[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Surprisingly Jaynes does not consider quantum mechanics an exception:

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Those who cling to a belief in the existence of ‘physical probabilities’ may react to the above arguments by pointing to quantum theory, in which physical probabilities appear to express the most fundamental laws of physics. Therefore let us explain why this is another case of circular reasoning. We need to understand that present quantum theory uses entirely different standards of logic than does the rest of science.

In biology or medicine, if we note that an effect E (for example, muscle contraction, phototropism, digestion of protein) does not occur unless a condition C (nerve impulse, light, pepsin) is present, it seems natural to infer that C is a necessary causative agent for E. [...] But suppose that condition C does not always lead to effect E; what further inferences should a scientist draw?

In the biological sciences, one takes it for granted that in addition to C there must be some other causative factor F, not yet identified. One searches for it [...]

What is done in quantum theory today is just the opposite; when no cause is apparent one simply postulates that no cause exists– ergo, the laws of physics are indeterministic and can be expressed only in probability form. [...]

[...] . Quantum physicists have only probability laws because for two generations we have been indoctrinated not to believe in causes– and so we have stopped looking for them. [...] any attempt to search for the causes of microphenomena is met with scorn and a charge of professional incompetence and ‘obsolete mechanistic materialism’. Therefore, to explain the indeterminacy in current quantum theory we need not suppose there is any indeterminacy in Nature; the mental attitude of quantum physicists is already sufficient to guarantee it.

JaynesProbabilityTheory.pdf (mcgill.ca)

Quote

Those who cling to a belief in the existence of ‘physical probabilities’ may react to the above arguments by pointing to quantum theory, in which physical probabilities appear to express the most fundamental laws of physics. Therefore let us explain why this is another case of circular reasoning. We need to understand that present quantum theory uses entirely different standards of logic than does the rest of science.

In biology or medicine, if we note that an effect E (for example, muscle contraction, phototropism, digestion of protein) does not occur unless a condition C (nerve impulse, light, pepsin) is present, it seems natural to infer that C is a necessary causative agent for E. [...] But suppose that condition C does not always lead to effect E; what further inferences should a scientist draw?

In the biological sciences, one takes it for granted that in addition to C there must besome other causative factor F, not yet identified. One searches for it [...]

What is done in quantum theory today is just the opposite; when no cause is apparent one simply postulates that no cause exists– ergo, the laws of physics are indeterministic and can be expressed only in probability form. [...]

[...] . Quantum physicists have only probability laws because for two generations we have been indoctrinated not to believe in causes– and so we have stopped looking for them. [...] any attempt to search for the causes of microphenomena is met with scorn and a charge of professional incompetence and ‘obsolete mechanistic materialism’. Therefore, to explain the indeterminacy in current quantum theory we need not suppose there is any indeterminacy in Nature; the mental attitude of quantum physicists is already sufficient to guarantee it.

In Nature this month:

Quote

although the dynamical laws of classical physics are simple, the Universe itself is complex — and so its initial condition must have been, too. Describing the precise positions and momenta of all the particles involved requires so much information that any statement of the initial condition is too complex to be a law.

Hartle suggested that quantum mechanics can solve this complexity problem. Because a quantum object’s wavefunction is spread out across many ‘classical’ states (cat alive or cat dead, for instance), you could propose a simple initial condition that includes all the complexities as emergent structures in the quantum superposition of these states. All the observed complexities can be regarded as partial descriptions of a simple fundamental reality: the Universe’s wavefunction. [...]

In this perspective, the quantum Universe has two basic laws: a deterministic one of temporal evolution and a simple one that picks an initial wavefunction for the Universe. [...] The physical laws permit exactly one cosmic history of the Universe, albeit one described by a wavefunction that superposes many classical trajectories. There is no contingency in what the Universe as a whole could have been, and no alternative possibility for how it could have started. Every event, including the first one, is explained; the entire wavefunction of the Universe for all times is pinned down by the laws. The probabilities of quantum mechanics do not exist at the level of the basic physical laws, but can nonetheless be assigned to coarse-grained and partial descriptions of bits of the Universe.

