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Magic Mushrooms’ Psilocybin Reduces Social Exclusion Pain

April 20, 2016 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

We do not promote drug use, unless you really know what you’re getting yourself into

Even in the progressive and mostly open-minded society we live in, drugs are a subject of controversy and arguments. This is mostly caused by people clumping them all together under the moniker “drugs”, but also by continuous insistence of the United States government to keep them as illegal as possible.

And while marijuana might have won some traction in the past few years, with its recreational use becoming legal in a few states and its medicinal use in even more of them, other drugs that are just as useful and have as much potential are still universally banned.

And this is a shame, because if researchers were allowed to study those drugs even half as intensely as some people smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, we would have had the cures to many more mental diseases and issues than we do now. But finally, it seems like some researchers are given a green light to do some light experiments on these “dangerous narcotics”, and they discovered some pretty interesting things.

After last week a team of researchers discovered why LSD makes you feel one with the universe, this week we a have a different team that shows that the magic mushrooms’ psilocybin reduces social exclusion pain. In case you haven’t caught on, psilocybin is the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, which are also colloquially known as magic mushrooms.

The study, led by postdoctoral researcher Katrin Preller from the University of Zurich, shows that the psilocybin in magic mushrooms greatly reduces the emotional response associated with being socially excluded. This works by attenuating the activity in the associated areas of the brain.

For the research, 21 participants had to play video games and take magic mushrooms. Of course, there’s more to it than that, but it just goes to show that you can still be paid for doing what you love. Anyway, the participants had to play a video game with what they assumed were two people but were actually two separate AIs.

As they were playing, the AIs were also including the participants in their conversation, but they gradually started ignoring them and only talking among themselves. The test was taken twice by each participant, once as they were given a low dose of psilocybin, and once more as they were given a placebo.

Expectedly, even if they remained aware during both circumstances that the two AIs (whom they thought to be people) were ignoring them, the participants reported far fewer feelings of exclusion when they were given the psychoactive substance.

Of course, the volunteers were also looked at in an MRI machine in order to have their brain activity studied. Three major conclusions were drawn from the brain scans, each related to how the substance affected the brain and how its regions communicated with each other.

First and foremost, there was far less activity in the areas of the brain that had to do with anxiety, stress, and depression. Next, instead of focusing on those areas, the brain instead made connections between areas that don’t normally communicate with each other, thus bringing forth some hallucinations and reducing negative feelings.

Last but not least, just like LSD and some other psychoactive substances, psilocybin was shown to increase subjective feelings of connection to the environment and to other people, something that leads to stronger empathetic connections between people and reduction of the egocentric bias. This allows you to better understand your peers, making it nearly impossible to get upset with them, and allowing you to feel a connection with everyone and everything.

Image source: Wikimedia

Study Reveals, Long-Ago Moon’s Magnetic Field Might Have Trumped Earths’

December 6, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 2 Comments

According to the researchers, the moon once had a magnetic heart, which helped the moon produce a magnetic field stronger than Earth’s now have.

Though, numerous riddles linger about the magnetic field of the moon, for example, what fueled it and when it’s finished, the researchers added.

The moon today does not have an inclusive magnetic field. Nonetheless, asteroids that space explorers gathered amid the Apollo missions proposed the moon once had a magnetic field billions of years back.

However, researchers were unsure whether the moon created a magnetic field the same way Earth does, or if the magnetic fields seen on the moon were rather generated by external powers. For example, celestial effects on the moon could have flickered super-heated plasma that produced solid, concise magnetic fields, clarifying the charged rocks the space travelers found.

In the previous six years or thereabouts, nonetheless, a new era of scientific methods and computer imitations has now presented a solid evidence that the moon may have had a magnetic center like Earth’s.

Magnetic fields are generated by electric currents.

“We believe planets produce magnetic fields by moving electrically directing liquids inside them,” said study co-creator Benjamin Weiss, a planetary researcher at MIT. Streaming metal in the Earth’s center makes the heart of the planet a dynamo — a generator of electrical current — and this dynamo creates the Earth’s magnetic field.

If the moon had a dynamo that produced a magnetic field, that could yield key impending into its concealed internal structure.

