Ray Kurzweil is just amazing and now he is driving google :)

http://bigthink.com/big-think-tv/ray-kurzweil-and-the-brains-behind-the-google-brain

 I don't usually get star struck... but  I  was tongue tied when I met this amazing individual. :)

 I could careless about vapid popculture icons but Ray Kurzweil... all I could think was what is he thinking right now?  How has he already shaped our future by discovering/ naming the law of accelerating returns is trans-humanism defined.

Richard Feynman

 Researching Richard Feynman today :) Thought I would share!

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Experts React to Mental Health Parity Law 'Final Rule'

Experts React to Mental Health Parity Law 'Final Rule': "rule to "ensure that features such as co-pays, deductibles, and visit limits are generally not more restrictive for mental health/substance use disorders benefits than they are for medical/surgical benefits.""

 rule to "ensure that features such as co-pays, deductibles, and visit limits are generally not more restrictive for mental health/substance use disorders benefits than they are for medical/surgical benefits."
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  There is still a huge disparity  when it comes to mental health versus  medsurg/ general medical  care.  Many outpatient services are extremely limited, or have much higher deductibles or copays than physician visits.  There is a  lack of mental health services in this country.  Insurances do not often cover  therapy with a  professional such as a psychologist or licensed social worker. Primary care physicians are 'more inclined to write a prescription  for a med, than  instruct the patient  to workout, increasing physical activity,  or go therapy.

BBC News - Depression 'makes us biologically older'

BBC News - Depression 'makes us biologically older':

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Monkey brains help explain our fear of snakes

Monkey brains help explain our fear of snakes:

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The Steroid Hiding In Your Water - Prevention.com

The Steroid Hiding In Your Water - Prevention.com: "Trenbolene acetate, the high-value steroidal growth promoter used extensively in the non-organic beef and cattle industry, doesn't appear to rapidly break down in water as it was once thought to, say University of Iowa researchers."
Trenbolene acetate, the high-value steroidal growth promoter used extensively in the non-organic beef and cattle industry, doesn't appear to rapidly break down in water as it was once thought to, say University of Iowa researchers.

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Neuroscience For Kids - blood brain barrier

Neuroscience For Kids - blood brain barrier:

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How your brain gets rid of its waste[ Glymphatic Pathway System and Beat Amyloid Plaque degradation]

  Excitingly  it is a system that functions almost life lymphatic system for the brain. We  knew that  cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), and the BECF ( brain extra-cellular fluid) is protected by the blood-brain barrier.  There are also ventricles in the brain  and specialized cells that secrete the CSF (choroid plexus), and there are areas with  little protruding hairs/ cilia that help circulate this fluid.  The fluid contains high levels of brain energy juice- sodium, glucose, and other needed electrolytes, but it also contains  metabolic waste.  This new system shows how the flow of CSF through the brain  moves through like a current and the removal of  extra-cellular waste. Now that scientist can study and measure the effectiveness of the glymphatic pathway  It will provide  valuable insight into the progression of Alzheimer's Dementia, and other neurological diseases Perhaps this can provide a more accurate  picture of the disease, its progression, and  possible interventions.  Wouldn't it be amazing if we could just ' flush out'  build  up of these beta amyloid  plaques and other disease causing  materials? Nano-particle sponges that degrade the plaques or contain it so that it does not damage neurons?  I think  one day we will   have such technology- in the not so distant future.  ( The singularity is near!) :)

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 referencing article
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67677

"We recently reported that the glymphatic pathway is a key contributor to the clearance of soluble amyloid β from the brain interstitium and proposed that the failure of this clearance might contribute to amyloid plaque deposition and AD progression (6). In light of these findings, there may be great value in the development of a clinical prognostic test for measuring glymphatic pathway function throughout the human brain and evaluating whether suppression of this system contributes to the development and progression of AD. Here we provide proof-of-concept data demonstrating that glymphatic pathway function can be measured using a simple and clinically relevant imaging technique, contrast-enhanced MRI, to visualize brain-wide CSF-ISF exchange."

