New Hampshire Health News Digest

Orexin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The orexin/hypocretin system was initially suggested to be primarily involved in the stimulation of food intake, based on the finding that central administration of orexin A/hypocretin-1 increases food intake. The discovery that orexin/hypocretin dysregulation causes the sleep disorder narcolepsy[1] subsequently indicated a major role for this system in sleep regulation. Narcolepsy results in excessive daytime sleepiness, inability to consolidate wakefulness in the day (and sleep at night), and cataplexy (loss of muscle tone in response to strong, usually positive, emotions). Dogs that lack a functional receptor for orexin/hypocretin have narcolepsy, while animals and people lacking the orexin/hypocretin neuropeptide itself also have narcolepsy. Orexin/hypocretin neurons strongly excite various brain nuclei with important roles in wakefulness including the dopamine, norepinephrine, histamine and acetylcholine systems and appear to play an impor...

Narcolepsy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : "Treatment Several treatments are available for narcolepsy. These treat the symptoms, not the underlying cause. The drowsiness is normally treated using stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin�), amphetamines (Adderall�), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine�), methamphetamine (Desoxyn�), modafinil (Provigil�) (also as Alertek�), etc. Other medications used are codeine (see references to clinical studies) and selegiline. In many cases, planned regular short naps can reduce the need for pharmacological treatment of the EDS to a low or non-existent level. " [...] Treatment is individualized depending on the severity of the symptoms, and it may take weeks or months for an optimal regimen to be worked out. Complete control of sleepiness and cataplexy is rarely possible [...] In addition to drug therapy, an important part of treatment is scheduling short naps (10 to 15 minutes) two to three times per day to help control excessive daytime...

Narcolepsy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Normally, when an individual is awake, brain waves show a regular rhythm. When a person first falls asleep, the brain waves become slower and less regular. This sleep state is called non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. After about an hour and a half of NREM sleep, the brain waves begin to show a more active pattern again. This sleep state, called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is when most remembered dreaming occurs. In narcolepsy, the order and length of NREM and REM sleep periods are disturbed, with REM sleep occurring at sleep onset instead of after a period of NREM sleep. Thus, narcolepsy is a disorder in which REM sleep appears at an abnormal time. Also, some of the aspects of REM sleep that normally occur only during sleep -- lack of muscular control, sleep paralysis, and vivid dreams -- occur at other times in people with narcolepsy. For example, the lack of muscular control can occur during wakefulness in a cataplexy episode. Slee...

Brain Chemistry and ADD Medication Tim stated that the brain has 1 trillion cells, 10% of which are neurons. Signals move about through a system of chemicals, particularly those that cross the synapse between adjacent nerve cells. Failure of the proper chemical action at this point results in ADD. Tim described ADD as a dysfunction in the neurotransmitter system. Each of the 5 neurotransmitter chemicals has a function as well as a "normal" range. Tim presented information on the three which have most relevance to ADD. DOPAMINE controls pleasure centers, provides a sense of well-being, and reinforces reward seeking behavior. A deficit results in loss of pleasure, joyless, empty, anhedonia, Parkinson's disease and Type 2 Alcoholic. Overproduction yields exhilaration, superior confidence, power/control, joyous excitement and schizophrenia. It is found in high protein meals. NOREPINEPHRINE controls the fight or flight response, and affects learning, memory, awareness, alertn...

Entrez PubMed Clinical and polysomnographic features in DQB1*0602 positive and negative narcolepsy patients: results from the modafinil clinical trial. * Hong SC, * Hayduk R, * Lim J, * Mignot E. Department of Neuropsychiatry, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea Background: Narcolepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and abnormal REM sleep, is known to be tightly associated with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQB1*0602.Methods: In this study, baseline data collected for a large clinical trial involving 504 narcolepsy patients were used to compare clinical and polysomnographic features of narcolepsy patients with and without HLA-DQB1*0602. Comparisons were adjusted for possible confounding factors and linear regression modeling was used to extract the best predictors for DQB1*0602 positivity.Results: As previously reported, cataplexy was the best clinical predictor for ...