Weiss told Space.com, “The crucial inquiry of lunar science for more than four decades, even before the Apollo missions, is to what degree is the moon an unmelted primordial body like numerous space rocks, instead of a dissolved developed body with a multilayered structure, which can have a metallic center with a magnetic field.”

“The moon is halfway between a planet and a little body like a space rock, so building, whether the moon had a primordial dynamo could help demonstrate that it was a very advanced body separated into layers like Earth,” he added. “This would let you know about the derivation of the moon — a few models say the moon began off frosty and unmelted, while others propose it was made from a monster affect and foresee it ought to have been scorched.”

As per the recent scans of magnetized lunar rocks that demonstrate no proof of impacts from celestial effects now give solid confirmation that the moon had a magnetic field 4.25 billion to 3.56 billion years back, no less than 1 billion years after the moon created.

Weiss said, “Earth’s magnetic field is presently 50 microteslas in potency. The early moon may have had a magnetic field that was greater, perhaps up to more than 70 microteslas.”

It stays questionable what may have fueled this shockingly exceptional lunar magnetic field. “It’s difficult to see how the moon’s magnetic field could be as tough as it appeared given how the moon has a little center,” Weiss said. “The moon’s center is perhaps 1/5 to 1/7 the radius of the moon, while the Earth’s center is possibly one-half the planetary range. This implies the surface of the moon is much far from its center than you see with Earth. Since magnetic fields fall quickly in force with distance, it’s tricky to see how the moon could have had a magnetic field that was that that tough throughout its surface.”

All known dynamos of planets are for the most part thought to be fueled by convection, the whipping of liquids because of heat. Given the extent of the moon — just around a quarter of Earth’s distance — the moon ought to have cooled hastily. So a lunar dynamo fueled just by convection ought to have endured just for a couple of hundred million years at most, until around 4.1 billion years ago.

Though, novel models propose that the moon’s innards may have been less gooey than suspected, and that radioactive material inside the moon could have kept it hotter. These elements may have empowered a convection-fueled lunar dynamo to last until maybe 3.5 billion or 3.4 billion years ago.

There are a lot more extraordinary systems that researchers have proposed could have fueled the lunar dynamo.

“One includes smacking the moon sideways with vast effects from space rocks, perhaps a bundle of times,” Weiss said. “You could also use the fact that the moon’s spin wobbles over time, known as precession, and in the past, it wobbled more intensely when it was closer to Earth, and that could likewise inspire movement to power a dynamo. Both these instruments are not known in any planetary body today, and would speak to better approaches for producing magnetic fields.”

Study Reveals, Electric Eel Use Electric Charge To Detect Prey

December 5, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

According to the recent study, the predators have a two dimensional strategy to “remotely control” their prey.

In the skirmish of electric eel versus prey, it just so happens electric eels have a considerably more noteworthy benefit than we suspected.

The study is published in the Science journal, exposing the mechanics of the eel’s electric release, indicating how the predators utilize this organic weapon to “remotely control their target.”

As per the research by Vanderbilt University’s Kenneth Catania, when an eel is seeking after a fish and doesn’t need it to escape it can emanate an electric charge from its organs that shocks its victim. The stretched fish utilizes “high-recurrence volleys to actuate immobilizing entire body muscle contraction.”

Furthermore, when an eel is searching for prey and can’t find any, it utilizes an alternate strategy: the eel discharges power in 2 or 3 bunches, which eventually causes close-by fish to jerk, uncovering their concealing spot.

It’s an electric eel’s reality and little fish are simply living in it.

Study Reveals: Insects Originated 480 Million Years Ago

November 8, 2014 By Jason Leathers 1 Comment

Recently, a group of 100 researchers from around the globe have put in their molecular, computational biology, paleontology, and taxonomic expertise to know more about when the major groups of insects have evolved. The study is published in the ‘Science’ journal.

In this study, the researchers used a dataset comprising of 144 carefully chosen species. This enabled them to make authentic estimates on the dates of origin and relationships of all major insect groups based on the dataset. The study concluded that the insects evolved at the same time as the earliest terrestrial plants, which is about 480 million years ago. The findings of the study seem to indicate that insects helped shape the early terrestrial ecosystems. Moreover, the researchers also discovered that insects developed wings to fly about 400 million years ago, which is long before any other animal.

