omnibrain | June 20, 2007Seriously!
According to the BBC News:
Drinking coffee protects against an eyelid spasm that can lead to blindness, a study suggests.
Italian researchers looked at the coffee drinking and smoking habits of 166 people with blepharospasm.
Sufferers have uncontrollable twitching of the eyelid which, in extreme cases, stops them being able to see.
One or two cups of coffee a day seemed to reduce the risk of the condition, the team reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
Not that I've ever heard of blepharospasm ;) It is a great disease name though - I'll give you that!
omnibrain | June 19, 2007Ahh... some great research from Spain. You know when you get home from vacation you really need another vacation to get ready to go back to work. Well... it's called Post-Holiday Syndrome.
Here's the whole mess from Eurekalerts:
Millions of people will leave their working places and start their holidays in the next weeks. The daily routine will be part of the past and resting days, pictures at the seashore and summer memories will be back to stay - at least for some weeks.
Experts estimate that 35 per cent of Spanish workers between the ages of 25 and 40 will have to face the "post-holiday…
omnibrain | June 18, 2007I need a new phone and it just so happens that the new iPhone is coming out very soon. So the question is...
http://killersurvey.com/survey_code.php?sqs=1&id=677">
Here's some stats that might help you decide:
Feel free to leave comments telling me why not to buy it as well ;)
omnibrain | June 18, 2007This is a wonderful idea!
Swizzle sticks and carbon nanotubes don't usually share the same room, but they're both on the menu for Eugene's first Science Pub.
Part of an international phenomenon that's been going on almost 10 years, Science Pub brings top researchers out of their labs and into bars and coffee shops to give people a street-level look at cutting-edge research. It makes its Eugene debut at 7 tonight at downtown night spot Luna with a talk by University of Oregon chemistry professor and nanoscience researcher Jim Hutchison.
The idea is that the big ideas in science are a little…
omnibrain | June 13, 2007I loved Mr. Wizard growing up. Don Herbert Died of Cancer on Tuesday at 89.
omnibrain | June 13, 2007"Pavlov's Cockroach: Classical Conditioning of Salivation in an Insect," sounds like a great paper and seriously...salivation in the cockroach! that's great stuff ;)
But this is certainly not the first time classical conditioning has been demonstrated in other animals. Heck, Eric Kandel (among others) won the Nobel prize for his work on classical conditioning and learning in Aplysia (sea slugs). If you're really excited about the salivation component of Classical Conditioning here's a little summary from Medical News Today :)
A new study, led by Makoto Mizunami and colleagues at Tohoku…
omnibrain | June 12, 2007Ever see a rat tickled? You can now - and evidently they laugh :)
[via scienceblog]
Here's another video of rats playing with their owner. I knew they could be friendly but this is something new to me. I didn't know that they could have so much personality - I was pretty sure they just crept around sewers or sat in a nest all day.
omnibrain | June 11, 2007We all know, thanks to Dan Simons and Chris Chabris (unless you've been living under a rock), that if we're really paying attention to something we can miss something else entirely... like a gorilla walking into the middle of a room and banging on its chest. Check out the video here. (Clearly this won't work for you now since you know what to look for, but there are some other examples on Dan Simons'' site that you can check out as well.)
In any case ... on to the main story here which is really the complete opposite of Inattentional Blindness. This time the gorilla suit was meant to bring…
omnibrain | June 8, 2007Yes yes... I know cancer isn't funny and I also seem to be obsessed with Family Guy in the last day or two. So without further ado.... Here's a Peter Tumor!
omnibrain | June 8, 2007I know you probably can't see the image and text very well - so just go ahead and click on the picture for this damn funny parody in full size.
omnibrain | June 8, 2007Clearly I'm not a medicine bio person - but this just had to make it onto the blog.
Researchers at Burnham Institute for Medical Research ("Burnham") have provided the first evidence that gamma-secretase, an enzyme key to the progression of Alzheimer's, acts as a tumor suppressor by altering the pathway of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a potential treatment target for cancer. Expedited to publication online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, these findings reveal a limitation of targeting gamma-secretase for treatment of Alzheimer's and potentially other diseases.…
omnibrain | June 8, 2007I'm going to make a bold bold prediction right here on Omni Brain. With the announcement of wireless electricity there will soon be a group of crazed wackjobs protesting it (well.. that is if it ever actually makes it to the consumer level) because the electricity flowing through the air causes Cancer, Autism, Genital Warts, or something else silly. Yes yes.. you've heard it first right here on Omni Brain!
Here's some of the details from BBC News:
US researchers have successfully tested an experimental system to deliver power to devices without the need for wires.
The setup, reported in the…
omnibrain | June 7, 2007
"The Brain of Morbius". Doctor Who challenges an increasingly unstable Morbius to a mind-bending contest. Enjoy ;)
omnibrain | June 7, 2007An oldie but goodie starring I Dream of Jeannie as god ... Enjoy!
Here's Ned Flanders dealing with an evolution exhibit.
And here's the evolution vs. creationism debate starring Lisa.
omnibrain | June 7, 2007Ahh Press Releases.... Don't you just love it when someone who doesn't really give a shit comes up with extremely inane or obvious titles?
This time around the titles are come from good ol' EurekAlert.
Our first title falls under the duh category:
"Brain holds clues to bipolar disorder"
Ohh.... Reaalllly? As opposed to what?!
Our second title falls under the "my cousins uncles brothers step-sisters boss's foot surgeons dogs breeders groomers friend" category.
"Lack of sun does not explain low vitamin D in elderly who are overweight"
I feel like they're forgetting another way of classifying…
omnibrain | June 4, 2007Can dogs perform deduction? Evidently so...
The provocative new experiment indicated that dogs can do something that previously only humans, including infants, have been shown capable of doing: decide how to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which the action takes place.
Original Story
omnibrain | May 31, 2007500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art morphing between each other. Pretty cool eh?!
via boingboing
omnibrain | May 31, 2007Heaven forbid animals drink some soda! and then enjoy it! This is probably the least bothersome form of animal testing out there. Trust me... animals looooove sugar!
Here's the snippet from the NYT article:
Under pressure from animal rights advocates, two soft drink giants, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, have agreed to stop directly financing research that uses animals to test or develop their products, except where such testing is required by law.
Researchers at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sought the assurances after discovering studies financed by the companies that used animals…