brain

Is there an advantage to being "stupid"?

dr. dolittle — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:45:18 +0000

Is there an advantage to being "stupid"?

By Copyleft [CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

As I was looking through the scientific literature the other day, I came across an article published in 1973, "The Evolutionary Advantages of Being Stupid." With a title like that, how could I not read it?

In this article Dr. Eugene D. Robin discussed how larger and more complex brains are associated with greater intelligence, which by evolutionary standards was thought to be related to "superiority." He described how this line of thinking places man at the peak of evolution resulting in our tendency toward an anthropocentric view of the world. Anthropocentrism also leads to interpreting or seeing things in terms of our own experiences or value/belief systems.

Dr. Robin went on to argue that looking at survival of species in hindsight suggests that those which survive have done well whereas those that have died off must have been inferior. Rather, he argues it is important to think dynamically. Meaning that traits evolve continually as does the environment. So a trait that may benefit the species at one point in time might not help at all at if conditions change. He quotes Asimov who posed the question, "Which is the fitter, a man or an oyster?" If Earth were covered in water, clearly oysters would fair better than man.

With regards to intelligence, Dr. Robin also proposed thinking in terms of it being a dynamic trait that could help or handicap a species. Take for example diving mammals. Mammals that are good at diving, have evolved the ability to survive with low levels of oxygen. This ability may also protect them from health conditions associated with low oxygen such as blood loss, heart attacks, strokes, etc. In this example, smaller brains relative to body size are more advantageous as it allows the animal to dive longer (and perhaps have better health). In other words, by presumably sacrificing intelligence, the animals with smaller brains have increased survival. His own research looked at turtles that can dive for more than 1 week. To accomplish this, turtle brains create energy through pathways that do not rely on oxygen and, as a result, have reduced activity while diving. Thus, by anthropocentric standards turtles are relatively "stupid" even though they have survived over 200 million years.

Image of turtles from Lvova Anastasiya (Львова Анастасия, Lvova) (Own work (own foto)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Another argument Dr. Robin presents is that dinosaurs were great at hunting because they were big. At the same time, their large size meant they needed to eat a lot and thus were at risk of running out of resources. Compare this to humans, who are more intelligent and thus able to manipulate the environment to produce adequate food (and other resources). What impact have these environmental modifications had? Or consider the modern rise of so-called "superbugs" from the overuse of antibiotics. Is human intelligence thus a lethal trait?

Source:

Eugene D. Robin. The evolutionary advantages of being stupid. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 16(3): 369-380, 1973. doi: 10.1353/pbm.1973.0060

Dictionary.com

dr. dolittle Mon, 02/20/2017 - 06:45

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Life Science

brain

evolution

intelligence

stupid

Fevers impair brain activity

dr. dolittle — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 22:06:07 +0000

Fevers impair brain activity

Image from ProjectManhattan (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

You probably already knew that fevers can cause some people to develop seizures. According to the National Institutes of Health, these so-called 'febrile seizures' can happen at temperatures of 102.2 degrees F and above and are most-often seen in children. The good news is that this type of seizure is usually short and does not often cause any long-term damage to the brain.

In a new study published in Physiological Reports, Researchers at Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) and University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario) wanted to know how fevers affect brain function. What they found was that fevers caused some neurons in the gray matter of the brain to fail even after an action potential was initiated. These findings may help explain how febrile seizures develop as well as why some people may experience confusion and fatigue with a fever. They also found that younger animals tended to be more susceptible to these fever-induced failures than older animals as they experienced failures with only mild fevers whereas higher temperatures were needed before failures were seen in older individuals.

Sources:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/febrile_seizures/detail_febrile_seiz…

Pekala D, Szkudlarek H, Raastad M. Typical gray matter axons in mammalian brain fail to conduct action potentials faithfully at fever‐like temperatures. Physiological Reports. 4: e12981, 2016. DOI: 10.14814/phy2.12981

dr. dolittle Wed, 10/26/2016 - 18:06

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Reductionism in Art and Science

gregladen — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 14:30:16 +0000

Reductionism in Art and Science

In the old days, the words "art" and "science" did not mean the same thing they mean today, at least in academia. Today, unfortunately, they have almost come to mean opposites. You can't be doing both at once. Or, at least, that's what people who haven't thought about it much may think.

