Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Disease Genes
The really big news recently is of course the discovery of a new multiple sclerosis gene on chromosome 5. This is pretty cool, not only in terms of hope for MS patients, but also because this gene could be key to other autoimmune processes and diseases.
Secondly and less convincingly, an Oxford team claims to have found the (or at least a) gene for left-handedness. On the upside, this is interesting. On the downside, the gene also appears to increase risk of schizophrenia. This coincidence is odd but not totally shocking - schizophrenia seems to be a problem with how the brain organizes information, and a gene that pretty radically changes all those systems may well make them more likely to screw up.
Secondly and less convincingly, an Oxford team claims to have found the (or at least a) gene for left-handedness. On the upside, this is interesting. On the downside, the gene also appears to increase risk of schizophrenia. This coincidence is odd but not totally shocking - schizophrenia seems to be a problem with how the brain organizes information, and a gene that pretty radically changes all those systems may well make them more likely to screw up.
Labels: brain, geneitcs, genes, health, lateralization, left handedness, MS, neuroscience, schizophrenia
Monday, February 12, 2007
More Armpit Sweat
We learned last week that sniffing your coworkers' armpits may be a good way to decrease stress at work, but were left wondering why. Well, a Berkeley study has found that a male pheromone, androstadienone, secreted in sweat, caused exposed heterosexual womens' cortisol levels to become elevated. And they got turned on. So, it seems that maybe too much antiperspirant may not be a great idea.
Speaking of taking the romance out of things, US researchers have found that insecure babies grow up to have relationship troubles. What makes a baby insecure? Since no one knows precisely, we stick with the default: blame your parents!!!
You can blame everything on your parents, you know. After all, they gave you your genes. They may have given you a mutated SLC30A8 zinc transporter, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, or they gave you a common version of DARPP-32, which makes you a better thinker (by improving communication between the striatum and PFC) but may also put you at risk for schizophrenia (if the cortex is otherwise compromised and can't handle all that striatal input).
And finally, genes aside, your brain needs sleep. Mouse studies indicate that sleep deprivation inhibits hippocampal neurogenesis, and while we're not sure exactly what those new cells are needed for, it's probably a safe bet that their lack is related to the cognitive deficits seen in sleep deprivation.
Speaking of taking the romance out of things, US researchers have found that insecure babies grow up to have relationship troubles. What makes a baby insecure? Since no one knows precisely, we stick with the default: blame your parents!!!
You can blame everything on your parents, you know. After all, they gave you your genes. They may have given you a mutated SLC30A8 zinc transporter, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, or they gave you a common version of DARPP-32, which makes you a better thinker (by improving communication between the striatum and PFC) but may also put you at risk for schizophrenia (if the cortex is otherwise compromised and can't handle all that striatal input).
And finally, genes aside, your brain needs sleep. Mouse studies indicate that sleep deprivation inhibits hippocampal neurogenesis, and while we're not sure exactly what those new cells are needed for, it's probably a safe bet that their lack is related to the cognitive deficits seen in sleep deprivation.
Labels: armpits, babies, brains, corisol, neurogenesis, pheromones, relationships, romance, schizophrenia, sweat
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Divide by Zero
You can't divide by zero. Computers and mathematicians choke up, and you'll never get an answer. That's assuming, of course, Dr. James Anderson, of the University of Reading, is not batty. The professor has come up with a new mathematical concept, which he calls 'nullity,' that allows you to divide by zero. I don't really understand the math, possibly because the explanation is so brief, but I think it's cool, even if it is just an example of something that pisses me off: making up a new 'imaginary' number to solve a real problem you can't just solve.
It's a big day for the previously-believed-impossible: analysis of satellite imagery suggests that there may be periodic flash floods on Mars. Liquid water on Mars would change how we think about the planet, and what life might be like there. Also, the Conservative Jewish movement has decided to allow gay marriage and ordination of gays. But it still bans anal sex. This is a major step in a good direction; I hope that it will be followed soon with full 'decriminalization' - these rabbis (even, or perhaps especially, those who resigned in protest) know that there are bigger gefilte fish to fry.
Similarly improbable, researchers claim that MRI scans of the temporal gyrus reveal pre-schizophrenia. If this turns out to be real, it is a massively huge finding - even if nothing can be done really to prevent the disease today, knowing that such 'priming' conditions exist would give researchers all kinds of direction in searching. Very cool!
It's a big day for the previously-believed-impossible: analysis of satellite imagery suggests that there may be periodic flash floods on Mars. Liquid water on Mars would change how we think about the planet, and what life might be like there. Also, the Conservative Jewish movement has decided to allow gay marriage and ordination of gays. But it still bans anal sex. This is a major step in a good direction; I hope that it will be followed soon with full 'decriminalization' - these rabbis (even, or perhaps especially, those who resigned in protest) know that there are bigger gefilte fish to fry.
Similarly improbable, researchers claim that MRI scans of the temporal gyrus reveal pre-schizophrenia. If this turns out to be real, it is a massively huge finding - even if nothing can be done really to prevent the disease today, knowing that such 'priming' conditions exist would give researchers all kinds of direction in searching. Very cool!
Labels: aliens, gay marriage, gays, Jews, Judaism, Mars, math, MRI, nature, nullity, schizophrenia, science, space, tempoal gyrus, water, zero
