Secular Café: Bill Nye Booed in Waco, Texas -- guess why

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Bill Nye Booed in Waco, Texas -- guess why May 1st 2012, 02:32 I'm ashamed of this, but I'll post it anyway. I grew up less than 50 miles from Waco. http://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles...-in-texas-for/

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Secular Café: Strange organism has unique roots in the tree of life

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Strange organism has unique roots in the tree of life Apr 30th 2012, 22:15 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47225834#.T58Nf7MU159 Interesting....a new kingdom, no less.... Quote: Talk about extended family: A single-celled organism in Norway has been called "mankind's furthest relative." It is so far removed from the organisms we know that researchers claim it belongs to a new base group, called a kingdom, on the tree of life. "We have found an unknown branch of the tree of life that lives in this lake. It is unique! So far we know of no other group of organisms that descend from closer to the roots of the tree of life than this species," study researcher Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, of the University of Oslo, in Norway, said in a statement. The organism, a type of protozoan, was found by researchers in a lake near Oslo. Protozoans have been known to science since 1865, but because they are difficult to culture in the lab, researchers haven't been able to get a grip on their genetic makeup. They were placed in the protist kingdom on the tree of life mostly based on observations of their size and shape. In this study, published March 21 in the journal Molecular Biology Evolution, the researchers were able to grow enough of the protozoans, called Collodictyon, in the lab to analyze its genome. They found it doesn't genetically fit into any of the previously discovered kingdoms of life. It's an organism with membrane-bound internal structures, called a eukaryote, but genetically it isn't an animal, plant, fungi, algae or protist (the five main groups of eukaryotes). [Extreme Life on Earth: 8 Bizarre Creatures] "The microorganism is among the oldest currently living eukaryote organism we know of. It evolved around one billion years ago, plus or minus a few hundred million years. It gives us a better understanding of what early life on Earth looked like," Shalchian-Tabrizi said. Mix of features What it looked like was small. The organism the researchers found is about 30 to 50 micrometers (about the width of a human hair) long. It eats algae and doesn't like to live in groups. It is also unique because instead of one or two flagella (cellular tails that help organisms move) it has four. The organism also has unique characteristics usually associated with protists and amoebas, two different eukaryotic kingdoms. This left researchers wondering where the microorganism fits into the tree of life. They analyzed its genetic code to see how similar it is to organisms that have already been genetically catalogued. New life The researchers think this organism belongs in a new group on the tree of life. Researchers can't say for certain if other organisms previously classified as protozoans are in this same branch without their genetic information. Its closest known genetic relative is the protist Diphylleia, though other organisms that haven't been analyzed genetically may be closer relatives. "It is conceivable that only a few other species exist in this family branch of the tree of life, which has survived all the many hundreds of millions of years since the eukaryote species appeared on Earth for the first time," Klaveness said. Because it has features of two separate kingdoms of life, the researchers think that the ancestors of this group might be the organisms that gave rise to these other kingdoms, the amoeba and the protist, as well. If that's true, they would be some of the oldest eukaryotes, giving rise to all other eukaryotes, including humans.

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Secular Café: Gene clue to some pancreatic cancer

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Gene clue to some pancreatic cancer Apr 30th 2012, 07:33 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17870315 Quote: Aggressive pancreatic tumours may be treatable with a new class of drugs, according to Cancer Research UK Less than one in five people with this form of cancer are still alive a year after being diagnosed. A study, published in the journal Nature, showed that a gene was being switched off in the cancerous cells. The reseachers said drugs were already being tested which had the potential to turn the gene back on, to stop the spread of the cancer... ...Prof David Tuveson, from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, said: "We suspected that the fault wasn't in the genetic code at all, but in the chemical tags on the surface of the DNA that switch genes on and off, and by running more lab tests we were able to confirm this. "Drugs which strip away these tags are already showing promise in lung cancer and this study suggests they could also be effective." Cancer treatments have improved over many years, but it's agonisingly slow progress.