Art can be used to engage people in science, and science can provide a subject for art, and in various ways, the twain shall meet.

But in Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures, Erik Kandel does something both more extreme and more specific than simply joining the two endeavors. Kandel has a long career in the neurosciences, and a long standing interest in art, and he's combined these two lived experiences to make a very interesting book.

Reductionism is the distillation of something complex into something simpler while still maintaining central or key meaning. Grab the nearest art book and find two pictures of the same thing, one with nearly photographic detail and the other using just a few colors and shapes. Like this:

See the difference? Two bulls, not the same picture.

I won't show you a picture of science being reductionist because science is reductionist most of the time.

You can reduce art, and you can reduce science. And, you can artfully reduce science and scientifically reduce art. And, the New York School of abstract art and other abstract traditions (people like Turner, Monet, Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Louis, Turrell, and Flavin, Kandinsky, Schoenberg, and Mondrian) scientifically reduced art, which forms a good part of the focus of Kandel's book. A major contribution of this work is a deep and unique understanding of the origin of what we generally call modern art.

Kandel explains this.

Kandel examines cognition and perception through a radically reduced bottom up approach in a similar way that early 20th century artists did, and examines art in the same way. His book is full of understanding of the evolution of thinking about cognition and of art.

The book includes excellent illustrations, is carefully documented, and comprises a scholarly work accessible by any interested party.

Here's the TOC:

Part I: Two Cultures Meet in the New York School
Introduction
1. The Emergence of an Abstract School of Art in New York
Part II: A Reductionist Approach to Brain Science
2. The Beginning of a Scientific Approach to the Perception of Art
3. The Biology of the Beholder's Share: Visual Perception and Bottom-Up Processing in Art
4. The Biology of Learning and Memory: Top-Down Processing in Art
Part III: A Reductionist Approach to Art
5. Reductionism in the Emergence of Abstract Art
6. Mondrian and the Radical Reduction of the Figurative Image
7. The New York School of Painters
8. How the Brain Processes and Perceives Abstract Images
9. From Figuration to Color Abstraction
10. Color and the Brain
11. A Focus on Light
12. A Reductionist Influence on Figuration
Part IV: The Emerging Dialogue Between Abstract Art and Science
13. Why Is Reductionism Successful in Art?
14. A Return to the Two Cultures

gregladen Fri, 09/16/2016 - 10:30

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I highly recommend, for anybody who hasn't tuned in, Charlie Rose's Brain Series with Kandel.

I caught a little bit of Kandel talking about this book on NPR. It sounds interesting, and I guess I'll have to buy a copy, though I remain skeptical about the nature of this particular 'bridge'.

I may not have your 150 iq- but you treat people very badly- your arrogance swagger and elitism are why people will vote for Trump- go fuck yourself Greg and use your Ivy league degree for toilet paper.

Which one, Peter? I have two Ivy League degrees.

Oh, look, Mommy, it's a Deplorable !! How cuuuute....

"Stay back, Dear, it might bite... and have a disease."

LOL

Ceramides cause rainbow trout to eat less

dr. dolittle — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:46:08 +0000

Ceramides cause rainbow trout to eat less

Sketch of a rainbow trout from Wikimedia Commons

Ceramides are a type of sphingolipid composed of both fatty acids and sphingosine that are important in maintaining the structure of cell membranes and cell signaling pathways. Given their structure, it is perhaps not surprising that levels of ceramide are increased in the brains of mammals after eating a diet high in fats as well as in individuals who are obese. In mammals, ceramides are also known to help regulate food intake.

