Evidence builds that meditation strengthens the brain, researchers say Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain (in a good way) and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a further report by UCLA researchers suggests yet another benefit. Eileen Luders, an assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues, have found that long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes. The article appears in the online edition of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of neural tissue. "The insula has been suggested to function as a hub for autonomic, affective and cognitive integration," said Luders.
31 National Geographic Photos Get the FlatPix UI Kit for only $7 - Learn More or Buy Now National Geographic has been on the forefront of photography for over100 years. Their timeless images taken all over the world will live on as some of the best nature and human photography of all time. The examples listed below are only from the past 3 years of National Geographic Magazine and are just a sample of some of the breathtaking images captured in the magazine. All images courtesy of National Geographic Magazine. The Beautiful Brain | Art and Science of the Human Mind Neuroscience News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - io9 I just read a book by psychologist and neurologist, Michael Gazzaniga, noted for extensive research into split brain patients and cognitive neuroscience, and he pointed to research that suggests that humans have been growing steadily less violent over the last 50,000 or so years. Which is to say that in our tribal days of hunting and gathering, we tended to have very frequent clan feuds with various members of extended families. There was a great deal of reprisal killing to even the score with other clans or clans and families that schismed from your clan and families. The number of deaths involved were small but very, very frequent. Think of the violence of gang killings in regions of poverty in the cities and rural areas, that's actually a revival of how things used to be in ancient days—constant, endless feuding over the most trivial of things. Agriculture changed this. And this has only become more and more abstract. But that's more or less Gazzaniga's argument.
What are gravitational waves Video - 5min.com - StumbleUpon Human Body Lapbook A Homeschool Unit Study We all have one! We use it every moment of every day-- your incredible human body! What a personal and relevant topic of study for any child! For the younger students, your study may focus primarily on anatomy, so you will explore the body's organs and body's systems. Browse the ideas and links here to plan your human body lapbook, notebook, or unit study. Photo credit Human Body Lapbook Photos For human body lapbook pictures, visit These photos show the human body lapbook made by my daughter during her first grade year when we used Sonlight Science 1. Free Coloring Pages, Notebooking Pages, Lesson Plans, and Games Drawings of Parts of the Human BodyA nice drawing of the inner ear, the digestive system, a cross-section of the heart, and more.Crayola's Human Body Coloring PagesPages include human eye, a cell, human organs, and human skeleton.Human Body Coloring Book PagesThese are mostly outside body parts -- ear, nose, hands, etc. human body lapbook inside I thank Nice
Brain scans find why some people 'black out' after drinking - and why others remember it all to gloat the next morning Alcohol 'switches' off brain region that encodes memory - and some are more vulnerable than othersNot necessarily because people drink more By Rob Waugh Published: 15:19 GMT, 16 March 2012 | Updated: 15:19 GMT, 16 March 2012 People who wake up after an evening's drinking and find the details are a little fuzzy might be reassured by a new study. People who suffer memory loss don't always do so because they drink more than others - certain brains are just prone to losing memories when under the influence, according to a new study using MRI brain scanners. Around 40 per cent of students will suffer memory loss while at college. Alcohol seems to act as a chemical 'switch' in a brain region which 'encodes' memories - and some are more vulnerable that others. The Hangover: Researchers found that alcoholic blackouts aren't necessarily due to drinking more than others - some people have a chemical 'switch' that makes them forget
Venus, Jupiter & Moon Conjunction | How to Watch Online Two bright planets in the evening sky, Venus and Jupiter, will put on a nice celestial show on Sunday (March 25), and NASA is inviting people to talk about it online as it happens. This weekend, Venus and Jupiter will shine together in the western sky, and the slim crescent moon will also play a part in the celestial show. The agency is hosting a webchat Sunday from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT (0100 to 0300 GMT March 26), during which participants can discuss how Venus and Jupiter are aligned in the sky. Melissa McGrath, chief scientist in the Science & Technology Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsvilla, Ala., will also be on hand to answer questions about the skywatching event, which astronomers call a conjunction. During the webchat, users will also be able to tune into a live feed of NASA's view of the planets as they brighten the night skies. "This will be the best Venus-Jupiter conjunction for years to come," NASA officials said in a statement.
The Neurosciences Institute, La Jolla CA. The 100 colours of the Brainbow : Neurophilosophy Researchers from Harvard University have developed a remarkable genetic technique that enabled them to visualize complete neuronal circuits in unprecedented detail, by using multiple distinct colours to label individual neurons. The technique, called Brainbow, works in much the same way as a television uses the three primary colours to generate all the colour hues. With multiple combinations of up to four differently coloured fluorescent proteins, a palette of approximately 100 labels has been produced. To develop Brainbow, the researchers used the Cre/loxP site-specific recombination system, a sophisticated method which is commonly used to generate mutant (or “knockout“) mice lacking a specific gene. The cre gene encodes a viral enzyme that recognizes a specific 34-base pair DNA sequence called loxP, which is usually present in pairs that are located close together on the chromosome. When a Cre molecule binds to it’s target sequence, one of two things can happen. Reference:
Humans Killed off Australian Herbivores | Wildfire & Landscape Changes | Effects of Colonization Humans landed on the shores of Australia more than 45,000 years ago. The land they encountered was full of huge plant-eating animals, such as the 6,000-pound rhinoceros wombat and giant kangaroo. Sadly, things would soon change. Soon after humans settled on Australia, some 55 giant animal species vanished from Australia, with various theories, from climate change to human hunting, put forth to explain the extinction. Now, researchers have discovered that the arrival of these humans was likely the driver of intense changes to the region, which led to the annihilation of Australia's giant herbivores and drastic changes to the habitat that turned a patchy, shrub-filled landscape into a fire-prone grassy eucalyptus forest. "People turn up in Australia and it's quite soon after that you start to see this series of events unfolding," study researcher Christopher Johnson, of the University of Tasmania in Australia, told LiveScience. Ancient forests Fecal fungus A recurring problem