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Ten Minutes Of Talking Improves Memory And Test Performance

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:33:02 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: good excuse to keep on talking

Ten Minutes Of Talking Improves Memory And Test Performance

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2007) — Spending just 10 minutes talking to another person can help improve your memory and your performance on tests, according to a University of Michigan study to be published in the February 2008 issue of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

"In our study, socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," said Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and a lead author of the study with ISR psychologist Eugene Burnstein and psychologist Piotr Winkielman from the University of California, San Diego.

In the article, Ybarra, Burnstein and colleagues report on findings from two types of studies they conducted on the relationship between social interactions and mental functioning.

the findings suggest that visiting with a friend or neighbor may be just as helpful in staying sharp

Tags: memory, brain

Tag, You're It

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:00:40 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.time.com

You've probably never seen an RFID tag, but chances are there's one within 10 ft. of you. An RFID tag--it stands for radio-frequency identification--is a tiny device consisting of a very small chip attached to a very small antenna.

They're getting so cheap that manufacturers basically need a reason not to put them in things.

They're in library books and credit cards and lift tickets. The military uses them to track assets in Iraq. The Venetian Casino that just opened in Macau puts an RFID tag in each one of its chips. As of Jan. 1 of this year, every U.S. passport contains an RFID tag, to make them machine-scannable and more forgery-proof.

That's the genius of RFID: it's a way to make the ordinary physical world of people and objects visible to the virtual world that computers inhabit. It maps real space onto virtual space, so the two worlds can talk to each other.

Nightmare or utopia? You decide.

Tags: technology, future

RIP, Washoe: Chimp Who Knew Sign Language Dies

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:23:23 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Washoe, the female chimpanzee who scientists say was the first non-human primate to learn sign language, passed away on Tuesday night. She was 42 years old.

Washoe was born and captured in West Africa, briefly used for research by the US Air Force, and finally adopted by psychologists Beatrix and R. Allen Gardner, who raised her in their home and treated her like a deaf human child.

She was then adopted by Roger and Deborah Fouts, the directors of Central Washington University's Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. In her lifetime, Washoe mastered the use of more than 250 signs and even taught them to another chimpanzee. As reported by the New York Times, she shared something else with humans, particularly women: an obsession with shoes.

“She always checked out your shoes, and if you had new ones she’d sign for you to show them to her,” Dr. Jensvold said. “Then she might sign something about the color. She was a real shoe lady that way.”

Tags: chimpanzee, language

15 Lucky Puppies

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:17:37 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

These lucky pups have landed on their feet after two dogs decided to share out the motherly duties.

Pedigree Irish Setter Madyson gave birth to the 15 babies but before owner Julie Murray had a chance to clean the newborns, her other dog, Liliana, started to lend a hand.

And when the pups started feeding, six-year-old surrogate mum Liliana, an English Setter, also began producing milk so she could share the load.

"She started cleaning them and looking after them and soon after began producing milk even though she wasn't pregnant - I was amazed.

"Normally the natural mum is really protective over her pups but the pair share feeding times.

"It's good news for me too because if Liliana wasn't there I would have to help and bottle feed some of the puppies because 15 is too many for a mother to look after.

"I'm sure it helps deal with 15 puppies, which is quite an impressive litter."

Tags: irish setter, dogs, animals, maternity

New Brain Cells Listen Before They Talk

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:59:39 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: could be a good feature to learn from our brain cells

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

New Brain Cells Listen Before They Talk

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2007) — Newly created neurons in adults rely on signals from distant brain regions to regulate their maturation and survival before they can communicate with existing neighboring cells--a finding that has important implications for the use of adult neural stem cells to replace brain cells lost by trauma or neurodegeneration, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in The Journal of Neuroscience.

In fact, certain important synaptic connections--the circuitry that allows the brain cells to talk to each other--do not appear until 21 days after the birth of the new cells, according to Charles Greer, professor of neurosurgery and neurobiology, and senior author of the study, In the meantime, other areas of the brain provide information to the new cells, preventing them from disturbing ongoing functions until the cells are mature.

