Day Lilies always make me smile!
Here’s what we are reading today:
“Twenty-three years ago, a bonobo named Kanzi (above) aced a test in understanding human language. But a new study reveals he may not be as brainy as scientists thought—at least when it comes to grammar. The original test consisted of 660 verbal commands, in English, that asked Kanzi to do things like “show me the hot water“ and “pour cold water in the potty.””
“Spinal implants have suffered similar problems as those in the brain—they tend to abrade tissue, causing inflammation and ultimately rejection by the body. Now an interdisciplinary research collaboration based in Switzerland has made a stretchable implant that appears to solve this problem. Like Lieber’s new brain implant, it matches the physical qualities of the tissue where it is embedded.”
““While we know that peer groups are one of the most important predictors of marijuana use in young adults, we know very little about the neural correlates of social rejection in those who use marijuana,” says Jodi Gilman, PhD, of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine, lead author of the paper. “The unexpected reduction in insula response may indicate that marijuana users are less conscious of social norms or have reduced ability to reflect on negative social situations, but we currently are unable to determine whether these differences in neural processing are a cause or a result of marijuana use.””
“”Some interpretations of a same music piece can evoke stronger emotions than others. Similarly, our study has succeeded in demonstrating that the hall’s acoustics plays an important part in the overall emotional impact. After all, emotional experiences are a key factor in music to many listeners.” says Dr. Jukka Pätynen. For decades, researchers on concert hall acoustics have aspired to explain the acoustical success of certain halls with room-acoustic parameters. The study by Finnish researchers is the first to assess the acoustics of existing concert halls as the emotional impact.”
“”We know that life starts when a sperm fertilises an egg, but we’re interested in when the important decisions that determine our future development occur,” says Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. “We now know that even as early as the four-stage embryo – just two days after fertilisation – the embryo is being guided in a particular direction and its cells are no longer identical.””
““These mutations can insert, delete or in some cases scramble the DNA sequence,” said senior author Jonathan Sebat, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine and director of the Beyster Center for Genomics of Psychiatric Disease at UC San Diego School of Medicine.”
15 Comments
arklipp · March 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm
The reading on embryo differentiation is fascinating in that the cells start differentiating at such a short amount of time. Information such as this would probably be an important point in the biomedical ethics field of abortion. There is a great deal of conflict between self-determination and harming other beings that causes the issue to be incredibly hard to argue entirely one way or the other.
michellesandler · April 2, 2016 at 8:26 pm
I found the article about spinal implants helping paralyzed rats walk again interesting. A stretchable “e-dura” implant allowing rats that are paralyzed walk again is a discovery that could positively impact the world. Discovering this in rats can lead to a light at the end of the tunnel for people who are paralyzed and unable to walk. It could change medicine and the way doctors treat such patients. I find it fascinating that a spinal implant could copy the way surrounding tissues move and enable movement in the legs.
Chan.Jayme · April 3, 2016 at 10:24 pm
I totally agree with the acoustics and emotion article! The article was geared towards classical music but I would say it applies to pop music as well. I hear different people covering the song and though the lyrics are the same, some versions affect me differently than others. For example, I get goosebumps from a live version of Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson versus her music video version.
Laura Freberg · April 8, 2016 at 9:31 am
You’re absolutely correct about the ethical quandary here. I know when I go over embryological nervous system development in class, there are students who startle and sometimes even gasp out loud. Obviously, the facts of embryological nervous system development are not consistent with how they have previously thought about prenatal development. Science is science, though. It’s up to the individual to figure out how he/she will think about the facts.
hsaner · April 8, 2016 at 6:34 pm
After reading the “Ape Language Ace” article, I was instantly reminded of Koko the gorilla and her sign language skills. I was extremely surprised that Kanzi was able to respond to one action verbal commands correctly 71.5% of the time while infant humans were only able to 66.6% of the time. It is no surprise that apes are intelligent (we do share almost identical DNA!); but I still would think that humans would have the upper hand, and if not, then that humans and apes would have equal skill in verbal commands. However, as I continued reading the article, I learned that once the challenge of multiple commands was attempted, Kanzi’s performance was 22.2%, which gives me hope that we don’t (yet) have a Planet of the Apes situation arising. Apes are extremely complex mammals, as are humans, and I find it interesting to see the similarities and differences the two have with each other.
hsaner · April 22, 2016 at 6:47 pm
The “Brain’s Response to Social Exclusion Different in Young Marijuana Users” article was very interesting; and because of the Neuro ID test, I was actually able to understand where and which sections of the brain were being affected. It was surprising to see that the marijuana users had such less action in the insula when being excluded from the game as compared to the control subjects. The article’s possible explanations that the differential activation may have preexisted and may have contributed to the onset of marijuana use, and/or it may have developed as a result of marijuana exposure are two important things to thing about; is there actual causation or just a correlation?
