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The Nose, an Emotional Time Machine

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:45:59 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: Importantly, the olfactory cortex is embedded within the brain’s limbic system and amygdala, where emotions are born and emotional memories stored. That’s why smells, feelings and memories become so easily and intimately entangled

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

We’ve all heard about the mysterious powers of smell and its importance in love, friendship and food.

we don’t really grasp just how deep the nose goes.

researchers discussed the many ways our sense of smell stands alone. Olfaction is an ancient sense, the key by which our earliest forebears learned to approach or slink off. Yet the right aroma can evoke such vivid, whole body sensations that we feel life’s permanent newness, the grounding of now.

Moreover, numerous studies have shown that smell memory is long and resilient, and that the earliest odor associations we make often stick. “With a phone number, if you get a new one, a week later you may have forgotten the old one,” Dr. Herz said. “With smells, it’s the other way around. The first association is better than the second.”

people described them in exceptionally rich and emotional terms, and they were much likelier to report the sudden sensation of being brought back in time

Can Depression Change Your DNA?

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:42:18 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Can Depression Change Your DNA?

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

New research points to significant modifications of an important gene that suggests depression may play a role in changing the very makeup of the brain.

Researchers at the Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario compared the brains of people who committed suicide with those who died suddenly of natural causes, such as a heart attack. They found that the genome in suicidal, depressed people was chemically modified by a process that is normally involved in regulating the essential characteristics of all cells in the body.

This is apparently the first study to show that proteins that modify DNA directly are more highly expressed in the brains of people who commit suicide. These proteins are involved in chemically modifying DNA in a process called epigenomic regulation.

The rate of methylation in the suicide brains was found to be much greater than that of the control group.

Tags: mental illness, genetics, epigenetics, depression

Water-- the background of life

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:15:20 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "We previously thought proteins would affect only those water molecules directly stuck to them," Gruebele said. "Now we know proteins will affect a volume of water comparable to their own. That's pretty amazing."

i find this description of water sexy :0

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Water Is 'Designer Fluid' That Helps Proteins Change Shape

According to new research, old ideas about water behavior are all wet. Ubiquitous on Earth, water also has been found in comets, on Mars and in molecular clouds in interstellar space. Now, scientists say this common fluid is not as well understood as we thought.

"Water, as we know it, does not exist within our bodies,"

"Water in our bodies has different physical properties from ordinary bulk water, because of the presence of proteins and other biomolecules. Proteins change the properties of water to perform particular tasks in different parts of our cells."

When bound to proteins, water molecules participate in a carefully choreographed ballet that permits the proteins to fold into their functional, native states.

Using a technique called terahertz absorption spectroscopy

"Water can be viewed as a 'designer fluid' in living cells,"

"Our experiments showed that the volume of active water was about the same size as that of the protein."

In memoriam: Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:34:29 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Hiroshima mother and child

Clip Source: masbury.wordpress.com

In memoriam: Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

Hiroshima mother and child

August 6, 1945

Tags: war, nuclear weapons

Amazing - Largest freely on online - "Sacred Text"

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:20:58 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet.
There is more in the sight

Clip Source: www.sacred-texts.com

Welcome to the largest freely available archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet. The site is dedicated to religious tolerance and scholarship, and has the largest readership of any similar site on the web.

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