Neat idea to link this to telomeres, though I'm a bit skeptic. Too much cortisol is dangerous for other reasons (eg high blood pressure)...
Really though, I'm just posting to recommend a look into Robert Sapolsky (discussed previously). He's a big-shot in explaining the effects of chronic stress, and pretty entertaining to boot.
Tsk. Perhaps you're looking for an argument, not an answer. If it's any consolation this kind of math is counterintuitive and frustrating for me, as well.
May I recommend Cecil Adams's discussion of the Monty Hall problem? If you still don't agree, try this simple simulation.
The only thing I can't wrap my head around is the sense of space in this video. The objects are drawn to scale, but they're placed in a disproportionately large environment. My limited (but hopefully improving) understanding of biochemistry is that so much is possible in cells because things are really crowded and close together -- certain molecular interactions wouldn't be possible otherwise.
They cop to that in the linked article, though. And it's still pretty.
Between this and polychrome's excellent post, quite a good day for neato cell bio stuff!
(hums)
About the only previous exposure I have to Gigantor is the theme music (via Adult Swim). Very cool indeed. It's as if someone wrote a song about a giant robot with the smashing and the MBBLEHEHEY and it came out sounding like a detergent jingle.
Groovy reading. Although I am of the opinion that it's risky to generalize from fear to other emotions.
Fear conditioning is more than a convenient thing to study; it's an established, reproducible model with interesting analogs in the human brain (PTSD, anyone?). We understand when/under what circumstances this type of learning occurs, just not the biological mechanics of what's going on under the hood.
It'd be really neat if it led to an understanding of more complex, "human" emotions, but I wonder if calling this research emotion instead of fear is imprecise. That said, there are certainly applications for this area of work. /end pedantic science student rant
Ahem. Er... carry on, then.
Also I can keep straight all the family and sexual relationships in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Reminds me of a Ray Bradbury short story where the author brags to Tolstoy that he's read War and Peace... and remembers all the names.
Used to be able to quote, no recite the first eight seasons of the Simpsons.
Nice camera. Ah, fluorescent? That'd be the white balance setting for white fluorescent light. So... prolly not the right setting. But then you'd have already tried the automatic one.
So the stains are much lower in intensity than the surrounding purple light? Maybe there's some kind of filter necessary for this type of photography.
Do you have a UV filter on the front of the camera? I always leave one on mine, that might block some of it.
Um. I'm stumped, sorry.
Interesting. I've never tried shooting under black light, and cannot verify the whole black light/urine bit. But if the issue is that you're just getting a purple blur...
Do you have a tripod or something you could use to stabilize your camera? It's probably a dim light, or it's dim in the white light spectrum. Anything you can do to hold the camera still, adjust manual settings to a longer exposure, etc. might be helpful.
They opened it up a few months ago so that you can register from a cell/mobile phone. Worked for me, but I can understand why that wouldn't work for all.
Ah, links are borked after 2 years... A quick article on Sapolsky's stuff, and two audio lectures on iTunes: 1 2
posted by pianistic 16 years ago
Neat idea to link this to telomeres, though I'm a bit skeptic. Too much cortisol is dangerous for other reasons (eg high blood pressure)... Really though, I'm just posting to recommend a look into Robert Sapolsky (discussed previously). He's a big-shot in explaining the effects of chronic stress, and pretty entertaining to boot.
posted by pianistic 16 years ago
In "Anatomical Theatre:"
Holy cow, I just lost an hour exploring the blog... great images, expertly curated. Thanks, tellurian.
posted by pianistic 16 years ago
In "Most requested songs at funerals."
Wot, no Eric Idle fans?
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Eroica!"
Ohmigosh. It will be every bit as awesome to have this for the Rite of Spring.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Confused George: Probability Problem"
Tsk. Perhaps you're looking for an argument, not an answer. If it's any consolation this kind of math is counterintuitive and frustrating for me, as well. May I recommend Cecil Adams's discussion of the Monty Hall problem? If you still don't agree, try this simple simulation.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "This year's Ignobel winners!"
(on preview: oops)
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
The 2006 Ignobel prizes, announced last week. It's been a slower year for funny science. This un's not bad, though: Blink-free photos, (almost) guaranteed
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "The Inner Life of a Cell."
The only thing I can't wrap my head around is the sense of space in this video. The objects are drawn to scale, but they're placed in a disproportionately large environment. My limited (but hopefully improving) understanding of biochemistry is that so much is possible in cells because things are really crowded and close together -- certain molecular interactions wouldn't be possible otherwise. They cop to that in the linked article, though. And it's still pretty. Between this and polychrome's excellent post, quite a good day for neato cell bio stuff!
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
(shuffles along in kinesin/dynein slippers)
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Emotions and the brain."
*BZZZZZZAP*
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "GIGANTOR!"
(hums) About the only previous exposure I have to Gigantor is the theme music (via Adult Swim). Very cool indeed. It's as if someone wrote a song about a giant robot with the smashing and the MBBLEHEHEY and it came out sounding like a detergent jingle.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Emotions and the brain."
Groovy reading. Although I am of the opinion that it's risky to generalize from fear to other emotions. Fear conditioning is more than a convenient thing to study; it's an established, reproducible model with interesting analogs in the human brain (PTSD, anyone?). We understand when/under what circumstances this type of learning occurs, just not the biological mechanics of what's going on under the hood. It'd be really neat if it led to an understanding of more complex, "human" emotions, but I wonder if calling this research emotion instead of fear is imprecise. That said, there are certainly applications for this area of work. /end pedantic science student rant Ahem. Er... carry on, then.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Igor Sivanowicz photographs invertebrates. Perv."
Wow. I have got to save up and buy that macro lens.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Curious George: What, think you're an expert or something?"
Also I can keep straight all the family and sexual relationships in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Reminds me of a Ray Bradbury short story where the author brags to Tolstoy that he's read War and Peace... and remembers all the names. Used to be able to quote, no recite the first eight seasons of the Simpsons.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Curious George: Blacklight photography with a digital camera"
Nice camera. Ah, fluorescent? That'd be the white balance setting for white fluorescent light. So... prolly not the right setting. But then you'd have already tried the automatic one. So the stains are much lower in intensity than the surrounding purple light? Maybe there's some kind of filter necessary for this type of photography. Do you have a UV filter on the front of the camera? I always leave one on mine, that might block some of it. Um. I'm stumped, sorry.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
Interesting. I've never tried shooting under black light, and cannot verify the whole black light/urine bit. But if the issue is that you're just getting a purple blur... Do you have a tripod or something you could use to stabilize your camera? It's probably a dim light, or it's dim in the white light spectrum. Anything you can do to hold the camera still, adjust manual settings to a longer exposure, etc. might be helpful.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Want Gmail account!"
They opened it up a few months ago so that you can register from a cell/mobile phone. Worked for me, but I can understand why that wouldn't work for all.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "The Divine Comedy, or Commedia Divina if you prefer,"
*ahem* Evil will always triumph because good is dumb. Talk about modern retellings... high culture on ytmnd.com? Wooooah.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
In "Evolution of the eye."
Easy? EASY??! Pity they're not much in demand these days.
posted by pianistic 18 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)