Deciphering hidden pattern reveals brain activity The algorithm to find an efficient route through a complicated, connected network can be used to decode patterns in the brain (credit: Rachel Ewing) Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that the mathematics used to find an efficient route through a complicated, connected network can be used to decode how the brain represents information, says Geoffrey K. Aguirre, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology. The researchers developed an algorithm using a de Bruijn sequence, a set of things — letters, pictures, or sounds, for example — in a cyclic order such that every possible “word” or combination of things occurs only once. Aguirre and colleagues presented a series of faces in different combinations and orders to subjects, as dictated by the de Bruijn sequence, to measure the brain response to each face individually. The next step is to apply the new algorithm to actual fMRI studies of visual perception and representation in the brain, says Aguirre.
New Mexico County is First in the Nation to Ban all Drilling and Fracking Republished from grist.org By John Upton Mora County, N.M., has a message for the oil and gas industry: “You’re not welcome here.” County commissioners voted 2-1 on Monday to ban all oil and gas extraction in their drought-ravaged county near Santa Fe, home to fewer than 5,000 people. A temporary drilling moratorium is already in place in neighboring San Miguel County, but it is believed that Mora County is the first in the nation to impose an outright ban on all oil and gas drilling. From E&E News, via NRDC: Commissioner Alfonso Griego said “he supported the measure because he feels that federal and state laws fail to adequately protect communities from the impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.” Any detractors? Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the potential of the natural gas deposits in the area may never be known if exploration isn’t allowed and that could result in lost revenues for the county, as well as the rest of New Mexico.
What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital | Earth. We are one. In the shamanic view, mental illness signals “the birth of a healer,” explains Malidoma Patrice Somé. Thus, mental disorders are spiritual emergencies, spiritual crises, and need to be regarded as such to aid the healer in being born. What those in the West view as mental illness, the Dagara people regard as “good news from the other world.” The person going through the crisis has been chosen as a medium for a message to the community that needs to be communicated from the spirit realm. One of the things Dr. “I was so shocked. Another way to say this, which may make more sense to the Western mind, is that we in the West are not trained in how to deal or even taught to acknowledge the existence of psychic phenomena, the spiritual world. On the mental ward, Dr Somé saw a lot of “beings” hanging around the patients, “entities” that are invisible to most people but that shamans and psychics are able to see. “The Western culture has consistently ignored the birth of the healer,” states Dr.
Battle of the Brains Can you think of 100 different uses for a sock? How would you cope with glasses that turn everything upside down? What's your emotional intelligence? Can you create a work of art in 10 minutes? Horizon takes seven people who are some of the highest flayers in their field: a musical prodigy, a quantum physicist, an artist, a dramatist, an RAF fighter pilot, a chess grandmaster and a Wall Street trader, and puts them through a battery of tests to measure their intelligence. The principle way that we measure intelligence, the IQ test, is based on research done before even Einstein was in his prime. Horizon looks for evidence of intelligence in the brain, in our genes and in our upbringing and tests some of the latest theories using them to see which of the seven has the highest intelligence. Watch the full documentary now (playlist)
Leonardo DiCaprio Throws $7 Million Into the Ocean Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor best known for his roles in Titanic and Catch Me If You Can, has pledged to donate seven million dollars to help save oceans around the globe. A seven million dollar donation to help save oceans around the globe has been offered by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, at the Our Oceans conference DiCaprio appeared at an event staged by the State Department, where he announced the donation to the creation of marine reserves. “I got to know Leo particularly well during my campaign for president when he took time out of his life to put his celebrity to work on behalf of what he believed was the right choices for the country in terms of the environment particularly,” Secretary of State John Kerry said during the second day of the Our Ocean conference. The actor of The Wolf of Wall Street was a special guest that day. “Thru my foundation today I’m pledging $7 million to ocean conservation projects over the next 2 years. Source | Techtimes
Ravenari's totem / animal guide dictionary Ravenari's Animal Energy / Animal Guide Dictionary Total Number of Animal Energies Represented: 290 Use Ctrl+F (or a similar search function) to search for animals you are looking for. Mammals / Marsupials / Monotremes Birds my mind on books : books on the mind, consciousness, cognitive science… Here is my manifesto for rewilding the world | George Monbiot | Comment is free Until modern humans arrived, every continent except Antarctica possessed a megafauna. In the Americas, alongside mastodons, mammoths, four-tusked and spiral-tusked elephants, there was a beaver the size of a black bear: eight feet from nose to tail. There were giant bison weighing two tonnes, which carried horns seven feet across. The short-faced bear stood 13ft in its hind socks. During the previous interglacial period, Britain and Europe contained much of the megafauna we now associate with the tropics: forest elephants, rhinos, hippos, lions and hyenas. Most of the deciduous trees in Europe can resprout wherever the trunk is broken. All this has been forgotten, even by professional ecologists. Since then much of Europe, especially Britain, has lost most of its mesofauna as well: bison, moose, boar, wolf, bear, lynx, wolverine – even, in most parts, wildcat, beavers and capercaillie. The only thing preventing a faster rewilding in the EU is public money.