Since rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) do not rely on glucose as heavily as proteins or fats for metabolism, researchers from the Universidade de Vigo were interested in determining whether ceramides alter food intake in rainbow trout as this had reportedly never been studied before. They administered ceramide to the brains of rainbow trout and then recorded their food intake for the following 6, 24 and 48 hours. They found that ceramide actually reduced food intake in the fish and impaired the systems that are responsible for sensing fatty acids. This means that ceramide reduced food intake in trout through a mechanism that does not require detection of fatty acids. These findings were surprising because ceramide actually increases food intake in mammals. So alas, ceramides are not the next frontier for weight loss in mammals.

Source:

Velasco C, Librán-Pérez M, Otero-Rodiño C, López-Patiño MA, Míguez JM, Soengas JL. Ceramides are involved in the regulation of food intake in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. In press. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00201.2016

dr. dolittle Thu, 08/11/2016 - 13:46

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What about the effect of human contraceptives that make their way into the water systems and fish habitat?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/03/30/f…

very nice article, really impressive...

Waiting For next article..

Keep Writing !!

Thanks !!

Shanu

Big-brained birds

dr. dolittle — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 15:37:41 +0000

Big-brained birds

Birds get such a bad rap when it comes to intelligence. Sure they have relatively small brains, but scientists have known they are similar to primates with respect to their cognitive abilities. New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents data showing how this apparent dichotomy is possible. They found that the brains of songbirds and parrots pack two times the number of neurons as a primate of similar size. This means that these birds are able to pack neurons more tightly than mammals, which allows them to fit more brain cells in a smaller package. Moroever, the neuron content in the forebrain of a parrot is the same or even greater that primates. In fact, the team found that the brain of a parrot contains a similar number of neurons as a medium-sized primate. These findings suggest that we need to reconsider the notion that brain size = intelligence and perhaps look at neuron density instead.

So the next time someone calls you a bird brain, simply say "thank you!"

For more information about bird smarts, see these prior posts:

Crows show ability to reason

Being called a "bird brain" just may be a compliment

Brain scans show how crows perceive human faces

Source:

Olkowicz S, Kocourek M, Lucan RK, Portes M, Fitch WT, Herculano-Houzel S, Nemec P. Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Epub ahead of print - June 13, 2016] doi: 10.1073/pnas.1517131113

dr. dolittle Mon, 06/20/2016 - 11:37

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Interesting information!!
Yes. Birds are quite intelligent.

How woodpeckers avoid concussions

dr. dolittle — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 23:25:13 +0000

How woodpeckers avoid concussions

By Hector Bottai (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I just read an interesting blog entry from I Spy Physiology describing how woodpeckers avoid getting concussions even though they routinely bang their heads. By routinely, I mean an impressive 12,000 times a day approximately. I was amazed to learn that each time a woodpecker taps a tree, the impact is about 10 times that of an average hit in football. Turns out woodpeckers have an anatomical advantage. To find out what that advantage is, visit the blog!

dr. dolittle Thu, 02/25/2016 - 18:25

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More Brainless Science

milhayser — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 15:24:12 +0000

More Brainless Science

In the 21^st century, immortality beckons from several directions: cybernetics, artificial intelligence, telomere extension and cell therapy, maybe even an afterlife. But most of humanity's hope to transcend death revolves around the brain, as the manifestation of our memories and personality. On Pharyngula, PZ Myers considers the merits of new efforts to master the brain, such as a "cryonic brain preservation technique" that promises to preserve your dead gray matter for a future generation. PZ used to prepare tissue for microscopy in the same way: "I was chemically nuking all the proteins in the tissue; I was washing out most of the chemistry; I was destroying most of the physiological information to preserve a structural skeleton of what was there." He concludes the pattern of synaptic connections is not sufficient to reconstitute a mind. In another post, PZ criticizes a researcher who could not get approval to surgically implant electrodes in human brains, and so had them implanted in his own. PZ writes, "Transhumanists might dream of some amazing Prigogenic leap that abruptly makes their cyborg aspirations reality, but it’s not going to happen that way." You can read more about brainless science here.

milhayser Fri, 02/12/2016 - 10:24

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Sleeping with one eye open

dr. dolittle — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 21:42:40 +0000

Sleeping with one eye open

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Researchers from La Trobe University and Max Planck Institute for Ornithology recorded young crocodiles and found that while the animals typically sleep with both eyes closed, in the morning hours they will sometimes open one eye periodically. If they placed another crocodile in the tank or stood nearby however, the animal would open one eye and look at the newcomer.

