Offbeat

Robotic Cats in Scotland

Vets have been trying to explain strange symptoms in 21 cats that arrived at Strathbogie Veterinary Centre, Huntly, and Morven Veterinary practice, Alford, both in North-East Scotland, between 2001 and 2010.

Marijuana-Like Chemicals May slow Progression of AIDS

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have discovered that marijuana-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can directly inhibit a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found in late-stage AIDS, according to new findings published online in the journal PLoS ONE.

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Exercise Can Lead to Female Orgasm

Findings from a first-of-its-kind study by Indiana University researchers confirm anecdotal evidence that exercise — absent sex or fantasies — can lead to female orgasm.

U.S. Could Face Risk from “Kissing Bugs”

In all likelihood, Darwin’s nighttime visitor was a member of Reduviid family of insects — the so-called kissing bugs because of their habit of biting people around the mouth while they sleep.

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Sex-Deprived Fruit Flies Could Provide Answers to Human Addictions

After being deprived of sex, male fruit flies, known as Drosophila melanogaster, may turn to alcohol to fulfill a physiological demand for a reward.

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Ancient “Graffiti” Unlock the Life of the Common Man

History is often shaped by the stories of kings and religious and military leaders, and much of what we know about the past derives from official sources like military records and governmental decrees.

How Marijuana Impairs Memory

A major downside of the medical use of marijuana is the drug’s ill effects on working memory, the ability to transiently hold and process information for reasoning, comprehension and learning.

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For Fish, Schreckstoff Smells Like Sugar

When one fish gets injured, the rest of the school takes off in fear, tipped off by a mysterious substance known as “Schreckstoff” (meaning “scary stuff” in German). Now, researchers reporting online on February 23 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology have figured out what that scary stuff is really made of.

Superbugs From Space Offer New Source of Electricity

Bacteria normally found 30km above the earth have been identified as highly efficient generators of electricity.

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Radical Theory Explains the Origin, Evolution and Nature of Life

The earth is alive, asserts a revolutionary scientific theory of life emerging from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects—for example, planets, water, proteins, and DNA—are animate, that is, alive. With its broad explanatory power, applicable to all areas of science and medicine, this novel paradigm aims to catalyze a veritable renaissance.

Tiny Amounts of Alcohol Dramatically Extend a Worms Life – But Why?

Minuscule amounts of ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, can more than double the life span of a tiny worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans, which is used frequently as a model in aging studies, UCLA biochemists report. The scientists said they find their discovery difficult to explain.

 

How Magic Mushrooms Work

Brain scans of people under the influence of the psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, have given scientists the most detailed picture to date of how psychedelic drugs work. 

Ancient Popcorn Discovered in Peru

Psychoative Mushrooms Studied

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have zeroed in on the dose levels of the “sacred mushroom” chemical capable of yielding positive, life-changing experiences, while minimizing the chance of transient negative reactions in screened volunteers under supportive, carefully monitored conditions.

The Foundations of Empathy are Found in the Chicken

A study has gained new insight into the minds of domestic hens, discovering, for the first time, that domestic hens show a clear physiological and behavioral response when their chicks are mildly distressed.

How Hemp Got High

A team of Canadian researchers has sequenced the genome of Cannabis sativa, the plant that produces both industrial hemp and marijuana, and in the process revealed the genetic changes that led to the plant’s drug-producing properties.

Single Dose of Hallucinogen May Create Lasting Personality Change

A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” was enough to bring about a measurable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, according to the Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted it.

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How Can Zombies Help Us Understand Society?

The British appetite for zombies is becoming a growing trend. From computer games and films to organised zombie walks though Britain’s cities, the proliferation of zombies seems to be everywhere. Yet, this high interest in zombies enables researchers to link zombie-like behaviours to current models of public attitudes and actions.

Flakes of Skin Reduces Indoor Air Pollution

Flakes of skin that people shed at the rate of 500 million cells every day are not just a nuisance — the source of dandruff, for instance, and a major contributor to house dust. They actually can be beneficial.

Why Does the Brain Prefer Opium to Broccoli?

Drug addiction has been a stubborn problem for thousands of years, but only in the last generation have scientists come to understand clearly one of the reasons: It causes lasting changes in brain function that are difficult to reverse.

 

Scientists Develop Real-Life Mr Spock ‘Tricoder’ to Reveal Contaminants in Earth and Sea

The world may seem painted with endless color, but physiologically the human eye sees only three bands of light — red, green, and blue.

 

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The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (Short film from 1916).

Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Bessie Love and Alma Rubens

Plot Summary: Coke Ennyday, the scientific detective, divides his own time in periods for “Sleep”, “Eat”, “Dope” and “Drink”. In fact he’s used to overcome every situation with drugs: consuming it to increase his energies or injecting it in his opponents to KO them. To help the police he discovers a contraband of opium (which he eagerly tastes) transported with “Leaping Fishes”, and the blackmail of a mysterious man who wants to marry the “fish blower” girl. Will Coke be able to free the girl ?

Johnny Rotten’s Graffiti: The New Heritage?

Archaeologists typically record and analyse the traces of past human activities. The caves of Lascaux in southern France are celebrated as a place where early humans made their marks on cave walls. The cave is now protected, and an exact replica is what the public now encounter.

The Narcotic Farm

A federal prison in Kentucky was a temporary home for thousands, including Sonny Rollins​, Peter Lorre​ and William S. Burroughs as well as a lab for addiction treatments such as LSD.

From 1935 to 1975, just about everyone busted for drugs in the U.S. was sent to the United States Narcotic Farm outside Lexington, Ky.

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From Russia…Krocodil Drug that Eats Junkies

WARNING: Contains shocking images

Oleg glances furtively around him and, confident that nobody is watching, slips inside the entrance to a decaying Soviet-era block of flats, where Sasha is waiting for him.

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Bath Salts Emerging as New Recreational Drugs

The use of bath salts as recreational drugs has greatly escalated in recent years. Researchers from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma describe an incident of a man experiencing significant agitation, paranoia, and hallucinations who also exhibited violent behavior upon his emergency department arrival.

Rising Winter Indoor Temperatures Linked to Obesity?

Increases in winter indoor temperatures in the United Kingdom, United States and other developed countries may be contributing to rises in obesity in those populations, according to UCL research published this month.

Elvis Presley, Constipation and Conspiracy

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ or simply ‘the King’. He became the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music.

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Leprosy Found in the Southern United States

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