ScienceDaily: New Theory May Explain Ritalin Action In Hyperactivity The researchers found evidence that Ritalin works by affecting levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which helps regulate mood and inhibit aggression and impulsive behavior. Current theory holds, however, that Ritalin calms people with ADHD by affecting the level of the brain chemical dopamine, whose actions include regulation of activity and locomotion. Both dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters, chemicals which are launched by neurons, or brain nerve cells, to trigger nerve impulse in neighboring neurons. [...] Based on this finding, Caron and his colleagues believe that ADHD-like symptoms in the knockout mice are caused as much by having too little serotonin in the brain as by having too much dopamine, and that restoring a balance between the two brain chemicals is the key to controlling hyperactive behavior. "We've always thought of ADHD as a function of too much activity in the brain, and it is,...

ScienceDaily: More Studies Show That Hard Core Smokers May Be Using Nicotine To Manage Depression, ADHD, Anxiety Or Bulimia Science Daily — ANN ARBOR---You still see them huddled over their cigarettes in public doorways, despite 30 years of increasing social pressure and education about health risks. Why can't they quit? "There is mounting evidence that smoking is becoming increasingly concentrated in people at-risk for major depressive disorders, adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders and bulimia or binge-eating. People with these conditions or co-factors often use nicotine to help manage their symptoms," according to Cynthia S. Pomerleau, a researcher with the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center and the Nicotine Research Laboratory in the U-M Department of Psychiatry. "Many of those who have given up smoking in the past appear to have been the 'easy quits' or casual adult smokers," she added. "H...

ScienceDaily: Researchers Identify Decision-Making Area Of The Brain; Results Will Aid Treatment For Brain Disorders Such As ADHD Science Daily — Kingston, ON (November 4, 2002) -- New research from investigators in the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen's University and the Centre for Brain and Mind at The University of Western Ontario has provided the first neuro-imaging evidence that the brain's frontal lobes play a critical role in planning and choosing actions. Their study is published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The research team has found that a small region in the frontal lobe of the human brain is selectively activated when an individual intends to make a particular action and not another. These findings help explain why individuals with frontal lobe damage sometimes act impulsively and often have problems making decisions. "We have identified signals in the normal human brain that we can now investigate in patients with neurological or psychia...

|| DukeMedNews || Dopamine Imbalances Cause Sleep Disorders in Animal Models of Parkinson's Disease and Schizophrenia First, the researchers treated the mice with a chemical that stops the production of dopamine entirely. In fairly short order, the mice had used up their initial supply of dopamine and were running on empty. The mice became rigid, immobile, and unable to sleep or dream, displaying symptoms similar to those experienced by patients with Parkinson's disease, the researchers said. The researchers then measured the electrical activity in each animal's hippocampus, the region of the brain known to be involved in emotion and memory, during three major brain states: wakefulness, quiet sleep and dreaming (also known as rapid eye movement sleep). Using electrodes finer than a human hair implanted into individual neurons, the researchers could monitor signals passed among hundreds of neurons in the treated mice. They found a lack of dopamine completely suppressed brain...

Print - Neurotechnology: Growing a Brain in Switzerland - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News Growing a Brain in Switzerland By Manfred Dworschak A network of artificial nerves is growing in a Swiss supercomputer -- meant to simulate a natural brain, cell-for-cell. The researchers at work on "Blue Brain" promise new insights into the sources of human consciousness. The machine is beautiful as it wakes up -- nerve cells flicker on the screen in soft pastel tones, electrical charges flash through a maze of synapses. The brain, just after being switched on, seems a little sleepy, but gentle bursts of current bring it fully to life. This unprecedented piece of hardware consists of about 10,000 computer chips that act like real nerve cells. To simulate a natural brain, part of the cerebral cortex of young rats was painstakingly replicated in the computer, cell by cell, together with the branched tree-like structure of the synapses. The simulation was created at the Technical Uni...

Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic The young, according to conventional wisdom, are the most adept multitaskers. Just look at teenagers and young workers in their 20s, e-mailing, instant messaging and listening to iPods at once. Recently completed research at the Institute for the Future of the Mind at Oxford University suggests the popular perception is open to question. A group of 18- to 21-year-olds and a group of 35- to 39-year-olds were given 90 seconds to translate images into numbers, using a simple code. The younger group did 10 percent better when not interrupted. But when both groups were interrupted by a phone call, a cellphone short-text message or an instant message, the older group matched the younger group in speed and accuracy. “The older people think more slowly, but they have a faster fluid intelligence, so they are better able to block out interruptions and choose what to focus on,” said Martin Westwell, deputy director of the institute. Mr....

ScienceDaily: Emory Researchers Study The Effects Of Zen Meditation On The Brain Science Daily — Zen meditation is an ancient spiritual practice that promotes awareness and presence through the undivided engagement of mind and body. For thousands of years, many religious traditions have made meditation a common practice. Now, researchers at Emory University are looking at the effects of Zen meditation and how the brain functions during meditative states. By determining the brain structures involved in meditation and whose activity is gradually changed in the course of long-term meditative practice, researchers hope this training could one day be used as a complementary treatment for neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "In contrast to the common conceptualization of meditation as a relaxation technique, we think that meditation could be more usefully characterized as training in the skillful deployment of...

ScienceDaily: Addiction Breakthrough May Lead To New Treatments Dr Jeff Dalley and colleagues, at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, may have resolved this debate by demonstrating that changes in a neurotransmitter receptor in a particular part of the brain actually pre-dates drug use. Using positron emission tomography (a PET scan), they discovered that rats that were behaviourally impulsive, but which had not been exposed to drugs, had significantly less brain dopamine receptors than their more restrained counterparts. Additionally, these same impulsive rats were found to be considerably more likely to self-administer cocaine intravenously, thus linking impulsive behaviour with drug addiction vulnerability.

I Miss Iraq. I Miss My Gun. I Miss My War. - Page1 - MSN Lifestyle: Men A soldier returned from Iraq describes the mixed feeling he has about war. The terror, excitement, adrenaline rush, dread and power. Really well written and thoughtful.

Stealth Inkjet Printer Startup Could Rock Industry Stealth Inkjet Printer Startup Could Rock Industry Discussion at PhysOrgForum Silverbrook Research has developed the Memjet, a nanotech-fueled, consumer inkjet printer that can print sixty pages a minute for under $200. And it works. An Australian entrepreneur betting his company on a nanotech-fueled, consumer inkjet printer that can print sixty pages a minute for under $200 has successfully demonstrated the technology. Silverbrook Research has spent the last ten years developing Memjet, a printer that uses an array of ink jet nozzles that spans the width of the paper. Company executives have said they feel that they can ship an 8x10 color inkjet by the end of 2008 that will cost less than $200 and print 60 pages a minute. Whether or not the company will be able to deliver on its promises is the question that plagues any startup. But one leading printer analyst said he's witnessed the demonstration personally, and that he's bee...

Venezuela's Chavez announces plans for 'collective property' under shift toward socialism - International Herald Tribune CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez announced Sunday that his government's sweeping reforms toward socialism will include the creation of "collective property." Vowing to undermine capitalism's continued influence in Venezuela during his television and radio program "Hello President," Chavez said state-financed cooperatives would operate under a new concept in which workers would share profits. "It's property that belongs to everyone and it's going to benefit everyone," said Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro whom opponents accuse of leading Venezuela toward Cuba-style communism. Chavez — a leftist former paratrooper popularly known as "El Comandante" — said his government fully respects private property, but pledged to replace capitalist ideals with socialist principles on coope...

