WASHINGTON: Severe depression or chronic stress
can cause your brain to shrink and lead to emotional and cognitive
impairment, a new study has claimed. A team of researchers led by Yale
scientists discovered that one reason for this condition is a single
genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and
depression in animal models.
The findings, published in the
journal 'Nature Medicine' , show that the genetic switch known as a
transcription factor represses the expression of several genes that are
necessary for the formation of synaptic connections between brain cells,
which in turn could contribute to loss of brain mass in the prefrontal
cortex of the brain.
Hoax article on India-Portugal clash fools Wikipedia for 5 years
A red-faced Wikipedia
has removed an article from its site detailing the 17th century
"Bicholim Conflict" — a clash between Portugal and India's Maratha
Empire — after it emerged that such a war never occurred, and the piece
and references included were entirely fictional.
After five years of featuring the piece, which tells the story of "how colonial Portugal clashed with India's massive Maratha Empire" in Goa, Wikipedia has admitted the entire conflict and books cited as sources for the piece are fictional, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
The article was labelled a "good article" by Wikipedia editors just two months after its creation in July 2007. It was also nominated for a featured article — Wikipedia's gold star for research.
The meticulous 4,500 word article was written by an unidentified Wikipedia user.
"From 1640 to 1641 the might of colonial Portugal clashed with India's massive Maratha Empire in an undeclared war that would later be known as the Bicholim Conflict," the article read.
"Named after the northern Indian region where most of the fighting took place, the conflict ended with a peace treaty that would later help cement Goa as an independent Indian state," it said.
The piece continues, in precise detail, to explore what happened in the fictional war and lists some 17 references, as well as three suggestions for further reading — which all appear to be a work of the writer's imagination, the paper quoted Daily Dot as reporting.
"The conflict was fairly brief and its impact in terms of casualties and damage was minimal. For this reason, it has not become much of a talking point amongst filmmakers and bookwriters," the article concluded.
The hoax was only uncovered when another user from Missouri, known as ShelfSkewed, finally realised the deception and nominated the article for removal.
"An online search for "Bicholim conflict" or for many of the article's purported sources produces only results that can be traced back to the article itself," the user said.
Wikipedia acted on his warning and promptly removed the piece.
"Unfortunately, hoaxes on Wikipedia are nothing new, and the craftier they are, the more difficult it is to catch them," William Beutler, president of Beutler Wiki Relations, a Wikipedia consulting firm, told Yahoo News.
"Anyone who's clever enough to make up convincing sources and motivated enough to spend the time and skilled enough to write a plausible article can deceive whole internet, at least for awhile," Beutler said.
After five years of featuring the piece, which tells the story of "how colonial Portugal clashed with India's massive Maratha Empire" in Goa, Wikipedia has admitted the entire conflict and books cited as sources for the piece are fictional, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
The article was labelled a "good article" by Wikipedia editors just two months after its creation in July 2007. It was also nominated for a featured article — Wikipedia's gold star for research.
The meticulous 4,500 word article was written by an unidentified Wikipedia user.
"From 1640 to 1641 the might of colonial Portugal clashed with India's massive Maratha Empire in an undeclared war that would later be known as the Bicholim Conflict," the article read.
"Named after the northern Indian region where most of the fighting took place, the conflict ended with a peace treaty that would later help cement Goa as an independent Indian state," it said.
The piece continues, in precise detail, to explore what happened in the fictional war and lists some 17 references, as well as three suggestions for further reading — which all appear to be a work of the writer's imagination, the paper quoted Daily Dot as reporting.
"The conflict was fairly brief and its impact in terms of casualties and damage was minimal. For this reason, it has not become much of a talking point amongst filmmakers and bookwriters," the article concluded.
The hoax was only uncovered when another user from Missouri, known as ShelfSkewed, finally realised the deception and nominated the article for removal.
"An online search for "Bicholim conflict" or for many of the article's purported sources produces only results that can be traced back to the article itself," the user said.
Wikipedia acted on his warning and promptly removed the piece.
"Unfortunately, hoaxes on Wikipedia are nothing new, and the craftier they are, the more difficult it is to catch them," William Beutler, president of Beutler Wiki Relations, a Wikipedia consulting firm, told Yahoo News.
"Anyone who's clever enough to make up convincing sources and motivated enough to spend the time and skilled enough to write a plausible article can deceive whole internet, at least for awhile," Beutler said.
Hierarchy of Needs Theory
It was in 1943 a Psychologist Mr. Abraham Harold Maslow suggested his Theory of Human Motivation.
