Flashing glasses may offer hope for trauma survivors

Psychologists say they might be able to prevent or treat post-traumatic stress disorder using glasses with a pair of flashing lights.

Dr Peter Naish of the Open University said that sufferers process the lights in their brains in the same way as people in a hypnotic state.

Sometimes they can believe that their flashbacks are real, and that real life is just a dream.

And this is echoed in how they use their brains to see the lights.

Dr Naish said that some trauma survivors seem to be in a hypnotic state most of the time, and can suffer from extreme hallucinations.

In the case of one of the survivors of the London tube bombings of 2005, he said: “In her flashbacks, she thought she was in one of the trains still and was going to die, and in the much longer moments of lucidity, she thought she was lapsing into unconsciousness and her brain was playing tricks.”

For this woman, this state of confusion went on for a few days, and for at least a year clear flashbacks of the trauma continued.

Dr Naish and his colleague Dr Ksenja da Silva have developed a piece of equipment that may be able to work out who is at risk of the disorder.

They use an ordinary pair of sunglasses, with a light at each side, on the outside corner of the lens.

People put on the glasses and the lights are flashed one after another. The subject is then asked to tell the person running the experiment which light came on first.

The brain is divided into right and left hemispheres which carry out different functions. The psychologists were able to tell which side of the brain people were using most to tell which light came on first.

Normal subjects were using both hemispheres of the brain to tell which light flashed first. When there was a strong difference, it tended to be that people were using the left side of their brains to process the information.

But when some subjects were hypnotised, they tended to use the right sides of their brains to tell which light flashed first.

Prevention

After a traumatic event, debriefing by psychologists can prevent post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, but only 30% of people who have been in a disaster suffer from the disorder.

“Post-event, you don’t want to rush in and treat everybody,” said Dr Naish. He added that for people who are not likely to go on to suffer from PTSD, it may make things worse.

Dr da Silva tested 20 PTSD sufferers who were refugees in Slovenia, and found that they appeared to have brains that worked as if they were hypnotised all of the time.

They saw the light on the glasses first with the right sides of their brain, even though they were not under hypnosis.

The right half, or hemisphere, of the brain is believed to deal with overall or “global” information, rather than small details.

It is this side of the brain that Dr Naish thinks PTSD sufferers are relying on. He said: “It’s the sense that, I’m stressed out in my mind, don’t fuss me with details.”

Another group of Slovenian refugees who did not have post-traumatic stress disorder had brains that worked as normal – not using their right brains, as if they were not hypnotised.

The researchers hope that they may be able to use these brain patterns to help groups of people after a traumatic event, as well as improving therapy for individuals with PTSD.

Dr Naish said that it might be possible to use the flashing lights to try and “drag people back” if they were using their right brains too much. “There would also be other ways of encouraging the use of the other hemisphere,” he added.

The researchers presented their findings at the British Science Association Festival at Aston University in Birmingham. Together with colleagues, they are looking at hallucinations in people who do not have schizophrenia.

Professor Richard Abadi, of the University of Manchester, said that another group that commonly hallucinate are people with severe age-related blindness. These people see objects in their blind patches but they are very confident the objects are not real.

Many people who hallucinate think that the “visions” or the voices they hear are actually real, but the people he has talked to are pretty clear they are just “seeing something”.

Now he is particularly interested in talking to people who have severe visual problems but are quite young, under 30 years old, to see if they too experience hallucinations.

via BBC News – Flashing glasses may offer hope for trauma survivors.

Stone tools ‘change migration story’

… “I believe that multiple populations came out of Africa in the period between 120,000 and 70,000 years ago,” he said. “Our evidence is stone tools that we can date.”

Most of the tools are from far inland – hundreds of kilometres from the coasts. This means it was more likely humans migrated by land than in boats, he said.

The tools are found in areas that are often very inhospitable now, but which at the time would have been much more conducive to migration.

“During the period we’re talking about, the environments were actually very hospitable,” he told BBC News. “So where there are deserts today, there used to be lakes and rivers, and there was an abundance of plants and animals.”

The team found the stone tools – ranging from a couple of centimetres to nearly 10cm in size – in layers of sediment that they can date using sand and volcanic material found above and below the implements. The tools were mainly either spear heads or scrapers.

In particular, some tools were sandwiched in ash from the famous Toba eruption that geologists can date very accurately to 74,000 years ago.