An academy curator who contributed to the fly-related portion of the study, Michelle Trautwein, said in a news release, “While visualizing a giant map of the evolution of life on Earth, insects are by far the largest part of the picture. We haven’t had a very clear picture of how insects evolved-from the origins of metamorphosis to which insects were first to fly. Now sequencing technology enables us to compare huge amounts of genetic data, and for the first time ever, we can fill these knowledge gaps. Science is taking us closer to solving the mysteries of the evolution of life than ever before.”

One of the researchers, Karl Kjer said, “Phylogeny forms the foundation for telling us the who?, what?, when?, and why? Of life. Several previous obstinate questions are now resolved, though many of the ‘revolutions’ brought about by previous analyses of smaller molecular datasets have contained errors that are now being corrected.”

The recent study reveals a bit more about the evolution of insects and could have important implications for future studies. For applied research, it will become possible to comparatively analyze metabolic pathways of different insects and also specifically target pest species and insects.

Study Reveals The First Modern Roadmap of Insect Evolution

November 7, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

When it comes to the study of insects, there’s been a major breakthrough. Recently, the researchers have published a study concerning the first modern roadmap of insect evolution, including how these creatures are related and exposing their true ecological, economic and medical importance.

Michelle Trautwein, the Academy curator who contributed to the fly-related portion of the study, said in a news release, “While visualizing a giant map of the evolution of life on Earth, insects are by far the largest part of the picture. We haven’t had a very clear picture of how insects evolved-from the origins of metamorphosis to which insects were first to fly. Now sequencing technology enabled us to compare huge amounts of genetic data, and for the first time ever, we can fill these knowledge gaps. Science is taking us closer to solving the mysteries of the evolution of life than ever before.”

The study is published in the Science journal.

Fatal Fungal Infection Threatening Salamanders Might Spreading Through Pet Trade

October 30, 2014 By Germaine Hicks 1 Comment

The scientists revealed Thursday, a rising infection, which is similar to the one that has caused the extinction of hundreds of frog and toad species worldwide is now killing salamanders in Europe and spreading towards the United States, with catastrophic effects.

The study is published in the ‘Science’ journal. An international team of 27 researchers said, “globalization and a lack of biosecurity” along with the importation of the fire-bellied newt in the pet trade with Asia are the major causes of the disease.

Dr. An Martel of Ghent University in Belgium and a lead researcher said, “Both Europe and the United States needed to start screening amphibians in the pet trade. When animals are traded they should be screened. It should involve the world.”

Vance T. Vredenburg of San Francisco State University, one of the scientists who has sounded the alarm about the extinction of hundreds of frog and toad species worldwide over the last four decades said, “Other scientists agreed. We need to pay attention to this study.”

“We need to think about biosecurity not just in terms of humans and food that we eat and crops that we grow, but about functioning ecosystems,” he added.

The co-author of the 2008 study was Dr. Vredenburg, who described the extinction of frog species as a prime example of what some scientists call the 6th extinction, a mass death of species going on now and caused by humans.

The culprit, in the case of the frog disappearance is a fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and it was not identified, until decades, even after the extinctions had begun. The researchers are still unaware that from where it was originated.

Dr. Vredenburg said, the effects of that fungus, symbolize “the worst case in recorded history of a single pathogen affecting vertebrates,” causing an “extinction rate 40,000 times higher than in the last 350 million years for amphibians.”

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, the fungus killing salamanders and newts, is of the same genus, and also kills animals by infecting the skin. However, this time, “We found it early enough to have a chance. The Titanic knows there’s an iceberg out there,” Dr. Vredenburg said.

The researchers revealed that the United States, having the greatest biodiversity of salamanders in the world, is still intact by the infection, and many of the species are already threatened or endangered. The animals are seldom noticed, but are an integral part of forest and aquatic ecosystems, as predators and prey.

The decline in the salamanders species could eventually affect climate change as the proliferation of some of the creatures that they used to eat could cause the greater release of carbon into the atmosphere.