The Maslow's Pyramid of Human Needs is explained below :-
Physiological Needs : Physiological needs are the basic needs for sustaining human life. These needs include food, shelter, clothing, rest, air, water, sleep and sexual satisfaction. These basic human needs (also called biological needs) lie at the lowest level in the hierarchy of needs as they have priority over all other needs. These needs cannot be postponed for long. Unless and until these basic physiological needs are satisfied to the required extent, other needs do not motivate an employee. A hungry person, for example, is just not in a position to think of anything else except his hunger or food. According to Maslow, 'man lives by bread alone,' when there is no bread. The management attempts to meet such physiological needs through fair wages.
Security / Safety Needs : These are the needs connected with the psychological fear of loss of job, property, natural calamities or hazards, etc. An employee wants protection from such types of fear. He prefers adequate safety or security in this regard i.e. protection from physical danger, security of job, pension for old age, insurance cover for life, etc. The safety needs come after meeting the physiological needs. Such physiological needs lose their motivational potential when they are satisfied. As a result, safety needs replace them. They begin to manifest themselves and dominate human behavior. Safety needs act as motivational forces only if they are unsatisfied.
Social Needs : An employee is a human being is rightly treated as a social animal. He desires to stay in group. He feels that he should belong to one or the other group and the member of the group should accept him with love and affection. Every person desires to be affiliated to such groups. This is treated as basic social need of an individual. He also feels that he should be loved by the other members. He needs friends and interaction with his friends and superiors of the group such as fellow employees or superiors. Social needs occupy third position in the hierarchy of needs.
Esteem Needs : This category of needs include the need to be respected by others, need to be appreciated by others, need to have power and finally prestigious position. Once the previous needs are satisfied, a person feels to be held in esteem both by himself and also by others. Thus, esteem needs are two fold in nature. Self esteem needs include those for self confidence, self-respect, competence, etc. The second groups of esteem needs are those related to one's status, reputation, recognition and appreciation by others. This is a type of personal ego which needs to be satisfied. The Organisation can satisfy this need (ego) by giving recognition to the good work of employees. Esteem needs do not assume the motivational properties unless the previous needs are satisfied.
Self-actualisation Needs : Self actualisation is the desire to become what one is capable of becoming. It is a 'growth' need. A worker must work efficiently if he is to be ultimately happy. Here, a person feels that he should accomplish something in his fife. He want to utilise his potentials to the maximum extent and desires to become what one is capable of becoming. A person desires to have challenges and achieves something special in his life or in the area of his specialization. Though every one is capable of self-actualization, many do not reach this stage. This need is fully satisfied rarely.
The Maslow's Pyramid of Human Needs is explained below :-Physiological Needs : Physiological needs are the basic needs for sustaining human life. These needs include food, shelter, clothing, rest, air, water, sleep and sexual satisfaction. These basic human needs (also called biological needs) lie at the lowest level in the hierarchy of needs as they have priority over all other needs. These needs cannot be postponed for long. Unless and until these basic physiological needs are satisfied to the required extent, other needs do not motivate an employee. A hungry person, for example, is just not in a position to think of anything else except his hunger or food. According to Maslow, 'man lives by bread alone,' when there is no bread. The management attempts to meet such physiological needs through fair wages.
Security / Safety Needs : These are the needs connected with the psychological fear of loss of job, property, natural calamities or hazards, etc. An employee wants protection from such types of fear. He prefers adequate safety or security in this regard i.e. protection from physical danger, security of job, pension for old age, insurance cover for life, etc. The safety needs come after meeting the physiological needs. Such physiological needs lose their motivational potential when they are satisfied. As a result, safety needs replace them. They begin to manifest themselves and dominate human behavior. Safety needs act as motivational forces only if they are unsatisfied.
Social Needs : An employee is a human being is rightly treated as a social animal. He desires to stay in group. He feels that he should belong to one or the other group and the member of the group should accept him with love and affection. Every person desires to be affiliated to such groups. This is treated as basic social need of an individual. He also feels that he should be loved by the other members. He needs friends and interaction with his friends and superiors of the group such as fellow employees or superiors. Social needs occupy third position in the hierarchy of needs.
Esteem Needs : This category of needs include the need to be respected by others, need to be appreciated by others, need to have power and finally prestigious position. Once the previous needs are satisfied, a person feels to be held in esteem both by himself and also by others. Thus, esteem needs are two fold in nature. Self esteem needs include those for self confidence, self-respect, competence, etc. The second groups of esteem needs are those related to one's status, reputation, recognition and appreciation by others. This is a type of personal ego which needs to be satisfied. The Organisation can satisfy this need (ego) by giving recognition to the good work of employees. Esteem needs do not assume the motivational properties unless the previous needs are satisfied.
