Category: Health

• Santiago Ramon y Cajal: The father of neuroscience was also an amazing artist

  

  

  More than a hundred years ago, the father of modern neuroscience, Santiago Ramón y Cajal demonstrated that information is the output of messy internal wiring provided by the brain’s chemical synchronicity.

  Cajal was an artist trapped in a laboratory. He used his trained skills as an artist to draw masterful sketches of the brain. In doing so, he illustrated the neuron doctrine.

  But where the Renaissance master goes sensual, macro, and dynamic, the Spaniard zeros in, mapping the miraculously microscopic using new methods of staining slide tissues that isolated single cells under the microscope. In this way, Cajal drew the newly visible synaptic networks of the brain and discovered a breakthrough that proved that neurons are in touch without touching. These results changed neuroscience. His work is still widely used as a teaching device.

  Vulture Magazine

  

  

  

  

  

  He called the connection between the neural impulses synapses, the gaps between the neurons that allowed them to talk to each other. However, he couldn’t identify the synapses under the microscope like we can with 200X magnification today.

  You can still walk across an invisible bridge even if you can’t physically see it there. All you need to know is that the magic is working.

  More than a hundred years ago, the father of modern neuroscience, Santiago Ramón y Cajal demonstrated that information is the output of messy internal wiring provided by the brain’s chemical synchronicity. Cajal was an artist trapped in a laboratory. He used his trained skills as an artist to draw masterful sketches of the brain. In […]

  Wells Baum

  June 23, 2021

  Health, Science

  brain, health, science

• There are different types of tears

  

  Did you know that we shed different types of tears based on our emotions?

  Each tear type is composed of unique chemicals — mainly salt, water, and lysozyme — that give them their variable structure.

  

  Emotional tears contain a natural painkiller

  According to scientist Claire Phillips, tears of grief contain the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin which helps relieve the body in times of stress. In such a way, our tear ducts can act as a natural painkiller.

  There’s a biological and evolutionary reason we feel better shedding tears after experiencing a traumatic event.

  Did you know that we shed different types of tears based on our emotions? Each tear type is composed of unique chemicals — mainly salt, water, and lysozyme — that give them their variable structure. Emotional tears contain a natural painkiller According to scientist Claire Phillips, tears of grief contain the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin which […]

  Wells Baum

  November 12, 2020

  Health, Science

  emotions, health, psychology, science, tears

• Iceland invites the world to scream out its lockdown stress

  

  The COVID-19 pandemic got you stressed?

  Iceland’s government, in partnership with the country’s tourist agency Promote Island, will allow anyone in the world to scream into an app and broadcast it into the nation’s vast wilderness.

  Let it all out on a speaker in Iceland

  All one needs to record a loud scream, wail, or shriek — whatever they want to get off their chest — at lookslikeyouneediceland.com and their frustration will play on one of the seven speakers situated around Iceland’s vacant countryside.

  Don’t be afraid to let Iceland know how you feel.

  Looks like you’ve been through a lot. It looks like you need to let it out. It looks like you need Iceland. Record your scream from anywhere in the world at https://t.co/sTLs7Fafhi and we’ll release it in Iceland. You’ll feel better, we promise! #LetItOutIceland pic.twitter.com/YFoZeMIMNi

  — Inspired by Iceland (@iceland) July 15, 2020

  The COVID-19 pandemic got you stressed? Iceland’s government, in partnership with the country’s tourist agency Promote Island, will allow anyone in the world to scream into an app and broadcast it into the nation’s vast wilderness. Let it all out on a speaker in Iceland All one needs to record a loud scream, wail, or […]

  Wells Baum

  July 18, 2020

  Culture & Society, Health, Travel

  Coronavirus, COVID-19, Iceland, Nature, Travel

• Giant teddy bears enforce social distancing in Paris cafe

  

  While the world remains alert and anxious over the spread of COVID-19, a bookshop owner in Paris has been trying to lighten the mood.

  Philippe, owner of the local bookstore, has been buying up giant bears and distributing them to his local neighborhood of Les Gobelins, Paris.

  The teddy bears first appeared in cafes, restaurants, and bars but — according to the bears official Facebook page — been seen in front of the Eiffel Tower, riding the metro, and more.

  The bears help make social distancing a little more bearable (see what we did there) in Paris.

  

  

  

  While the world remains alert and anxious over the spread of COVID-19, a bookshop owner in Paris has been trying to lighten the mood. Philippe, owner of the local bookstore, has been buying up giant bears and distributing them to his local neighborhood of Les Gobelins, Paris. The teddy bears first appeared in cafes, restaurants, […]

  Wells Baum

  June 30, 2020

  Animals, Health, Travel

  animals, bears, COVID-19, Paris

• Natural light prevents myopia

  

  A report issued in Nature reveals that staying inside is the leading cause of myopia.

