910 posts · 582,780 views
I have big dreams [don't we all?], I want to change the world. That is why I started Lunatic Laboratories, a little project that I hope will one day be a household name. Who knows, maybe it will work out, but even if it doesn't, at least it will be fun to try.
Lunatic Laboratories
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- September 12, 2015
- 03:37 PM
- 5,800 views
Female mice sing for sex
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
They don’t use gondolas or croon like Sinatra. But scientists have known for a long time that male mice belt out something like love songs to females when the time seems right to them. What they didn’t know – until a University of Delaware researcher developed a sophisticated array of microphones and a sound analysis chamber – was that female mice were singing back.... Read more »
Neunuebel, J., Taylor, A., Arthur, B., & Egnor, S. (2015) Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays. eLife. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.06203
- September 11, 2015
- 06:06 PM
- 5,799 views
Smart cells teach neurons damaged by Parkinson’s to heal themselves
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
As a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have created smarter immune cells that produce and deliver a healing protein to the brain while also teaching neurons to begin making the protein for themselves.... Read more »
Zhao, Y., Haney, M., Gupta, R., Bohnsack, J., He, Z., Kabanov, A., & Batrakova, E. (2014) GDNF-Transfected Macrophages Produce Potent Neuroprotective Effects in Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model. PLoS ONE, 9(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106867
- September 13, 2015
- 02:51 PM
- 5,718 views
Diet beverage drinkers compensate by eating unhealthy food
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Want fries with that diet soda? You aren’t alone, and you may not be “saving” as many calories as you think by consuming diet drinks. A new study that examined the dietary habits of more than 22,000 U.S. adults found that diet-beverage consumers may compensate for the absence of calories in their drinks by noshing on extra food that is loaded with sugar, sodium, fat and cholesterol.... Read more »
An, R. (2015) Beverage Consumption in Relation to Discretionary Food Intake and Diet Quality among US Adults, 2003 to 2012. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2015.08.009
- September 11, 2015
- 03:16 PM
- 5,705 views
An antibody that can attack HIV in new ways
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Proteins called broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are a promising key to the prevention of infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. bNAbs have been found in blood samples from some HIV patients whose immune systems can naturally control the infection. These antibodies may protect a patient’s healthy cells by recognizing a protein called the envelope spike, present on the surface of all HIV strains and inhibiting, or neutralizing, the effects of the virus. Now Caltech researchers hav........ Read more »
Scharf, L., Wang, H., Gao, H., Chen, S., McDowall, A., & Bjorkman, P. (2015) Broadly Neutralizing Antibody 8ANC195 Recognizes Closed and Open States of HIV-1 Env. Cell, 162(6), 1379-1390. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.035
- June 23, 2014
- 01:30 PM
- 1,476 views
The Iceman Cometh
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Are you so fat you can’t see your toes? Have you forgotten what toes even look like? Have you been mistaken for the infamous “Kool-aid man”? Want to shed the […]... Read more »
Lee, P., Smith, S., Linderman, J., Courville, A., Brychta, R., Dieckmann, W., Werner, C., Chen, K., & Celi, F. (2014) Temperature-acclimated brown adipose tissue modulates insulin sensitivity in humans. Diabetes. DOI: 10.2337/db14-0513
Liu, M., Bai, J., He, S., Villarreal, R., Hu, D., Zhang, C., Yang, X., Liang, H., Slaga, T., Yu, Y.... (2014) Grb10 Promotes Lipolysis and Thermogenesis by Phosphorylation-Dependent Feedback Inhibition of mTORC1. Cell Metabolism, 19(6), 967-980. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2014.03.018
- June 2, 2014
- 02:41 PM
- 1,247 views
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Much like this posts namesake, the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind asked what if you could erase memories? Want to forget your ex, no problem. Better yet, what PTSD? I’m sure that […]... Read more »
Sadegh Nabavi, Rocky Fox, Christophe D. Proulx, John Y. Lin, Roger Y. Tsien, Roberto Malinow. (2014) Engineering a memory with LTD and LTP. Nature. info:/10.1038/nature13294
- July 10, 2014
- 01:59 PM
- 1,216 views
Don’t Listen to the Voices: Understanding Consciousness
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
There is a voice in my head. Don't worry it's mine... I think [a story for another time I'm sure], but why is my voice inside my head? What causes me to hear myself while I type these very words, or even better you to hear them in your voice as you read them? Consciousness is a complex and very confusing thing. I think therefore I am? Science has had trouble cracking that nut and philosophy just won't cut it in the realm of neuroscience. [...]... Read more »
Paller, K., & Suzuki, S. (2014) The source of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.05.012
- May 8, 2014
- 03:00 PM
- 1,204 views
We can build it better: The First Semi-Synthetic Organism
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Normally I do one post a day, but I could NOT wait to share this. Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have engineered a bacterium whose genetic material includes […]... Read more »
Malyshev Denis. (2014) A semi-synthetic organism with an expanded genetic alphabet. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature13314
- August 26, 2014
- 01:27 PM
- 1,197 views
The Holographic Universe [we might Live in!]