ScienceDaily: Does Omega 3 Protect Against ADHD? Science Daily — A new study will provide further understanding about the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on the brain function of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The trial, being conducted by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, will study the effects of these fatty acids on the learning skills, attention span, memory, reaction time and behaviour of 150 children with ADHD over 12 weeks. The effects will also be explored in 100 children without ADHD. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in seafood, particularly fish. There is increasing evidence that a lack of these acids may be associated with developmental problems like ADHD -- a common mental health problem which affects around 12 per cent of Australian children.

ScienceDaily: Study Finds ADHD Improves With Sensory Intervention Science Daily — Preliminary findings from a study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show that sensory intervention -- for example, deep pressure and strenuous exercise -- can significantly improve problem behaviors such as restlessness, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Of the children receiving occupational therapy, 95 percent improved. This is the first study of this size on sensory intervention for ADHD. The Temple University researchers, Kristie Koenig, Ph.D., OTR/L, and Moya Kinnealey, Ph.D., OTR/L, wanted to determine whether ADHD problem behaviors would decrease if underlying sensory and neurological issues were addressed with occupational therapy. Their study, "Comparative Outcomes of Children with ADHD: Treatment Versus Delayed Treatment Control Condition," will be presented Friday, May 13, at the American Occupational Therapy Association meeting in Long Beach, Calif. ...

ScienceDaily: New Class Of Chemicals Found To Use Marijuana-Like System In Brain Science Daily — Irvine, Calif., May 1, 2000 -- Researchers at UC Irvine's College of Medicine have developed a chemical that could form the basis of a new class of drugs to treat a number of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.Ads by Google Advertise on this site The chemical, which has been tested on rats, affects brain cells that use chemicals similar to marijuana to counteract the actions of a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine has been implicated in schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, Tourette's syndrome and many other psychiatric disorders. The researchers' findings appear in the May issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Daniele Piomelli, professor of pharmacology, led a team that found that a chemical called AM404 reversed the normal inactivation of a naturally occurring chemical in the br...

ScienceDaily: Opthalmologists Discover Relationship Between Eye Condition And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder UCSD Shiley Eye Center ophthalmologists and researchers have uncovered a relationship between an eye disease characterized by an inability to focus on a target and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "We showed that children with the disorder, convergence insufficiency are three times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children without the disorder," according to David B. Granet, M.D., a UCSD School of Medicine associate professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics and director of the UCSD Ratner Children's Eye Center. "This is the first time such a relationship has been identified between these two disorders." Convergence insufficiency, a disorder that affects less than five percent of children, is a physical eye problem that makes it hard to keep both eyes pointed and focused at a near target, making it difficult to maintain c...

ScienceDaily: A Concentration Killer: Study Shows Brain Chemistry Defect Is Key To Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Adults "Ernst's study is an exciting and potentially very significant finding regarding the neural basis of ADHD and its developmental progression," says ADHD expert B.J. Casey, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In the study, the researchers analyzed the brains of 17 ADHD adults with positron emission tomography (PET). The PET images, which highlighted the activity of the dopamine-producing enzyme, DOPA decarboxylase, indicate that an abnormality in dopamine production occurs in only one of the dopamine-rich brain regions, the anterior frontal cortex. This region underlies motor activity and cognitive processes, including attention. "A better understanding of the deficit could lead to the development of treatments with a focused target of action," says Ernst. "Currently the treatments of choice are stimulants, suc...

eXile - Issue #259 - War Nerd - Triumph Of The Vile - By Gary Brecher Fact: Sparta was about as romantic as North Korea. Give or take a little egalitarianism, Sparta WAS North Korea. Spartan laws did everything they could to break down the family. Sparta was more anti-nuclear family than any Hollywood liberal could ever be. Wanna know what a Spartan wedding night was really like? It's pretty hilarious, in an insane way. As soon as a Spartan girl got her first period, they grabbed her, shaved her head, dressed her as a boy, threw her down on her new husband's bed, and then, well, he had his way with her. What way was that? Since hubby had been in an all-male dorm since age seven, I'm betting that that night of lovin' was more like a skinny white boy's introduction to San Quentin after lights-out than it was like a chick flick. So when this movie shows the Spartan hero saying to his wife, "Goodbye, my love," I just had to laugh. No Spartan ever told his wife...