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Secular Café: New Particle Discovered at CERN

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

New Particle Discovered at CERN Apr 29th 2012, 18:43 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0427095621.htm Cool stuff...... Quote: ScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2012) — Physicists from the University of Zurich have discovered a previously unknown particle composed of three quarks in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. A new baryon could thus be detected for the first time at the LHC. The baryon known as Xi_b^* confirms fundamental assumptions of physics regarding the binding of quarks. In particle physics, the baryon family refers to particles that are made up of three quarks. Quarks form a group of six particles that differ in their masses and charges. The two lightest quarks, the so-called "up" and "down" quarks, form the two atomic components, protons and neutrons. All baryons that are composed of the three lightest quarks ("up," "down" and "strange" quarks) are known. Only very few baryons with heavy quarks have been observed to date. They can only be generated artificially in particle accelerators as they are heavy and very unstable. In the course of proton collisions in the LHC at CERN, physicists Claude Amsler, Vincenzo Chiochia and Ernest Aguiló from the University of Zurich's Physics Institute managed to detect a baryon with one light and two heavy quarks. The particle Xi_b^* comprises one "up," one "strange" and one "bottom" quark (usb), is electrically neutral and has a spin of 3/2 (1.5). Its mass is comparable to that of a lithium atom. The new discovery means that two of the three baryons predicted in the usb composition by theory have now been observed. The discovery was based on data gathered in the CMS detector, which the University of Zurich was involved in developing. The new particle cannot be detected directly as it is too unstable to be registered by the detector. However, Xi_b^* breaks up in a known cascade of decay products. Ernest Aguiló, a postdoctoral student from Professor Amsler's group, identified traces of the respective decay products in the measurement data and was able to reconstruct the decay cascades starting from Xi_b^* decays. The calculations are based on data from proton-proton collisions at an energy of seven Tera electron volts (TeV) collected by the CMS detector between April and November 2011. A total of 21 Xi_b^* baryon decays were discovered -- statistically sufficient to rule out a statistical fluctuation. The discovery of the new particle confirms the theory of how quarks bind and therefore helps to understand the strong interaction, one of the four basic forces of physics which determines the structure of matter. The University of Zurich is involved in the LHC at CERN with three research groups. Professor Amsler's and Professor Chiochia's groups are working on the CMS experiment; Professor Straumann's group is involved in the LHCb experiment. CMS detector The CMS detector is designed to measure the energy and momentum of photons, electrons, muons and other charged particles with a high degree of accuracy. Various measuring instruments are arranged in layers in the 12,500-ton detector, with which traces of the particles resulting from the collisions can be recorded. 179 institutions worldwide were involved in developing CMS. In Switzerland, these are the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute.

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Secular Café: An Excellent example of evolution

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

An Excellent example of evolution Apr 29th 2012, 10:47 Video here. I'm not finding and textual description, but definitely worth watching. Narrated by Sean B. Carroll Oh, wait, here it is: Quote: The rock pocket mouse is a living example of Darwin’s process of natural selection. Not only is evolution happening right now everywhere around us, but adaptive changes can occur in a population with remarkable speed. This speed is essential if you’re a desert mouse living in an environment where a volcanic eruption can reverse selective pressure in nearly an instant. The film features Dr. Michael Nachman, whose work in the field and in the lab has quantified the selective pressure of predators and identified the genes involved in adaptation. In a complete story, from ecosystem to molecules, pocket mice show us how random changes in the genome can take many paths to the same adaptation—a colored coat that hides them from predators. http://media.hhmi.org/fittest/natural_selection.html

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Secular Café: On Line Science and Technology Courses

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

On Line Science and Technology Courses Apr 28th 2012, 10:09 Ran across these links on another forum: https://www.coursera.org/ http://edudemic.com/2012/04/the-50-b...cation-online/

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Secular Café: question about Omega 3's

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

question about Omega 3's Apr 27th 2012, 22:13 to anyone here who is using Omega 3's on a frequent basis, have you noticed a marked improvement in mood or cognitive function?

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Secular Café: The mystery of the female human orgasm

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

The mystery of the female human orgasm Apr 27th 2012, 03:40 I wonder whether there'll ever be consensus. http://inthesetimes.com/duly-noted/e...out_the_g-spot

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Secular Café: Royal Society: Managing consumption and population crucial for world

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Royal Society: Managing consumption and population crucial for world Apr 26th 2012, 06:42 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...tion-disasters Quote: World population needs to be stabilised quickly and high consumption in rich countries rapidly reduced to avoid "a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills", warns a major report from the Royal Society. Contraception must be offered to all women who want it and consumption cut to reduce inequality, says the study published on Thursday, which was chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston. The assessment of humanity's prospects in the next 100 years, which has taken 21 months to complete, argues strongly that to achieve long and healthy lives for all 9 billion people expected to be living in 2050, the twin issues of population and consumption must pushed to the top of political and economic agendas. Both issues have been largely ignored by politicians and played down by environment and development groups for 20 years, the report says. "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption ... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future", it says. More detail given in the article, and here is the full report http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/people-planet/

