A blob in the brain is not the image most people have when someone mentions tapeworms. These parasitic worms are best known in their adult stage, when they live in people’s intestines and their [...]]]> Discover launches a thousand new phobia cases with their expose (and I cannot do better than their headline here) Hidden Epidemic: Tapeworms in the Brain:

A blob in the brain is not the image most people have when someone mentions tapeworms. These parasitic worms are best known in their adult stage, when they live in people’s intestines and their ribbon-shaped bodies can grow as long as 21 feet. But that’s just one stage in the animal’s life cycle. Before they become adults, tapeworms spend time as larvae in large cysts. And those cysts can end up in people’s brains, causing a disease known as neurocysticercosis.

“Nobody knows exactly how many people there are with it in the United States,” says [Theodore] Nash, who is the chief of the Gastrointestinal Parasites Section at NIH. His best estimate is 1,500 to 2,000. Worldwide, the numbers are vastly higher, though estimates on a global scale are even harder to make because neurocysticercosis is most common in poor places that lack good public-health systems. “Minimally there are 5 million cases of epilepsy from neurocysticercosis,” Nash says.

He puts a heavy emphasis on minimally. Even in developed nations, figuring out just how many people have the illness is difficult because it is easy to mistake the effects of a tapeworm for a variety of brain disorders. The clearest proof is the ghostly image of a cyst in a brain scan, along with the presence of antibodies against tapeworms.

The closer scientists look at the epidemiology of the disease, the worse it becomes. Nash and other neurocysticercosis experts have been traveling through Latin America with CT scanners and blood tests to survey populations. In one study in Peru, researchers found 37 percent of people showed signs of having been infected at some point. Earlier this spring, Nash and colleagues published a review of the scientific literature and concluded that somewhere between 11 million and 29 million people have neurocysticercosis in Latin America alone.

You get it from ingesting fecal matter from someone who’s eaten undercooked bacon. Sometimes, the worst symptoms only strike after the worms die and your body reacts to the foreign mass in your brain by becoming inflamed.

Millions of sufferers worldwide.

Orbiting only about three million miles out from its star, the Jupiter-size gas giant planet, dubbed TrES-2b, is heated to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (980 degrees Celsius). Yet the apparently inky world appears to reflect almost none of the starlight that shines on it, according to a new study.

“Being [...]]]> National Geographic unveils Kepler’s latest discovery – a really black planet:

Orbiting only about three million miles out from its star, the Jupiter-size gas giant planet, dubbed TrES-2b, is heated to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (980 degrees Celsius). Yet the apparently inky world appears to reflect almost none of the starlight that shines on it, according to a new study.

“Being less reflective than coal or even the blackest acrylic paint—this makes it by far the darkest planet ever discovered,” lead study author David Kipping said.

“If we could see it up close it would look like a near-black ball of gas, with a slight glowing red tinge to it—a true exotic amongst exoplanets,” added Kipping, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The [University of Glasgow] researchers studied a prominent brain rhythm associated with visual cortex functioning that cycles at a rate of 10 times per second (10Hz).

They used a ‘simple trick’ to affect the oscillations of this rhythm which involved presenting a brief sound to [...]]]> Medical Xpress takes a closer look at the hazy, flickering way we really perceive the world:

The [University of Glasgow] researchers studied a prominent brain rhythm associated with visual cortex functioning that cycles at a rate of 10 times per second (10Hz).

They used a ‘simple trick’ to affect the oscillations of this rhythm which involved presenting a brief sound to ‘reset’ the oscillation.

Testing subsequent visual perception, by using transcranial magnetic stimulation of the visual cortex, revealed a cyclic pattern at the very rapid rate of brain oscillations, in time with the underlying brainwaves.

Prof Thut said: “Rhythmicity therefore is indeed omnipresent not only in brain activity but also brain function. For perception, this means that despite experiencing the world as a continuum, we do not sample our world continuously but in discrete snapshots determined by the cycles of brain rhythms.”

Flickering in and out like blinking lights.

This is how to get hydrogen and oxygen from water – acidulated water – by using a Grove’s battery and two platinum wires. And “decomposing” the water. Try it at home!

An educational image from Chemistry, by Henry Enfield Roscoe.

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Pesticide exposure linked to brain changes: study”, AFP, via Yahoo!News, 30 Apr 2012, as used in the post “Stupid pesticide lowers your kids’ IQs.”.