[...] Several researchers have considered the controversial idea that quantum states of closed systems, including the Universe, need not be restricted to wavefunctions, but instead can come from a broader category: the space of density matrices [...]

Density matrices can be thought of as ‘superpositions of superpositions’, and they provide extra options for the initial condition of the Universe. [...] if we regard the density matrix as the initial state of the Universe and accept that it is specified by a law, then this choice, together with the deterministic von Neumann equation (a generalization of Schrödinger’s equation), can satisfy strong determinism. However, in this case, the laws fix a cosmic history of a quantum Universe that has many evolving branches — a ‘multiverse’.

Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordained? (nature.com)

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Trigger warnings do not work, according to recent meta-analysis

[...] Victoria Bridgland and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of trigger warning. [...]


[...] found that trigger warnings have no significant impact on response affect, avoidance, or comprehension of material. However, trigger warnings consistently increase anticipatory anxiety. This suggests that while warnings might initially affect emotions, this effect dissipates upon exposure to the actual content. The anticipation period likely does not involve effective emotional preparation, as indicated by limited use of coping strategies among individuals.

Further, trigger warnings do not seem to increase avoidance of material. Instead, they may even enhance engagement, possibly due to a “forbidden fruit” effect. Trigger warnings do not enhance learning or comprehension. On the contrary, they might increase anxiety about attending classes, contradicting claims that they create a safer learning environment.

[...] The authors write, “Although many questions warrant further investigation, trigger warnings should not be used as a mental-health tool.”'

Trigger warnings do not work, according to recent meta-analysis (psypost.org)

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Potentially huge news in physics:

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A method to straighten curved space-time

[...] Einstein curved space-time to describe gravity [...] quantum mechanics [...] uses flat space-time and a completely different mathematical apparatus [...]

In an article[...] in Frontiers in Physics, I managed to demonstrate that there is a method that combines the above descriptions [...]

[...] there is a certain mathematical object called the the Alena Tensor, which allows the description of physical phenomena in such a way that the curvature of space-time can be smoothly adjusted as if using a slider. In curved space-time, equation naturally transforms into Einstein Field Equations, and in flat space-time it allows the use of classical methods of relativistic physics and, most importantly, it is subject to quantum description.

[...] such a space-time slider works for gravity and electromagnetism, and that the Alena Tensor allows to add further fields. It therefore seems possible to reconcile previously contradictory descriptions for other known fields.

[...] the field invariant[...] behaves like a cosmological constant [...] which may help explain the nature of dark energy. [...] there must be an additional force in addition to gravity, which could help explain the nature of dark matter.

Presumably these results imply predictions that could be tested in the near future?... Article continues:

Quote

However, everything that looks beautiful has its price...

[...] If the method I have developed turns out to be the right one that we have been looking for 100 years, it will also mean that the entire world around us is just a constantly waving field, and space-time itself is only a way of perceiving this field.

A method to straighten curved space-time (phys.org)

Somehow I don't remember having read about this before---Ukraine as one of the earliest cradles of urban civilization?

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The gigantic circular cities of the Trypillia culture emerged around 6,000 years ago in what is now Ukraine and Moldova.

[...] They were larger than any other settlements in the world at the time, rivaling even the cities of ancient Mesopotamia that would soon follow in the Fertile Crescent.

Feeding each and every mouth in Trypillia society required "extremely sophisticated food and pasture management," [...]

But even though cattle were a crucial part of the system, beef wasn't.

[...] animals domesticated by Trypillia societies were prized largely for their poop, not their flesh [...]

Slaughtering the herds for meat would have depleted a vital resource after much labor raising them, collapsing the whole system.

[...] Its settlements, which dot Ukraine and Moldova to this day, were designed in concentric circles, with rows of houses lined up along 'ring corridors', encircling an open central place.

[...] The whole system was self-sustaining. [...]

The "wise management of nutrients" meant that Trypillia societies did not overexploit their natural resources, the researchers say.

[...] It seems even a sustainable and nutritious veggie-based diet can't protect from all the woes of human society.

"As we know from previous studies, social tensions arose as a result of increasing social inequality,"

[...] "People turned their backs on large settlements and decided to live in smaller settlements again."