Self-actualisation Needs : Self actualisation is the desire to become what one is capable of becoming. It is a 'growth' need. A worker must work efficiently if he is to be ultimately happy. Here, a person feels that he should accomplish something in his fife. He want to utilise his potentials to the maximum extent and desires to become what one is capable of becoming. A person desires to have challenges and achieves something special in his life or in the area of his specialization. Though every one is capable of self-actualization, many do not reach this stage. This need is fully satisfied rarely.
Robotic metal band ...
Did you ever wonder what Danny Carey would sound like if he had 4 arms?
How about if Angus Young had 78 fingers? Imagine what Robert Trujillo would sound like if he was actually made of metal?
Well, wonder no more, meatbags.
Compressorhead is the worlds heaviest metal band.
Stickboy, fingers, and bones are guaranteed to shake and rattle the world of meatbag music.
Stickboy (drums) was created to exacting specifications. 4 arms, 2 legs, 1 head, no brain. he plays a Pearl 14 piece kit with double kick. stickboy junior, the bastard child of an unknown mother takes control of the hihat shuffle. inception date 2007
Fingers (guitar) joined stickboy in 2009 and brings 78 purpose built fingers, enough to play the entire fret board and pluck.
Bones (bass) is the highest precision bass player in known existence, and the youngest member of the band. inception date 2012.
Standaside meatbags. Oil is thicker than blood.
How We Will Terraform Mars
NASA's latest Mars rover, Curiosity, is currently its way to Mars, on a mission to explore whether life could exist there. If we're going to colonize Mars — and some scientists say we must — it's likely that we'll start by terraforming. Terraforming, or planetary engineering, is the process of altering the climate of a planet to be more hospitable to life and human exploration. Of all the bodies in the solar system, Mars is by far the best candidate. Here's how that would work.
Once A Wet, Warm Planet
To understand how Mars might have a habitable future, it's important to understand a bit about Mars' past.
Mars' geological history is divided into three ages, which are from oldest to youngest the Noachian, the Hesperian and the Amazonian. The Noachian epoch, ranging from about 4.1 to about 3.7 billion years ago, is characterized by heavy asteroid bombardment and abundant surface water. This is the so-called "warm, wet" period. The Hesperian, ranging from 3.7 to somewhere between 1.7 and 3.0 billion years ago, is characterized by heavy volcanic activity and massive water flow. The Hesperian was an intermediate age between the warm wet Noachian and the the cold, dry Amazonian, which is the Mars we know today as being not the kind of place to raise a kid.
It is this unique history that makes Mars such an attractive candidate for terraforming. Unlike the other bodies in the solar system, Mars has a history (ancient though it may be) of being far more Earthlike than anywhere else in the solar system short of Earth itself. The proposals for terraforming the other bodies in the solar system are all highly theoretical, involving massive energy flux and near magical technology like changing planetary orbits, speeding up planetary rotation, sequestering hundreds of bars of atmosphere (1 bar = atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth) or constructing planet-wrapping Dyson spheres to prevent atmospheric escape.
By contrast, Mars, with its 24 hr 37 minute day, relatively abundant water ice and history of warmer wetter conditions seems more within the grasp of near future human civilization to terraform. Add to this the fact that not-too-crazily-optimistic estimates of Mars' current conditions suggest that increasing the atmospheric pressure and temperature to more life friendly conditions may be more a matter of a nudge than a shove and it's easy to see why this world holds such fascination for would-be planetary engineers.
Why Did Mars Die?So, what happened on Mars? Why did this once warm and inviting place, with enough atmospheric pressure and a high enough temperature to support liquid water, become a frozen rock with an atmosphere too thin to support even water ice? The answer boils down to...or rather, freezes out to...volcanism and bombardment.
In the Noachian period, Mars experienced a high frequency of asteroid impacts. The energy and volatile gas introduced into the Martian environment by the Noachian bombardment helped maintain the warm, wet climate and the thick atmosphere.
Gamera II hits new high with unofficial human-powered helicopter altitude record (video)
Depression and stress can shrink your brain
"We show that circuits normally involved in emotion , as well as cognition, are disrupted when this single transcription factor is activated ," Duman said.
Scientists analysed tissue of depressed and non-depressed patients donated from a brain bank and looked for different patterns of gene activation. The brains of patients who were in depression exhibited lower levels of expression in genes that are required for function and structure of brain synapses.
Lead author and postdoctoral researcher H J Kang discovered that at least five of these genes could be regulated by a single transcription factor called GATA1