Dr. Martel and his fellow colleagues first identified the fungus a year ago, and described its role in the deaths of fire salamanders in Europe. In the recent study, they investigated its origin, presence around the world and the vulnerability of different species to it.

The researchers experimentally infected 44 species of salamanders and newts (salamanders live on land, newts in the water) in the laboratory,. They wrote, “41 of them rapidly died.” It did not affect frogs and toads.

Moreover, numerous Asian species were defiant, and molecular biology studies of DNA suggested that there may be a reservoir of the fungus in Asian newts popular in the aquarium trade.

The evidence of the fungus was found in amphibians in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan, where the animals were not affected, and in the Netherlands and Belgium, where it killed numerous populations. Dr. Martel identified the shipping of live newts for the aquarium trade as the way the fungus spread.

Further investigation of the study was needed to prove that the pet trade was the culprit in the disease’s spread, since it was possible that the fungus was wind-borne, or spread by migrating birds, James Collins, at Arizona State University, who has studied the spread of fungal disease in frogs said.

Although, it was apparent that the fungus and the lack of screening in the shipping of live animals posed a major threat to salamanders in the United States and Europe, Dr. Collins said. Disease screening exists for threats to agriculture, he said, but not for animals in the pet or aquarium trade.

He further added, “International and federal agencies such as the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can act, when something like Ebola emerges. We need similar efforts here too.”

The University of Maryland’s Karen R. Lips, one of the co-authors of the Science paper met Thursday with Fish and Wildlife Officials to talk about the new fungus. She said that there were now bills in Congress that could enable the Fish and Wildlife Service to screen for infected wildlife. “If Congress wanted to, they could take action,” she said.

Peruvian Andes: Highest Ice Age Human Settlements Found

October 24, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

Recently, archaeologists have found the highest-known leftovers of Ice Age human settlement in the Southern Peruvian Andes, which is believed to be roughly more than 12000 years old.

The study is published in the Science journal describing the two sites that sit higher than 4000 meters (more than 13,100 feet) above sea level and specify that humans might have acclimatized to the intense harsh climate far sooner than many researchers had predicted.

The author of the study wrote, “These sites widen the residence time of humans above 4,000 [meters above sea level] by nearly a millennium, entailing more moderate late-glacial Andean environments and greater physiological capabilities for Pleistocene humans than previously assumed.”

From around the same time period, the two sites in the Pucuncho Basin lies nearly 3,000 feet above other settlements. One site named as Pucuncho, is a workshop site filled with 260 formal tools such as stone scrapers and projectile points; it sits 14,288 feet above sea level and has been dated to 12,800 to 11,500 years ago. The second is Cuncaicha, which hosts a rock shelter lying 14,698 feet above sea level that dates back to 12,400 years and a workshop site 14,583 feet above sea level. The shelter is filled with soot-marked ceilings from campfires, rock art and sediments on the ground that include charred plant remains.

Cuncaicha also contains ceramics, chipped-stone tools, animal bones, bone beads and quartz crystals, as well as red ochre fragments. Most of the stone tools were made from the obsidian, andesite and jasper found nearby. The University of Maine, Orono researchers dated the Cuncaicha shelter using large mammal bones found near the human artifacts. The specimens were in good condition, for their age – cold, dry air might be difficult to live in, but it indeed protects dead organic matter well.

The high-altitude residents survived by hunting vicuña and guanaco (relatives of the alpaca) and taruka (an Andean deer). The bones were scattered around indicating that there were whole carcasses at the site, which means the animals were probably caught nearby. Cuncaicha appears to have been a base camp with all the signs of human occupation.

The researchers revealed that, “The Pucuncho Basin comprised of a high-altitude oasis that is perfect for a specialized hunting (and later, flocking) adaptation. But wet-season storms and the risk of hypothermia, along with the upholding of extended social networks and collection of edible plant resources, may have encouraged regular descents to lower elevations.”

The study authors wrote, “Tibet and the Andes, high-altitude living in places is a brutal and ceaseless test of survival. Above 13,100 feet, the thin air and treeless terrain provide little protection from the high solar radiation. There’s not much fuel to make fires, there’s much less oxygen available to breathe and it takes about twice the number of calories just to keep up the normal metabolic process.”