lwickwir · May 12, 2016 at 9:47 am
On reading the article about acoustics and emotions, I couldn’t agree more. Music provokes so much emotions in people. I know, in my personal experience, listening to music helps me write, do my homework, drive, and feel better in general. Singing also really helps. What I find interesting is the fact that some music makes some people feel great while to others, maybe not so great. It’s interesting that different people listen to different music. I wonder if that correlates with someone’s personality.
bailey_arthur · May 18, 2016 at 12:20 am
In the article about social exclusion, the relationship between marijuana usage and social exclusion displayed surprising results. The insula, which is associated with negative emotion, did not show activation in response to social exclusion in marijuana users compared to those who did not frequently use marijuana. This was interesting because often I assume that the use of marijuana occurs due to fear of social exclusion so that the insula would be more active. However, it is hard to say whatever this inactivation is due to previous marijuana use or the abnormality was present before the marijuana usage began. This is a very prevalent study due to the controversy over marijuana and the stigma behind marijuana users. This would be an interesting study to continue while discussing the legalization of marijuana.
Bcrowley712 · May 18, 2016 at 11:39 am
The article on the correlation between marijuana and social exclusion was really intriguing. I have not seen many studies done on how marijuana effects the brain long term, and it is interesting to me that there is a decreased feeling of exclusion in marijuana users. Maybe this could be used as a treatment for kids who exclude themselves or have a fear of being outcasted. I would like to see more research done in the next few decades that show how marijuana effects the brain long term and I am curious to see how the popularization of marijuana progresses.
clairep · May 23, 2016 at 4:05 pm
In reading the article “Ape ‘language ace’ gets tripped up by simple grammar”, I initially found it impressive that Kanzi the chimpanzee was able to carry out the 660 verbal commands at a 71.5% success rate, and was again surprised to learn that when the phrase was slightly complicated with a complex noun the success rate in completing the task dropped to 22.2%. Although apes are generally not as linguistically complex as humans, I do not think that this discrepancy should allow for the dismissal of the initial progress in Kanzi’s language development. The fact that he in some sense initially outperformed the average infant human speaks for his intelligence to a certain degree and I would like to know how Kanzi’s score on actions including more than one item compare to the infant human rate. Even humans have to go through much practice to master grammar; although Kanzi may not presently be able to understand the nesting structure of some terms, with time and research we may gain more understanding on his species’ potential growth in the area of language.
brittanykim121 · May 25, 2016 at 4:22 pm
I found the article on marijuana and social exclusion interesting. I was surprised to learn that the insula did not show activation for marijuana users, while it did show activation for non-marijuana users. I wasn’t aware of the correlation between marijuana and social exclusion, if there is one. It is an ongoing question of whether the results of the activation of insula is due to the use of marijuana or the cause of it’s use. It would be interesting to see more research and studies done on this topic to find out.
kaylabakhshi · June 1, 2016 at 4:12 pm
After reading the article about social exclusion, I wish I had more information about teens in real-life experiences. Although I do not smoke weed myself, I do know a fair amount of people who do. There have been times where my friend says she feels less social when she is high, but i do not know if that has anything to do with the activation in the brain. I would be very interested to know if weed changes the way people perceive social interactions. I could see how that would be a thing.
kaylabakhshi · June 1, 2016 at 4:32 pm
I have done choir and a cappella for many years now, so i am very familiar with the emotional connection and vulnerability people can have to music, especially when the acoustics are amazing. But, basically, I don’t doubt this article because I have felt it and seen it happen to many people. I believe that music and dance can have rather interesting and drastic effects on our emotions.
Chan.Jayme · June 1, 2016 at 9:58 pm
RE: A rat that can walk again!
This article was an interesting read. At first I was like so.. what if a rat can walk again what does that matter. I realize thats such a cynical and selfish thought. But that is awesome to hear and even better that it can help humans with spinal cord injuries. I usually hear that spinal cord injuries cant be redeemed most of the time but this gives hope in that it is not hopeless. Really cool that doctors have found something like this that can be further applied.
kmmenden · February 7, 2017 at 8:23 pm
I read the article on the flexible spine implants on rats. I find this very interesting because we are always hearing about how spinal cord injuries are usually irreversible and lead to paralysis. Now, it seems there is a way to reverse this. I would be interested to know more – how long it took for the rats to be able to walk with the new implant, and if the implant lasted long term for the rest of the rat’s life. It’d also be interesting to see if rats that were extremely active after the implant had better success later in life.