ABSTRACT: This song was a response to Bill Corbett’s SongFu prompt, “Write an upbeat, danceable [...]]]> SONG: “This Stupid War.” _{(To download: double right-click & “Save As”)}

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Pesticide exposure linked to brain changes: study”, AFP, via Yahoo!News, 30 Apr 2012, as used in the post “Stupid pesticide lowers your kids’ IQs.”.

ABSTRACT: This song was a response to Bill Corbett’s SongFu prompt, “Write an upbeat, danceable song telling the story of some kind of battle.” Upbeat – I’m assuming this means “optimistic” and not necessarily “prior to or emphasizing the first and third beats in a measure,” or even more technically “anacrusis.” Although this may do that, I’m not book-learned enough to tell. I tried to start on as optimistic a note as possible. And danceable… well, a waltz is a dance, right? I think I can dance a waltz, anyway. It’s the classic bride’s first dance at weddings… because anybody can waltz!

The battle here is the perennial one against insect pests, which we seem to be winning – temporarily. But we’re also experiencing all kinds of unforeseen casualties, including, apparently, our kids’ brains. The locus coeruleus, which I’m sure I’m mispronouncing in the song (it should actually sound like “cerulean”), is the part of the brain that controls feelings of anxiety. It’s also the part of the brain directly affected by CPF, or chlorpyrifos, so suitably enough, as our IQs are lowered by this nearly ubiquitous pesticide, we’ll get progressively less and less anxious about it. That’s something to look forward to!

I kind of wished I had Mark Mothersbaugh’s voice for this, because that kind of cracked, de-evolutionary optimism is right where I was aiming this song. I can’t tell you if the beat is made from sprinklers or locust song or dumb machines, because it’s made from all three. Oh. I told you. Well, don’t tell anyone else, OK?

Lyrics:

We couldn’t be happier!
And we’ll never know hunger!
Ants swarm like soldiers!
So we man the crop dusters!

This stupid war
We fight in the fields
Over each wave of grain

To each shining shore
We spray every day
Though it costs us our brains

It’s all so difficult!
For the non-neurotypical!
A slow locus coeruleus!
From too much chlorpyrifos!

This stupid war
We fight in the fields
Over each wave of grain

To each shining shore
We spray every day
Though it costs us our brains

This stupid war
We fight in the fields
Over each wave of grain

To each shining shore
We spray every day
Though it costs us our brains

We couldn’t be happier…
We’ll never know hunger…
Ants swarm like soldiers…
Man the crop dusters….

…[U]ndergraduates at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland… devised the idea as part of an engineering contest sponsored by the French materials company Saint-Gobain — and took first prize last week. The objective was to use simple materials to create a novel [...]]]> Science magazine shores up our infrastructure with a report on how a kid’s toy can save our streets:

…[U]ndergraduates at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland… devised the idea as part of an engineering contest sponsored by the French materials company Saint-Gobain — and took first prize last week. The objective was to use simple materials to create a novel product.

“So we were putzing around with different ideas and things we wanted to work with—and we were like, what’s a common, everyday problem all around the world that everybody hates?” explains 21-year-old team member Curtis Obert. “And we landed on potholes.” He and four other students decided on a non-Newtonian fluid as a solution because of its unusual physical properties. “When there’s no force being applied to it, it flows like a liquid does and fills in the holes,” says Obert, “but when it gets run over, it acts like a solid.”

…

There are plenty of familiar non-Newtonian fluids, says Michael Graham, a chemical engineer not involved in the project who studies non-Newtonian fluid behavior at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Mayonnaise, ketchup, silly putty, and even blood are examples.

…

the fluid filled bags can be carried around in the trunks of police cruisers or vans and dropped into potholes on the spot by employees with little training or experience. They would then be covered with black adhesive fabric so that drivers don’t perceive them as a hazard. “We definitely don’t want people avoiding them,” says team member Mayank Saksena.

The students have road-tested their designs on a number of Cleveland’s potholes and found that the bags continue to perform well after more than a week of continuous use in high-traffic areas. Although the product has yet to be field tested in an actual Midwest winter, the students say the bags are intended to be sturdy enough that they can stand up to salt and freezing conditions for weeks at a time, until damaged roads can be permanently fixed.

We don’t know exactly what silly putty relative the students are using, because they’re patenting the invention.

But they do say the powder in it is biodegradable and safe enough to eat.

