Anatomy, Physiology and Neuroscience

Artifical memory-enhancing hippocampus. Computer-like short term memory. That's nuts. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17013218-13762,00.html

Link to scienceforums.com article It seems MIT people are working on the visual perception and encoding process of the mind, they discovered a bit more about it. Discuss.

Hair is technically non-living material, right? And yet it grows to a certain length and then stops (and this length is different on different parts of the body). Not only that, but if it is shaved or trimmed, it will grow out to the same length again. How does the body regulate this? How does the body tell the difference between fully grown hair and hair that has been trimmed, if there are no nerves in the hair itself?

What part of the brain corresponds to our ability to laugh?

Since I'm learning more and more about neuroscience, a creative idea came into my head. I figured that by studying neuroscience, one could figure out the best way to enhance reading speed. What studies have been done on the brain that show the best way for someone to enhance their reading speed. In other words, have there been studies done on the active neural connections that go on in the brain that increase or become stronger as a persons reading and comprehension speed begin to increase? Did these connections do better during a certain reading enhacement procedure than the other?

The only thing I know about color perception in the occipital lobe is that there are neural circuits which seem to be associated with our perception of the three primary colors - red, green, and blue. But what about other colors? Does our perception of colors other than the 3 primary ones also have corresponding neurological circuits, or do we perceive non-primary colors just by having 2 (or 3) of the primary color neural circuits activated at the same time? Let me ask this in a different way: When we perceive a non-primary color, like yellow, obviously it requires that the neural circuits for red and green must be active, but is this enough? Or does it require a thir…

Dear scientists, I've come across a wonderful product called Suunto t6. Suunto claims the product calculates EPOC, VO2 and many other things from heart rate. See more at http://www.suuntot6.com The research behind the product can be found at http://www.firstbeattechnologies.com --> research background Can you explain is the research and the product valid because many wanna-be-scientists swear it's not. Thank you.

I am creating this thread because it applies highly to me. My primary motive is that I'm gradually losing my sight over years. I'm only 17 years of age, and I can only see approximately 40 to 45 percent. I just read this inspiring article, "I spy a Bionic Eye" from the magazine "Discover". The implemenation of this silicon retinal chip was when a physician in Air Force was forced to retire in 1997 because he was legally blinded with retinitis pigmentosa. (I have that. My syndrome is called Ushers Syndrome which is also called retinitis pigmentosa which results in smaller vision field). Several years later, the chip was implant in his right eye, and within days he w…

Hey guys. I found the abstract of this article that I really need badly. I have looked all over the Internet but could not find the full-text article and I do not have access to colleges (I am a high school student). I need it pronto because I have to enter a competition and have to finish my paper. Please please someone help me out and obtain the full text of this article and send it to my email as an attachment at translash@yahoo.com. Please guys I need your help and I know you guys are good samaritans because you help the people here on these forums. Here's the information of the article: Brain Res. 1999 Dec 11;850(1-2):249-52. Effects of deltamethrin on …

I've heard/read from a few sources that it is very important to wash hands after urination, because Coliform lives on human skin everywhere from the belly button down to the upper thighs. I'm confused, because I searched and couldn't find any information about E. Coli living on skin, and it seemed to contradict further declarations I've heard by some that the bacteria can be quite poisonous if it leaves the intestine, internally. Could anyone confirm this? Why wash hands after urination, if you only touch your genitals for a few seconds and you don't touch any urine? Are all of our bodies really a toxic waste lining in the midsection? If so, HOW? What makes my ski…

How are signals form insulin integrated with those from adrealine and contraction to regulate the breakdown or synthesis of glycogen in muscle? I know that adrenaline stimulates the conversion of ATP to cyclic AMP by activating adenyl cyclase, and I think insulin does the opposite. But how are the signals combined before having a net effect? It would be easier if they were both hormones. Is adrenaline a hormone? Because it is a neurotransmitter specifically acting on target tissues (though Wikipedia says it's a hormone as well). Is the integration of signals just a simple "summation" of the effects? But that would mean there is no integration...