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Secular Café: When someone is dying

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

When someone is dying Apr 25th 2012, 19:55 Signs of Death | 10 Signs of Death Approaching | Caring.com Quote: No one can predict the moment of death. But physicians and nurses involved in end-of-life care know that certain symptoms are usually associated with the body's shutting down. These signs of approaching death are specific to the natural dying process (apart from the effects of particular illnesses the person may have). Not all dying symptoms show up in every person, but most people experience some combination of the following in the final days or hours: 1. Loss of appetite 2. Excessive fatigue and sleep 3. Increased physical weakness 4. Mental confusion or disorientation 5. Labored breathing 6. Social withdrawal 7. Changes in urination - gets more concentrated 8. Swelling in the feet and ankles 9. Coolness in the tips of the fingers and toes 10. Mottled veins I would not be surprised if dying pets have similar symptoms.

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Secular Café: Tit for tat?

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Tit for tat? Apr 25th 2012, 18:34 Great tits who know their neighbouring great tits are more likely to join in with mobbing behaviour of potential predators with the neighbours than those they don't know, apparently. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17791276 I'm not too comfortable with the two rationales for the behaviour given in the link, though - I sort of think they would also apply to neighbours they don't know so well.:dunno: David

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Secular Café: Unorthodox weather forecaster demands withdrawal of criticism by real scientist

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Unorthodox weather forecaster demands withdrawal of criticism by real scientist Apr 23rd 2012, 09:52 Quote: Originally Posted by Piers Corbyn on comments at Eruptions blog Erik Klemetti, This is a seriously libelous piece dishonestly attacking our trial forecasts and you are REQUIRED to withdraw all your gratuitously damaging claims directed against me and/or Weather Action... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Corbyn David

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Secular Café: Fireball over America

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Fireball over America Apr 23rd 2012, 09:10 http://news.yahoo.com/explosion-fire...192029411.html It is becoming more apparent that airburst and impact events are much more common than was thought a few decades ago. This one just big enough to cause a spectacular light show, though the meteor hunters will be out looking for fragments that made it to earth. Hope they find some. If my decades old chemistry studies are properly remembered, wouldn't the reports that there was green in the fireball indicate copper? David

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Secular Café: man-made artificial DNA - XNA

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

man-made artificial DNA - XNA Apr 21st 2012, 11:38 Quote: Artificial nucleic acid molecules can work the same as DNA The XNA molecules aren't biodegradable and could find use in medical and biotech arenas where DNA isn't a viable option. By Charles Q. Choi, InnovationNewsDailyThu, Apr 19 2012 at 4:26 PM EST Synthetic molecules resembling DNA can function and evolve just like the real thing, its developers say. These new, unnatural building blocks could be more useful than DNA or its closely related biomolecule, RNA, in a variety of medical and biotechnology applications, researchers added. Other investigators noted they could even lead to novel forms of life. DNA is essentially made of four different kinds of molecules known as nucleic acids, commonly referred to by their initials, A, G, C and T. These run along a backbone made of sugars and phosphate groups. Scientists call their artificial nucleic-acidlike molecules XNA, in which the natural sugar component has been replaced by one of six alternative organic compounds. These XNA molecules all can bind to DNA and RNA. The researchers also have developed enzymes that can synthesize XNA from a DNA template, plus others that can "reverse transcribe" XNA back into DNA. This means they can store and copy data just as DNA can — the basis of heredity for all life on Earth. The investigators subjected an XNA molecule to artificial natural selection in the lab by introducing mutations into its genetic code. By allowing the different versions of the molecule to compete against each other for binding to another molecule, the team ended up with a shape that bound tightly and specifically to the target – just as one would expect of DNA under the same conditions. This makes XNA the only known molecules other than DNA and RNA capable of Darwinian evolution. .... Hmmmm... http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/resear...he-same-as-dna

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Secular Café: A small footnote in the Atomic Legacy: Manhattan Project Scientist Cowan Dies at 92