Cattle in The Earliest European Cities Weren't Bred as Food : ScienceAlert

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

Scientists accidentally discovered a giant ring-shaped cosmic megastructure that challenges our understanding of the Universe

[...] The Big Ring is so large that it challenges the cosmological principle. This fundamental cosmological assumption says that the universe is homogeneous on a large scale and looks the same in all directions.

The structure observed more than 9 billion light-years from Earth, is the latest large structure discovered that contradicts the principle.

"From current cosmological theories, we didn't think structures on this scale were possible," [...]

"We could expect maybe one exceedingly large structure in all our observable universe."

[...]

"These oddities keep getting swept under the rug, but the more we find, we're going to have to come face-to-face with the fact that maybe our standard model needs rethinking," [...]

[...] analysis revealed that it has more of a coil shape, like a corkscrew, and has its face aligned with Earth.

Scientists accidentally discovered a giant ring-shaped cosmic megastructure that challenges our understanding of the Universe (yahoo.com)

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Nube, the almost invisible galaxy that challenges the dark matter model

[...] had passed unnoticed [...] due to the object's diffuse appearance as if it were some kind of ghost.

[...] one-third of the size of the Milky Way but has a mass similar to that of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

"With our present knowledge, we do not understand how a galaxy with such extreme characteristics can exist," [...]

The general rule is that galaxies have a much larger density of stars in their inner regions and that this density falls rapidly with increasing distance from the center. [...]

[...] in Nube, "the density of stars varies very little throughout the object[" ...]

Cosmological simulations cannot reproduce its "extreme" characteristics, even on the basis of different scenarios. "We are left without a viable explanation within the currently accepted cosmological model, that of cold dark matter," [...]

"One possibility, which is attractive, is that the unusual properties of Nube are showing us that the particles that make up dark matter have an extremely small mass," [...] would demonstrate the properties of quantum physics, but on a galactic scale. "If this hypothesis is confirmed, it would be one of the most beautiful demonstrations of nature, unifying the world of the smallest with that of the largest,"

Nube, the almost invisible galaxy which chall | EurekAlert!

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A 'lost valley of cities' built thousands of years ago has been found in the Amazon

[...] intricate network of roads and canals connecting houses and plazas, challenging previous beliefs that the Amazon was only home to nomadic peoples or small settlements.

[...] "They are comparable with Maya sites," [...]

[...] constructed from around 2,500 years ago and inhabited for around 1,000 years ...]

[...] "The road network is very sophisticated. It extends over a vast distance, everything is connected. And there are right angles, which is very impressive,"

Amazon's 'Lost Valley of Cities' Discovered, Built Thousands of Years Ago (businessinsider.com)

Quote

The core area of Kilamope, one of the settlements, for example, is as large as Egypt's Giza Plateau or the main avenue of Teotihuacan in Mexico.

[...] “just the tip of the iceberg” of what could be found in the Ecuadorian Amazon, said co-author [...]

[...] The Amazon is considered the world's most dangerous forest, with dense, towering trees, tangled vines, hostile wildlife and poisonous insects. [...]

[...] large civic or ceremonial buildings. [...] “We’re just beginning to understand how these cities were functioning,” she said, including the cities' populations, who they traded with, and how the societies were governed.

“We say ‘Amazonia,’ but we should say ‘Amazonias,’ to capture the region’s ancient cultural diversity,”

The Amazon's ancient complex of 'lost cities' flourished for a thousand years (nbcnews.com)

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

The Forces That Drive Evolution May Not Be as Random as We Thought

[...] new study now suggests a species' evolutionary history may play a role in making mutations more predictable [...]

"[...] door to an array of possibilities in synthetic biology, medicine, and environmental science."

[...] They were able to test [...] Stephen J. Gould's thought experiment: replaying a tape of evolutionary history would result in a different, unpredictable outcome each time, since evolutionary paths depend on unpredictable events.

[...] But the AI found patterns of predictability across these thousands of "tape replays" [...]

[...] also happening with genes that had no close physical connection [...]

