Asteroid Terms: Explained

Playing Tetris might help reduce the effects of PTSD. Researchers found that those who played it within 4 hours of seeing traumatic events had fewer flashbacks and intrusive memories. They hope to apply the findings to current treatment, which only deals with the effects after they occur. 

Btw, you can play Tetris online for free. Any time. All the time.

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Both hemispheres of the brain process numbers

Researchers of the Jena University (Germany) and of the Jena University Hospital located an important region for the visual processing of numbers in the human brain and showed that it is active in both hemispheres. In the ’Journal of Neuroscience’ the scientists published high resolution magnetic resonance recordings of this region.

The human brain works with division of labour. Although our thinking organ excels in displaying amazing flexibility and plasticity, typically different areas of the brain take over different tasks. While words and language are mainly being processed in the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere is responsible for numerical reasoning. According to previous findings, this division of labour originates from the fact that the first steps in the processing of letters and numbers are also located individually in the different hemispheres. But this is not the case, at least not when it comes to the visual processing of numbers.

Neuroscientists of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and of the Jena University Hospital discovered that the visual processing of numbers takes place in a so-called ‘visual number form area’ (NFA) - in fact in both hemispheres alike. The Jena scientists were the first to publish high resolution magnetic resonance recordings showing the activity in this region of the brain of healthy test persons. The area is normally difficult to get access to.

The 'blind spot’ in the brain

In their study Dr. Mareike Grotheer and Prof. Dr. Gyula Kovács from the Institute for Psychology of Jena University as well as Dr. Karl-Heinz Herrmann from the Department of Radiology (IDIR) of the Jena University Hospital presented subjects with numbers, letters and pictures of everyday objects. Meanwhile the participants’ brain activity was recorded using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thus the researchers were able to clearly identify the region in which the visual processing of numbers takes place. The small area at the underside of the left and right temporal lobe reacted with increased activity at the presentation of numbers. Letters and other images but also false numbers lead to a significantly lower brain activity in this area.

Although the Jena team already knew from other scientists’ previous research where they had to look for the area, a lot of developmental work went into the newly published story. “This region has been a kind of blind spot in the human brain until now,” Mareike Grotheer says. And here is why: Hidden underneath the ear and the acoustic meatus, surrounded by bone and air, previous MRI scans showed a number of artefacts and thus obstructed detailed research.

For their study the Jena scientists used a high-performance 3 tesla MRI scanner of the Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (IDIR) of the Jena University Hospital. They recorded three-dimensional images of the brain of the test subjects at an unusually high spatial resolution and hence with only very few artefacts. In addition these recordings were spatially smoothed whereby the remaining 'white noise’ could be removed. This approach will help other scientists to investigate a part of the brain that until now had been nearly inaccessible. “In this region not only numbers are being processed but also faces and objects,” Prof. Kovács states.

For more posts like these, go to @mypsychology​

ALL ROLLED UP

A newly identified mineral christened merelaniite tightly rolls up like a scroll as it crystallizes, forming shiny dark gray needles up to a few millimeters in length (Minerals 2016, DOI: 10.3390/min6040115). The overall formula of the mineral is Mo₄Pb₄VSbS₁₅. It crystallizes into a sheet composed primarily of alternating ultrathin layers of MoS₂ and PbS. “It’s like a natural nanocomposite,” says research team leader John A. Jaszczak of Michigan Technological University. Strain from the interacting layers likely causes the crystalline sheets to wrap around themselves as they grow. Jaszczak and coworkers named the mineral for the Merelani mining district in Tanzania, where the merelaniite samples originated. Collaborating research institutions included the U.K. Natural History Museum, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, and University of Florence.

Credit: Minerals (both)

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Scientists Discover a Strange New Phase of Matter Called 'Time Crystals'

Two papers published simultaneously prove the existence of time crystals, in which atoms are aligned in time in a way that's analogous to the physical structure of diamonds or ice.

Bruh this is some sci-fi shit. Fucking time crystals

Life from the perspective of colour blind people 

Deuteranomalia: This is caused by reduced sensitivity to green light. Deutan color vision deficiencies are by far the most common forms of color blindness. This subtype of red-green color blindness is found in about 6% of the male population, mostly in its mild form deuteranomaly.

Protanopia: Caused by a reduced sensitivity to red light due to either defective or a lack of long -wavelength cones (red cones). Some scientists estimate that being a protan is associated with a risk of a road accident equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent.

Tritanopia:  People affected by tritan color blindness confuse blue with green and yellow with violet.  This is due to a defective short-wavelength cone (blue cone). Whilst  Protanopia and Deuteranomalia are significantly more common in men, tritanopia affects both sexes in equal amounts.

Monochromacy: Only around 0.00003% of the world’s population suffers from total color blindness, where everything is seen in black and white. 

Lmao. Apparently, a sufficient number of puppies can explain any computer science concept. Here we have multithreading:

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