  The finding refutes the myth that nearsightedness is the result of intense reading sessions and screen activity.

  Myopia is prevalent in East Asian countries, where the focus on studying means staying indoors rather than benefiting from the outside environment.

  According to another study in journal Lancet, 90% of young adults in China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea are nearsighted compared to 30% in Britain.

  

  Outdoor light is beneficial to the eyes because it triggers the release of dopamine in the retina.

  One myopia researcher recommends spending at least three hours a day in natural light, even if means sitting under a tree.

  But what scientists really needed was a mechanism: something to explain how bright light could prevent myopia. The leading hypothesis is that light stimulates the release of dopamine in the retina, and this neurotransmitter in turn blocks the elongation of the eye during development. The best evidence for the ‘light–dopamine’ hypothesis comes — again — from chicks. In 2010, Ashby and Schaeffel showed that injecting a dopamine-inhibiting drug called spiperone into chicks’ eyes could abolish the protective effect of bright light 11 .

  A report issued in Nature reveals that staying inside is the leading cause of myopia. The finding refutes the myth that nearsightedness is the result of intense reading sessions and screen activity. Myopia is prevalent in East Asian countries, where the focus on studying means staying indoors rather than benefiting from the outside environment. According to another […]

  Wells Baum

  May 15, 2020

  Culture & Society, Health, Nature

  culture, eyes, health, Nature, vision

• Beautiful apples from around the world

  

  William Mullan is a photographer who specializes in taking pictures of rare apples from around the world.

  The golden Knobbed Russet, the star-shaped api etoile, hard red Black Oxford apple — these are just a few of the varieties that appear in Mullan’s 200-page photo-book, Odd Apples.

  Writes Atlas Obscura on how Mullan’s fascination with apples came to be:

  Mullan was born in the United States, but grew up in the United Kingdom, where a teenage encounter with an Egremont Russet led to his love of apples. Its spicy, persimmon-like flavor “just blew my mind,” he says. But many of the apples he’s photographed were born in North America, including such romantic cultivars as the Black Oxford and Hidden Rose.

  “There’s just this sense of infinity with [apples] that I love,” Mullan says. While he imagines he’ll move on to other subjects in the future, for now, he’s still entranced by apples.

  Even better, during his exhibits, he slices the apples open and passes the edibles around for his audience to enjoy.

  You can follow Mullan’s work on Instagram.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  William Mullan is a photographer who specializes in taking pictures of rare apples from around the world. The golden Knobbed Russet, the star-shaped api etoile, hard red Black Oxford apple — these are just a few of the varieties that appear in Mullan’s 200-page photo-book, Odd Apples. Writes Atlas Obscura on how Mullan’s fascination with […]

  Wells Baum

  May 7, 2020

  Architecture & Design, Health, Nature, Travel

  apple, art, Nature, Photography

• The treadmill was originally a torture device

  

  Treadmills were originally torture devices, meant to break the mind, body, and spirit of English prisoners.

  Two hundred years ago, the treadmill was invented in England as a prison rehabilitation device. It was meant to cause the incarcerated to suffer and learn from their sweat.

  Groups of prisoners were forced to walk 6 hours a day, pumping out water, milling corn powering the mills, thus the term “tread-mill.”

  Treadmills evolved into a mechanism for punishment to prevent poor people from committing crimes to take advantage of the necessities in jail.

  

  

  Britain banned treadmills in 1989, seeing their punishment no longer useful.

  An 1885 British Medical Journal article called “Death on the Treadmill,” chastized Durham Prison for the treadmill-induced death of a prisoner with heart disease. Its overall high death rate—one fatality a week—prompted the conclusion that “[t]he ‘mill’ is not useful, and has proved itself occasionally injurious.”

  Having banned treadmills in 1828 to adopt a “collective industry” where prisoners became factory workers, America revamped the treadmill as an exercise machine.

  It resurfaced in 1913 with a U.S. patent for a “training-machine.” In the 1960s, the American mechanical engineer William Staub created a home fitness machine called the PaceMaster 600. He began manufacturing home treadmills in New Jersey. (He used it often himself, right up until the months before his death at the age of 96.)

  As this article points out, treadmills are the top-selling training equipment in the US but still come with all the baggage (injuries and boredom) that prisoners endured in England.

  Treadmills were originally torture devices, meant to break the mind, body, and spirit of English prisoners. Two hundred years ago, the treadmill was invented in England as a prison rehabilitation device. It was meant to cause the incarcerated to suffer and learn from their sweat. Groups of prisoners were forced to walk 6 hours a […]

  Wells Baum

  April 4, 2020

  Architecture & Design, Culture & Society, Health

  culture, design, exercise, health, Treadmill

• The best representations of “social distancing”

  

  Given the paramount importance of social distancing to impede the spread of the coronavirus — everything from sitting nearly 7 feet apart or shopping 7 feet apart — we’ve collected some of the most compelling illustrations across the web.