Sky News: The Dangers Of Alcohol : Alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than many illegal drugs, according to a new drug classification system. A number of leading scientists compiled a list to show the danger that certain substances pose to human health. They claim that their list of 20 substances is more scientific than the current Misuse of Drugs Act system, which attaches "a, b, and c" labels to illicit drugs. Heroin was top of the new list, followed by cocaine. Alcohol came fifth and tobacco ninth, while cannabis was 11th, LSD 14th and ecstasy 18th. The table, published in The Lancet medical journal, was drawn up by a team led by Professor David Nutt, from the University of Bristol, and Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council. Advertisement The criteria used to determine harmfulness were: the physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug; the tendency of the drug to induce dependence; and the effect of the drug's use on fa...

Erowid Experience Vaults: Melatonin & Cannabis - Melatonin Is the Answer - 12521 Melatonin is a wonder hormone (classified on Erowid as a “Smart Drug,”). To put it in simple terms, melatonin is the answer to the negative or unwanted affects of marijuana (i.e. loss of memory, loss of concentration, loss of motivation, sleep problems, lack of dreams, and depression). I found that taking a regimented dose of melatonin each night has reset my circadian rhythm and renewed my love of weed. I no longer lack motivation to get out of bed, I’m started to have and remember more dreams, and I can concentrate better in school. I take between 1.5 and 3mg about an hour before I go to bed each night at about the same time (a schedule is best as not to disrupt regular sleep patterns if you are lucky enough to have them). Whether you smoke or not after you take the melatonin is up to you since I have noticed no major difference either way. The only small difference is a good one. If you smoke about ...

Erowid Experience Vaults: Melatonin & Cannabis - Melatonin Is the Answer - 12521 Melatonin is a wonder hormone (classified on Erowid as a “Smart Drug,”). To put it in simple terms, melatonin is the answer to the negative or unwanted affects of marijuana (i.e. loss of memory, loss of concentration, loss of motivation, sleep problems, lack of dreams, and depression). I found that taking a regimented dose of melatonin each night has reset my circadian rhythm and renewed my love of weed. I no longer lack motivation to get out of bed, I’m started to have and remember more dreams, and I can concentrate better in school. I take between 1.5 and 3mg about an hour before I go to bed each night at about the same time (a schedule is best as not to disrupt regular sleep patterns if you are lucky enough to have them). Whether you smoke or not after you take the melatonin is up to you since I have noticed no major difference either way. The only small difference is a good one. If you smoke about ...

Brain-damaged people give insights into morality: Scientific American WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's wartime, and an enemy doctor is conducting painful and inevitably fatal experiments on children. You have two kids, ages 8 and 5. You can surrender one of them within 24 hours or the doctor will kill both. What is the right thing to do? For most people, this scenario based on one in William Styron's novel "Sophie's Choice" is almost an impossible dilemma. But for a group of people with damage in a part of the brain's frontal lobe that helps govern emotions, the decision was far more clear. They would choose one child for death. ADVERTISEMENT (article continues below) Scientists said on Wednesday a study involving these people has produced unique insights into the brain mechanics of moral decision making and showed that in some key situations emotions play a fundamental role in moral judgments. The new findings highlighted the role of a region in the front part of...

The Hindu News Update Service Exercise can make people smarter, says report New York, March 19 (PTI): A recent and rapidly growing movement in science is showing that exercise can make people smarter, Newsweek reports in its upcoming issue. Last week, in a landmark paper, researchers announced that they had coaxed the human brain into growing new nerve cells, a process that for decades had been thought impossible, simply by putting subjects on a three-month aerobic-workout regimen. Other scientists, the magazine reports, have found that vigorous exercise can cause older nerve cells to form dense, interconnected webs that make the brain run faster and more efficiently. And there are clues that physical activity can stave off the beginnings of Alzheimer's disease, ADHD and other cognitive disorders. The magazine says it examined with Harvard Medical School, the latest research and findings about how an active body is crucial for building a strong, active mind. "People have been ...