Other species of early humans clearly left Africa before our species (Homo sapiens), but Dr Petraglia’s team thinks that the tools it has found are the type made by modern humans – and not those of Neanderthals, for instance.

Previous research has leaned heavily on examining the genetics of different modern populations to find out how long ago they shared a common ancestor – their African common ancestor.

Professor Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, said this genetic data showed humans left Africa around 60,000 years ago or even more recently.

He agreed that “these tools show that people were in these regions, but the genetic data show an exit from Africa of later than 60,000 years ago. The people in India could have died out.”

Dr Petraglia, however, suggested that researching these migrations using population genetics might not lead to accurate results, because all of the genetic studies were based on today’s people.

The absence of ancient DNA to make additional tests made this area of investigation much less reliable, he claimed.

Dr Petraglia’s team now hopes to continue its excavations in the region. “We have literally hundreds of projects in Europe and a handful in the Arabian-South Asian belt,” he said. …

via BBC News – Stone tools ‘change migration story’.

Minnesota’s Foam Home Goes on Sale

Can a house feel like a home if it’s made of foam?

That’s the question prospective homeowners in Minnesota are asking themselves after viewing the “Ensculptic” — a bizarre residence constructed almost entirely out of polyurethane foam.

Erected in 1969, the strange Minnetrista, Minn., property is now on the market for $237,000.The two-bedroom, three-bathroom residence boasts plenty of amenities, including a fireplace, an attached garage and a deck — but the real draw is its vaulted ceiling, rounded corners and curving walls.

Because there are so few right angles, it’s hard to know the house’s square footage, though broker Dayna Murray of Keller Williams Premier Realty estimates it at over 4,000 square feet, according to MyFoxTwinCities.com.

The foam residence is known to locals as the Mushroom House, Flintstone House or Hobbit House, but the family that built it preferred the name “Ensculptic” — short for environmental sculpture in plastic.Murray told MyFoxTwinCities that the house is structurally solid but requires some work on its heating, septic system and water line.

The foam building has earned a place in architecture history, but that doesn’t mean all homebuyers are bound to be interested in preserving it.

“Bring it back to its original glory or tear it down (approx. $9,000) and start fresh on your own land,” reads a real estate listing on Craigslist for the 8.4-acre property.

via Minnesota’s Foam Home Goes on Sale.

Massive blast ‘created Mars moon’

Scientists say they have uncovered firm evidence that Mars’s biggest moon, Phobos, is made from rocks blasted off the Martian surface in a catastrophic event.

The origin of Mars’s satellites Phobos and Deimos is a long-standing puzzle.

It has been suggested that both moons could be asteroids that formed in the main asteroid belt and were then “captured” by Mars’s gravity.

The latest evidence has been presented at a major conference in Rome.

The new work supports other scenarios. Material blasted off Mars’s surface by a colliding space rock could have clumped together to form the Phobos moon.

Alternatively, Phobos could have been formed from the remnants of an earlier moon destroyed by Mars’s gravitational forces. However, this moon might itself have originated from material thrown into orbit from the Martian surface.

Previous observations of Phobos at visible and near-infrared wavelengths have been interpreted to suggest the possible presence of carbonaceous chondrites, found in meteorites that have crashed to Earth.

This carbon-rich, rocky material, left over from the formation of the Solar System, is thought to originate in asteroids from the so-called “main belt” between Mars and Jupiter.

But, now, data from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft appear to make the asteroid capture scenario look less likely.

‘Poor agreement’Recent observations as thermal infrared wavelengths using the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) instrument on Mars Express show a poor match between the rocks on Phobos and any class of chondritic meteorite known from Earth.

These would seem to support the “re-accretion” models for the formation of Phobos, in which rocks from the surface of the Red Planet are blasted into Martian orbit to later clump and form Phobos.

“We detected for the first time a type of mineral called phyllosilicates on the surface of Phobos, particularly in the areas northeast of Stickney, its largest impact crater,” said co-author Dr Marco Giuranna, from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome.

These phyllosilicate rocks are thought to form in the presence of water, and have been found previously on Mars.

“This is very intriguing as it implies the interaction of silicate materials with liquid water on the parent body prior to incorporation into Phobos,” said Dr Giuranna.

“Alternatively, phyllosilicates may have formed in situ, but this would mean that Phobos required sufficient internal heating to enable liquid water to remain stable.”