Tags: brain, neurons, stem cells

Happy Birthday Aisha!

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:10:17 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Cat lovers will understand this clip. I know, I know, I'm such a sappy cat Mum, but my sweet little cat Aisha is three years old today. She's a cat, I found in a rubbish bin in Greece when she was just a tiny kitten and we never thought she'd make it. She was SO sick (poisoned) but she pulled through and today she's three already!! Kids grow up so fast.

Happy Birthday, little girl!.

Clip Source: s143.photobucket.com

Cute Aisha

Tags: photo, aisha, birthday, cat, kitten, apple of my eye, greece, happy birthday, sweetheart

Evidence Of 'Memory' In Cells And Molecules

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:53:17 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Evidence Of 'Memory' In Cells And Molecules

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2007) — New research provides evidence that some molecular interactions on cell surfaces may have a "memory" that affects their future interactions. The report could lead to a re-examination of results from certain single-molecule research.

Researchers who use sequentially repeated tests to obtain statistical samples of molecular properties usually assume that each test is identical to -- and independent of -- any other tests in the sequence. In their article, however, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology provide examples of test sequences that may not be composed of independent and identically-distributed (i.i.d.) random variables.

Tags: memory, cell, molecule

Is the FBI no more ethical than the mafia?

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:03:58 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: blogs.abcnews.com

But the judge who presided over the case harshly criticized the FBI in his decision for having worse ethics than the mob in using murderous mobster Gregory Scarpa as an informant even as he killed, lied to the government and continued a reign of terror and organized crime.

"I was particularly struck by the testimony of Carmine Sessa, former Consigliere of the Colombo family and multiple murderer, and who testified that when he and his fellow mobsters were discussing the possibility that Greg Scarpa was an FBI informant, they ultimately discounted the idea, reasoning that it was impossible...that it would be antinomic for the FBI, charged with fighting crime, to employ as an informer a murderer as vicious and prolific as Greg Scarpa. Apparently, and sadly, organized crime attributed to the FBI a greater sense of probity than the FBI in fact possessed," wrote State Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach (pictured).

Tags: fbi, mafia, gregory scarpa

Wahhabism: A deadly scripture

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:11:15 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.independent.co.uk

King Abdullah's Saudi regime spends billions of pounds each year promoting Wahhabism, one of fundamentalist Islam's most extreme movements. Much of it funds children's education in British faith schools and mosques. Should we be worried? Paul Vallely investigates

King Abdullah will go home to Saudi Arabia today with the charges of human rights protestors ringing irritatingly in his ears. But his controversial visit may well have left an unpleasant legacy for the people of the country which has feted him with full state honours.

There was a hint of it in a report written this week by Dr Denis MacEoin, an Islamic studies expert at Newcastle who previously taught at the University of Fez. Leading a team of researchers over a two-year project, he uncovered a hoard of malignant literature inside as many as a quarter of Britain's mosques. All of it had been published and distributed by agencies linked to the government of King Abdullah.

Tags: saudi arabia

Black holes may harbour their own universes

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:24:05 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

Black holes may harbour their own universes

When matter gets swallowed by a black hole, it could fall into another universe contained inside the black hole, or get trapped inside a wormhole-like connection to a second black hole, a new study suggests.

What's inside a black hole is one of the biggest mysteries in physics. The theory that predicted black holes in the first place – general relativity – says that all the matter inside them gets squashed into a central point of infinite density called a singularity. But then, "things break down mathematically", says Christian Böhmer of University College London, in the UK. "We would like to see the singularity removed."

Many researchers believe that some kind of new, overarching theory that unites gravity and quantum effects will resolve the problem. String theory is the most popular of these alternatives.