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

A small footnote in the Atomic Legacy: Manhattan Project Scientist Cowan Dies at 92 Apr 21st 2012, 10:35 Quote: Manhattan Project Scientist Cowan Dies at 92 By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. April 21, 2012 (AP) Devoted to finding a way for science to help society, not much escaped the influence of chemist George Cowan. From the Manhattan Project and the hunt for evidence of the Soviet Union's first nuclear tests, to the Santa Fe Institute and the iconic Santa Fe Opera, friends recalled the fruits of his visionary ways. Cowan died Friday at his home in Los Alamos. He was 92. Friends confirmed his death to The Associated Press, saying it was the result of a fall at his home. Cowan was in good health and was planning to travel and continue working with the nonprofit science institute that he helped found in 1984. "It's very sudden, very unexpected. An enormous loss," said close friend and institute co-founder David Pines. "The world is diminished for all of us who knew him." Cowan worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for nearly 40 years. He started in 1949 as a scientist and went on to serve as a director of chemistry and as associate lab director of research. After doing graduate studies at Princeton, Cowan continued his nuclear research as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. According to the Santa Fe Institute, Cowan was a troubleshooter for the effort at various research sites around the country and was among the few people who had knowledge of the bomb's separate components. Cowan arrived at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1949 and within weeks began directing efforts to turn up radioactive fallout in samples that were collected near the Soviet border. What Cowan and his team detected indicated the Soviets were in possession of a nuclear bomb. Cowan was considered one of the world's experts on nuclear weapons diagnostics by 1956, according to a biography from the lab. "We can truly say that our country lost a true hero today," former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said in a statement. "He cannot be replaced, but let's hope he left footprints for us to follow." Cowan was appointed to the White House Science Council during the Reagan administration. It was during one of his meetings with the council that he looked around the room and thought about the need to educate the next generation of scientists to ensure the government would continue to have a valuable cadre of advisers. Conversations about the formation of the Santa Fe Institute followed, some of them being held in the director's conference room on the fourth floor at Los Alamos Lab. "He was a superb judge of people," said Pines. "He had a real instinct for who was a promising scientist and who was not and this was invaluable to him as he became a manager at Los Alamos." Bill Enloe, chief executive of Los Alamos National Bank, which was founded by Cowan, said the chemist had a unique ability to lead people. "It was not by intimidation or by position. It was because what he said made so much sense," Enloe said. "He accomplished a great deal because people were anxious to help and work with him." Enloe ticked off a list of Cowan's accomplishments that ranged from his scientific accolades and the start of the scientific think tank to the early childhood development programs in New Mexico that he helped influence. Then there was Cowan's love of travel, food, wine and music. He sat on the board of the Santa Fe Opera and was the first treasurer of the opera's foundation. .... http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wir...5#.T5KJJtWQgoM

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Secular Café: Take that! You vegans!

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Take that! You vegans! Apr 20th 2012, 17:20 :D Quote: Eating Meat was Key to Human Evolution, Scientists Say Published April 19, 2012 Eating meat was the key to expanding the human race because the "higher quality" diet of early carnivorous females allowed them to stop breastfeeding earlier and produce more children, according to Swedish scientists. The offspring of all species stop breastfeeding when their brain reaches a particular developmental stage, and in carnivores this point is reached much faster than herbivores or omnivores. Studies of natural fertility societies -- where birth control is not used -- found the average duration of breastfeeding is two years and four months, compared to four to five years for chimpanzees, our closest relatives. Previous studies have suggested that carnivores wean earlier than herbivores and omnivores because of differences in social or behavioral patterns, but researchers from Lund University believe that meat-eating is the key. .... http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/hea...cientists-say/

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Secular Café: Should we go to Mars?

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Should we go to Mars? Apr 18th 2012, 13:15 He was such a charming romantic! I'm sorry he died so young, but glad he didn't live to see the space program murdered. We could have humans on Mars by now - at a fraction of the cost of demolishing Iraq.

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Secular Café: We are star stuff

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

We are star stuff Apr 18th 2012, 03:31 Just got to thinking about this today. Carl was such an amazing human being. And to think, some people happily turn their minds from this amazing and accurate origin story in favor of the myths of goatherds from thousands of years ago. (Not loaded: iE9dEAx5Sgw)

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Secular Café: Fascinating answers to: 2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?