What is the best time of day or night for sex ? Some indulge after meals & before sleep when their stomachs are full or almost, some indulge just after awakening, some do it in the after boon, many indulge during mid night when awakened by chance. How good or bad does our hman body reacts to these timings ? Doex sex withown wife or stolen sex also has some differenbt effects on human body system ? Finally, what is the most common position for sex, and what is the best position for intercourse ? Does the female has always to lie beneath, and does women above give the gentler sex any psyhological boost ? How much to safely indulge for women and gents in sex between 20-…

If you were a murderer named John who was hooked up to a lie detector while being interrogated by police officers who asked you if you were a murderer and you answered no, would the lie detector pick up you told a lie no matter what? If five seconds later the next question was what is your name and you answered John, would the lie detector indicate you told a lie? I'm assuming that this lie detector detects lies by the body's response. If the person hallucinates often, can that person make the truth a lie and the lie the truth?

Hi. I have a question. How can an excessive production of nitric oxide be harmful to developing neurites? This is a question that I have had unanswered for a while. I know that a lack of nitric oxide production is harmful to neurites because it is essential for neuritogenesis. Thus a lack of nitric oxide will lead to cognitive deficits. However, I do not know how an excessive production of NO will be harmful to neurites. Does anyone know? Can anyone help me? Is there evidence to support nitric oxide toxicity to developing neurites?

I have just recovered from a gastral illness after being on holiday where the diet consisted of very little vegetable products. This was neither pleasant nor expected on my part! I was wondering if people who come off the Atkins Diet suffer in the same way. I was away for 2 weeks, and ate mainly cheese, meat and bread. This is not too dissimilar to the Atkins Diet. If the gastral illness is a side effect to the Atkins Diet, is there something that can be taken to prevent it from happening?

Is it possible? It would be an awesome trick to do at a party, and since my eyes are screwed up and they let too much light in, thus forcing me to wear sunglasses or suffer the consequences (usually vomiting and extreme migraine) it would help with my condition greatly.

I need some simple home workouts without the need for any special equipment. I currently want to work out the muscles below the armpits and a lil to the back. ( I am not sure what they are called). anyone one know of any? [edit] I am not really looking to bulk up, but more to get definition and tone

I was reading some information on drugs used to increase the learning inside of animals that has to do with LTP. I don't exactly know too much about this subject since it seems somewhat brand new to me on a biochemical level. I did read a wiki entry but I got lost and understood about two-thirds of it. Does anyone have information relating to the withdrawal effects on subjects that had taken in a drug to enhance memory and learning performance? Did they show a lack of an ability to learn afterwards? What side effects did such a drug have?

Does anyone know if it's a fairly worse thing to have shorter sleeping periods? Like if the same amount of hours are spent sleeping. Compare a 9 hour overnight sleep to a 5 hour sleep combined with a three hour nap later that day. I'm curious particularily because sleep is a very important factor with a chronic illness I have, and I'm living in a noisey place, with roomates that don't have good sleep patterns. So I only get 4-7 hours of sleep at night when I used to get 7-11 hours. I try to rest during the day to make up for it (although I have large difficulties actually falling asleep then).

How does our body produce body heat? The only thing i can think of that would make enough heat is like the chemical reactions that are constantly going on in our body's. When i was young i ithought it was the friction of the moving blood, but then relized that fluid would never make that much friction under these circumstances.

I found this yestarday. Although the research is quite old now they've successfully reconstructed spatiotemporal scenes from the responses of visual neurons. In essence they have recorded the visual input of a cat and rendered the data so it can be viewed. The implications are that when the research is ready for human subjects it will be possible to record and playback our dreams! What would this look like though ? If you think about the images in your head when you think or dream, to me they are an incomplete mish mash of mental pictures and scenes, where 'you' are the only one that can decipher them into something of meaning. It would be really interesting…

Is there a neurological explanation as to why people feel jealous. Is it down to a specific chemical in the brain such as endorphin's being released when someone is happy, or is there just a psychological explanation maybe having low self esteem. It seems quite a specific feeling which is why I was wondering if it was down to one chemical. I read a while ago they synthesized a pill that could eradicate the feeling of guilt. It was mainly for people who had taken someones life in an accident. Is it possible for jealousy to be treated in the same way, maybe it could help in relationships. And yes I am feeling a little jealous at the moment, but I can't seem to attr…

is there a way for a pro-hormone to still have some activity if one were to make a minor adjustment in the structure resulting a different/slight different chemical name without sacrificing too much of the effect/bioavailability. Examples would be very helpful! Thanks in advance

With introductory and some more intermediate level content. (Meaning no journals)

I was just thinking about how our heart never stops beating and our lungs never stop breathing. They have to keep it up for the entirety of our lives. That's a long time for muscles to keep working without a moment's break. How do they not get exhausted?