Tags: physics, black hole, universe, string theory

Army Has Record Low Level of Recruits

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:48:23 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: ap.google.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army began its recruiting year Oct. 1 with fewer signed up for basic training than in any year since it became an all-volunteer service in 1973, a top general said Wednesday.

Gen. William S. Wallace, whose duties as commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command include management of recruiting, told reporters at the Pentagon that the historic dip will make it harder to achieve the full-year recruiting goal — after just barely reaching it in the year ended Sept. 30.

Achieving the Army's recruiting goals — a challenge in the best of times — is not only more difficult now but also of more consequence. That is because the Army has decided that it must grow its active-duty force by several thousand soldiers a year in order to relieve strain on war-weary troops.

Tags: army, military, iraq

The Holy War On Gays

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:50:38 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.pflagdetroit.org

This article appeared in the Rolling Stones Magazine March 18, 1999

On a stormy day in mid-January 1996, about twenty leaders of the Christian right wing met in the basement of a Baptist church in Memphis. Representing a such large organizations as the Rev. Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, the Mississippi-based American Family Association and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, the activists had come together to launch an anti-homosexual network, which they called the National Pro-Family forum. What drove them the most that day was their alarm over a growing friendliness in America to the idea of gay and lesbian marriages.

No one was paying attention to the issue of same-sex marriages up to that point” says Phil Burress, a Cincinnati activist who organized the Memphis meeting. “And then all of sudden – BAM! This was an issue that was being debated nationwide!”

Tags: only, been, going, stronger, since, then

Dog saves master with heimlich maneuver

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:40:54 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: It was given the dog of the year award at the dog and cat of the year awards given by the ASPCA. A cat was awarded a prize for waking someone up in a fire and there were awards given to people, but I'm sure not even many people would have the sense to do the Heimlich maneuver, and cats aren't heavy enough. Both of the award winners were saved after being left abandoned as a puppy and a kitten.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By RICHARD PYLE

When Debbie Parkhurst choked on a piece of apple at her Maryland home, her dog jumped in, landing hard on her chest and forcing the morsel to pop out of her throat. When the Keesling family of Indiana was about to be overcome by carbon monoxide, their cat clawed at wife Cathy's hair until she woke up and called for help.

For their nick-of-time acts, Toby, a 2 1/2-year-old golden retriever, and Winnie, a gray-eyed American shorthair, were named Dog and Cat of the Year by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Neither Parkhurst nor Keesling could explain their pets' timely heroics, though Parkhurst suggested her pooch's Heimlich maneuver might have been guided by divine intervention.

Both pets were themselves rescued in infancy

Toby as a 4-week-old puppy tossed into a garbage bin to die, and Winnie as a week-old orphan hiding under a barn, so helpless that Keesling's husband, Eric, had to feed her milk with an eyedropper.

Tags: dog, cat, pet, award, rescue

Phelp's Loss

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:49:06 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

As happy as I am, and I am! I am also torn. I loathe Fred Phelps, you all know that. And I'm glad he was held accountable, but there is a big part of me that is saying NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FIRST AMMENDMENT!!!!!

Of course not near as big as the part that's going WOOOOOOO_HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Eat that Rev. Bigot!

Even though I fight and oppose this guy with every chance I get, and as happy as I am, there's just a little something that I'm not quite comfortable with. And I think it's the concept of "drawing the line" with free speech. Once you draw it, it tends to keep moving, a moving line of what is, and is not, free speech. The line changes direction as the political zeitgeist holds sway.

The line, like free speech itself, is a two edged sword. What we like now, we may come to hate, should things change.

We should be damn careful if we do decide to draw it.

That being said. EAT THAT YOU BIGOTED PSYCHO!!

Tags: you, bigoted, piece, of, s***

Extreme Pumpkins

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:53:34 GMT

clipped by: laceym
clipper's remarks: These are my favorites. Many more at the source.

Clip Source: www.extremepumpkins.com

Tags: pumpkin, halloween, holiday