[...] "Some aspects of evolution are deterministic – i.e., they are likely to happen each time we replay the tape," [...]

This doesn't break the rule of random mutation; it's more that the forces of natural selection are working at a molecular level too[...] the genomes themselves are their own microscopic ecosystems, within which genes can help or hinder each other.

So while rewinding that tape [...] would still reveal a different evolutionary trajectory each time, there would also be [...] clear patterns emerging across repeated viewings.

[...] "Therefore, if we are trying to eliminate antibiotic resistance, we can target not just the focal gene, but we can also target its supporting genes."

The Forces That Drive Evolution May Not Be as Random as We Thought : ScienceAlert

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the general consensus is that quantum physics applies at every scale, but as objects grow in mass and complexity, their quantumness become harder to observe.


Now, a team [...] has come up with an approach to quantum measurement that could theoretically be applied to something no matter what its mass or energy.


[...] Your own body can in effect be described as having a very high probability of sitting in that chair and a very (very!) low probability of being on the Moon.


[...] The team proposes that objects can be observed as they oscillate on a pendulum, like a ball at the end of a piece of string.


[...] complex setup that would require some sophisticated equipment, and conditions akin to a ground state


Physicists Design a Way to Detect Quantum Behavior in Large Objects, Like Us : ScienceAlert

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With anaesthetics and brain organoids, we are finally testing the idea that quantum effects explain consciousness – and the early results suggest this long-derided idea may have been misconstrued


[...] it has become clear that his ideas can submit to experimental investigation. Researchers have now produced tentative evidence to suggest that fragile quantum states can endure in the brain, and also that anaesthetics have an impact on them.


Can quantum hints in the brain revive a radical consciousness theory? | New Scientist

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 20 January 2024 - 04:57 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

Our climate world is now one of nonlinear relationships—which means we are now living in a time of accelerating change. [...] Once warming hits a certain threshold, the snowpack in the Northern Hemisphere is set to diminish in nonlinear fashion with each additional degree of warming, disappearing faster and faster. [...] With each additional degree of heat, wet places will get wetter in an accelerating fashion, leading to torrential downpours and flooding. [...]

Later, analyses found that climate models could predict something like the Pacific Northwest heat wave, but that they would be labeled as extremely rare—one in 100,000 years. It’s physically possible, but we hadn’t ever seen it.

[...] As more and more events shatter records by unprecedented margins, trying to predict future scenarios blurs the line between fact and science fiction. [...] “Events like that truly push the boundaries of what our models are capable of,”

Prepare for a ‘Gray Swan’ Climate (msn.com)

Accelerating climate change vs accelerating AI (and hopefully quantum computing)---a race to the finish line for humanity? Maybe. At least if Trump returns to power....

Quote

Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists warn

[...] showed these could infect cultured cells. One virus sample was 48,500 years old.

[...] “[...] identified genomic traces of poxviruses and herpesviruses, which are well known human pathogens, for example.”

[...] “The crucial point about permafrost is that it is cold, dark and lacks oxygen, which is perfect for preserving biological material,” [...] “You could put a yoghurt in permafrost and it might still be edible 50,000 years later.”

[...] “[...] the disappearance of Arctic sea ice[...] is allowing increases in shipping, traffic and industrial development in Siberia. Huge mining operations are being planned, and are going to drive vast holes into the deep permafrost to extract oil and ores.

“Those operations will release vast amounts of pathogens that still thrive there. Miners will walk in and breath the viruses. The effects could be calamitous.”

[...] “Our immune systems may have never been in contact with some of those microbes, and that is another worry,” [...] “The scenario of an unknown virus once infecting a Neanderthal coming back at us, although unlikely, has become a real possibility.”

[...] “We now face a tangible threat and we need to be prepared to deal with it. It is as simple as that.”

Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists warn | Health | The Guardian

Assuming those mining operations are under Putin's control... he might want to bottle some of those viruses. For study, and then export....

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Natural symmetries:

Quote

Alligators survive cold snap by becoming 'frozen solid' in North Carolina and Texas ponds

When temperatures drop below freezing, alligators can enter a state of torpor known as brumation, as the water around them solidifies and suspends them in a giant, pond-shaped ice cube.