In a Bad Mood? 3 Science-Based Strategies That Can Help | Happify

In a Bad Mood? 3 Science-Based Strategies That Can Help | Happify: "search by Robert Zajonc shows that the simple act of smiling can improve your mood. For the greatest effect, give yourself a big authentic smile by finding something that genuinely makes you laugh."

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The Female Body Part That Wasn't Discovered (For Real) Until 1998

The Female Body Part That Wasn't Discovered (For Real) Until 1998:Although medical science has been dimly aware of this female sexual organ for some time, it took until 1998 for researchers to discover the actual size and scope of the clitoris. To put that into perspective, we've had DVDs since 1995. Let's help get the word out.

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Can Oral Sex Cause Cancer? - MensJournal.com

Can Oral Sex Cause Cancer? - MensJournal.com: "a heart attack or stroke at some point in their lives. It's not clear whether HPV increases the risk of cardiovascular problems or whether women with heart ailments are more likely to contract HPV."

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Invasive Species in the Northeast- being mindful of what you plant.

Plants Are Our Story: "“whatsoever whether great or small ugly or handsom sweet or stinking…everything in the universe in thair own nature appears beautiful to me.”  John Bartram, 1740."
...except invasive species :)

 please be careful when you choose your plants and be mindful of what species you are planting- research it a bit- and never leave the landscaping up to your  landscaper/gardener-  many are not trained or don't care about which species they are promoting. We have had many invasive species in our yard ( from previous owners)


Gardening is made more challenging :)  I attempt to use native species./ and rare species in gardening when possible.  It is  difficult but  there are some great resources.

Great  website for those in the northeast:
http://www.delawarenativeplants.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=trees.pageDetails&p=20-6-47


Check your local  horticulture society
link to delaware horticulture society :
http://www.thedch.org/

native plants for the northeast and their invasive species look-a likes:
http://www.nybg.org/files/scientists/rnaczi/Mistaken_Identity_Final.pdf


Don't plant Barberry 

  Barberry and Ticks make friends and are harbingers of Lymes Disease!  See this article :
http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/japanese-barberry-a-threat-to-public-health.html
Chinese Wisteria: 

http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/470

 It grows so quickly one must trim it at every month in the summer.

Impacts

Wisteria was introduced to the United States from Japan and China in the 1800’s for use as ornamental plants. Individual wisteria plants can survive for more than 50 years. Wisteria can reproduce by rooting at each node, via stolons, and will produce new shoots if cut back or trimmed. Wisteria is highly aggressive and can displace native species. Sizable trees have been killed by vining wisteria. When these large trees are killed, it opens the forest floor to sunlight, which allows seedlings to grow and flourish.

 Brurning bush, and barberry are also garden no- no's

How Exercise Beefs Up the Brain | Science/AAAS | News

How Exercise Beefs Up the Brain | Science/AAAS | News: " brain getting the signal to make BDNF? Some have theorized that neural activity during exercise (as we coordinate our body movements, for example) accounts for changes in the brain. But it’s also possible that factors outside the brain, like those proteins secreted from muscle cells, are the driving force. To test whether irisin created elsewhere in the body can still drive BDNF production in the brain, the group injected a virus into the mouse’s bloodstream that causes the liver to produce and secrete elevated levels of irisin. They saw the same effect as in exercise: increased BDNF levels in the hippocampus. This suggests that irisin could be capable of passing the blood-brain barrier, or that it regulates some other (unknown) molecule that crosses into the brain, Spiegelman says."

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 BDNF=  brain derived neurotrophic factor ( brain growing juice) .