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Fascinating answers to: 2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION? Apr 17th 2012, 12:05 I particularly like this one: Quote: Alun Anderson Senior Consultant (& former Ed-in-Chief & Publishing Director) at New Scientist; Author, After the Ice: Life, Death, and Geopolitics in the New Arctic Deep Time There is one simple and powerful idea that strikes me as both deep and beautiful in its own right and as the mother of a suite of further elegant theories and explanations. The idea is that of "deep time": that the Earth is extremely old and the life of our species on it has been very short. When that idea first emerged it stood against everything that was then believed and it was to eventually change people's view of themselves as much as the earlier discovery that the Earth revolved around the Sun. We know when the idea of deep time was borne, or at least first vindicated, for a University of Edinburgh professor named John Playfair recorded his reaction in 1788. "The mind seemed to grow giddy", he wrote, "by looking so far into the abyss of time." He had travelled to the Scottish coast with his geologist friend James Hutton, who later put his ideas together in a book called the Theory of the Earth. Hutton was showing him a set of distinct patterns in the rocks that could be most simply explained by assuming that the present land has been laid down in the sea, then lifted, distorted, eroded and once again covered by new sediments at the bottom of a sea. The Earth was not six thousand years old as then accepted calculations from the Bible decreed; nor had the strata of land precipitated out a vast flood as prevailing scientific views, informed by the best chemistry of the time, said. It was an enormous shift to see the world as Hutton did. Appreciating the vastness of space is easy. When we look up at the stars the immensity of the universe is both obvious and awe inspiring. The immensity of time does not lie within human experience. Nature, observed on a human scale, passes only through the repeated cycle of the seasons, interrupted by occasional catastrophic earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods. It is for that reason that creationist and catastrophic theories of the Earth's origins appeared more plausible than those that were slow and gradual. But Hutton had faith in what he saw in the rocks, exhorting others to "open the book of Nature and read in her records". His thinking about time created fertile ground for other grand theories. With huge spans of time available, then imperceptibly slow processes could shape the natural world. After Hutton came modern geology, then the theory of evolution to explain how new species slowly arose, and eventually a theory of the gradual movement of the continents themselves. All are grounded in deep time. Hutton's views were a huge challenge to religious orthodoxy too, for when he wrote at the close of his book, "we find no vestige of a beginning--no prospect of an end", he challenged both the idea of a creation and of a judgement day. The beauty of his idea remains. If we look into the abyss of time, we may not grow giddy, but we can simultaneously feel our own insignificance in the Earth's 4.6 billion year history and the significance of the precise moment in this vast span of time in which we live. http://edge.org/annual-question/what...ul-explanation

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Secular Café: New Study integrating sensory input and emotional experience

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New Study integrating sensory input and emotional experience Apr 17th 2012, 10:26 Quote: Aesthetic Appeal May Have Neurological Link to Contemplation and Self-Assessment ScienceDaily (Apr. 16, 2012) — A network of brain regions which is activated during intense aesthetic experience overlaps with the brain network associated with inward contemplation and self-assessment, New York University researchers have found. Their study sheds new light on the nature of the aesthetic experience, which appears to integrate sensory and emotional reactions in a manner linked with their personal relevance. The study's co-authors were: Edward Vessel, a researcher in NYU's Center for Brain Imaging; Gabrielle Starr, an associate professor in NYU's Department of English; and Nava Rubin, an associate professor in NYU's Center for Neural Science. We all have strong aesthetic reactions to works of art, even though the images that move us vary across individuals. Moreover, we are moved by particular images for very different reasons. Nonetheless, the ability to be aesthetically moved appears to be universal. Previous neuroimaging studies have begun to pinpoint this process by identifying several brain regions whose activation correlates with a variety of aesthetic experiences. These include locations in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC) and the caudate/striatum, with several additional regions detected in some studies but not in others. The NYU researchers sought to build on this scholarship by examining more closely the intensity and diversity of aesthetic responses toward works of art. To do so, the study's subjects, who ranged from those with novice-level experience of art and art history to several having completed some undergraduate study in the history of art, examined 109 images from the Catalog of Art Museum Images Online database. These works of art came from a variety of cultural traditions (American, European, Indian, and Japanese) and from several historical periods (from the 15th century to the recent past). Images were representational and abstract, and included several classifications (e.g., female, male figure, a mixed group, still life, landscape, or abstract). In order to minimize recognition, which could yield responses based on a piece's notoriety rather than on its appeal, commonly reproduced images were not used -- in fact, most of the study's subjects did not recognize any image. .... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0416095104.htm

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Secular Café: Simple Brain Wiring: emergent complexity

