Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Centipede Discovered in Deep Cave - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/centipede-discovered-in-deep-cave432/
Recently, a new species of centipede was discovered in the deep caves of Croatia by scientists abroad. Given its location in the Mediterranean, the specimen was aptly named after the Underworld of Greek legend and its ruler, Hades. However, the scientific name for this many-legged being is Geophilus hadesi.
Hades centipede is thus far one of only two species of centipede discovered to live underground
The members of the team of scientists found the specimen in three caves in the Velebit mountain range, among a group of species known as the geophilomorphs that sometimes surface.
But this centipede spends its entire life underground.
Just like all discoveries of cave creatures, this one shows an animal with atypical characteristics often attributed to beings of dark, dank environments.
To survive, the underground creature is equipped with powerful jaws, poison glands, long antennae, and long, curved claws in its legs that it uses to hold its prey. This centipede is carnivorous and eats other invertebrates, and it’s not alone down there.
Just as Hades has his Persephone, the centipede has its companion.
The species of centipede is considered by the scientists to be one of the top bosses of the food chain of the cave system. However, it is not alone down there.
The region the centipede was found in reaches around ninety miles in the Croatian Dinaric Karst.
Otherwise, it is a critical juncture in which underground dwelling creatures can be found. Some of them are known to science, others are waiting to be discovered. The lead author of the study, Professor Pavel Stoev of the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia, Bulgaria knew when he first saw the creature and its unique characteristics that they had found something new that was perfectly adapted to its underground environment.
It is just a reminder to everyone how little is known about deep cave systems, their habitats, and their inhabitants. In just this one region, there is still ninety miles of exploration to explore will potentially undiscovered creatures to find. The find and study about the centipede, Geophilus hadesi was published in the journal Zookeys, describing its uniqueness and other such findings.
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Centipede Discovered in Deep Cave
The future of movies. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/jaunt-neo-virtual-reality-cameras-pave-the-way-for-virtual-reality-film-making-234/
These days it seems as though the movie theater experience is focused more on making the experience more and more immersive with every film. 3D has made a comeback since the 80s and it looks like it’s here to stay, and some theater companies offer you the chance to move and vibrate as if you were in the actual film. However involved 3D and moving movie theater seats make the viewer feel, there is nothing quite as immersive as virtual reality. That’s why Jaunt Studios is developing the technology to create flawless virtual reality film making with what has been dubbed the Jaunt “Neo”.
Who exactly is Jaunt to take on such an ambitious project?
Jaunt is a team of visionary engineers and business people with one goal in mind: to transport the viewer entirely to another plane for a short time through fully immersive virtual reality film making techniques.
The idea for the Jaunt NEO was essentially born out of the idea of never truly having to be more than a virtual reality headset away from anywhere you can imagine.
E3 the electronic gaming conference showed that the demand for virtual is going to be very real in the next couple of years, and while the Jaunt NEO likely won’t be available to consumers right away because they aren’t going to be produced in large quantities, their team is going to revolutionize the way we watch movies.
What makes the Jaunt NEO’s virtual reality design so innovative?
NEO was built from the ground up after years of extensive research by a team of brilliant minds. Says Arthur Van Hoff the co-founder of Jaunt, “With NEO we have overcome many of the technical hurdles of producing high quality cinematic VR experiences. NEO is the culmination of several years of research, its image quality and ease-of-use will allow creatives to focus on producing awesome content without the complexity of cameras built from off-the-shelf components not designed for VR.”
Using its 360 degree camera design, and advanced rendering software to create flawless video content, every part on the Jaunt NEO has been carefully chosen to be the best. Jaunt promises to change the way we view video content forever with the Jaunt NEO camera systems.
What is reality lately? MUSIO can be your virtually real friend:
Jaunt NEO Virtual Reality Cameras Pave the Way for Reality Film-Making
The wolves you love won"t be leaving so soon. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/us-litter-of-endangered-mexican-grey-wolf-puppies-born-in-chicago-224/
Absolutely adorable, but also extremely endangered, a litter of Mexican Grey Wolves were born at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois much to the delight of conservationists. The Zoo is thrilled to have the puppies, not only because they are a now an attraction that will draw in visitors by the droves to see the pint-sized predators, but also because this is a huge step in restoring the critically endangered Mexican Grey Wolf population.
