Tetris changes the brain

A study in the journal BMC research notes, found that MRIs of brains showed that tetris increases the density of connections in the visuospatial working memory area of the brain's cortex.

Garden building

Wired mag article on vertical gardening.

What we eat: time mag photo essay

Time mag runs a photo essay showing supposedly what households around the globe eat in an average week.

Taste Test: natto, gooey fermented soy beans

Interesting article on Natto and whether soy is good or bad... Includes recipe for natto spaghetti.

Insurers using facebook to investigate claimants

Canadian insurance firm Manulife has reportedly cut a depressed woman’s benefits because photos showing her happy were posted on Facebook.

A curry a day keeps the doctor away

The BBC has been publishing articles about the wonderful health benefits of Turmeric. Apparently it has just been found to 'kill cancer cells dead', relieve the suffering due to arthritis, and prevent Alzheimers. Yum!

Cannabis protects the brain from binge drinking

Marijuana may protect the brain from some of the damage caused by binge drinking (drinking more than 4-5 units of alcohol in one night), according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego performed brain scans on 16- to 19-year-olds in three groups: binge drinkers, binge drinkers who also smoke pot, and those with very little drug or drinking experience.

Binge drinkers showed damage in their white matter. But those who drink and smoke showed more damage than the control group in only three of eight areas of the brain. In seven of the areas, their brains were in better shape than the binge drinkers.

Researchers said in a news release from the Marijuana Project that the result was unexpected.

They said it could be that marijuana somehow stops alcohol from damaging brain cells.

The study was published online by the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

Living close to Nature improves mental health

BBC reports that being around nature reduces depression, anxiety and a host of physical ailments:

Research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health says the impact is particularly noticeable in reducing rates of mental ill health.

The annual rates of 15 out of 24 major physical diseases were also significantly lower among those living closer to green spaces.

I guess living in a city is more shitty.

Nasal spray developed to improve memory

Long term memories are primarily encoded from the day's events during REM sleep (which is why pulling all-nighters cramming for an exam is a bad idea), now scientists have found that a nasal spray containing the immune system hormone interleukin-6 can help boost that REM sleep long-term memory formation. Smart drugs!

Slices of human body as seen by MRI

Looking at slices of MRI data (from the visible human project) going through a human body look a lot like cuts of steaks.

That shit will fuck you up

Scientists trying to solve the problem of how to get stem cells into the brain in the least harmful manner have discovered that snorting them might be the best bet.

Who owns what? "Organic" companies

Here is a map of what parent companies (some not so nice) that own "green" organic brands:


There have also been pesticide tests to determine what fruits and veggies are most important to buy organic and which are not-so-important.

Here are the must-buy organic fruits and vegetables:

* Apples
* Cherries
* Grapes, imported
* Nectarines
* Peaches
* Pears
* Raspberries
* Strawberries
* Bell peppers
* Celery
* Potatoes
* Spinach/lettuce


Don't worry about going organic with these fruits and vegetables:

* Bananas
* Kiwis
* Mangos
* Papaya
* Pineapples
* Asparagus
* Avocado
* Broccoli
* Cauliflower
* Onions

Glass microbiology

This artist has made a number of virus and bacteria glass works of art.

Oliver Sacks explains what hallucinations tell us about the human mind

Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnett syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations.

Psychedelic tumor visualization site

This medical site has gorgeous, psychedelic medical visualizations explaining cancer tumor growth.

The wonders of coffee never cease to amaze

I love coffee. Luckily for me, it not only tastes like choco-late but is also a wonderful healthy beverage as well as a mood altering energy booster.

Not only does coffee improve short-term memory (anything helps!), but apparently now they are finding out it can reverse some of the effects of Alzheimers disease in the elderly. It can also help protect the brain against the dopamine-deficiency related Parkinsons disease. Contrary to popular belief it does not raise blood pressure. Most recently, coffee drinking has been found to be protective of the liver, helping keep cirrhosis at bay.

It goes on and on having more anti-oxidants than tea apparently. It also halves the risk for gallstones, reduces the risk of colon cancer by 25%, manages asthma, boosts mood, reduces headaches and has antibacterial qualities which keep cavities at bay (if you don't put in sugar I assume).


Of course, the dark side is the cultivation of coffee beans in countries in the global 'South', for export purposes. Like environmental destruction by plantations and scandalously low pay to local farmers given the value of the product.
Some have said that coffee is the second largest $$ commodity traded internationally, second only to oil. Perhaps buying fair trade coffee is a baby step in the right direction here? Although fair trade is far from perfect, and corruption gets in everywhere... it certainly has its critics.

Known health effects of ketamine

Dr. 8 reports:

Ketamine is known to produce pretty hallucinations and a feeling of ego-decentralization as well as unfortunate loss of motor control. But other than the uncomfortable feeling of 'brain freeze' what is known about the long-term effects of using this relatively unstudied drug? Well in the interests of harm-reduction, the results are coming in...



K-pains, which were anecdotal evidence of severe pain in the abdomen for chronic users is now known to be damage to the renal-urinary system. Ulceritive cystitis is a scarring of the nephrons in the kidneys and renal tubes from accumulation of the sharp blade-like crystals. Also thickening of the bladder wall can cause urination to be more frequent.
See the recent article "Cystitis due to the use of ketamine"

Chronic use is associated with a wide-range of memory and perceptual deficits, but long-term use can cause lasting impairments, particularly in episodic-memory (memory for events) and problems with attentional control.
See the article "Beyond the K-hole: A 3-year longitudinal investigation..."

Ketamine is seen as the currently most accurate pharmaceutical way of inducing a schizophrenia like state and is being used to understand how schizophrenia works and possible new treatments for it:

ketamine leads to the impairments in brain circuitry observed in both drug abusers and schizophrenic patients by causing increased production of a toxic free radical called “superoxide.”

Which is no wonder such legendary K-heads like John Lilly started believing in delusions like he regularly communicated with space aliens, as it has been found that too much usage can make one superstitiously believe that there are meaningful connections between random events.

Ketamine was originally produced by Parke-Davis pharmaceuticals to replace the usage of the highly neurotoxic drug PCP. Black market buyers of 'ketamine' also have to be aware of the varieties of the equivalent of moonshine: bathtub-K, of which cheap and easily available dissociatives are substituted, like powdered DXM (Robitussen) and a wide variety of PCP variants.

All in all, good arguments for at least limiting any use of K to 'occasionally' I would think? My brain hurts....