Certainly, these factors reveal authentic answer to the question why human settlements higher than about 13,100 feet and older than 11,500 years of age have evaded them. Probably, a long time for the genetic variations to arise in the population that would favor, among other traits, higher metabolic rates and more lung capacity traits found in certain high-altitude populations today.

Though, these high-altitude settlements were set up within about 2,000 years of humans’ first arrival in South America. Whether they had developed the ideal traits or not, clearly humans didn’t take that long to settle in (or, in this case, settle up).

The study authors believe that, “The glaciers in the region had to recede for humans to be able to reach the Pucuncho basin. However, it appears the forbidding walls of glacial ice might never have reached the area.”

The researchers further told that, “Our data do not support previous hypotheses, which suggested that climatic amelioration and a lengthy period of human adaptation were necessary for successful human colonization of the high Andes.”

The reason why these sites were not discovered before is not because early humans weren’t capable of living in such high altitudes, but that it’s difficult for scientists to find these hard-to-reach spots. Now that these two sites have been found, it hints that there could be many more tucked high in the Andes, study authors claimed.

“As the early settlement of high-altitude regions is understudied, other Terminal Pleistocene sites above 4,000 [meters above sea level] likely await discovery,” they wrote.

For the permanent settlements, we’ll go even higher: La Rinconanda, located near a Peruvian gold mine, which lies more than 16,700 feet (more than 3 miles) above sea level.

What’s The Reason Behind Stronger than Expected Wobble of Saturn’s Moon, Mimas

October 18, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 5 Comments

Mimas, Saturn’s smaller ice moon was often believed as the most dullest satellite. But recently a new study revealed that, the humdrum space boulder could have hidden secrets.

According to the recent study published in the ‘Science’ journal; Like other moons, Mimas has been orbiting Saturn for the last ten years under the influence of its parent planet, though there is a difference that Mimas’ orbit wobbles is quite large.

A team of astronomers have been studying the moon using the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. Radwan Tajeddine, Cornell research associate in astronomy and lead author of the study stated that, “After carefully examining Mimas, we discovered it librates, it delicately wobbles around the moon’s polar axis.”

“We are really excited about this measurement because it may specify much about the satellite’s insides. Nature is basically enabling us to do the same thing that a child does when she shakes a wrapped gift in hopes of figuring out what’s hidden inside.”

The researchers used data collected from Cassini-Huygens spacecraft to create a 3D model of the moon’s orbit and found it wobbles twice as much as it ought. Such wobbles can be caused by the gravity of passing of planetary masses, but Mimas’ motion points to two other possibilities.

The first thing is that the moon’s rocky surface is hiding an ocean deep within the planet. With only 400kms in diameter Mimas won’t have enough mass to have a hot core, but tidal kneading caused by the close proximity of Saturn could provide enough heat for some of the moon’s innards to be liquids. On the basis of 3D modeling, we found that the ocean would have to be around 24 to 31kms beneath the surface of the moon’s crust to account for the wobble. Secondly, the Mimas’ birth left it somewhat abnormal. Mimas is believed to be the smallest body in the solar system to be rounded due to self-gravitation. It has enough mass to shape into a ball without being frayed apart.

According to the astronomers, if a subsurface ocean is present, then it would require a source of interior heat to keep it liquid. But yet again, the moon’s surface does not display any sign of such heating. Instead of internal heat, a possible mechanism leading to a subsurface ocean might be a gravitational effect that Saturn has on Mimas.

Saturn’s Death Star Moon is Life Capable- ‘could be filled with LIFE-friendly WATER’

October 18, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

It has been long thought that Mimas is one of the dullest moons of the mighty gas giant Saturn – apart from forthrightly worrying resemblance to the Death Star. But recently a new study revealed that, the humdrum space boulder could have hidden depths.

A team of astronomers have been studying the moon using the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn for the last ten years, and discovered Mimas’ orbit wobbles much more than theoretical models allow. The study is published in the ‘Science’ journal.

Radwan Tajeddine, Cornell research associate in astronomy and lead author of the study stated that, “After carefully examining Mimas, we discovered it librates — that is, it subtly wobbles — around the moon’s polar axis.”

