A Scientific Research Vault
We have already mentioned in some of our earlier posts that animals are superior relatively in certain terms. We are still trying to comprehend unique animal behavior and abilities like sophisticated communication in tiny marmoset monkeys or bacteria influenced smell based networking in hyenas. We are also fascinated about the way elephants communicate through seismic waves or echolocation in dolphins.
A new study suggests that people with autism are more likely to have synaesthesia. As explained in my previous article, Synesthesia is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway- News-medical.net The study was carried out by a team of scientists led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. The research team started their work from the assumption that both people with Synaesthesia and those with autism have atypical…
I still remember the first time I realized that numbers, week days, years and months had a certain order in my brain. I must have been around 7 or 8 then. And now, around 2 decades later, I realize that not everyone has this type of imagination, and that this is in fact a neurological phenomenon called Synesthesia. According to News-medical.net, Synesthesia is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with…
We all know alcoholism (alcohol dependence) is not related on any single element and rather it is dependent on a number of elements like genetic, psychological and environmental. And out of the three genetic element has a major role in alcoholism and still researchers have not completely understood the complex process leading to alcoholism. However, as per a new study, gene mutation may be the probable cause leading person to alcoholism.
We have all seen tongue piercing as a fashion statement, but very soon, we will see its use in navigating a wheelchair. A latest invention will allow the paralyzed person to drive a wheelchair employing their tongue. The wheelchair has been tested with tetraplegia patients (paralysis of all the four limbs) enabling them to drive through obstacles successfully using just their tongue for steering.
Discourse comprehension is the term used to describe the human brain’s ability to make sense of language, whether presented in spoken or written forms. In an effort to better understand the brain’s mechanism that underlie discourse comprehension, a research team lead by professor Aron Barbey gathered to conduct a study on the subject. The study was conducted on 145 American male Vietnam War veterans who obtained war-related head injuries. Such injuries were studied due to their nature as focal ones, unlike those obtained after strokes for example. Focal injuries give…
Today everyone keeps discussing about protecting our mother nature, our planet from different wastes like chemical waste, radioactive waste, bio-degradable waste or non-degradable waste to name just a few. With the advancement of science and technology one more type of waste is posing a serious threat to the environment. Almost in every house there are television sets (one per family if not one in every room) and desktop. Do you remember your old heavy box type television set (with the Cathod Ray Tube Technology) which was latter replaced with the…
In continuation of the Sensory Integration series of articles, today I will be discussing the third element of practice pertaining to Ayres’s sensory integration theory; which is her suggested treatment approach, referred to as sensory integration therapy. Ayres’s therapy techniques provide the child with various sensory experiences through play. One of the basic assumptions over which Ayres’s work was constructed was that the central nervous system is plastic. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change or be modified. Based on this assumption, sensory integration therapy is hypothesized to cause…
We humans are not the only one who depends on past experiences for making competent decisions, ants too have been known living successfully on the same paradigm and they have been residing on earth for some 110-130 million years ago.
Today we’d like to introduce the work and thoughts of creative Matus Prochaczka, all the way from Slovakia. His specialties include Industrial Design, 3D Modeling, Illustration, Rhinoceros, 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, AutoCad, Corel draw, sketching and pencil pictures. He has also created 3D modeling tutorial for rhinoceros, in case anyone’s interested may directly see it here. His achievements include 1st , 2nd and 3rd place in 3 of 9 categories at interiormotivesdesign award 2006, he was the finalist at Skoda contest auto snu 2007 and bagged 1st place in 1…
Researchers have lately discovered an additional role of dendrites the branching extensions of neurons. Before the study, dendrites were considered as the receptive parts of a neuron, meaning, responsible for transmitting information from sense organs and carrying impulses to different muscles in the body. It is because of this tendency, they are also termed as electrical transmitters of the body. However, the recent research postulates dendrites additional ability to process information, hence increasing the brain’s computing power. This insinuates brain has a huge processing power relatively. Period. Dendrite’s Study The…
While logical explanation would refer certain everyday behaviours to discipline and upbringing, scientists have managed to associate such “discipline” to the brain’s ability to function properly. In a recent research, scientists lead by Dr. Mathias Pessiglione suggested that a person’s refusal of an immediate small reward in order to receive a delayed one that is more valuable is a process that occurs in the hippocampus- the part of limbic system responsible for consolidating information from short-term memory to long-term memory.*1 “Indeed, this structure has long been considered as essential for…
Susan Harkema’s a neuroscientist at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, recent research would act as a boon to patients who are suffering from paralysis. Her study demonstrated awakening of patients’ lower spinal cord with the use of electrical stimulation. Dustin Shillcox, a 28-year-old guy, who met with an accident on August 2010 had lost his control on his lower limbs. But with Harkema’s research, for the first time in 2 years, he was able to stood on his feet. Similar result was seen in Rob Summers, 23 years of age,…
If you ever happen to see a tiny mouse walking by a vicious street cat acting all confident and fearless, keep in mind that this mouse may not be genuinely courageous, but instead, is most probably infected with a parasite. New findings suggest that a Toxoplasma gondii parasitic infection in mice could make them permanently fearless of cats. Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate, intracellular, parasitic protozoan that causes the disease toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma gondii is capable of infecting virtually all warm blodded animals.
If we look around we’d see, we are heralding the futurism already. We are surrounded with technology; imagine a place where there’ll be no such thing as tech know-how and gadgets. We’d then be living in Pandora minus the Unobtainium and the gravity of course. We as humanity have reached great heights. First, we created a horse called technology and then rode over it to reach places where we could satiate our thirst for curiosity. For instance, we have delved into the ocean to discover the oceanic life support system…