  The reality is that the longer people don’t comply with social distancing or space/physical distancing, the longer we’re going to have to do it to put an end to this pandemic.

  Help flatten the curve — stay at home and stay connected with your friends on social media! Conversely, unplug and read books or spend the extra time on a personal project.

  Only go out for groceries, medicine, and other essential items.

  There are also memes, of course, because…the internet…

  

  

  

  

  Given the paramount importance of social distancing to impede the spread of the coronavirus — everything from sitting nearly 7 feet apart or shopping 7 feet apart — we’ve collected some of the most compelling illustrations across the web. The reality is that the longer people don’t comply with social distancing or space/physical distancing, the […]

  Wells Baum

  March 20, 2020

  Culture & Society, Health

  China, Coronavirus, health, society

• Why pirates actually wore an eye patch

  

  Eye patch, parrot, and wooden leg, and a limp. Those are the essential ingredients to becoming a pirate.

  But did you know that pirates wore an eye patch, not because of a missing eye, but because the patch increased their sight instantly inside low lit areas?

  Early technology to avoid temporary blindness

  During raids, pirates needed the ability to flip up the eye patch so they could quickly snag a cannonball faster below the deck of the ship.

  So one eye was trained to see in daylight, the other in dark. The pirate patch was an early technology to solve the issue of temporary blindness caused by going to a dark room from a brightly lit space.

  

  Eye patch, parrot, and wooden leg, and a limp. Those are the essential ingredients to becoming a pirate. But did you know that pirates wore an eye patch, not because of a missing eye, but because the patch increased their sight instantly inside low lit areas? Early technology to avoid temporary blindness During raids, pirates […]

  Wells Baum

  March 9, 2020

  Architecture & Design, Culture & Society, Health, Technology

  design, history, pirates, Tech

• Coronavirus face masks for dogs and cats

  

  Some pet owners in China are going out of their way to protect their animals from the coronavirus by supplying them with masks.

  Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration that pets can’t get infected with the virus, dog face masks are flying off the shelves.

  

  

  

  

  But the masks — originally meant to protect against air pollution — aren’t the only devices making their way around the country.

  Other owners are sharing their own surgical-based masks with their furry friends, even going so far as to make their own.

  This cat owner in Xiaobian, Guangdong Province custom-made a mask for her cat, even poking holes in the mask so the animal could see.

  Desperate times call for desperate measures. Better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to protecting our little loved ones.

  

  Some pet owners in China are going out of their way to protect their animals from the coronavirus by supplying them with masks. Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration that pets can’t get infected with the virus, dog face masks are flying off the shelves. But the masks — originally meant to protect against […]

  Wells Baum

  February 17, 2020

  Animals, Health, Science

  China, Coronavirus, health, science

• A 3D render of your eye under a microscope

  

  What does your eye look like under a microscope?

  Instagram 3D artist Frank J Guzzone gives us at least an imaginative glimpse into the workings of an eye.

  Don’t get carried away by the reality or irreality of the visualization. Just admire the concept.

  Eye doctors on Twitter have promptly responded to Twitter account ZonePhysics with rightful criticism. “There’s no windstorm in the anterior chamber,” writes Dr. Cheryl G Murphy in debunking the graphic tweeted with the headline “This is your eye under microscope.”

  As someone who stares at eyes under the microscope day in and day out, that’s not even close. Not that much movement on the iris. There’s no windstorm in the anterior chamber. Peripheral cornea blurred for no reason. The actual iris magnified is much more beautiful than this.

  — Dr. Cheryl G. Murphy (@murphyod) November 8, 2019

  Renders do not explain science — at least this one — but we can admire the fascinating illustration nonetheless.

  What does your eye look like under a microscope? Instagram 3D artist Frank J Guzzone gives us at least an imaginative glimpse into the workings of an eye. Don’t get carried away by the reality or irreality of the visualization. Just admire the concept. Eye doctors on Twitter have promptly responded to Twitter account ZonePhysics […]

  Wells Baum

  December 23, 2019

  Architecture & Design, Health, Science

  art, design, eye, Nature, science

• How to treat a black eye

  

  You never know when you’ll get a black eye. These tips, as illustrated in the infographic below, may come handy.

  While most of the tips seem obvious — use cold compression, take an anti-inflammatory, see the doctor if still bloody — others like massaging the eye and eating pineapple and oranges to reduce swelling come as a surprise.

  

  Ever had a black eye? Tell us on Twitter how you treated it.

  You never know when you’ll get a black eye. These tips, as illustrated in the infographic below, may come handy. While most of the tips seem obvious — use cold compression, take an anti-inflammatory, see the doctor if still bloody — others like massaging the eye and eating pineapple and oranges to reduce swelling come […]

  Wells Baum

  November 15, 2019

  Health

  black eye, how to, infographic