[...] Only their snouts and front teeth poke through the ice, allowing the alligators to breathe while they wait for the water to thaw.

"People keep asking how the swamp puppies are doing — I'm happy to report that they are frozen solid,"

Alligators survive cold snap by becoming 'frozen solid' in North Carolina and Texas ponds | Live Science

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Particle physicists have detected a novel decay of the Higgs boson for the first time, revealing a slight discrepancy in the predictions of the Standard Model and perhaps pointing to new physics beyond it.

[...] still too small to rule out a statistical fluke. Still, the relatively large difference hints at the possibility of a meaningful discrepancy from theory that could be due to physics beyond the Standard Model—new particles that are the intermediaries other than the top quark and W bosons.

One possibility for physics beyond the Standard Model is supersymmetry, the theory that posits a symmetry—a relationship—between particles of a half-spin, called fermions, and integer spin, called bosons, with every known particle having a partner with a spin differing by a half-integer.

Many theoretical physicists have long been advocates of supersymmetry as it would solve many conundrums that plague the Standard Model

Rare decay of the Higgs boson may point to physics beyond the Standard Model

Quote

Scientific revelations come from the unlikeliest of places. Like a rat, in a lab, doing a "downward dog" stretch.

According to the people who found a way to get rats to do yoga, these creatures benefit from a good stretch as much as we do. [...]

[...] called this tissue – now known as fascia – a natural bandage [...]

They are also sticky, gloopy and get in the way of looking at the muscles, bones and organs they cover. Which explains why, for years, anatomists cut this tissue off, chucked it away and thought little more about it.

Recently, though, researchers have begun to take a fresh look at fascia and are finding that it is anything but an inert wrapping. Instead, it is the site of biological activity that explains some of the links between lifestyle and health. [...]

[...] estimated that an adult's fascia contains approximately 250 million nerve endings, similar to, or slightly more than the skin. "It is beyond any doubt our richest sensory organ," [....]

Other studies [...] with pigs showed that stretching the lower back for 5 minutes, twice a day, not only reduced the size of an area of inflammation, but also seemed to induce a series of anti-inflammatory chemical events from the fascia. This is a promising finding because chronic inflammation has been linked to pretty much every modern ailment going, from heart disease and diabetes to cancer and depression.

A team at Harvard Medical School is conducting a trial in people to find out if the same is true in humans.

Fascia: The long-overlooked tissue that shapes your health | New Scientist

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

Toxic chemicals your grandparents were exposed to are likely affecting your health, new research claims. Here's how it works

[...] epigenome, which consists of chemicals that modify the genome, telling it "what to do, where to do it, and when to do it"[...] influenced, or "reprogrammed," by environmental factors like stress, diet, drugs, pollution, and toxicants. Resulting changes can be passed [...] from generation to generation[...]


[...] observed "compounded disease impacts" over time, with toxicant exposure shifting each generation's epigenetics "dramatically." The incidence of obesity, kidney disease, and prostate disease increased in each subsequent generation after the first toxicant exposure. By the time the rats were bred out to three unexposed generations, their risk of such conditions had risen by as much as 70%.


[...] Both the U.S. and Europe have obesity rates around 50% and are three generations down the line from initial exposure to DDT in the 1950s[...] suggesting that changes in the epigenome caused by generational exposure to toxic chemicals had created a population that's more susceptible to disease, including obesity.

Toxic chemicals your grandparents were exposed to are likely affecting your health, new research claims. Here's how it works (yahoo.com)

... but this study was only done on rats. (Though IDK if Russia, North Korea, or China may have done similar secret studies on humans... China at least does like to think in terms of the long game.) Wonder about the positive ways that epigenetics might be influenced by scientific interventions....

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It's an observation as old as humans gathering around campfires: Light at night can draw an erratically circling crowd of insects. In art, music and literature, this spectacle is an enduring metaphor for dangerous but irresistible attractions. [...]

[...] a broad swath of insects consistently pointed their backs toward the lights[...] the dorsal light response. In nature, assuming that more light comes down from the sky than up from the ground, this response helps keep insects in the proper orientation to fly.

