AnandRathi_YW August-2018 Dummy

scientific
66 wellness
This Is Why We
Can’t See Aliens!
A well-known experiment with young people bouncing a
ball showed that when an observer focuses on counting
the passes, he does not detect if someone crosses the
stage disguised as a gorilla. Something similar could be
happening to us when we try to discover intelligent nonearthly
signals, which perhaps manifest themselves in
dimensions that escape our perception.
According to the study that the neuropsychologists
Gabriel de la Torre and Manuel García, published in
the journal ‘Acta Astronautica’, we are not looking in
the right direction when
it comes to detecting
possible extraterrestrial
signals. “When we think
of other intelligent beings,
we tend to see them
from our perceptive and
conscience sieve; however
we are limited by our
sui generis vision of the
world, and it's hard for
us to admit it,” says De
la Torre, who prefers to
use a more generic, as
'non-terrestrial' instead of
aliens.
Tiny Injectable
Sensor For
Unobtrusive Alcohol
Monitoring
Engineers at the University of California San Diego
have developed a miniature, ultra-low power injectable
biosensor that could be used for continuous, long-term
alcohol monitoring. The chip is small enough to be
implanted in the body just beneath the surface of the
skin and is powered wirelessly by a wearable device,
such as a smartwatch or patch. It contains
a sensor coated with alcohol oxidase, an
enzyme that selectively interacts with
alcohol to generate a byproduct that
can be electrochemically detected. The
electrical signals are transmitted wirelessly
to a nearby wearable device such as a
smartwatch.
“The ultimate goal of this work,” explains
lead researcher Drew Hall, “is to develop
a routine, unobtrusive alcohol and drug
monitoring device for patients in substance
abuse treatment programs.”
Older Adults
Grow New
Brain Cells
Just Like
Young People
According to the scientific journal
‘Cell Stem Cell’, older people have
similar ability to make thousands of
new neurons from progenitor cells
as younger people do. The findings
may suggest that many senior
citizens remain more cognitively and
emotionally intact than commonly
believed. Researchers from Columbia
University, along with New York
State Psychiatric Institute, found that
even the oldest brains they studied
produced new brain cells. Says lead
author Maura Boldrini, associate
professor of neurobiology at Columbia
University, “We also found equivalent
volumes of the hippocampus (a
brain structure used for emotion and
cognition) across ages. Nevertheless,
older individuals have less
vascularisation and maybe less ability
of new neurons to make connections.”
The study concludes that it is this
decline, and reduced cell-to-cell
connectivity within the hippocampus,
that reduces reduced cognitiveemotional
resilience in old age.
- Edward Teller
The science of today
is the technology of
tomorrow.
yourwellness.com • Volume VII • Issue III • August 2018