Hard drives are usually made by “sputtering”, in which clouds of argon ions are fired at a sheet of magnetic material, knocking off particles which are deposited as a thin film on a disc. Groups of these particles, called grains, form the [...]]]> New Scientist has a knack for bringing weird science to life. In this case, electronic germ-based computers:

Hard drives are usually made by “sputtering”, in which clouds of argon ions are fired at a sheet of magnetic material, knocking off particles which are deposited as a thin film on a disc. Groups of these particles, called grains, form the magnetic regions on the drive, with around 100 grains corresponding to one bit.

Instead of granular media, [University of Leeds researcher Sarah] Staniland’s team produce bit-patterned media. They start with a gold surface coated in chemicals in a chessboard pattern so that one set of squares binds proteins and the other repels them. They then apply the magnet-producing protein and coat the surface with an iron solution, which the protein-covered squares convert into magnetic material.

As the name suggests, each magnetic square in bit-patterned media can store one bit. Each square Staniland’s team have so far produced is around 20 micrometres wide, far too bulky to store data with a density comparable to today’s hard drives. She says they now plan to test out nano-sized squares, 1000 times smaller and much closer to existing drive density.

Eventually, she hopes to create a hard drive with a single iron particle per square, which will store as much as 1 terabyte of data per square inch – far beyond the capability of most hard drives.

Researchers have identified a ‘genetic switch’, carried by one in five women, that doubles their risk of developing breast cancer.

Experts described the breakthrough [...]]]> The Telegraph (yes, I know, but…) gives hope to the potentially millions of women fed up with the regular ritual of mammograms with news that a new blood test can detect cancer risk decades in advance:

Researchers have identified a ‘genetic switch’, carried by one in five women, that doubles their risk of developing breast cancer.

Experts described the breakthrough by scientists at Imperial College London as “exciting” and said signs of the disease could be detected “many decades in advance”.

…

A strong association was found between molecular changes in a white blood cell gene called ATM and breast cancer risk.

…

The changes are also associated with lymphoma and leukaemia meaning the test could have implications in other cancers.

“We have taken inspiration from nature’s designs and exploited the same methods to turn our artificial muscles into striking visual effects,” said lead author of the study Jonathan Rossiter [of the University of Bristol].

First up, Rossiter and [...]]]> Wired takes a leap into the cephashionable world of cephalopod textiles to give a sneak peak at next season’s color-changing squid-muscle shirts:

“We have taken inspiration from nature’s designs and exploited the same methods to turn our artificial muscles into striking visual effects,” said lead author of the study Jonathan Rossiter [of the University of Bristol].

First up, Rossiter and team looked at the squid. This slimy cephalopod does its colour-change party trick by using a pigment-filled sac surrounded by a series of muscles. When those muscles contract, the sac is squashed and expands. This makes it look like the squid has changed colour.

To mimic this in the lab, the team used dielectric elastomers (DEs), which are soft, stretchy, smart materials which are connected to an electric circuit. When a voltage is applied, the material expands — just like the squid’s stretching sac. When the DE is short circuited, it returns to its original shape.

They say they can use this to create smart-fabrics that change color as needed. Or to make flexible, self-powered skin that acts like a medical monitor.

[via Squidita]

On Thursday, the scientists flew over the Sierra Nevada foothill region in a chartered zeppelin, hoping to spot craters, burn marks or other signs of falling space particles.

The meteorite did not arrive quietly early [...]]]> No, McClatchy ain’t making this up. Members of SETI and NASA are using an airship to seek traces of meteorites – and, possibly, alien life:

On Thursday, the scientists flew over the Sierra Nevada foothill region in a chartered zeppelin, hoping to spot craters, burn marks or other signs of falling space particles.

The meteorite did not arrive quietly early on that Sunday morning. Residents throughout the Sierra Nevada, from Lassen to Kernville, reported hearing explosive sounds as it burned in the atmosphere. Many saw a bright white streak in the sky.

The track of that streak ended around Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, where pieces of the meteorite were found in the parking lot.

…

“It’s a gamble,” said Gregory Schmidt, deputy director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute, who was part of Thursday’s search effort. “But for a once-in-a-lifetime (meteorite) fall like this, we think it’s worth it.”

Scientists say the meteorite is probably the most significant event of its kind since the late 1960s. That is because it likely is composed of carbonaceous chondrite, the earliest solid material to form in our solar system more than 4 1/2 billion years ago, before the planets took shape.

This means the fragments littering the Gold Country may contain carbon, amino acids, sugars and even evidence of water that are the very “building blocks of life,” said Brad Bailey, a staff scientist at the Lunar Science Institute.