omnia mea mecum fero

Did you make it to work on time this morning? Go ahead and thank the traffic gods, but also take a moment to thank your brain. The brain’s impressively accurate internal clock allows us to detect the passage of time, a skill essential for many critical daily functions. Without the ability to track elapsed time, our morning shower could continue indefinitely. Without that nagging feeling to remind us we’ve been driving too long, we might easily miss our exit. 

 

But how does the brain generate this finely tuned mental clock? Neuroscientists believe that we have distinct neural systems for processing different types of time, for example, to maintain a circadian rhythm, to control the timing of fine body movements, and for conscious awareness of time passage. Until recently, most neuroscientists believed that this latter type of temporal processing – the kind that alerts you when you’ve lingered over breakfast for too long – is supported by a single brain system. However, emerging research indicates that the model of a single neural clock might be too simplistic. A new study, recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience by neuroscientists at the University of California, Irvine, reveals that the brain may in fact have a second method for sensing elapsed time. What’s more, the authors propose that this second internal clock not only works in parallel with our primary neural clock, but may even compete with it.

Via Dr. Stefan Gruenwald

XVIVO partnered with a major international telecommunications provider to create an animation that is both informative and compelling. Enjoy!

Via Sakis Koukouvis

this is your world, let it amaze you!...

Via Sakis Koukouvis

Μια παλιά ιδέα της βιολογίας έλεγε ότι το ποιός είσαι είναι θέμα των γονιδίων που έχεις. Είναι πλέον σαφές ότι ένα εξίσου σημαντικό θέμα είναι και ποιά γονίδια χρησιμοποιείτε. Όπως και όλη η βιολογία, το θέμα αυτό έχει μια χημεία στον πυρήνα του. Τα κύτταρα του πρώιμου εμβρύου μπορεί να εξελιχθούν σε οποιοδήποτε τύπο ιστού. Αλλά καθώς το έμβρυο μεγαλώνει, τα λεγόμενα πολυδύναμα βλαστικά κύτταρα διαφοροποιούνται, αποκτώντας συγκεκριμένους ρόλους (όπως αίμα, μυς ή νευρικά κύτταρα), που παραμένουν σταθερά στους απογόνους τους.

Via secret876, Sakis Koukouvis

World's oldest creature - known as Ming the mollusc - is proven even older than previously thought. When scientists inadvertently killed what turned out to be the world’s oldest living creature, it was bad enough. Now, their mistake has been compounded after further research found it was even older – at 507 years.

 

The ocean quahog - a type of deep-sea clam - was dredged alive from the bottom of the North Atlantic near Iceland in 2006 by researchers. They then put it in a freezer, as is normal practice, unaware of its age.

 

It was only when it was taken to a laboratory that scientists from Bangor University studied it and concluded it was 400 years old.

The discovery made it into the Guinness Book of World Records however by this time, it was too late for Ming the Mollusc – named after the Chinese dynasty on the throne when its life began.

 

Now, after examining the ocean quahog more closely, using more refined methods, the researchers have found the animal was actually 100 years older than they first thought.

 

Dr. Paul Butler, from the University’s School of Ocean Sciences, said: “We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we’ve got the right age now.”

 

A quahog’s shell grows by a layer every year, in the summer when the water is warmer and food is plentiful. It means that when its shell is cut in half, scientists can count the lines in a similar way trees can be dated by rings in their trunks.

 

The growth rings can be seen in two places; on the outside of the shell and at the hinge where the two halves meet. The hinge is generally considered by scientists as the best place to count the rings, as it is protected from outside elements.

 

When researchers originally dated Ming, they counted the rings at the hinge. However because it was so old, many had become compressed. When they looked again at the outside of the shell, they found more rings. It means the mollusc was born in 1499 – just seven years after Columbus discovered America and before Henry VIII had even married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon in 1509.

Via Dr. Stefan Gruenwald

Stand by for an animated exploration of the famous Fermi Paradox. Given the vast number of planets in the universe, many much older than Earth, why haven't we yet seen obvious signs of alien life? The potential answers to this question are numerous and intriguing, alarming and hopeful.

Via Sakis Koukouvis