The Perils of Multitasking - MSN Lifestyle - Family & Parenting Growing up, we did homework quietly, save for a little background music. But that was so last century. Today, middle schoolers are downloading iTunes, "texting" friends on their cell phones, surfing the web and checking their Web pages -- all while reading a book for English or studying for a math test. In fact, more kids are spending more time using more media simultaneously than ever before. In 2004, a study of 2000 8- to 18-year-olds undertaken by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a research and policy think tank, documented what many parents have long known: 81 percent of Generation M (as the study dubbed them) are experts in "media multi-tasking," juggling various types of media for as much as 8 and a half hours of "screen time" a day. "That's what adults spend at a full-time job, with a little extra thrown in for overtime," says Victoria Rideout, M.A., who directed the repo...

BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: Brain damage turns man into human chameleon Brain damage turns man into human chameleon In his 1983 fake documentary 'Zelig', Woody Alan plays a character, Leonard Zelig, a kind of human chameleon who takes on the appearance and behaviour of whoever he is with. Now psychologists in Italy have reported the real-life case of AD, a 65-year-old whose identity appears dependent on the environment he is in. He started behaving this way after cardiac arrest caused damage to the fronto-temporal region of his brain. When with doctors, AD assumes the role of a doctor; when with psychologists he says he is a psychologist; at the solicitors he claims to be a solicitor. AD doesn't just make these claims, he actually plays the roles and provides plausible stories for how he came to be in these roles. To investigate further, Giovannina Conchiglia and colleagues used actors to contrive different scenarios. At a bar, an actor asked AD for a cocktail, prompting him to im...

All the pleasure of drinking, without the pain - health - 15 July 2006 - New Scientist Why is it that when you step into a bar for a glass or two of cheer, you so often leave with five drinks' worth of impending doom? All you wanted was to loosen up, have some fun, unleash the gregarious you stuck somewhere in sobriety. Yet it is all too likely that this feel-good glow will be followed by a hard-luck chaser. Several drinks later, you stumble home, clumsy, belching and battling to stay awake. Your judgement's shot: you urinate in a doorway, stuff down two kebabs and narrowly escape getting killed on the road. At home, your partner declares you disgusting and, though you rant defiantly, you know it's true. You toss and turn all night and in the morning wake tired, with a throbbing head and an uncanny certainty that you made an ass of yourself last night, though you can't remember the details. As you trudge off to work, a few brain cells lighter and with a slightly more wi...

CATO graph of the incarceration rates of various countries

Someday Never Comes � John Chow dot Com Giving Yourself An Out Do you know how to tell a successful person from a unsuccessful one? The easiest way is by the language they use. When you talk to a successful person about his goals, he’ll tell you what he plans to do and when it will be done. When an unsuccessful person talks about his goals (assuming he even has one), you’ll hear something along the lines of, “I hope to do this someday.” Here’s a clue for all you losers out there; someday never comes. You know why a person with a loser’s mentality always use words like someday, I hope or I wish? He does it because it gives him an out and not be accountable to his word. If he was to place a time limit on the goal and doesn’t do it, he fails, and a loser hates failing. Winners have no fear of failing because they know success is made from a string of failures. Everyone have dreams and goals. The only difference between a goal and a dream is a goal is a dream with action. We all have dream...

The Liberty Papers �Blog Archive � Amtrak: Slower Than A Bus, More Expensive Than Flying Amtrak: Slower Than A Bus, More Expensive Than Flying In Mike’s post about Amtrak, it was suggested in the comments that if we lost passenger rail, we’d be stuck with buses. So what? They’re far cheaper than Amtrak, and they’ll often get there faster! I wrote the below post back in April 2006 (so the costs might not be up to date), and added a little below this. ————— The railroads are tremendously important to this country for shipping goods, but there are much easier and cheaper ways to travel as a passenger. As a quick test, I looked up train fare from Atlanta to Chicago. Since I regularly travel there to see family, I wanted to see how it compared to airfare. Well, Amtrak doesn’t run a direct route between the two. So a round-trip ticket cost about $380, with a stop each way in Washington, DC. And due to the extra time of those trips, the total travel time was about 30 hours each way. Compare ...