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Are you feeling a little… flat? Well that might be because you are only in 2 dimensions. I know what you’re thinking, insane! Well first check the name of the business and second, check out the science. In fact, it may seem like a joke, but the math suggests that it could very well be true and with it could come a deeper understanding of the universe. Testing this hypothesis (which was first made in the late 90’s) has been harder to do than you might think, but that has now changed. We are........ Read more »
Cowen, R. (2013) Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature.2013.14328
Li W, & Takayanagi T. (2011) Holography and entanglement in flat spacetime. Physical review letters, 106(14), 141301. PMID: 21561179
Piao, Y. (2007) Primordial perturbation spectra in a holographic phase of the Universe. Physical Review D, 76(4). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.76.043509
George F. Smoot. (2010) Go with the Flow, Average Holographic Universe. Int.J.Mod.Phys.D19:2247-2258,2010. arXiv: 1003.5952v1
- June 5, 2014
- 12:03 PM
- 1,172 views
The Surprisingly Magnetic Black Hole
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Black holes suck. Nothing can escape a black hole, not even light, which is why they are “black”. They are also an interesting bit of physics. Normally “classical” physics applies […]... Read more »
Zamaninasab, M., Clausen-Brown, E., Savolainen, T., & Tchekhovskoy, A. (2014) Dynamically important magnetic fields near accreting supermassive black holes. Nature, 510(7503), 126-128. DOI: 10.1038/nature13399
S. W. Hawking. (2014) Information Preservation and Weather Forecasting for Black Holes. Cornell University Library . arXiv: 1401.5761v1
- September 27, 2014
- 01:29 PM
- 1,164 views
Are Black Holes just in Our Imagination?!