It was noted in the article that certain birds and aquatic mammals will likewise sleep with one eye open, with only half their brain staying awake. This is known as unihemispheric sleep. This allows the animals to watch for predators while the other half of the brain sleeps.

Without measurements of brain activity, it is unclear if the young crocodiles also experience unihemispheric sleep or if they are simply keeping a eye on you.

Source:

Journal of Experimental Biology

dr. dolittle Fri, 10/23/2015 - 17:42

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"Without measurements of brain activity, it is unclear if the young crocodiles also experience unihemispheric sleep or if they are simply keeping a eye on you."

Sounds like you have the next graduate student challenge well in hand. See that croc? Yes ... the one on the mud bank ... the first one to attach leads and get a good reading gets the weekend off.

The wonders of melatonin

dr. dolittle — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 22:36:48 +0000

The wonders of melatonin

Arousal of a thirteen-lined ground squirrel from hibernation. By Uncredited; Walter L. Hahn [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In a new study published in the American Journal of Physiology Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, researchers at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse were interested in understanding how thirteen-lined ground squirrels protect their brains during arousal from hibernation. This is a period of time in which the animals experience major changes in their body temperature and increased blood flow to the brain. The researchers knew that levels of the hormone melatonin were increased during arousal and wanted to find out if it had anything to do with protecting the brain.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, melatonin is produced mainly by the pineal gland in our brains and is responsible for regulating our circadian rhythm. In other words, it helps to make sure that we wake up in the morning and fall asleep at night. Melatonin is typically higher at night and lower during the day. In fact, some people with insomnia may be prescribed melatonin to help restore their normal sleep/wake pattern.

Results from this newly published study shows that enzymes responsible for causing cell death are much higher in animals that were given a drug to prevent melatonin from acting on its receptor. The team also found that the mitochondria of those animals had impaired function. What this means is that melatonin is responsible for protecting the brains of hibernating squirrels as they arouse from torpor.

I find the many roles of melatonin so fascinating! Another study examining aging in squirrels found that decreased levels of melatonin were associated with a decline in immune function making the animals more susceptible to disease (Rai et al., 2009). Melatonin is also important in regulating the immune system in humans. Since melatonin is additionally produced by the kidneys, retina and digestive tract, the immune functions may be served by melatonin originating outside of the brain (Szczepanik, 2007).

Sources:

, , Melatonin receptor signaling contributes to neuroprotection upon arousal from torpor in thirteen-lined ground squirrels. American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 9 September 2015 (In press). DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00292.2015

University of Maryland Medical Center

Rai S, Haldar C, Singh R. Modulation of immunity in young-adult and aged squirrel, Funambulus pennanti by melatonin and p-chlorophenylalanine. Immun Ageing. 6: 5, 2009. Published online 2009 Apr 23. doi: 10.1186/1742-4933-6-5

Szczepanik M. Melatonin and its influence on immune system. J Physiol Pharmacol. 58 Suppl 6:115-24, 2007.

dr. dolittle Wed, 09/09/2015 - 18:36

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Melatonin is produced in the brain by the pineal gland from the amino acid tryptophan.
http://www.bocsci.com/description.asp?cas=73-31-4&cid=84

OK, nobody else has posted a comment yet, so I'll say it:

"Awwww, what cute squirrels!";-)

The first question this stuff raises for me is: do harsh wake-ups, or sudden wake-ups from the wrong stage of sleep, cause any sort of damage to the brain?

Everything has side effects. So is the case for melatonin.

So if melatonin is not working for you at 5 mg and two Naturopaths suggest that you keep raising the dose; they've seen doses as high as 21 mg before it would work for someone, you should probably stay far away from Naturopaths, correct?

