size of the object itself. The group analyzed neuron activity in the monkey’s visual cortical area V4 and found that cells in this area integrated information about retinal image size and the distance from the object to calculate the size of the object.”
“There is a strong correspondence between a particular set of connections in the brain and positive lifestyle and behavior traits, according to a new study. The researchers point out that their results resemble what psychologists refer to as the ‘general intelligence g-factor’: a variable first proposed in 1904 that’s sometimes used to summarize a person’s abilities at different cognitive tasks. While the new results include many real-life measures not included in the g-factor — such as income and life satisfaction, for instance — those such as memory, pattern recognition and reading ability are strongly mirrored.”
13 Comments
jennylu18 · October 18, 2015 at 6:40 pm
Caffeine seems to be viewed more and more positively as there is research that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Sarah Morningred · October 19, 2015 at 8:06 pm
I find the article about the benefits of caffeine in regards to mental illnesses really interesting, especially because I have read in the past that caffeine can contribute to levels of anxiety. I personally find that there is a positive correlation between the amount of caffeine that I am taking in and how anxious I feel, even when I am getting enough sleep. The woman in this article from Psychology Today seems to have had a similar experience: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/progress-not-perfection/201106/i-quit-coffee-cure-my-anxiety
EricaFinfer · October 20, 2015 at 4:50 pm
There has been a trend with “bullet-proof” coffee. This contains grass-fed butter blended in black coffee, with the purpose of improving cognitive function. It is said that the healthy fats in butter help produce ketones in your body (created when energy is created from fat rather than carbohydrates) and avoids the caffeine crash associated with coffee.
Sarah Morningred · October 20, 2015 at 8:00 pm
I’d be interested in learning more about the “general intelligence g-factor,” and how that relates to children who may, for example, be very good at math but below average at English. Lots of people in college claim to be “bad” at subjects that are very different from their major; I wonder if they are actually bad at them, or if they’ve just chosen to stop learning them, and because of this, fallen behind.
shelbydewberry · October 22, 2015 at 9:22 am
I had grown up hearing a lot of bad things about coffee and caffeine–like how it would stunt your growth and things of that sort–but its rather comforting to hear about these not-so-adverse affects discussed in the article by Tori Rodriguez. I am an avid coffee drinker, so I am glad to hear that this habit might not be detrimental but may actually be beneficial. I am definitely interested in the studies that are working to connect coffee and reduced susceptibility to Alzheimer’s, so that is research I will be keeping up with in the future. Thanks for sharing the article!
AJMatuchniak · October 23, 2015 at 3:54 pm
I was immediately drawn to the article, “Coffee and Tea May Protect the Brain” as I have tended to drink around one to two cups of tea a day since I came to college. Usually we hear arguments that justifies the negatives surrounding tea intake and the caffeine that is in it, so it was refreshing to see it show the positives of drinking tea. Since college, I have found it extremely helpful to drink tea when I am low on energy as the caffeine picks me up (which we now have learned is because it is an antagonist for the adenosine receptors). I became concerned that I would become addicted to caffeine as many people are these days, but I am glad to read that studies have shown how it aids in the prevention of depression. Now I feel less guilty when I have a cup of tea when I need to feel more awake!
Laura Freberg · October 24, 2015 at 1:57 pm
Wow, it looks like the coffee and tea article caught the eye of many of you! Yes, caffeine gets some bad press (Sarah’s correct about anxiety), but if you use it in moderation and listen to your body, I’m guessing the pros outweigh the cons for many people. Erica, I’ve never heard about adding butter to coffee–have you tried this?
Sarah asks a good question about general versus multiple intelligences. While we recognize that people might be better at some cognitive skills than others, the correlations among all of our skills supports some level of general (g) factor, IMHO. Not all psychologists agree on this, of course! Multiple intelligences seem most obvious to me in unusual cases, such as where a person has splinter skills due to autism spectrum disorder or dyslexia. But for most of us, our skills tend to be more similar.
Carol Dweck has important things to say about the fixed (I’m bad at math) versus growth (I may not be great at this, but I can learn to be better) mindsets. True, I know people who learn certain things faster than I do, but if I spend enough time and effort, I can usually come up to speed. So I’m a fan of the growth mindset. I don’t think anyone can afford to just say “I’m bad at this so I won’t try anymore.”
Ariana Altman · October 27, 2015 at 1:52 pm
When scrolling through the readings, I found the article about Neuropsin especially intriguing. I had heard about the opsin protein in a few of my bio classes before, but my professors never dwelled on it for too long. Because of this I’ve always been curious to know more about it. After reading the article, I was astonished to know that researchers never had a definitive answer on what this protein’s role was exactly in our bodies. It’s always crazy to me when I read a very recent article (this one was released on September 29 of this year!) about new findings in science. Especially when these findings are about our bodies. I am more than aware that the human body is extremely complex, but it makes me wonder what other things we’ll discover or make connections between in the future. There are so many implications that could go along with this new discovery /continuing study or neuropsin, and I’m excited to see when this will take/lead us.
Sophie Marsh · October 29, 2015 at 9:36 am
I’m curious to see where the research surrounding caffeine’s cognitive benefits will lead. As we look into causes and reductions to the rates of Alzheimer’s, there may be a clue here as to what forms of protection we can give ourselves. As someone who drinks a lot of coffee and is consistently told of the negative effects that it brings, I am fascinated to hear about the benefits as well. To ease my curiosity, I started looking further into this topic and found an interesting article: http://www.dailyrxnews.com/coffee-consumption-moderation-linked-lower-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease-risk that continues the discussion. However, it seems that this finding and area of study is still in progress and I imagine the upcoming years will bring many more findings to support and add on to this.
Laura Freberg · October 29, 2015 at 1:13 pm
This is coming from a very heavy coffee drinker, but in my reading, the benefits of coffee seem to outweigh any problems. If you don’t get jittery or have cardiac problems, coffee seems pretty safe. I wouldn’t, however, use anything containing caffeine during pregnancy. The fetus needs much more time than we do to kick caffeine out of the system, and it just seems prudent to avoid it altogether.
Sarah Morningred · October 30, 2015 at 7:09 pm
In regards to the “health benefits of coffee” article, an interesting question I am thinking about is this: is anything “good” to be addicted to, even things that have a positive effect on your body? For myself, I don’t know if I think a coffee addiction for the sake of the long-term health benefits is worth the withdrawal symptoms and increased tolerance. Even regardless of that, I don’t think I could ever commit to drinking 3-5 cups per day for the health benefits, which is the amount that some of those studies say you need to consume for it to actually make a statistically significant difference.
mordanza · November 11, 2015 at 1:09 pm
The study of brain connections correlated to overall lifestyle (of positive or negative behaviors) is really intriguing to me. I do buy the idea that if you’re good at one thing will allow you to be good at other similar things. I mean, you could observe that in day to day life. However, I do question the idea that a positive lifestyle vs a negative lifestyle is connected with brain wiring. Because to me, that makes a lifestyle almost fixed, to a certain extent. But, there are so many cases where those down a negative lifestyles turned their life around and vice versa. What does that say about the connections? Do we just switch in our brain which pathways to dominate? That is something I hope will be explained in future studies of this kind.
sarahdemarois · November 24, 2015 at 9:42 am
I am definitely a coffee addict, but often feel guilty about it and have considered cutting back. There are so many myths and stereotypes about drinking coffee, but I am curious to know what neurobiological research has supported the negative effects of caffeine? I was happy to read about the potential positive effects that my favorite drink can have on my cognition 🙂