Tinnitus – Linked to a Crucial Bodily Function
Those who have never endured the relentless ringing of tinnitus can only dream of the torment. In fact, a bad dream may be the closest some get to experiencing anything like it. The subjective sound, which can also be a hissing, buzzing, or clicking, is heard by no one else, and it may be present constantly, or may come and go. Neuroscientists at the University of Oxford now suspect that sleep and tinnitus are closely intertwined in the brain. Their findings hint at a fundamental relationship between the two conditions – one that has, surprisingly, been overlooked in the brain until very recently. “What first made me and my colleagues…
About fractals. A pattern confirmed for the first time
Many people are fascinated by the beautiful images called fractals. Expanding beyond the typical perception of mathematics as a body of complicated, boring formulas, fractal geometry blends art with mathematics to demonstrate that equations are more than just a collection of numbers. What makes fractals even more interesting is that they are the best existing mathematical descriptions of many natural forms. The concept of “fractals” has become increasingly popular, although it first appeared more than two centuries ago, with a prominent and prolific mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz. Leibnitz is believed to have first addressed the notion of self-symmetry or self-similarity, but it was not until 1960 that the…