Rocky blocksOther observations from Phobos appear to match the types of minerals identified on the surface of Mars. Thus, the make-up of Phobos appears more closely related to Mars than to asteroids from the main belt, say the researchers. …

via BBC News – Massive blast ‘created Mars moon’.

Widow remarries after children chose step-father from online ‘daddy shop’

A widow has remarried more than a decade after her husband’s death in a light plane crash after her two young children chose her future husband from a dating website.

Charlotte Morgan, 41, met her new husband Guy Bolam, 44, after her two children chose him from the online “daddy shop”.

The model-turned businesswoman had given up on meeting another man after her husband Richard “Fred” Bassett, was killed in a mid-air collision over Essex.

The former RAF pilot, 34, was one of three people killed during a mid-air collision between a Cessna 172 and a Yak 50 near Harlow, in April 2000.

But more than a decade after his death, Ms Morgan, the owner of a photographic agency, found love with Mr Bolam, a divorced father-of-one from North London.

She became engaged to Mr Bolam, after nine months after her two children, Zoe, then 11, and Will, nine, chose from thousands of other potential suitors online, The Times reported.

The family, including Mr Bolam’s daughter, Rose, 16, are now living under the one roof in a £1.3 million medieval timbered farmhouse near Ongar, Essex.

“I’d been on about five dates without the assistance of the children the year before, but there was just no spark so I gave up,” said Ms Morgan, a former Burberry model.

“Then Will said to me one day, ‘we need a new daddy. What are you going to do about it?’ He was 15 months old when his father died, so he had never known what it was to have a dad.

“Guy was the kids’ first and only choice and it turned out I was his first ever online date.”

Ms Mogan, who has retained her maiden name, added: “When they are involved in choosing their own stepfather, they certainly can’t moan about him.”

via Widow remarries after children chose step-father from online ‘daddy shop’ – Telegraph.

Ozone layer ‘is no longer disappearing and will return to full strength by 2048′

The ozone layer is no longer disappearing and could be back to full strength by the middle of this century, UN scientists have confirmed.

The phasing out of nearly 100 substances once used in products like refrigerators and aerosols has stopped the ozone layer being depleted further, although it is not yet increasing, according to a new United Nations report released last week.

And it claimed that international efforts to protect the ozone layer has averted millions of cases of skin cancer worldwide.

The ozone layer outside the polar regions is projected to recover to pre-1980 levels by 2048, although the annual springtime ozone hole over the Antarctic is not expected to recover until 2073.Ozone in the stratosphere is important because it absorbs some of the Sun’s dangerous ultraviolet radiation.

The report, published jointly by UNEP and the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is the first comprehensive update in four years on the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol phasing out chemicals which accelerate both ozone layer damage and climate change.

‘It (the Protocol) has protected the stratospheric ozone layer from much higher levels of depletion by phasing out production and consumption of ozone depleting substances,’ said the report.

The report was written and reviewed by 300 scientists and launched on the UN International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Given that many substances that deplete the ozone layer are also potent greenhouse gases, the Montreal Protocol ‘provided substantial co-benefits by reducing climate change,’ it added.

In 2010, reductions of ozone-depleting substances as a result of the Protocol, were five times larger than those targeted by the Kyoto Protocol, the greenhouse emissions reduction treaty.

‘Without the Montreal Protocol and its associated Vienna Convention atmospheric levels of ozone-depleting substances could have increased tenfold by 2050,’ Mr Steiner said.

‘This in turn could have led to up to 20 million more cases of skin cancer and 130 million more cases of eye cataracts, not to speak of damage to human immune systems, wildlife and agriculture.’

via Ozone layer ‘is no longer disappearing and will return to full strength by 2048′ | Mail Online.

Six foot long snake discovered in toilet in Poland

A 73-year-old Polish pensioner was shocked to find a 6.5-foot-long anaconda peering up out of her toilet bowl on Monday in her flat in Wroclaw, south-west Poland, local police said.

“After she raised the lid of the toilet seat, the lady saw a huge snake that wanted to slither out of the toilet bowl.

“She immediately slammed down the toilet lid and called us,” Pawel Petrykowski, a Wroclaw police spokesman, told AFP.

“She was certainly very frightened but managed to keep her wits about her,” he said.

After arriving on the scene, police and an employee from the local zoo managed to catch the reptile, which is native to South America.