But pointing their backs toward nearby artificial lights alters their flight paths. [...] When their backs orient to a nearby light, the resulting bank loops them around the light, circling but rarely colliding.

[...] Larger animals can sense gravity directly with sensory organs pulled by its acceleration, or any acceleration. Humans, for example, use the vestibular system of our inner ear [...]

But insects have only small sensory structures. [...] acceleration offers only a poor indication of which way is down.

The surprising reason why insects circle lights at night: They lose track of the sky | FIU News - Florida International University

But insects used to be much bigger---wonder if ancient flying insects used a different, more reliable mechanism (to avoid being eaten out of the air by towering dinosaurs?... they might have been very tasty too, basically like titanic shrimp...).

Quote

Scientist explains why Trump's supporters won't believe any evidence

[...] it's far less cognitively demanding for them to believe anything their leader tells them. Any challenge to what Trump tells them is true takes mental work. [...]

[...] his supporters have been exposed to narratives — Trump doesn't lie, [...] the media is an enemy of the people — that emphasize loyalty and trust in their political idol. These narratives often steer away from critical examination and instead encourage blind faith. [...]

[...] children of Christian fundamentalists typically begin to suppress critical thinking at an early age. [...] Attributing natural occurrences to mystical causes discourages youth from seeking evidence to back their beliefs.

[...] brain structures that support critical thinking and logical reasoning don't fully mature. This paves the way for heightened vulnerability to deceit and manipulative narratives, especially from cunning political figures. [...]

[...] For ardent Trump supporters, residing in an environment that prioritizes faith over empirical evidence can reshape the neural circuits within their brains.

Imagine these neural pathways as trails in a forest. The more one traverses the path of unquestioning belief, the clearer and more entrenched it becomes.

Scientist explains why Trump's supporters won't believe any evidence - Alternet.org

Of course, the flip side of unquestioning belief in Trump is unquestioning disbelief in critiques of Trump or Trump's claims---uncritical disbelief. The tendency to reflexively reject ideas that seem new, challenging, or associated with ideas that authorities have deemed anathema.

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6 Deaf Children Can Now Hear After a Single Injection

[...] "We've never [before] had a therapy that restores even partial hearing for someone who's totally deaf other than a cochlear implant."

[...]

More than half of hearing loss cases in children are due to genetic causes[...]

[...] The treatment the children received works by delivering a working version of the otoferlin gene to the inner ear. [...] In the US and Europe, a handful of these cutting-edge therapies have been approved, including one for a type of inherited blindness. Given just once, they're designed to correct disease-causing genes—hopefully permanently.

6 Deaf Children Can Now Hear After a Single Injection | WIRED

Now we just need a brain injection for Trump supporters, eh?... Actually it might take at least a few... but eventually hopefully we'll get it down to a single vaccine dose! We can call it the Trumpcine (as Geraldo suggested)....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 04 February 2024 - 04:20 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

[... consider] a trip to our nearest star system, Proxima, about 4.2 light years away.

An antimatter engine could theoretically accelerate a spacecraft at 1g (9.8 meters per second squared) getting us to Proxima in just five years[...] That's 8,000 times faster than it would take Voyager 1 — one of the fastest spacecraft in history — to travel about half the distance

[...] with enough funding, we could have an antimatter spacecraft prototype within a decade.

The basic technology is there. [...]

The issue is that this type of antimatter is incredibly expensive to make. [...]

However, there are other ways to produce antimatter. [...]

"[...] we need an ability to test high energy density systems somewhere that don't threaten the biosphere, but still allow us to develop them," said Howe, who thinks the moon would make a good testing base. "And if something goes wrong, you melted a piece of the moon," and not Earth

Antimatter Could Unlock a Radical New Future of Interstellar Travel : ScienceAlert

... or how about near Mar-a-Lago?...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 23 February 2024 - 05:09 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

Most Life on Earth Is Dormant Right Now

[...] Sitting around in a dormant state is actually the norm for the majority of life on Earth: By some estimates, 60 percent of all microbial cells are hibernating at any given time. Even in organisms whose entire bodies do not go dormant, such as most mammals, some cellular populations within them rest and wait for the best time to activate.

