Bipolar disorder – brain’s areas where extreme states are located
A recently published study reveals the areas of the brain where the extreme states that people with bipolar disorder can reach are located. Moods and emotions play a big role in our daily lives. They even influence how we deal with things – for example, whether we start the day feeling hopeful and energetic or grumpy and lethargic. This can affect whether we interpret events in a positive or negative light. In people with bipolar disorder, however, mood can change rapidly and unpredictably, leaving them “stuck” in either a low or high mood, which can have significant consequences. However, researchers don’t know exactly what causes such extreme mood swings. Now,…
Is there a Black Hole inside our Sun?
There’s a hole inside our Sun. A mass equivalent to 1,500 Earths has disappeared. Tracking this over time could change the way we see stars. There’s a hole inside our Sun. Right in the middle. A mass the size of 1,500 Earths has simply disappeared. Much of what we know about the Sun’s behavior says it should be there – but when we interpret the data encoded in the Sun’s light, that mass is nowhere to be seen. Analysis of the transmission of sound and light from the Sun’s surface using a new three-dimensional model, as opposed to the usual 2D models, suggests that the Sun has a much different…
Time Crystals – A Form of Matter That Changes Everything
Of all the names that have science fiction connotations, perhaps none are as mysterious or seemingly impossible as time crystals. The name may make you think of the movie “Back to the Future,” but the reality is much more interesting than the movie. Two different teams of researchers recently reported observing time crystals, or temporal crystals, which reinforces the idea that this theoretical state of matter can be created and observed. And indeed, these crystals can be grown even in a child’s bedroom! You’ve probably heard of crystal growing kits. But it takes nuclear sensors and lasers to help them reach their full potential. Read on to understand what they…
Your heart has a brain of its own, recent studies say
The heart has its own “brain.” Now, scientists have mapped out a detailed map of this little brain, called the intracardiac nervous system. The heart’s big boss is the brain, but nerve cells in the heart also have a say. These neurons are thought to play a crucial role in heart health, helping to fine-tune the heart’s rhythm and possibly protecting people against certain types of heart disease. But until now, this local control system has not been mapped in detail. Until recently, modern science perceived the heart as simply a pump that regulates the flow of blood in our bodies. But long before that, many cultures believed that the…
Is interstellar travel possible? Some arguments and questions
Interstellar travel is possible, says a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Georgia Gwinnett College. Through numerical simulations and computer calculations, they have observed that rotating black holes can be traversed. Scientists wanted to test whether Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey) in Christopher Nolan’s film “Interstellar” could survive crashing into Gargantua – a fictional, rotating, supermassive black hole about 100 million times the mass of our sun. The physical properties of this black hole were taken from the book written by Nobel laureate Kip Thorne, on which the film was based. Do rotating black holes make interstellar travel possible? These mysterious creatures called black holes are…