Sad state of affairs concerning the numbers of Mexican Grey Wolves
It is unfortunate that the numbers of wolves have dwindled so low, but the outlook is bright for the species considering a jump in numbers that they’ve had in the wild according to Arizona Game and Fish director Larry Voyles, “In 2010, there were 50 Mexican wolves in the wild; today there are 109, a more than doubling of the population in Arizona and New Mexico. With our Mexican wolf population consisting of wild-born wolves, we expect the growth rates observed this year to continue into the future.”
These figures offer a glimmer of hope for the species which at one point was on the brink of extinction, and with continued efforts the species could once again be abundant.
Newest members of the Brookfield Zoo family
The pups were born in late May, but this is first opportunity that zoo-goers have had to view the tiny canines. While they were born in Chicago, chances are that the pups will move around several times during their lives to help promote efforts of repopulation.
According to the Brookfield Zoo’s new brief on the pups, “Although this particular litter was born too late in the season to be a part of USFWS’s pup-fostering efforts occurring with wild wolves, all the puppies are potential candidates for future release to the wild when they are adults.”
Brookfield is well established in its practice of fostering wolves, in fact the first successful Mexican Grey Wolf raised in captivity, and then released in the wild, came from the Brookfield Zoo.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services is currently monitoring the ongoing effort to renew populations of the once numerous Mexican Grey Wolf. In fact, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services published a chart showing the increase from only 4 Mexican Grey Wolves left in the wild in 1998 to the over 100 that live in the wild today. At one point it looked as though the world was going to lose the Mexican Grey Wolf forever, but thanks to zoos like Brookfield for housing these precious grey pups the wolves have a fighting chance at survival.
If these cute critters don’t make you love ecology, I don’t even know if Atmoph can. Worth a try:
US: Litter of Endangered Mexican Grey Wolf Puppies Born in Chicago
4 New Ways to Use Sperm - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/4-new-ways-to-use-sperm654/
You remember when, sometime in eighth grade, your science teacher put on a movie instead of teaching and you ended up watching sperm race up the cervix to the classic soundtrack of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture?
I know a few minds from which that image has never left.
But sperm are special. They are their own cells, they have their own mind, and they can literally smell when an egg is released. They pack half the building blocks needed for human life! But not everyone wants to get pregnant… So, here are some new ways to use sperm!
Invisible Ink:
Apparently, there was a lot of excitement in the British Intelligence during the first World War, because they discovered perhaps the strangest of ways to use sperm. While researching for invisible inks, someone had the great idea to write secret messages in semen. Apparently, semen was undetectable with the common methods, but as we know, it reacts to UV lights. The plan went through many stages, and seemed practical. So, if you don’t mind a little bit of a smell, you could write some very special love letters.
Stomach Pains:
Sperm has been used in history to soothe stomach pains, but there actually seems to be some science behind it. When your stomach lining has been damaged, a dose of sperm may be helpful. The stomach heals with a decent blood flow, and the prostaglandins and oxytocin in sperm can help encourage that. Misoprostol, an anti-ulcer drug, acts the same way. But don’t swap your medicine cabinet out just yet. Painkiller duty may be one of the many ways to use sperm, but it won’t cure what ails you.
Increases Mental Concentration:
College students rejoice! Swallowing stimulates your memory and concentration. It may have something to do with the power each swimmer has, or similar to like stomach pains, blood flow through the body really helps. Especially to the brain. Cerebral blood flow increases your ability to retain information, and focus on getting that midterm taken care of.
Cooking:
Yeah, cooking can be a little nuts, it seems. John’s little swimmers pack a lot of protein, and the word around campus is that they add a little something extra to the culinary world. You can use semen in a few fun things, including sushi, or some very adult alcoholic beverages. I suppose to be safe you’d have to get tests done on your chosen donations, but if you want to check out some spunky recipes, you can peruse this site, or look for Fotie Photenhauer’s cookbook, “Natural Harvest.”
Guess this brings a new meaning to the phrase “got a bun in the over.”
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4 New Ways to Use Sperm
Why don"t you believe? Why do you believe? Find out why. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/skeptical-about-human-evolution-it-may-be-your-thinking-style-234/
A study recently published in the journal Cognition explains that some people may be more skeptical of human evolution as a result of their cognitive styles. Analytical thinkers are more likely to favor human evolution, while intuitive thinkers believe in creationism.
Did the Human Brain Evolve to Include Skepticism of Human Evolution?
