Oct. 21, 2023 9:00 am ET
(1 min)
The parabrachial nuclear complex (PBN) is a nexus for aversion and for the sensory and affective components of pain perception. We have previously shown that during chronic pain PBN neurons in anesthetized rodents have amplified activity. We report a method to record from PBN neurons of behaving, head-restrained mice while applying reproducible noxious stimuli. We find that both spontaneous and evoked activity are higher in awake animals compared with urethane anesthetized mice. Fiber photometry of calcium responses from calcitonin-gene-related peptide–expressing PBN neurons demonstrates that these neurons respond to noxious stimuli. In both males and females with neuropathic or inflammatory pain, responses of PBN neurons remain amplified for at least 5 weeks, in parallel with increased pain metrics. We also show that PBN neurons can be rapidly conditioned to respond to innocuous stimuli after pairing with noxious stimuli. Finally, we demonstrate that changes in PBN neuronal activity are correlated with changes in arousal, measured as changes in pupil area.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The parabrachial complex is a nexus of aversion, including pain. We report a method to record from parabrachial nucleus neurons of behaving mice while applying reproducible noxious stimuli. This allowed us to track parabrachial activity over time in animals with neuropathic or inflammatory pain. It also allowed us to show that the activity of these neurons correlates with arousal states and that these neurons can be conditioned to respond to innocuous stimuli.
The lightless deep sea is swirling with life.
New footage captured in the “twilight zone” — areas of the ocean starting at around 100 meters (330 feet) deep where sunlight can’t reach — reveals a world teeming with often otherworldly organisms: long chains of creatures, tentacled life, defensive ink blasted into the water, and beyond.
These creatures were filmed around the Geologist Seamounts just south of the Hawaiian islands. The expedition, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ocean exploration division, allowed scientists to drop a sleek deep sea exploration vehicle, called Mesobot, into these dark waters. These remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, can be intrusive to deep ocean life, but Mesobot, with a slim design and slow-moving propellers, is designed to avoid frightening wildlife away.
An international team of scientists headed by the University of Bonn has developed a novel type of nanomotor. It is driven by a clever mechanism and can perform pulsing movements. The researchers are now planning to fit it with a coupling and install it as a drive in complex machines.
The “law of increasing functional information” says that complex systems in nature evolve to become more complex.
A new method of producing an ultra-bright light which breaks traditional laws of particle physics could potentially spark a technological revolution.
The ultra-bright light, a form of ‘coherent light’, is created by particles moving in synchrony rather than independently. This synchrony creates incredibly fast, intense pulses that operate on a scale of atto-seconds – or one thousandth of a millionth of a billionth of a second.
While machines that can currently create ultra-bright light are miles long, scientists have now produced plans for a light source that can fit into a single room. The discovery could create a “mini-societal, technological and scientific revolution”, the researchers behind the development told BBC Science Focus.
Particle accelerators are crucial tools in a wide variety of areas in industry, research, and the medical sector. The space these machines require ranges from a few square meters to large research centers. Using lasers to accelerate electrons within a photonic nanostructure constitutes a microscopic alternative with the potential of generating significantly lower costs and making devices considerably less bulky.
Until now, no substantial energy gains have been demonstrated. In other words, it has not been shown that electrons really have increased in speed significantly. A team of laser physicists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has now succeeded in demonstrating the first nanophotonic electron accelerator – at the same time as colleagues from Stanford University.
Space Colonization
Posted in mapping, space travel
Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates
While humans have long thought of gods living in the sky, the idea of space travel or humans living in space dates to at least 1,610 after the invention of the telescope when German astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote to Italian astronomer Galileo: “Let us create vessels and sails adjusted to the heavenly ether, and there will be plenty of people unafraid of the empty wastes. In the meantime, we shall prepare, for the brave sky-travellers, maps of the celestial bodies.” [1]
In popular culture, space travel dates back to at least the mid-1600s when Cyrano de Bergerac first wrote of traveling to space in a rocket. Space fantasies flourished after Jules Verne’s “From Earth to the Moon” was published in 1,865, and again when RKO Pictures released a film adaptation, A Trip to the Moon, in 1902. Dreams of space settlement hit a zenith in the 1950s with Walt Disney productions such as “Man and the Moon,” and science fiction novels including Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950). [2] [3] [4].
Now Edelbroek is CEO of SpaceBorn United, a biotech startup seeking to pioneer the study of human reproduction away from Earth. Next year, he plans to send a mini lab on a rocket into low Earth orbit, where in vitro fertilization, or IVF, will take place. If it succeeds, Edelbroek hopes his work could pave the way for future space settlements.
“Humanity needs a backup plan,” he says. “If you want to be a sustainable species, you want to be a multiplanetary species.”
Beyond future space colonies, there is also a more pressing need to understand the effects of space on the human reproductive system. No one has ever become pregnant in space—yet. But with the rise of space tourism, it’s likely that it will eventually happen one day. Edelbroek thinks we should be prepared.