Saturday, March 21, 2020

Insects Have Sensors (force-sensitive Organs) Concentrated In Areas Ne

Insects have sensors (force-sensitive organs) concentrated in areas near joints, tips of the legs, and near exoskeletal sites attached to muscle tendons. These sensors act as strain gauges to detect compression of the exoskeleton. Using this information, insects recognize environments, regulate walking movements, and astonishingly "remember" stepping patterns and location. Through memory experiments, scientists see that a spider memorizes its own previous walking movements to backtrack to a fly. After presenting the fly to the spider on a petri dish, scientists chased the spider some distance away from the capture site. The spider then returns to the original spot, even though the fly has been placed elsewhere. If guided along a curved detour path, the spider cuts corners, indicating that it remembered the fly's position. Limitations in this memory experiment include odor and magnetic sense to backtrack to the capture site. To test the latter hypothesis we can place magnets inside the petri dish and run the experiment during cloudy weather to disorient the spider's navigational magnetic sense. Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease that causes involuntary movement, muscle rigidity, slowing of movement, and loss of spontaneous motion. As excessive amounts of dopamine-producing neurons of the brain die, the resulting decline in dopamine signaling disrupts smooth functioning of the overall motor network. Damage to the substantia nigra accounts for most symptoms. L-dopa, which readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, was developed to compensate for the decline of dopamine. It is then converted to dopamine by dopamine-making neurons that survive in the substantia nigra and nonneuronal cells in the striatum. Patients experience a desensitization phenomenon, gradually losing sensitivity to L-dopa, which works for shorter and shorter increments. This may be attributed to dopamine's ability to promote free radical synthesis, which may help explain why dopamine-making neurons are particularly susceptible to dying from oxidation. L-dopa increases dopamine levels, eases symptoms, and may ironically damage nigral neurons. With more L-dopa usage, more nigral neurons die, leading to gradual ineffectiveness of the compound. Total desensitization occurs when nigral neuron levels are extremely low. L-dopa's wearing-off effect is similar to that of protease-inhibitor drugs used to help treat HIV. After many years, the drugs lose effect; HIV persists and leads to full-blown AIDS.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Short, Wise Quotes About Life

Short, Wise Quotes About Life Wisdom need not always be verbose. In fact, some of the wisest, most memorable quotes by famous people are pretty darn short, yet they pack a lot of meaning in their punch. Keeping it short works well probably because of K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, stupid. George Bernard Shaw: Life isnt about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the things you think you cannot do. Frank Lloyd Wright: The truth is more important than the facts.​​ Mother Teresa: If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Lucille Ball: Love yourself first, and everything else falls into place. Stephen Colbert: Dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. Oprah Winfrey: Failure is another stepping-stone to greatness. Stephen Hawking: Be curious. Mother Teresa: If you cant feed a hundred people, then feed just one. William Shakespeare: Love all, trust a few.​ Michelle Obama: Success isnt about how much money you make. Its about the difference you make in peoples lives. Wayne  Gretzky: You miss 100 percent of the shots you dont take. Gabrielle Giffords​: Be bold, be courageous, be your best. Madeleine Albright: Real leadership...comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing. Babe Ruth: Dont let the fear of striking out hold you back. Seneca: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Anna Quindlen: Don’t ever confuse the two:  your life and your work. The second is only part of the first. Thomas Jefferson: He who knows best knows how little he knows. Dolly Parton: If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. Francis David: We need not think alike to love alike.​ John Quincy Adams: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. Maya Angelou: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.   Malcolm X: If you dont stand for something, youll fall for anything. Hillary Clinton: Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward. Thomas A. Edison: Many of lifes failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Katie Couric: You cant please everyone, and you cant make everyone like you. Jon Bon Jovi: Miracles happen every day. Change your perception of what a miracle is and youll see them all around you.​ Eleanor Roosevelt: Do one thing every day that scares you.   Tina Fey: There are no mistakes, only opportunities. Francis Bacon: A prudent question is one half of wisdom.​ Sheryl Sandberg: If youre offered a seat on a rocket ship, dont ask what seat! Just get on. Eleanor Roosevelt: Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Florence Nightingale: I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. Edwin Land: Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity. Maya Angelou: You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Mahatma Gandhi: â€Å"Be the change that you wish to see in the world.†Ã‚   Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: When I let go of who I am, I become what I might be. Rosa Parks​: When ones mind is made up, this diminishes fear. Henry Ford: Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. Gloria Steinem: Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.​​​ Christopher Reeve: Once you choose hope, anythings possible. Kate Winslet: Life is short, and it is here to be lived. Mahatma Gandhi: â€Å"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.†Ã‚   Alice Walker: The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: Great acts are made up of small deeds. Amelia Earhart: The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. Ellen DeGeneres: Sometimes you cant see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others.   Walt Disney: All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.