“It must have somehow got into the toilet bowl via the plumbing pipes,” Mr Petrykowski said.

While the anaconda was taken to the zoo, police launched an investigation aimed at identifying its owner.

via Six foot long snake discovered in toilet in Poland – Telegraph.

Painting chimpanzee draws crowds to Rio zoo

The 26-year-old chimp has been producing paintings each day for three weeks at the Niteroi Zoo.Roched Seba, the animal’s trainer, said Jimmy had shown no interest in the toys and other diversions that chimpanzees typically enjoy.

In an effort to entertain the chimp, three weeks ago, Mr Seba brought some paints to the enclosure. Jimmy at times declines to paint if his cage is surrounded by too many gawkers.

But for at least 30 minutes a day, the chimp carefully dips his brush into plastic paint containers and uses broad, bold strokes to create his art.

An exhibition of Jimmy’s oeuvre is already in the works. But the chimp is not the first animal to wield a paintbrush. An African elephant called Brittany decorates canvases to be sold at the Milwaukee County Zoo’s gift shop to raise revenue.

The value of the animals’ output can be surprisingly high. A trio abstract paintings executed by a chimpanzee named Congo in the 1950s sold for $26,352 at a 2005 auction in London – an impressive figure considering that works by masters including Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Andy Warhol languished unsold. Pablo Picasso was rumoured to have hung a huge canvas by Congo on his studio wall after receiving it as a gift.

via Painting chimpanzee draws crowds to Rio zoo – Telegraph.

Wackiest insurance policies ever

Do you fear being abducted by aliens? Have you ever seen a UFO? If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, getting an alien abduction insurance may not be such a bad idea.However bizarre it may sound, you can actually get insurance against alien abduction. According to

Newser, British Insurance has made $3 million selling this policy to gullible Californians. But the company’s managing director admits it’s a joke. “Let’s face it,” he says, “Insurance is so tedious that if I can enlighten my dreary life with a bit of humour every now and again, I will.” Apparently the weird insurance is purchased usually by the weak minded.

With most people having a health, car, house and life insurance, companies are coming up with wacky insurance policies. Here’s a list of Asylum’s wackiest policies ever devised, reports Newser.

Immaculate Conception: Three Scottish virgins were so convinced that God might impregnate them that they took out a policy that would pay them $1.5 million if it happened.

Chest Hair: An unknown celebrity asked an insurance company to insure his manly chest rug for $7 million. Alas, he never took out the policy.

Giant Crab: When the Birmingham Sea Life aquarium took possession of a gigantic Japanese spider crab measuring 10-feet across, they assured the public wasn’t dangerous-then took out a $1.5 million policy against visitor death or dismemberment. …

via Wackiest insurance policies ever – Hindustan Times.

Chernobyl plant life endures radioactivity

The way Pripyat’s ecosystem seemed to shrug off the contamination caught the attention of the scientific world and in 2005, the UN even published a report about the phenomenon.Then, in 2007, a group of researchers wearing masks, goggles and gloves decided to investigate just how the plants were able to survive.

They went into the restricted area and planted soybean and flax seeds on a highly contaminated field just a few kilometres from the site of the accident, in the environs of Pripyat.

Then they sowed the same kind of seeds on a control field in the decontaminated region near the city of Chernobyl.

One of the researchers, Martin Hajduch from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, told BBC News that even though previous studies had analysed how genes mutated because of radioactivity, his team wanted to do something different.

They wanted to investigate the molecular mechanisms allowing plants to adapt to such a contaminated environment.

To do that, they waited for the plants to grow and produce new seeds and then examined their proteins.

“We decided to apply a… methodology called ‘proteomics’ that is capable of identifying hundreds of proteins,” said Dr Hajduch.

He explained that proteomics was a study of proteins – vital parts of all living organisms. …

The scientist noted that there were probably historic reasons why it was a lot easier for plants to get used to living in increased levels of radiation.

“It is just unbelievable how quickly this ecosystem has been able to adapt,” he said.

“[There must be] some kind of mechanism that plants already have inside them. Radioactivity has always been present here on Earth, from the very early stages of our planet’s formation.

“There was a lot more radioactivity on the surface back then than there is now, so probably when life was evolving, these plants came across radioactivity and they probably developed some mechanism that is now in them.” …

via BBC News – Chernobyl plant life endures radioactivity.