MInd Altering Parasite

The brain-hijacking parasite Toxoplasma gondii seems to be almost everywhere. The microscopic invader is thought to infect up to 50 percent of people, and a range of studies suggests it may alter human behavior, in addition to that of many other animals.

The parasite has been linked with a large range of neurological disorders, including schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, and scientists keep uncovering more mysterious effects that may result from infection.

In one such new study, researchers found that men and women infected by the parasite ended up being rated as more attractive and healthier-looking than non-infected individuals.

On the face of it, that might sound strange and unlikely. But hypothetically speaking, the phenomenon could make sense from an evolutionary biology standpoint, scientists say.  READ MORE...

Blowing Curtains

 

Fusion Rocket Breakthrough

Richard Dinan is the visionary entrepreneur who wants to help humans leave Earth and inhabit other planets in the Milky Way. And he wants to do it fast. His company, Pulsar Fusion, is betting on harnessing the power of nuclear in space to cut the time it takes to get to Mars in half – and unlock the secrets beyond our Solar System.

Speaking exclusively to Science Digest, the former Made In Chelsea star, 35, said: "In the Milky Way there are believed to be billions of habitable planets orbiting G-type stars like ours.

"That doesn't mean that they've got people on them, but it means that they could support life.

"We're living in a world now where maybe the entrepreneurs of the future can own their own planets.  "To do that, they will need very, very fast rockets.

That may sound like a ludicrous thing to say, but we are almost there - Mars has got quite a keen interest.

"I think part of being human is to leave our planet – we've always followed the stars since prehistoric times and now we need to emulate that."

To make this possible, Mr Dinan wants to replicate the fusion process used by stars like our Sun.  Tipped as the "holy grail" energy source, nuclear fusion has been studied for over a century.

Unlike nuclear fission – the powerful reaction that led to the creation of nuclear weapons – fusion takes two light atomic nuclei to combine to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy.  READ MORE...

Exotic Fish

 

NASA Built A Hypersonic Aircraft

An artist's conception of the X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or "Hyper-X" in flight. The X-43A was developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude).

In the past week, I’ve written about the (most likely apocryphal) SR-91 Aurora spy plane, which supposedly could hit speeds of Mach 5, and the SR-72—proposed successor to the SR-71 Blackbird—which is touted to be able to hit speeds of Mach 6. Now we’re going to discuss a hypersonic aircraft that would leave even those birds in the dust, at a mind-blowing Mach 9: the NASA X-43 (part and parcel of NASA’s Hyper-X program).

Unlike the Aurora and the SR-72, the X-43’s existence is an actual verifiable fact, with a total of three built, and making its maiden flight on 02 June 2001; the first specimen did not live to tell the tale, as the Pegasus booster lost control about 8 seconds after ignition when it was released from the B-52 carrier, as the plane was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer … 

However, the program rose like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes of its own destruction. During the more successful second and third flights, the scramjets operated for approximately 10 seconds followed by 10-minute glides and intentional crashes into the ocean (the vehicles were not designed to be recovered).

To be more precise about its speed capabilities, the X-43A, during its third and final flight in November 2004, successfully attained a speed of Mach 9.6 (7,365 mph; 11,852 kph) as it flew over the Pacific Ocean west of California at an altitude of about 110,000 feet (33,500 m); as a result, NASA was officially recognized for setting the speed record for a jet-powered aircraft by Guinness World Records. 

For a basis of comparison, the previous record for an air-breathing vehicle—but not an airplane—was held by a ramjet-powered missile, which achieved slightly more than Mach 5, whilst the highest speed attained by a rocket-powered airplane, the X-15 piloted by William “Pete” Knight, was Mach 6.7.  READ MORE...

Cat & Balloon

Belonging

Lack of Focus

Do you have those days where you feel like you’re surrounded by a fog? Constantly going in and out of focus and barely getting anything done?

You’re frustrated and trying your hardest focus. But no matter how long you sit at that desk, nothing gets finished..

It’s only a matter of time until you burnout. Which leads you to feeling exhausted, annoyed, and unaccomplished. We’ve all been there.. Luckily we developed a way to power through these ‘brain fog’ days and accomplish anything.

Working with leading experts in the field of nootropics, we created a blend to help you hit peak performance.

We went through 7 different formula changes before finding the “one” - Liquid Einstein’s Quantum Orange.

It’s how you can “snap into the zone” and wipe out all of the tasks on your to do list. We are 100% confident this is the best energy booster you can take.

With 6 key nootropics you get all the focus and energy without the hard crash. No synthetic sugars or unnecessary additives.  READ MORE...

Cat Watches Leaves

 

EVs No Longer A Viable Alternative

One of the key reasons why people made the switch to an electric vehicle was the more favorable cost of ownership. Not only did a battery charge cost a lot less than filling up the tank of a similar car, but the maintenance was also cheaper. But then the world went crazy and now people started questioning the economics of owning an electric vehicle.

When the gas prices started to rise a couple of months ago, a lot of ICE car owners considered switching to an electric vehicle. In fact, both statistics and carmakers indicated an increase in EV orders specifically because of the high gas prices. But things have changed, not least because the increased demand has put pressure on the market. Soon, not only did EV prices increase significantly, but the operating costs also went up.

Tesla, the company that sells the most EVs in the U.S., has aggressively raised prices in the past months. The main reason was raw materials scarcity and price spikes, but the high demand also played a role. This allowed Tesla to post the biggest profit in history in the first quarter of the year and will most likely repeat the claim for the second quarter too. This proved skeptics saying it’s impossible to make a profit from EVs were all wrong. Tesla is one of the most profitable car companies in the world.