"We live on a dormant planet," says Sergey Melnikov, an evolutionary molecular biologist at Newcastle University, in the United Kingdom. "Life is mainly about being asleep."

Spoiler

For most life forms, the ability to shut oneself off is essential to staying alive. Harsh conditions such as lack of food or cold weather can appear out of nowhere. [... So these life forms] slow down their activity and metabolism. Then, when better times return, they reanimate.

[...] the scientists pursue this research with a practical goal in mind: "We can probably use this knowledge in order to engineer organisms that can [...] withstand climate change."

Most Life on Earth Is Dormant Right Now - The Atlantic

Quote

The Human Brain's Complexity Verges on The Brink of Chaos, Physicists Say

It's not just you.

[...] At a cellular level, their framework suggests the high-level hardware encased in our skulls is at a structural sweet spot closely approaching a phase transition.

"An everyday example of this is when ice melts into water.

Spoiler

It's still water molecules, but they are undergoing a transition from solid to liquid," explains Ansell.

By contrast, however, the central nervous system may teeter on a critical point of transition, while never actually becoming something else.

A common feature of this critical point is the branch-like structure of neurons, known as fractal patterns. Fractals, like those seen in snowflakes, molecules, or the distribution of galaxies, emerge in the most complex of systems. In physics, the fractal dimension is a "critical exponent" that sits on the edge of chaos, between order and disorder.

Ansell and Kovác now argue that the nanoscale presence of fractals in 3D brain reconstructions is a sign of this 'criticality'.

The Human Brain's Complexity Verges on The Brink of Chaos, Physicists Say : ScienceAlert

Quote

study asks depressed people why they [listen to sad music]. They say that sad music makes them feel better [...] Other studies have shown that listening to sad music makes depressed people feel worse, just like you'd expect. And listening to happy music makes them feel better; they just won't do it.

[...] there's something strange about depressed people's mood regulation. They deliberately choose activities that push them into sadder rather than happier moods. This explains not just why they prefer sad music, but sad environments (eg staying in a dark room), sad activities (avoiding their friends and hobbies), and sad trains of thought (ruminating on their worst features and on everything wrong with their lives).

Why should this be?

Let's review control theory, ie the theory of homeostasis and bodily set points.

Spoiler

Many of your body systems have set points. For example, your temperature set point is usually around 98.6 degrees F. If you're out in the snow and get colder than 98.6, your body will kick in various heating mechanisms (like shivering) until it's back at the set point.

[...] Master regulatory systems can change set points in response to changing demands. For example, when you get infected by a heat-sensitive pathogen, your immune system might choose to boil it away, and increase your inner thermostat to (let's say) 102 (instead of 98.6). Now you have a fever.

[... Trying to get clinically depressed people to do things to feel happier may be] like a feverish person trying to take an ice bath, or an anorexic trying to eat a big meal - all their instincts are telling them not to do it. And if your depression tries to get you to think in a specific way, [it's telling you not to] think in a different way.

[...] Psychologists already suspect the existence of a happiness set point (thymostat?); this is the principle behind ideas like the "hedonic treadmill". So my theory here is that at least some cases of depression involve recalibrated happiness set points.

Singing The Blues - Astral Codex Ten

Scientists have iirc speculated that depression, in "non-clinical" cases (or "non-maladaptive" cases), may serve a positive function analogous to partial hibernation. Or at least withdrawal for reassessment (or recuperation... or waiting for more favorable environments for higher activity levels)....

Quote

Electrical brain stimulation can ease heartbreak, study finds

Spoiler

[...] a few minutes a day may ease the misery, negativity and depression that can accompany a failed relationship.

A month after the treatment stopped, volunteers still felt better. [...] "These promising results require replication in larger trials."

"Since negative emotions dominate after the failure of an emotional relationship and emotional dysregulation occurs, emotion regulation is considered as the main treatment goal. [...] Considering the relation between love trauma and emotional regulation, which is associated with activation of specific brain areas and networks treatment methods tackling the involved brain areas might be promising."'

