What pulled me out of my academic stupor long enough to blog was a kind note from Cristiana Senni over at World Parrot Trust, who asked if I would bring some well-deserved attention to their “Save the Greys” initiative. In a nutshell, World Parrot Trust is aiding the rehabilitation of confiscated African Grey parrots in Cameroon, taken from poachers who illegally trap the parrots for sale and export. Wild caught parrots suffer horrible mortality rates from improper handling and shipping (about 50% die in transit). Add to this the fact that wild trapping of parrots contributes to the decline of endangered or protected species.

If you love parrots as I do, please take a moment to visit World Parrot Trust, and if you are feeling generous, give a buck or two towards conservation.

Ok, back to learning style sheets for Word 2007, so I can fit my thesis into UM’s odd formatting guidelines….

Hi folks. Before you all fall out of your chairs that I am, yes, in fact, blogging, just check out this gem of a story that lured me from the bowels of the UM medical complex. Apparently an African Grey parrot in Japan, a Mr. Yosuke Nakamura, recited his name and address to a vet after he was rescued from a rooftop. This turned out to be his actual address, and was promptly returned to his owners! I think this is a fantastic idea for any owner of a talking parrot, and I really commend the owners of Yosuke for caring enough to make sure the parrot had a surefire way to get home. I’m going to start teaching Pepper his address and name today!

I found it humorous that the bird decided to stay mum with the cops, but happily chatted with the vet. The story doesn’t say, but I wonder if the vet was the same gender as the person he is bonded to, and therefore might feel more comfortable vocalizing to them.

867-5309….867-5309…..

Hat tip darkman, karen, and the others who emailed this.

Cristiana Senni from World Parrots Trust just let me know that their organization has uploaded several movies to YouTube of African Grey parrots in the wild. I live with a Grey, and was absolutely amazed at their vocalizations and behaviors–pretty much exactly like Pepper. Reminds me that while Pepper is tame, he is still just one generation from his wild brethren. Check out their beautiful videos!

Another under the fold…

According to the press release from UM, the Dalai Lama’s talk skirted most of the tough issues that Tibet is now facing, and focused more on environmentalism–a topic certainly near and dear to the inhabitants of Ann Arbor. Check it out.

Speaking of entertaining, I was emailed this awesome anatomically correct brain cake, recipe which I just had to share. Someone put a lot of love into photographing the entire process of creating something both nerdy and delicious– even using chocolate chips to create an EEG grid.

Botulinum toxin is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and, by and large, has been safely used by medical professionals to treat a variety of maladies from muscle spasms to migraines to wrinkles. This ‘safety’ has been attributed to the toxin’s localization–specifically, it doesn’t leave the injection site or spread to other systems and tissues, where it could be harmful or fatal. This study, conducted by Atonucci et al, suggests that botulinum toxin can be transported backwards along microtubles (the ‘skeleton’ of cells, which can also move molecules) and leave muscle cells. It can pass through the muscle cell’s membrane, and find itself in the afferent nerve terminal adjacent to the injection site. Whether it is enough to interfere with nerve functioning remains unclear, but perhaps will be further studied in the wake of the FDA review.

There are some things I consider news, and some things I just consider “well, duh.” File this study, which reported that high school students don’t care that loud music damages their hearing, under the second category. Kids These Days ™ have been listening to loud music as long as their has been loud music to listen to, and I doubt very much that this will change. The reason for that is hinted at in the study itself: that teenagers believe themselves to be invincible, with very “low personal vulnerability” to permanent hearing loss. So despite the understanding that loud noise can damage *someone’s* hearing in theory, the that-won’t-happen-to-me mentality wins out.

However, it does happen to them. I get many emails from readers and internet surfers who complain about hearing loss or tinnitus that occurred in their misbegotten youth touring with White Snake (ok, maybe they aren’t loud enough, but you get the picture…). As much as I want to continue researching therapies for deafness, my hope is to one day put myself out of business. However, how can young people be convinced to turn down the music? The short answer is that, as a group, I don’t think they can be. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t ANY recourse though. The study recommends that the devices themselves be designed with hearing protection in mind, which I certainly think is a good idea. These protections do not have to be absolute, but rather guidelines or suggestions similar to the pop-ups on the Nintendo Wii when a person has been playing for a long time (“Why not walk around or take a break?”). The device might issue a brief warning, or beep/vibrate, etc, when the safe window of listening at that particular volume as passed. It could even shut off, if parents wanted to be really over-protective.