Stellar Graveyard Shows Signs of Possible (Past) Life | Science/AAAS | News

Stellar Graveyard Shows Signs of Possible (Past) Life | Science/AAAS | News: "n GD 61’s pollution, Farihi and his colleagues noticed a curious abundance of oxygen. Their first thought was that the original asteroid must have been encrusted with carbon dioxide in the form of dry ice. Trouble is, there was no carbon anywhere to be found around GD 61. So in order to account for the extra oxygen, “the only chemically viable substance left is water,” Farihi says."
ater-rich asteroids are considered to be important for the formation of habitable planets, crashing into them and supplying them with life-giving liquid water. Although “we certainly can’t rewind the clock completely” to discover what GD 61’s original solar system looked like, Farihi says, the discovery of the asteroid reveals “the building blocks of Earth-like planets were there.” In the future, he hopes to look at the system with a powerful telescope like the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array radio array in Chile to see if any of the original planets survived the death of their star, or whether anything remains of the asteroid belt where the water-rich planetesimal was born.
Finding a water-rich asteroid near a white dwarf bolsters the long-shot idea that life might rise again around these dead stars, says John Debes, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, who wasn’t involved in the research. After their stars’ violent deaths, white dwarfs remain remarkably stable for billions more years, which would mean “they’d actually be really good places to live,” Debes says. The problem, however, is that a planet would have to be extremely close to a dim white dwarf to be warm enough to support life
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very exciting news The prevalence of water in asteroids is a promising sign-  and portends well for future space programs. My super nerdiness  is remembering several Stephen Baxter novels  - where asteroid mining  sustains off world colonies :)

Sexual suicide

For males belonging to some species of the Dasyuridae family of marsupials, sex is a fatal, frenzied final act. After intercourse, the immune systems of these palm-sized, mouselike creatures collapse and they die soon afterward f

Find out why:

ScienceShot: Why Some Male Marsupials Die for Sex | Science/AAAS | News:

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powering your smart phone by wearing smart clothes :)

BBC NEWS | Technology | Nanowires allow 'power dressing':

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Last Updated: Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 18:15 GMT  E-mail this to a friend Printable version Nanowires allow 'power dressing' By Jonathan Fildes  Science and technology reporter, BBC News "Power dressing" may soon have a very different and literal meaning.Scientists in the US have developed novel brush-like fibres that generate electrical energy from movement. Weaving them into a material could allow designers to create "smart" clothes which harness body movement to power portable electronic gadgets. Writing in the journal Nature, the team say that the materials could also be used in tents or other structures to harness wind energy. "Our goal is to make self-powered nanotechnology," Professor Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology and one of the authors of the paper told BBC News. More details "Airflows, vibrations - all these are mechanical energy that we can harvest to power devices." Dr Dianne Jones, technical director of textile electronics firm Fibretronic, said that as the market for wearable electronics expands, technologies such as the nanofibres would become increasingly attractive "It could perhaps be used to power tiny medical devices like a true cochlear implant or heart pacemaker, or a delivery mechanism for subcutaneous drug delivery implants or antibiotic drug reservoirs for preventing infection in retinal implants," she said. The fibre has a piezoelectric effect," said Professor Wang. "This is an important effect that converts mechanical energy to electricity." Experiments with the prototypes showed that two 1cm-long fibres could generate a current of four nanoamperes and an output voltage of about four millivolts. "If we can optimise the design we can get up to 80 milliwatts per square metre of fabric - that could potentially power an iPod."  The ability to generate power for personal electronics using the clothing we wear would be a breakthrough in smart and interactive garments  Dianne Jones

"Zombie Endocrine Disruptors" used in cattle and the possible downstream effects

 The American Assocation of Applied Sciences  recently released an study that questions the viability of trebolone acetate= and endocrine disruptor = ( steroid) given to encourage and spur growth. Good for beef farmers- bad for aquatic life.  The steroid is supposed to be rendered inactive with u.v. exposure.  This study highlights  the effects of the metabolites of these steroids in aquatic life.  The metabolites of the steroids  ( what parts of the chemicals can't be absorbed by the cow  and so are excreted in the urine) are getting into water ways and causing problems:
READ=  COWS HOPPED UP ON STEROIDS HAVE TOXIC PEE

 Also some metabolites of these hormones are also stored in the body fat of the cows. If they are being dosed with these hormones and humans consume them what long term effects are we going to see in a given demographic?  Early onset of puberty ( usually women)- gynecomastia  ( male's developing fatty breast tissue),  hypogonadism  ( smaller male parts)  are just some of the possible effects.