Electrical brain stimulation can ease heartbreak, study finds | Neuroscience | The Guardian

... or just zap that brain until it's time for tea...

[Tsundoku]

Get some science up ya, flat earth bitches!

‘Sometimes you are wrong’: Flat earthers admit defeat after seeing 24-hour Antarctica sun
A group of popular flat earth YouTubers have admitted defeat against the ‘globers’ after taking a trip to Antarctica to witness the 24-hour sun.

https://www.news.com...63ba1a1b5b7bb21

[Tsundoku]

As long as I can finally remember where I put the car keys ...

-----------------------------------

New research identifies key cellular mechanism driving Alzheimer's disease
The breakthrough marks a promising target for drug therapies that slow, possibly reverse, the disease's development
Date: December 23, 2024
Source: Advanced Science Research Center, GC/CUNY
Summary: Researchers have unveiled a critical mechanism that links cellular stress in the brain to the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study highlights microglia, the brain's primary immune cells, as central players in both the protective and harmful responses associated with the disease.

https://www.scienced...41223135051.htm

Researchers with the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have unveiled a critical mechanism that links cellular stress in the brain to the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study, published in the journal Neuron, highlights microglia, the brain's primary immune cells, as central players in both the protective and harmful responses associated with the disease.

Microglia, often dubbed the brain's first responders, are now recognized as a significant causal cell type in Alzheimer's pathology. However, these cells play a double-edged role: some protect brain health, while others worsen neurodegeneration. Understanding the functional differences between these microglial populations has been a research focus for Pinar Ayata, the study's principal investigator and a professor with the CUNY ASRC Neuroscience Initiative and the CUNY Graduate Center's Biology and Biochemistry programs.

"We set out to answer what are the harmful microglia in Alzheimer's disease and how can we therapeutically target them," said Ayata. "We pinpointed a novel neurodegenerative microglia phenotype in Alzheimer's disease characterized by a stress-related signaling pathway."

The research team discovered that activation of this stress pathway, known as the integrated stress response (ISR), prompts microglia to produce and release toxic lipids. These lipids damage neurons and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells -- two cell types essential for brain function and most impacted in Alzheimer's disease. Blocking this stress response or the lipid synthesis pathway reversed symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in preclinical models.

Key Findings

Dark Microglia and Alzheimer's Disease: Using electron microscopy, the researchers identified an accumulation of "dark microglia," a subset of microglia associated with cellular stress and neurodegeneration, in postmortem brain tissues from Alzheimer's patients. These cells were present at twice the levels seen in healthy-aged individuals.
Toxic Lipid Secretion: The ISR pathway in microglia was shown to drive the synthesis and release of harmful lipids that contribute to synapse loss, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
Therapeutic Potential: In mouse models, inhibiting ISR activation or lipid synthesis prevented synapse loss and accumulation of neurodegenerative tau proteins, offering a promising pathway for therapeutic intervention.
"These findings reveal a critical link between cellular stress and the neurotoxic effects of microglia in Alzheimer's disease," said the study's co-lead author Anna Flury, a member of Ayata's lab and a Ph.D. student with the CUNY Graduate Center's Biology Program. "Targeting this pathway may open up new avenues for treatment by either halting the toxic lipid production or preventing the activation of harmful microglial phenotypes."

Implications for Alzheimer's Patients This research underscores the potential of developing drugs that target specific microglial populations or their stress-induced mechanisms. "Such treatments could significantly slow or even reverse the progression of Alzheimer's disease, offering hope to millions of patients and their families," explained co-lead author Leen Aljayousi, a member of Ayata's lab and a Ph.D. student with the CUNY Graduate Center's Biology Program.

The study represents a major leap forward in understanding the cellular underpinnings of Alzheimer's and emphasizes the importance of microglial health in maintaining overall brain function.

Materials provided by Advanced Science Research Center, GC/CUNY. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference: Anna Flury et al. A neurodegenerative cellular stress response linked to dark microglia and toxic lipid secretion. Neuron, 2024 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.11.018

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 24 December 2024 - 02:13 AM