He further stated that, “We are really excited about this measurement because it may specify much about the satellite’s insides. Nature is basically enabling us to do the same thing that a child does when she shakes a wrapped gift in hopes of figuring out what’s hidden inside.”

The team of astronomers used data collected from Cassini-Huygens spacecraft in order to create a 3D model of the moon’s orbit and found it wobbles twice as much as it ought. Such wobbles can be caused by the gravity of passing of planetary masses, but Mimas’ motion points to two other possibilities.

Firstly, there is the possibility that the moon’s rocky surface is hiding an ocean deep within the planet. With only 400kms in diameter Mimas won’t have enough mass to have a hot core, but tidal kneading caused by the close proximity of Saturn could provide enough heat for some of the moon’s innards to be liquids. On the basis of 3D modeling, we found that the ocean would have to be around 24 to 31kms beneath the surface of the moon’s crust to account for the wobble.

As per the second possibility, the Mimas’ birth left it somewhat abnormal. Mimas is believed to be the smallest body in the solar system to be rounded due to self-gravitation. It has enough mass to shape into a ball without being frayed apart.

According to the astronomers, Mimas core has been stretched out as it formed around Saturn. This would make the moon’s orbit more wobbly.

Eventually, we’re not going to know until mankind and/or our machinery get to the surface and discover but the team will be making more Mimonian measurements to refine their theory.

Leaky Galaxy May Fling Some Light On The Universe Evolution

October 11, 2014 By Jason Leathers 3 Comments

About 400 million years ago, the universe was very dark until the first star producing galaxies started to make ultraviolet light, which ultimately lighted up the cosmos.

Recently, NASA-funded research team with grant number 12886 at the Johns Hopkins University discovered a compact galaxy named as J0921+4509. The researchers believed that it possesses similar characteristics needed to lighten up the early universe. It is actually emitting photons with an energy that ionize hydrogen atoms. This galaxy also enables over 20% of its ultraviolet radiation to leak through the dust clouds causing it to emit strong levels of ultraviolet light and providing hints to astronomers on how the earliest galaxies of the universe may have likely behaved.

J0921+4509 is located 2.9 million years away from the Milky Way galaxy. It generates stars in a compact region similar to the rate of budding galaxies of earliest times. Moreover, the galaxy whips around 50 stars having the same mass as the sun every year that is 33 times more than the number of stars that the Milky Way produces for the same period.

Brian Siana, an astronomer from the University of California, Riverside stated that, “That’s quite high. This is roughly the fraction that we think all galaxies in the early universe had to have in order to ionize the hydrogen in the intergalactic medium.”

Thousands of years after the Big Bang, the cosmic scattered protons and electrons started to cool and developed the first atom of hydrogen. The fact ultimately resulted in the creation of hydrogen walls along with the clouds of cosmic dust, which has the ability to absorb ultraviolet radiation. This averted light from fleeing and blotched the dark ages of the universe.

With the passage of time, these radiations become too strong that it re-ionized the hydrogen. It actually happens when the photons gather enough energy in order to break up the electrons from the hydrogen atoms, which resulted in lighting up the previously dark universe. The astronomers think that, the radiation that broke electrons come from stellar births, but they are not sure about that.

Sanchayeeta Borthakur, an astronomer from the Johns Hopkins University stated that, “The galaxies contains star forming regions that are wrapped with cold gases so the radiation won’t come out. If we want to know that how the radiation gets out of the galaxy, we need to learn the mechanisms that ionized the universe.” He further stated that, it seems that the newly discovered galaxy might provide some hints concerning how the early universe lighted up.

Moreover, the researchers have been in a long quest of finding a ‘holey’ galaxy to examine how star-produced radiation plays a role in ionization process. For this purpose, the researchers placed the particular galaxy with the help of radiation leak measurement method and Cosmic Origin Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. As per the statement of researcher’s team “a combination of unusually strong winds, intense radiation and a massive, highly star-forming galaxy” for the validity of the indicator.

Borthakur stated that, “The confirmation of the indicator is key and now people can use this indicator to study distant galaxies at longer wavelengths.”

The study is published in the journal ‘Science’.

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