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Black holes, physicists have been fighting over them forever, heck there is even a book entitled the black hole war! (which I do recommend for anyone interested) It’s no real surprise since they are the ultimate unknown – the blackest and most dense objects in the universe that do not even let light escape. And as if they weren't bizarre enough to begin with, now add this to the mix: they don’t exist.... Read more »
Laura Mersini-Houghton. (2014) Backreaction of Hawking Radiation on a Gravitationally Collapsing Star I: Black Holes?. Physics Letters B. arXiv: 1406.1525v1
Laura Mersini-Houghton, Harald P. Pfeiffer. (2014) Back-reaction of the Hawking radiation flux on a gravitationally collapsing star II: Fireworks instead of firewalls . Physics Letters B. info:/arXiv:1409.1837
- June 22, 2014
- 10:23 AM
- 1,148 views
The Love Song of Philo T. Farnsworth
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Philo Farnsworth, if the name sounds vaguely familiar than you might just be a Futurama watcher. If you don't watch and know who I'm talking about or even better are a fan then, "YAY!" and for those of you who don't know, don't sweat it you're not alone. One of the forgotten greats, Farnsworth should be a household name, namely because one of his biggest inventions is in practically every home.... Read more »
The associated press. (2006) Elma Gardner Farnsworth, 98, Who Helped Husband Develop TV, Dies. The New York Times. info:/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/arts/television/03farnsworth.html?_r
Edwin Cartlidge. (2007) The Secrete way of Amateur Fusion. Physics World. info:/http://physicsworldarchive.iop.org/index.cfm?action
HarperCollins. (2005) The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television E. I. Schwartz (New York: HarperCollins-Perennial, 2002) 323 pages. Reviewed by A. L. Johnson. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 52(3), 404-405. DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2005.851523
- May 28, 2014
- 04:32 PM
- 1,147 views
Diet Soda and Weight loss
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
A quick google for the term diet soda will show you a wide range of “health issues” related to drinking diet drinks. But thankfully a new study sheds light on the truth behind the diet soda and weight loss myth.... Read more »
Peters John C, Wyatt Holly R, Foster Gary D, Pan Zhaoxing, Wojtanowski Alexis C, Vander Veur Stephanie S, Herring Sharon J, Brill Carrie, & Hill James O. (2014) The effects of water and non-nutritive sweetened beverages on weight loss during a 12-week weight loss treatment program. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 22(6), 1415-1421. PMID: 24862170
- May 16, 2014
- 02:25 PM
- 1,146 views
MORE Science Fact and Fiction Behind Fat Loss
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
I was shocked by the huge response to my first post on the science behind weight loss, so much so that I wanted to do a second post in the series […]... Read more »
Hana Kahleova, Lenka Belinova, Hana Malinska, Olena Oliyarnyk,, Jaroslava Trnovska, Vojtech Skop, Ludmila Kazdova, Monika Dezortova,, & Milan Hajek, Andrea Tura, Martin Hill, Terezie Pelikanova. (2014) Eating two larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch) is more effective than six smaller meals in a reduced-energy regimen for patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised crossover study. Diabetologia. info:/10.1007/s00125-014-3253-5
Te Morenga, L., Howatson, A., Jones, R., & Mann, J. (2014) Dietary sugars and cardiometabolic risk: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of the effects on blood pressure and lipids. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.113.081521
Lombardo, M., Bellia, A., Padua, E., Annino, G., Guglielmi, V., D’Adamo, M., Iellamo, F., & Sbraccia, P. (2014) Morning Meal More Efficient for Fat Loss in a 3-Month Lifestyle Intervention. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 1-8. DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2013.863169
Andersson DP, Eriksson Hogling D, Thorell A, Toft E, Qvisth V, Näslund E, Thörne A, Wirén M, Löfgren P, Hoffstedt J.... (2014) Changes in Subcutaneous Fat Cell Volume and Insulin Sensitivity After Weight Loss. Diabetes care. PMID: 24760260
Fletcher, G., Dawes, J., & Spano, M. (2014) The Potential Dangers of Using Rapid Weight Loss Techniques. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 36(2), 45-48. DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000043
Lasikiewicz, N., Myrissa, K., Hoyland, A., & Lawton, C. (2014) Psychological benefits of weight loss following behavioural and/or dietary weight loss interventions. A systematic research review. Appetite, 123-137. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2013.09.017
- July 23, 2014
- 01:21 PM
- 1,143 views
Voyager has hit interstellar space…. maybe?