Of course, that won’t make the music devices any more popular with teens, and hacks will immediately crop up to get rid or disable them. And hearing damage from concerts, stereos, etc will still occur (not to mention genetic and sudden deafness). Looks like I’ll be in the business a while yet.

Via Engadget

Being a (very) recent convert to the World of Mac, it is with great interest that I read a provocative report by Mindset Media comparing the behavior of Mac-owners vs. PC-owners–specifically, who was snobbier? Mindset surveyed 7500 Mac and PC-owners and found that Mac users were more self-important, intellectually curious, and felt themselves to be extraordinary and superior. Mac users are more likely to use teeth-whitening kits (vanity!), buy organic food, be politically liberal, be willing to pay more for green technology, buy a hybrid car, drink Starbucks, and have bought more than 5 new pairs of sneakers in the past year. People who described themselves as having an “open personality” were 60% more likely to own a Mac. 60% of Mac users vs only 16% of PC users downloaded music last year, and paid for it.

So there seems to be some positive and negative things about the ‘Mac Mindset.’ But, that being said, Mac owners are more satisfied with their purchases than PC owners (70% vs 59%, respectively). Count me in that 70%, but I’d rather avoid being called an over-caffeinated, bleached-teeth self-important hippie perfectionist if I can help it. Oh wait….

Via The Anxious Educator, hat tip Kendra.

As I chug along on my thesis and manuscript-writing, I’m often reminded what it means to “see your name in print.” There’s something about that feeling of being responsible, in front of the world, for your words and thoughts. However, not all first publications are of strictly scientific merit, as a friend of mine recently relayed to me:

As a neuroscientist in grad school finishing up my dissertation, my
mind drifted recently one night to thinking of the first time my name
was in print. Circa 1992, I was pretty nerdy as a youth (still nerdy
now but proud of it), and I was “that kid” who would go to the local
comic book store every week to buy the newest comics with the money I
made on my paper route. I really liked spiderman then, because, as I
am sure many other nerdy youths thought, “Here’s a nerd by day, but by
night he is the most awesome superhero ever, and to boot, he has a
super hot redhead girlfriend!” (Maybe I didn’t think much of the
redhead girlfriend Mary Jane, I sure do now, but I was 12 at the time
and my memory is foggy as to whether I was into girls at that age).

I’ve since sold most of my comic books, but I have kept a special one
sealed in plastic on my bookshelf. See, one day back then I hand-wrote
a letter to the “Amazing Spiderman” editorial office. A couple months
passed, and with every new issue I would check the fan-mail section,
but nothing. Rejected! It held the same emotional impact then as it
does now with my scientific manuscripts.

But the 30th issue anniversary issue came out a couple months later,
with a hologram on the cover and over 50 pages of spiderman action. As
an afterthought I looked at the fan-mail section, and “huzzah!!!” Look
whose letter shows up! And in the 30th anniversary issue! I am a part
of that! That’s a hologram, yes, a hologram on the cover!! I spent
days bragging about it to my two friends (OK I had more friends than
that).

So today I pulled the comic book off the shelf, looked at it, and
smiled at how ridiculous I sounded at 12 years old. Pensive in my
thoughts though, will I read my current scientific manuscripts in 16
years and think the same thing, how ridiculous I sounded as a graduate
student?

But blogs be damned. Part of me still thinks seeing my name there on
cheap newsprint in a spiderman comic in the early 90′s beats any web/
scientific presence any day.

Check under the fold for the hologram cover of the 30th anniversary edition!

As noted in the sidebar here, I’m at the University of Michigan, involved in hearing research. So, I was so thrilled when it was brought to my attention that research from our institute, on the topic of cochlear implants, was being mentioned in this month’s ‘Economist’ magazine! The article is a good summary of the current state of cochlear implant research, and has some interesting diagrams. Download the PDF here.

Slightly less noble, but kind of humorous, is that the research was also mentioned as a blurb in the most recent Playboy. Not that you read the articles or anything!