While natural selection is widely accepted in the scientific community today, there is still great debate about the validity of the science particularly in religious groups who adhere to creationist beliefs. A new study conducted by psychologist Will Gervais suggests that the very evolution of the brain is the reason why the debate about human evolution still exists.
Gervais, an assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Kentucky, conducted the experiment to measure a number of factors, including cultural, religious and political influence, and the extent to which these factors affected a person’s belief in evolution. The findings showed an association between a person’s final decision on evolution’s validity and his or her specific cognitive processing style.
How the Human Brain Thinks: Analytical and Intuitive Cognitive Styles
Gervais divided the test subjects, hundreds of undergraduate students from Kentucky, into two groups according to cognitive style: analytical cognitive thinkers and intuitive cognitive thinkers.
The analytical cognitive thinker is better at processing knowledge through evaluating, reasoning, judging, and computing information. On the other hand, the intuitive thinker is better equipped to use a more non-judgmental approach to acquiring knowledge without using inferences to reason.
Analytical thinkers must rely on facts, figures, and evidence, while intuitive thinkers rely on a more spiritual notion and their deep, inner feelings on the subject.
Analytical Brains Think Evolution, Intuitive Brains Believe Creationism
Gervais found that the analytical thinkers were more likely to believe in human evolution, even when they were strongly religious. The intuitive thinkers, by contrast, had an easier time rejecting the theory of evolution. He noted that more of the analytical thinkers had less religious beliefs than their intuitive counterparts.
One of Dr. Gervais’s theories is that evolution developed the human brain to accept either evolution or creationism because, as humans, we tend to believe in sense, purpose, and order. The analytical brain thinks that evolution is the key to sense and purpose and the intuitive brain believes that creationism is the order in which sense and purpose is found.
The human brain is a marvelous creation and whether we believe in creationism or evolution, this research concludes our specific cognitive style provides a mental predisposition to that belief.
Psychology is too fascinating. Use it for good with Pavlok:
Skeptical About Human Evolution? It May Be Your Thinking Style
Maybe we"re more different than we think. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/do-males-and-females-experience-pain-differently-uab-study-says-yes-233/
A new study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that males and females may experience pain differently, using different biological systems when processing pain. The findings may lead to alternative pain therapies for each gender while promoting equality in using lab animal test subjects from both sexes.
Study Suggests Pain Receptors May Differ in Males and Females
A team of researchers led by Dr. Robert Sorge at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have published a study that suggests males and females may process pain differently. The study was published this week online in Nature Neuroscience. The findings have contradicted popular assumptions that men and women experience the same pain because we share a common pain circuit.
It follows that the genders should experience pain differently because different sex-related hormones may affect the pain receptors. Current research suggests that each sex uses its own biological system to process pain, which accounts for the different sensitivity to pain.
Alternative Pain Therapies for Different Genders
Past experiments examined the importance of the immune system’s microglia cells in pain processing. When microglia is activated by injury, it releases a chemical that sends a message to neurons in the spinal cord which essentially tells our bodies we’re in pain. Now, recent research has proven the immune system is an even bigger player in pain response as it works in tandem with the nervous system but differs among males and females.
The new study reveals that the microglia process occurs only in male mice as female mice instead use T-cells, a cell that plays a crucial role in the immune system, to produce the same pain response. Researchers did note that the female mice could use the male process, but only did so under specific circumstances.
Dr. Robert Sorge, the study’s lead researcher, believes new findings will help promote more effective therapies for each sex.
“Females could respond better to a treatment that is different from what is prescribed for males — that’s something we as researchers were not looking at before, and this study has helped us uncover that need,” said the assistant psychology professor at UAB.
Sex Equality in the Lab, Using Male and Female Lab Animals
Though women suffer from chronic pain in much greater numbers than men according to the CDC, the sex difference between pain responses has never been discovered until now. Sorge and the other researchers point to the fact that most research is conducted on male rats and mice.
However, in a recent announcement, the U.S. National Institutes of Health have announced a mandatory policy to use female animals in the pre-clinical research.
As Sorge and his team of researchers concluded, the female lab animals and their cell lines will ensure that problems that are sex-related will be more easily identified.
“The current findings from this paper are an excellent example of the wisdom of this policy,” Sorge said.
If males and females experience pain differently, does Pavlok would work better on a particular gender?
Do Males and Females Experience Pain Differently? UAB Study Says Yes