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Simple Brain Wiring: emergent complexity Apr 16th 2012, 01:53 http://theness.com/neurologicablog/i...-brain-wiring/ A fascinating article at Neurologica blog. A snippet to get you hooked.... Quote: Recently neuroscientists published the results of the most detailed scan of brain wiring to date. They are taking advantage of a new MRI installed last fall at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – the Connectome diffusion magnetic resonance imaging scanner – the most powerful MRI scanner of its kind that can apparently image brain wiring with 10 times the resolution of other MRI scanners. Van Wedeen, M.D., who is heading this research, says that while older scanners could see about 25% of the brain's wiring, this new more powerful scanner can see about 75%. Also, this scanning can take place in minutes instead of hours, which is much more practical for scanning a living creature. What the researchers found is that the primate brain's wiring appears to be much more simply organized than suspected. Rather than a complex tangle of connections, they found a regular grid pattern. The grid is three dimensional – axons from brain cells seem to turn at right angles only, either left-right or up-down. There are no diagonal fibers

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Secular Café: Can a hallucinogen from Africa cure addiction?

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Can a hallucinogen from Africa cure addiction? Apr 15th 2012, 23:49 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17666589 Time for some proper research.....if this is true, the world could actually be changed.... Quote: Since the 1960s a disparate group of scientists and former drug addicts have been advocating a radical treatment for addiction - a hallucinogen called ibogaine, derived from an African plant, that in some cases seems to obliterate withdrawal symptoms from heroin, cocaine and alcohol. So why isn't it widely used? For nearly 15 years, Thillen Naidoo's life was ruled by crack cocaine. Growing up in Chatsworth, a township on the outskirts of Durban in South Africa, he was surrounded by drugs. After a troubled childhood and the death of his father, he turned to cocaine. Though he held down a job as a carpenter and could go for days or even weeks without a hit, his wild drug binges often ended in arguments with his wife Saloshna and sometimes even physical abuse. By the time he met Dr Anwar Jeewa at the Minds Alive Rehab Centre in Chatsworth, Naidoo had tried to quit several times and failed. "Those were dark, dark days," he says. Jeewa offered a radical solution, a hallucinogenic drug used in tribal ceremonies in central Africa that would obliterate his cravings. But Naidoo was anxious. "I didn't know what this ibogaine thing was," he says. "I never expected it to work." After several medical tests he was given the pill. A few hours later he lay in bed, watching flying fish swarm above his head. He felt the room move around him and a constant buzz rang in his ears. Scenes from his childhood flashed up briefly before his eyes and each time someone approached to check he was OK he felt a rush of fear. The hallucinogenic effect wore off overnight but for the next few days Thillen was in a haze. When he returned home a week later, he realised he no longer craved cocaine. Six months later, he is still clean. He attends a therapy group two days a week, where he learns the skills necessary to maintain a lifestyle without drugs. "My mind has shifted now from what I used to be," he says. "I can look back at my childhood and deal with those issues without sobbing and feeling sorry for myself." Jeewa estimates he has treated around 1,000 people with ibogaine but it remains largely unacknowledged by the medical mainstream. The drug, derived from the root of a central African plant called iboga, had been used for centuries by the Bwiti people of Gabon and Cameroon, as part of a tribal initiation ceremony. But it wasn't until 1962, when a young heroin addict called Howard Lotsof stumbled upon ibogaine, that its value as an addiction treatment was uncovered. Lotsof took it to get high but when the hallucinogenic effects wore off, he realised he no longer had the compulsion to take heroin. He became convinced that he had found the solution to addiction and dedicated much of his life to promoting ibogaine as a treatment. As far as scientists understand, ibogaine affects the brain in two distinct ways. The first is metabolic. It creates a protein that blocks receptors in the brain that trigger cravings, stopping the symptoms of withdrawal. "Ibogaine tends to remove the withdrawals immediately and brings people back to their pre-addiction stage," says Jeewa. With normal detox this process can take months. Its second effect is much less understood. It seems to inspire a dream-like state that is intensely introspective, allowing addicts to address issues in their life that they use alcohol or drugs to suppress. <Read the rest at the link>

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Secular Café: Leonardo was born on this day 4/15/1452

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Leonardo was born on this day 4/15/1452 Apr 15th 2012, 14:41 probably one of the greatest men to have ever lived. Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. - Leonardo da Vinci The Italian painter and engineer was born on this day in 1452. (quote of the day from Goodreads)

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