Apart from becoming more expensive, the EVs have also lost their cheap operating costs appeal. Electricity prices have spiked and Supercharging costs often shocked Tesla owners. Tesla historically said it does not make a profit from selling electricity to its customers, but Tesla owners faced increased prices nevertheless.  READ MORE...

One More Kiss

 

Considering A 4 Day Workweek

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Could your workweek be getting a little bit shorter? One business expert with the University of Tennessee thinks it might be a good idea.

An associate professor of management at UT’s Haslam College of Business started by explaining the five-day workweek comes from Henry Ford and the manufacturing industry more than 100 years ago. Timothy Munyon said it then spilled into office life; however, he said it’s obvious times have changed.

“The history of work, if you look at how we’ve structured work really over the last 120-plus years, it’s an artifact of some realities that were relevant in history but maybe not relevant today,” said Munyon. “When you look at the nature of the way that we actually do work it’s not always the best way for employees.”

That’s why Munyon said he’s passionate about improving the work-life balance for Americans across the nation. It’s also why he feels it may be wise for employers to consider changes like a four-day workweek, saying it can improve productivity, reduce burnout and increase respite.

“It’s about sustainability, actually helping people be well at work and thrive while also helping manage for the long run,” he said.

Munyon also adds this has become vital over the last couple of years as the world dealt with political unrest, the pandemic, and financial insecurity.

“One thing that employers can do is kind of build in a little bit more rest for their employees to recharge, it’s not business as normal,” he began. “If you look at things like base rates of things like burnout and depression in the population, we see spikes, and often they are non-work-related spikes, but employers can help employees better manage those stressors by giving them flexibility and a little more latitude at work.”

Munyon also said there must be a shift in the way employers think soon if they hope to slow down what’s been dubbed “The Great Resignation.” Throughout the pandemic, Munyon said more Americans than ever reevaluated what mattered to them, forcing some of them out of the workforce altogether.  READ MORE...

Dolphins

Break Apart

New Magnetic Phenomenon

Illustration of edge magnetism discovered in CrGeTe3 using nanoscale magnetic microscopy.
Credit: Ori Lerman

For physicists, exploring the realm of the very, very small is a wonderland. Totally new and unexpected phenomena are discovered in the nanoscale, where materials as thin as 100 atoms are explored. Here, nature ceases to behave in a way that is predictable by the macroscopic law of physics, unlike what goes on in the world around us or out in the cosmos.

Dr. Yonathan Anahory at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)’s Racah Institute of Physics led the team of researchers, which included HU doctoral student Avia Noah. He spoke of his astonishment when looking at images of the magnetism generated by nano-magnets, “it was the first time we saw a magnet behaving this way,” as he described the images that revealed the phenomenon of “edge magnetism.”

The images showed that the magnetic material the HU researchers were studying only retained magnetism on its edge—in fact only within 10 nanometers of the edge (remember a human hair is around 100,000 nanometers). Their results were recently published in the prestigious journal Nano Letters.  READ MORE...

Classic Sunday Morning Newspaper Cartoons

 

Self-Centered Parenting

Many children suffer grave emotional problems from living with a self-absorbed parent. The child is disregarded and used as an extension of the parent. Often, this means the child’s physical wants and needs, points of view, and emotional needs go unmet.

The Role-Reversal Relationship
Everything revolves around the self-absorbed parent. The relationship is one-sided and directed by the parent. Such a parent enlists the child in caring for and catering to him or her. This creates a role-reversal relationship that is inappropriate for the child’s growth, development, and welfare.

Self-absorbed parents have many characteristics in the ways they relate with their children These relationship traits are well summarized by both Nina W. Brown, EdD, LPC, in Children of the Self-Absorbed and by Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD. in Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. Such parents manipulate the child to ensure the spotlight of admiration stays on the parent. They lack empathy for the child’s emotional needs. They may show jealousy with any steps the child takes toward individuation––being his or her own person.

Children’s Emotional Responses
Children are affected by growing up with a self-focused parent. When a child is not related to as an individual, a separate person from a parent, there are many emotional and psychological consequences for the child.

When a child’s individuality is disregarded, it affects self-esteem and confidence. Low self-esteem in turn can create anxieties and depressions, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, and runaway behaviors.

There are a wide variety of consequences children suffer in growing up with a selfish parent. Are there discernible patterns to their suffering? Homer B. Martin. M.D., and I found that there are. Children respond to self-centered parents differently based on the child’s personality style. This style is created by how a child is emotionally conditioned within the family. We discovered personality styles form into two types––omnipotent and impotent.  READ MORE...

Moving River

 

Alien Doorway on Mars

One of the most recent snaps beamed back from the Curiosity rover on Mars has revealed a rather interesting feature in the rocks: what looks to be a perfectly carved out doorway nestling in the Martian landscape.

The doorway doppelgänger is so eerily convincing we're almost tempted to start believing that it leads to a little hideaway for Martians, or perhaps a portal to another Universe entirely. We're also getting 'tunnel to the center of the planet' vibes from this.

However, the far more sensible people of Reddit have pointed to this likely being a shear fracture: the result of some kind of strain on the rock breaking part of it off, perhaps given a helping hand by a marsquake or two.

In fact, the largest temblor recorded on the red planet so far happened on May 4 of this year, and scientists are still working to pinpoint where exactly it happened and what caused it.

What's more, while the the door-like rock formation may appear to be full-sized in our imaginations, it's possible the cavity seen is only a few centimeters or inches tall in real life, though it's difficult to be certain from the picture.

At the very least, the picture and the geological feature it's captured would seem to be enough to inspire a science-fiction movie or two.  READ MORE...

Waterdeep