 This steroid "Trebolone Acetate is also called "Trina" which is its street name  and is injected freely by athletes and body builders looking for a  competitive edge.   Prolonged exposure to steroids/ aka "endocrine disruptors'  such as trebolone, or BPA  can cause genetic changes. This  is called epigenetics  - as it refers to  environmental factors  ( like steroid polluted meat) that cause deleterious genetic changes in organisms.



source :http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6153/1441.summary

Zombie Endocrine Disruptors May Threaten Aquatic Life

1. by Erik Stokstad

1. REPORTProduct-to-Parent Reversion of Trenbolone: Unrecognized Risks for Endocrine Disruption
   • Shen Qu, 
   • Edward P. Kolodziej, 
   • Sarah A. Long, 
   • James B. Gloer, 
   • Eric V. Patterson, 
   • Jonas Baltrusaitis,
   • Gerrad D. Jones, 
   • Peter V. Benchetler, 
   • Emily A. Cole, 
   • Kaitlin C. Kimbrough, 
   • Matthew D. Tarnoff,
   • and David M. Cwiertny
   Science 1243192Published online 26 September 2013
   other  source: my brain / past education 

Why I don't want to be a doctor /

This link explains it all. If someone asks me again " why don't you go to med school?" " You should be a doctor" Swear to god if I hear that one more time it ain't gonna be pretty! This link is a great summary of why I never considered med school ( thanks to the dude who already blogged about it :) http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-become-a-nurse-or-physicians-assistant-instead-of-a-doctor-the-underrated-perils-of-medical-school/

Sorry!

My automated program for my jewelry/ craft business was accidentally posting to this blog :) Oopps! Fixed now.

NASA - Hubble Finds Birth Certificate of Oldest Known Star

NASA - Hubble Finds Birth Certificate of Oldest Known Star:

And even after using new information about the star's distance from us, its brightness and its structure, scientists are unable to place an estimate of its age much below 14.5 billion years - still older than the universe.

Fortunately for the team from Pennsylvania State University and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, there appears to be a margin of error of about 800 million years, or so - enough to just barely place the star below the age of everything else, if peace of mind is important to you.

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ASSESSING THE SAFETY AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS

 good  article- straight forward and in layman's terms :)

ASSESSING THE SAFETY AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS:

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Significant Health Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods

Significant Health Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods:

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Exercise won't make you skinny -- according to Time Magazine (and me)

exercise in concert with calorie restriction and mindful eating. I also recommend taking supplements.

Sexual and Emotional Abuse Scar the Brain in Specific Ways | TIME.com

Sexual and Emotional Abuse Scar the Brain in Specific Ways | TIME.com:

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Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin - TIME/ Maddie Roberts Show

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin - TIME:

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http://youtu.be/Jc3IuWF5guA

Life stressor Test The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale

  This is a great quiz, to determine if you are undergoing a lot of life stressors:

The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_82.htm

Losing weight against all odds

 I am not one of those skinny bitches who starves herself.  I am overweight and actually tying to loose weight.  I love science, and I am also a nurse.  I do not want to be one of those fat nurses- where you wonder hmm they are so hypocritical they are in health care and take care of patients and can't even take care of themselves!  

 Lets look a little closer at some of the causes of weight gain or why people can't loose: ( not that this is an excuse because we can do something about it!)   

    Have you gained weight recently?  Have you experienced any of the following?

•  life changing event 
• ( death, birth, marriage,  job loss, change, etc.)
• new house,  moving, people moving in our out,  loss of friendship
• emotional abuse, distance, mistreatment
• 
  
•  life altering news eg. Your grandma is an excon, or your wife is a serial killer etc. your husband is really a woman or things of that nature)
•  stress- working too much or not enough, school/ college,  relationship stress, family stress
• health issues
• physical abuse or hx of phsycial abuse, trauma ( eg emotional abuse, rape, physical abuse in childhood etc or witnessing such abuse)
•  history of  depression or mental illness in self or family
• incongruent morals./ compromising  your morals or ethics
• poor self image/ self esteem
• lack of  social supports : eg. friends and family who are not good for you and do not have your best interested at heart
• economic distress ( eg. insufficient funds to meet your basic needs or social expectations)

 This is a long list of things.   Think carefully and if you have experienced any of these things in the past 2  year. 

 Stress is can be correlated with weight gain.  But there is hope! and ways to fix the damage.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/AN01128

Dr. Oz 

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/stress-weight-gain