Scientific American: The Expert Mind The one thing that all expertise theorists agree on is that it takes enormous effort to build these structures in the mind. Simon coined a psychological law of his own, the 10-year rule, which states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field. Even child prodigies, such as Gauss in mathematics, Mozart in music and Bobby Fischer in chess, must have made an equivalent effort, perhaps by starting earlier and working harder than others. According to this view, the proliferation of chess prodigies in recent years merely reflects the advent of computer-based training methods that let children study far more master games and to play far more frequently against master-strength programs than their forerunners could typically manage. Fischer made a sensation when he achieved the grandmaster title at age 15, in 1958; today's record-holder, Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, earned it at 12 years, seven months. Ericsson argues that wha...

Creating Passionate Users: Is Twitter TOO good? 2) The feeling of connectedness The biggest benefit most people seem to be deriving from Twitter is the ability to feel more connected to others. Carson Systems' Lisa put it this way in a comment to Tara Hunt's defense of Twitter: "Twittering fills in those gaps...recording our friends’ feelings, geographic location and actions as if we were spookily almost there. That makes us feel *really* connected..." Is this really a good thing? Probably, yes. For most people, perhaps. But I think it's worth a critical look as opposed to an automatic connected-is-awlays-implicitly-good response. UCSF neurobiologist Thomas Lewis claims that if we're not careful, we can trick a part of our brain into thinking that we're having a real social interaction--something crucial and ancient for human survival--when we actually aren't. This leads to a stressful (but subconscious) cognitive dissonance, where we're getting so...

Intelligent people tend to be more religious. The broad consensus of research shows that people with higher IQs tend to be less religious, not more so. Argument Is it more logical to be a Christian? Is religion the natural choice of a smart person familiar with more of the evidence? Not according to a broad consensus of studies on IQ and religiosity. These studies have consistently found that the lower the IQ score, the more likely a person is to be religious. To place these studies in perspective, it is helpful to know the general religious attitudes of Americans today. According to a February 1995 Gallup poll, 96 percent of all Americans believe in God, and 88 percent affirm the importance of religion. However, the degree of religiosity within this group varies considerably. Only 35 percent can be classified as "religious," using a definition that requires them to consider religion important and attend religious services at least once a week. And a March 1994 Gallup poll fo...

Immense ice deposits found at south pole of Mars - Yahoo! News WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spacecraft orbiting Mars has scanned huge deposits of water ice at its south pole so plentiful they would blanket the planet in 36 feet of water if they were liquid, scientists said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The scientists used a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency radar instrument on the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft to gauge the thickness and volume of ice deposits at the Martian south pole covering an area larger than Texas. The deposits, up to 2.3 miles thick, are under a polar cap of white frozen carbon dioxide and water, and appear to be composed of at least 90 percent frozen water, with dust mixed in, according to findings published in the journal Science. Scientists have known that water exists in frozen form at the Martian poles, but this research produced the most accurate measurements of just how much there is. They are eager to learn about the history of water on Mars becaus...

Greenspan warns subprime woes could spread - Yahoo! News BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday there was a risk that rising defaults in subprime mortgage markets could spill over into other economic sectors. ADVERTISEMENT In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session at the Futures Industry Association meeting, Greenspan conceded it was "hard to find any such evidence" about spillover from stressed mortgages yet, but: "You can't take 10 percent out of mortgage originations without some impact." "I'd expect it to -- I'm waiting -- but the spillovers are just not there," he said. Some problems have turned up in collateralized debt markets, Greenspan added. Greenspan said the housing downturn appeared to stem more from the recent stagnation in housing prices after years of appreciation than from a decline in mortgage quality but said he was not downplaying problems in so-called subprime loa...