Effects of a Psychedelic, Tropical Tea, Ayahuasca, on the Electroencephalographic (EEG) Activity of the Human Brain During a Shamanistic Ritual Effects of a Psychedelic, Tropical Tea, Ayahuasca, on the Electroencephalographic (EEG) Activity of the Human Brain During a Shamanistic Ritual By Erik Hoffmann (e_hoffmann@vip.cybercity.dk), Jan M. Keppel Hesselink and Yatra-W.M. da Silveira Barbosa PDF version of this document EEG data from 12 volunteers participating in a workshop in Brazil were recorded under field conditions before and after a shamanistic ritual in which the psychoactive tea, ayahuasca, was consumed. Introduction Pharmacology Ayahuasca is a beverage extracted from plants in the Amazonian rain forest. Ayahuasca has a long history of safe and beneficial use for spiritual and healing purposes among large numbers of indigenous people in South America (Metzner, R., 1999). Electroencephalography (EEG) There is general consensus that rhythmical waves recorded from the surface of the scalp (the EEG) are summed synaptic potentials generated by the pyramidal cells in the cerebral cortex. Materials and Methods Results References
Through the Wormhole All episodes from Through the Wormhole series gathered in one place. Hosted by Morgan Freeman, Through the Wormhole will explore the deepest mysteries of existence - the questions that have puzzled mankind for eternity. What are we made of? What was there before the beginning? Are we really alone? Now, science has evolved to the point where hard facts and evidence may be able to provide us with answers instead of philosophical theories. Click on the links bellow to watch the documentary episodes: Season 1 Is There A Creator? The Riddle of Black Holes. Is Time Travel Possible? What Happened Before the Beginning? How Did We Get Here? Are We Alone? What Are We Made Of? Beyond The Darkness. Season 2 Is there Life after Death? Is There an Edge to the Universe? Does Time Exist? Are There More Than Three Dimensions? Is there a Sixth Sense? Are There Parallel Universes? How Does the Universe Work? Can We Travel Faster Than Light? Can We Live Forever? What Do Aliens Look Like?
WikiLeaks Reveals Pollution Issues in China The latest batch of diplomatic cables unearthed by WikiLeaks reveals China's failure to measure certain pollution levels and the government's silence about the issue. Several newly revealed cables, dating from 2006, show that certain types of air pollution aren't measured at all in China and that the Chinese government has ignored alarming findings from academics and scientists. "Air pollution in China has grown so bad that Chinese officials are acknowledging the challenge it presents, and various foreign scholars are offering alarming statistics about the financial and health costs it brings. ... However, fine particle (PM2.5) pollution — which is deemed to be of highest concern for public health — is not measured," a cable dated Aug. 16, 2006, claims. Another cable reveals that the levels of ozone (O3) in the Chinese province of Guangdong were at one point extremely high. China has been praised in recent years for its efforts to reduce air pollution. [via The Guardian]