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n2doc's JournalMagic Mushrooms Create a Hyperconnected Brain
Magic Mushrooms Create a Hyperconnected Brain
by Tia Ghose
Magic mushrooms may give users trippy experiences by creating a hyperconnected brain.
The active ingredient in the psychedelic drug, psilocybin, seems to completely disrupt the normal communication networks in the brain, by connecting "brain regions that don't normally talk together," said study co-author Paul Expert, a physicist at King's College London.
The research, which was published today (Oct. 28) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, is part of a larger effort to understand how psychedelic drugs work, in the hopes that they could one day be used by psychiatrists — in carefully controlled settings — to treat conditions such as depression.
more
http://www.livescience.com/48502-magic-mushrooms-change-brain-networks.html
Does milk do a body good? Maybe not, a new study suggests
Got milk? If you’re drinking it to prevent bone fractures or to boost your overall health, you might want to go back to the fridge and opt for a yogurt or a slice of cheese instead.
A new study in the journal BMJ casts doubt on the widely held view that milk can help adults ward off hip fractures and broken bones. After tracking more than 100,000 Swedish men and women for up to 23 years, the study authors saw no link between milk consumption and fracture risk. However, they did find that avid milk drinkers were more likely to die at younger ages than their counterparts who drank little to no milk.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise everyone over the age of 8 to consume three cups of milk per day or the corresponding amount of yogurt, cheese or other dairy products. Many European countries offer similar suggestions. After all, milk is a convenient source of calcium, vitamin D and phosphorus, three nutrients that are important for bone growth.
However, the researchers -- from the Uppsala University, the Karolinska Institute and the Swedish National Food Agency -- wondered whether this advice was scientifically valid. No randomized clinical trials have shown that drinking milk causes the risk of fractures or premature death to fall, and observational studies that might reveal an association between milk and better health have had mixed results.
more
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-sn-milk-health-risks-20141029-story.html#page=1
Texas Republicans Are Ashamed of their Statewide Ticket
The second and final week of early voting begins today, meaning that both parties are working hard to get out the vote for their candidates. In the case of Texas Republicans, that means trying to fool voters into casting ballots for a set of truly repugnant candidates.
Don’t just take my word for it, though. Texas Republicans’ words and actions show that they’re embarrassed by who they have to offer this election cycle. Below is an actual Republican door hanger that was handed out in in Dallas that lists only Greg Abbott and local candidates, omitting the rest of the statewide Republican ticket.
Given who’s on the ticket, it makes sense that the GOP wouldn’t want to advertise them. There’s lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Dan Patrick, a man who has lied on the campaign trail, and whose vitriolic anti-immigrant stances are too conservative even for Republicans. The Republican candidate for attorney general is almost certainly a felon, under investigation for actions that he’s admitted to doing that constitute a third-degree felony. And don’t forget Republican comptroller candidate Glenn Hegar, a man who lacks basic understanding of the tax system, and who brags about slashing school funding and authoring HB 2.
Candidates like Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton are so clearly wrong for the state that they haven’t received the endorsement of a single major newspaper in Texas. That’s why Texas Republicans are actively trying to hide the fact that a straight-ticket vote means voting for these reprehensible men.
more
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/20725/texas-republicans-ashamed-statewide-ticket
Unique Galaxy Shows a Stellar 'Circle of Life'
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) has recently unveiled new images of an uniquely shaped galaxy that looks a lot like a spoked wheel. What makes this galaxy particularly unique is the fact that it is quite old, and yet is characterized by a ring of freshly born stars. (Photo : NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) has recently unveiled new images of an uniquely shaped galaxy that looks a lot like a spoked wheel. What makes this galaxy particularly unique is the fact that it is quite old, and yet is characterized by a ring of freshly born stars.
"The rest of the galaxy is done maturing," Kartik Sheth of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory said in a recent statement. "But the outer ring is just now starting to light up with stars."
That's pretty unusual among galaxies, which are traditionally either old and well developed, or young and full of clouds of precursor star material commonly referred to as "star nurseries."
However, the galaxy of NGC 1291 seems to be an old woman who doesn't understand that her days of being a mother are over. And somehow, the galaxy is miraculously still producing stars on its outermost edge. The light of these new births was easily picked up in infrared imagery by the SST.
Even without its unique qualities, NGC 1291 is no normal galaxy. The old stars at its center streak across like a single long bar holding it open. This identifies it as what astronomers simply call a "barred galaxy."
more
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9798/20141022/unique-galaxy-shows-stellar-circle-life.htm
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/spitzer/galactic-wheel-of-life-shines-in-infrared/index.html
Cerberus said it would stay out of the gun debate and sell their gun manufacturers. They lied.
On Dec 14, 2012, 20 children and six adults were killed in a school shooting in Connecticut by a disturbed 20 year-old using a semi-automatic rifle, the Bushmaster AR-15. The people behind that rifle are Cerberus Capital Management LP, a Manhattan private equity firm named after the mythical three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell.
Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg and his colleagues had assembled a gun conglomerate called the Freedom Group, the largest firearm manufacturer in the US, including brands like Remington, Bushmaster and Marlin. In the flood of attention following the shooting,
Cerberus it would sell the firm to sidestep what was sure to be a bruising battle over gun safety laws. “As a firm, we are investors, not statesmen or policy makers… it is not our role to take positions, or attempt to shape or influence the gun control policy debate,” Cerberus said in a statement. “That is the job of our federal and state legislators.”
But two years later, federal gun safety laws remain unchanged, and Freedom Group remains profitable and unsold. Its executives—appointed by Cerberus—are helping finance anti-gun control ads against Connecticut’s Democratic governor, Dannel Malloy. Malloy enacted new gun safety laws after the massacre, but Connecticut is also home to several gun-making companies who oppose those restrictions.
If you look at the funding disclosures for the NSSF’s political action committee, you can find a $5,000 donation from George Kollitides, a Cerberus executive who was installed as Freedom Group’s chief executive and chairman of the board, and $10,000 from Walter McLallen, the vice-chairman of Freedom Group, also appointed by Cerberus. While they are just two of the many gun industry advocates funding the organization, they are the only two connected to a company that is ostensibly leaving the business to seek the moral high ground.
http://qz.com/287428/cerberus-said-it-would-stay-out-of-the-gun-debate-why-are-executives-it-appointed-fighting-gun-safety-laws/
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