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Poor Voyager, he just can’t catch a break. We’ve said it’s hit interstellar space more times than we want to admit and in 2012, the Voyager mission team announced that […]... Read more »
G. Gloeckler, & L. A. Fisk. (2014) A test for whether or not Voyager 1 has crossed the heliopause. Geophysical Research Letters. info:/10.1002/2014GL060781
- August 9, 2014
- 01:45 PM
- 1,134 views
Marijuana and the Developing Brain
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
You can’t get away from it, the big marijuana debate here in the US. Is it good? Is it bad? What are other countries doing? There are also a lot of claims made about marijuana, most of which aren’t true, namely the big medical claims. Then there is the other side of that fence, what about some of the health issues that are claimed, where does science sit on that?[…]... Read more »
Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, Jeffries NO, Rajapakse JC, Vaituzis AC, Liu H, Berry YC, Tobin M, Nelson J, & Castellanos FX. (1999) Development of the human corpus callosum during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology , 23(4), 571-88. PMID: 10390717
Giedd, J. N. (2004) Structural magnetic resonance imaging of the adolescent brain. Adolescent Brain Development: Vulnerabilities and Opportunities. info:/
Friese B, & Grube JW. (2013) Legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use among youths. Drugs (Abingdon, England), 20(1), 33-39. PMID: 23641127
Chadwick B, Miller ML, & Hurd YL. (2013) Cannabis Use during Adolescent Development: Susceptibility to Psychiatric Illness. Frontiers in psychiatry, 129. PMID: 24133461
Lisdahl, K., Wright, N., Medina-Kirchner, C., Maple, K., & Shollenbarger, S. (2014) Considering Cannabis: The Effects of Regular Cannabis Use on Neurocognition in Adolescents and Young Adults. Current Addiction Reports, 1(2), 144-156. DOI: 10.1007/s40429-014-0019-6
Choo EK, Benz M, Zaller N, Warren O, Rising KL, & McConnell KJ. (2014) The impact of state medical marijuana legislation on adolescent marijuana use. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 55(2), 160-6. PMID: 24742758
Joffe A, American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse, & American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Adolescence. (2004) Legalization of marijuana: potential impact on youth. Pediatrics, 113(6), 1825-6. PMID: 15173518
- May 8, 2014
- 01:00 PM
- 1,127 views
Is that Good Science? A Guide to Cutting through BS
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Part of getting an education isn’t about learning what to think, it is about learning how to find good information. When it comes to scientific literature [especially on-line], it’s hard […]... Read more »
White Peter. (2012) Practice, practitioner, or placebo? A multifactorial, mixed-methods randomized controlled trial of acupuncture. Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain, 153(2), 455-462. DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2011.11.007
Lovejoy S. (2014) Scaling fluctuation analysis and statistical hypothesis testing of anthropogenic warming. Climate Dynamics, 42(9-10), 2339-2351. DOI: 10.1007/s00382-014-2128-2
- June 3, 2014
- 02:00 PM
- 1,117 views
Will genetically engineer bacteria for Biofuel
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Utter the word biofuel in the wrong circles and someone is likely to be stabbed. Let’s just say that the topic can be polarizing, but for good reason. Biofuel offers […]... Read more »
Daehwan Chung, Minseok Cha, Adam M. Guss,Janet Westpheling. (2014) Direct conversion of plant biomass to ethanol by engineered Caldicellulosiruptor bescii. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. info:/10.1073/pnas.1402210111
- May 13, 2014
- 02:00 PM
- 1,112 views
Climate Talks and Game Theory: A better Approach
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Climate change talks, it’s like yelling at a wall and hoping it becomes a window. For over two decades, members of the United Nations have tried to forge an agreement […]... Read more »
Smead, R., Sandler, R., Forber, P., & Basl, J. (2014) A bargaining game analysis of international climate negotiations. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2229
- December 2, 2015
- 08:18 PM
- 1,100 views
Our pale blue dot in the wake of destruction
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
This is our home, that pale blue dot, dwarfed by an arrow that takes up less space on your screen than this sentence. For all our might and “overwhelming” intelligence, if we flexed our mental might and developed a weapon to destroy this pale blue dot, it would almost certainly go unnoticed in the universe.... Read more »
Carl Sagan. (2007) The Voyager 1 spacecraft image shows the earth as a pale blue dot against the black of deep space. Science Direct. DOI: 10.1016/B978-008044045-3/50001-3
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