No Peaceful Slumber: Brain Mitochondria Help Hibernating Squirrels Cope with Stress

dr. dolittle — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 18:10:30 +0000

No Peaceful Slumber: Brain Mitochondria Help Hibernating Squirrels Cope with Stress

Congratulations to Mallory Ballinger, a graduate student from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, who is the 2015 recipient of the Dr. Dolittle Travel Award! The purpose of this award is to recognize an outstanding graduate student or postdoctoral fellow involved in comparative and evolutionary research and to provide assistance for them to attend the annual American Physiological Society Experimental Biology meeting. The application process includes the submission of a blog entry based on their research. She will be presenting her research at the upcoming Experimental Biology meeting in March.

Here is Mallory's award-winning blog entry:

No Peaceful Slumber: Brain Mitochondria Help Hibernating Squirrels Cope with Stress

Image of thirteen-lined ground squirrel courtesy of Mallory Ballinger

Winter brings cold temperatures, blistery winds and large amounts of snow. If it were not for technology, we humans would be dealing with cases of starvation and hypothermia regularly. Most mammalian species, however, do not have the luxury of technology; thus, they must deal with the hardships of Mother Nature and winter in other ways. Mammalian hibernation is an evolutionary strategy that allows certain species to survive long periods at near-freezing temperatures with little or no food. It is characterized by profound reductions in metabolism, oxygen consumption, and heart rate as an animal enters a state of physical inactivity known as torpor. During winter hibernation, thirteen-lined ground squirrels enter a state of torpor in which their heart rate drops as low as 3-10 beats per minute (bpm), they consume only 2-3% of their normal oxygen levels, and they maintain a core body temperature as low as 41oF. The torpid state is not continually maintained throughout the hibernation season, but is interrupted by a series of short, periodic interbout arousals (IBAs). During this 2-3 hour transition out of torpor, oxygen consumption increases 50-fold, core body temperature increases from 47 to 98.6F, and heart rate explodes from less than 10 bpm to over 400 bpm. Over the course of a hibernation season, ground squirrels cycle between torpor bouts and IBAs numerous times until they emerge in the spring.

Arousal from torpor ("inactive") into IBA ("active") presents extreme changes in energy demand. Understanding how the hibernator brain copes with this change during hibernation, along with seasonal changes, was the overall goal of this research. The focal point of this study was at the organelle level, specifically mitochondria. Mitochondria use various substrates to pass electrons successively to enzyme complexes in the electron transport system, with oxygen being the final electron acceptor. This is how mitochondria generate energy for cells. Overall, hibernator metabolism is suppressed during hibernation to save energy. Therefore, it was hypothesized that brain mitochondrial metabolism will be suppressed during the hibernation season compared to active seasons. To test this hypothesis, the researchers examined the mitochondrial function of brain in thirteen-lined ground squirrels across four time points: Summer, Fall, Hibernation (Torpor and IBA), and Spring. Oxygen consumption (i.e. respiration rates) of isolated brain mitochondria were measured using an oxygen electrode. Mitochondrial respiration was highest in Hibernation compared to the active seasons. The mechanics of respiration are controlled by membrane potential, the "intactness" of mitochondria. To examine this, the researchers measured mitochondrial membrane potential using a specialized electrode. No significant differences were found between Spring, Summer and Fall.

Although the overall metabolic rate of a hibernator is suppressed during hibernation, the results of this study do not support the original hypothesis. Brain mitochondria consume more oxygen during hibernation than the active seasons, suggesting that the brain requires more fuel and resources to function efficiently during hibernation. This study not only provides insight into the molecular mechanisms employed by a hibernator’s brain, but it also aids in understanding the metabolic regulation and common strategies employed by small hibernators in response to environmental stressors. Broader applications from this study may impact the biomedical field. Mitochondrial diseases, such as dementia, are common in today’s society. Understanding how mammalian hibernators undergo and survive extreme changes in mitochondrial metabolism may result in strategies aimed at treating human mitochondrial diseases.

M Ballinger, C Schwartz, JA Bjork, MT Andrews. (2015) Investigating the adaptive role of brain mitochondria in a mammalian hibernator. Experimental Biology Conference, Boston, MA.

dr. dolittle Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:10

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