MVT备考日志（10.18）

MVTUID: 2588209

2010.03.04

TO LEARN BETTER, SLEEP ON IT

Wanna be lazy and productive at the same time? Try them out(a nap) because napping can improve leaning. So said UC berkeley's Matthew Walker on Feb. 21st at the meeting of (the) American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

He followed 2 groups of adults who went through rigorous memory exercises. Then one group took a 90 minutes news(snooze). And(In) follow up tests, the nappers performed even better than the first tries. The nonnappers got worse. This evidence supports that hippopotamus(the hypothesis that) sleeps basically(sleep, specifically) the (first) 70 to 90 minutes stage of sleep that the nap will come out(-the length of a common nap) clear(s out) those hippocampus, theory(the area) for short term memory.

Says Walker."Your memories don't remain(stay) in the same location. (,that) They'r actually transferred from one storage site to a different storage site. And (the) one storage site where it begins(they begin is a) structure (called the) hippocampus. And the end site where they may go is uping to(up into) the cortex, is a(this) large hard drive recpoir(reservoir of) information." After a nap, "your hippocamp(al) informational in-box of memory email is now cleared out." Definitely not a tired argument.

MVTUID: 2588209

END OF THE WORLD

At the recent tribling S(AAAS) meeting, Stony Brook University('s) Robert Crease talked about (a) doomsday scale(scare) involving Scientific American and (Brookhaven) National (Lab's Relativistic) heavy ion Collider, or (RHIC). "As the accelerator near(ed) the creation at(completion in) 1999. Scientific American (ran) an article about (RHIC, called) a little big bang with (the title referring to the) machine's ambition to study forms of matter in really(the early) unviverse.

A reader wrote in wondering if black holes might be created. Scientific American printed the letter with (a) considered response from physicist Frank Wilzcek. "Wilzcek said that the black hole theory is(scenario was) incredible, but he also said that (there's a) more likely possibility that (it) might increase strange(create strangelets, which would swallow ordinary) matter and described that as not plausible. They(That then) prompted theories(a series of headlines including this from the Sunday Times of London, entitled ') big bang machine (could destroy) earth." Scientific American, (Brookhaven and), the earth survived. Wilzcek (won) the Nobel prize in 2004 for his earlier work.

MVTUID: 2588209

2010.03.06

SUPER CHICKEN VISION

Bring home a buck(et) of fried chicken. And you may find that people have strong feelings about which part of the bird is the(/) best. Well, scientists in the(at) Washington U. in Santa Louis say that(/) the answer is the eyes. And this(At least) when you can(/) compare (them) to our own ocular implements, because chickens can see more colors than we do. Findings appeared in the Journal Public Libarary Science 1.

The ability to see colors comes from specialized lights and senses cells found in the (Retina). These cells called cones coming from(, come in) different flavors, each of which can detect different wave lens(wavelengths) of light. Humans have 3 kinds of cones. They(that) allow us to see red, green and blue. But birds have an extra cone for seeing voilet and ultravoilet light. What's more, these chicken cones are distributed evenly through out the Retina and enhancing the bird's ability to see colors all round the visual field.

(Woodpeckers, sparrows) and pigeons have a similar set upon of(setup in the) Retina department, which presumabaly get some(gives them an) advantage when it comes to finding mates or spotting bright(ly) color(ed) barriers(berries). It may also explain why the chicken cross the road. If u could see what he does, maybe u have out('d head over) there too.

MVTUID: 2588209

2010.03.07

WHY DOES SCHIZOPHRENIA APPEAR IN YOUNG ADULTS?

Schizophrenia typically shows up in young adults. for many attend(For men it tends) to emerge on(around) 20 to 28 years and peak on safe(onset for) women is between 26 and 32 years. But what triggers the disease during this particular period of time in one's life? Well past studies have shown that mutations in the(a) gene called DISC 1 are linked to schizophrenia. Now DISC1 enables a guide to new nerve cells served(sort of) like traffic cops that lead(sending) them to the right place to make the right connections on themselves(to other cells).

But recently, researchers partially shut off DISC1 in a mouse(lab mice). To see what happens when there's no traffic cop. And what they saw is a steady decrease in the size and number of (dendritic spines). of(,the) tiny branches of (the) nerve cell they(that) receive messages from the neighboring cells. The(ir) results are published in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience.

Connections between cells r constantly broken and forged throughout our lives. But there's (an) amazingly large amount of socalled ("pruning") during adolescence. So if this breaking of connection goes a rise(awry,) as it does when DISC1 is depleted. Then one might be at high risks of(for) schizophrenia. And so while the defective gene may be there both(at birth). Its effect does not show up until many years into one's life, post adolescence and young adult.

MVTUID: 2588209

2010.03.09

BIGGER ANIMALS KEEP A STIFF LOWER FOOT

Big cats or wolves seem like scaled up versions tapier tary(of the tabby or terrier) sleeping on your sofa. But the proportion do suddenly(subtly) change as animals get larger. For one thing, big animals' feet are smaller relative to their bodies than other(are) smaller beasts('). But they compansate with physics, according to a new research in the Journal of (the) Royal Society Interface.

When we think about animal look and motion(locomotion), whether it's walking, running, or just standing around, we usually focus on the bones and muscles than(in the legs and) feet. But for 4-leg(ged) critters, it's the footpad(s) outmostly(that ultimately) support the animal's weight. So, scientists decided to take a closer look at these natural shoes in different sizes(sized) carnivores including dogs, cats, wolves, l(eopards) and h(yenas). And they found that the relatively smaller footpad was said lappers(s of, say, leopards) r much stiffer than those so a(of) little (bitty) kitties. Apparently, so is(that) the big cats' feet can handle the stress of the great(er) body weight. If tigers pause resoft the(a tiger's paws were as soft as a) house cat, he did hypothize('d need hippo-sized) feet to stand.

It's said that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. But now we know (that) the bigger they are, the harder are their feet.

MVTUID: 2588209

RECYCLING SOME HOSPITAL WASTE (NOT THE REALLY GROSS KIND)

The food industry leads the nation in pounds of waste produced anually. So what's second(? It) is health care facilities. They dispose more than 4 billions pounds of wastes each year. Another shocker: a lot of that waste is perfectly functional. In fact, it hasn't been used at all. For instance, many surgical devices may be removed from parkinson(packaging,) but not used in an operation. They still get through on their(thrown) way.

Researchers from (Johns Hopkins) discussed the waste problem in the March issue of the journal Academic Medicine. They said(say) that 25-40% of equipment can be safely reused via what's called reprocessing. The materials need to go through careful treatment, such as cleaning, sterilization and (,at) times remanufacturing. But the study's author said(s say) that folling reprocessing, there's no different in safty anstrolity(and sterility).

In fact, Hopkins has already said that(saved) about (a) half million of(\) dollars by reprocessing and (Banner Health in Phoenix,) also mentioned in the study, saved $1.5m and vast amounts of waste. The researchers conclude that reprocessing offers the way for hospitals to reduce waste and costs. Sth. that, in the current health(care) debate, should appeared(appeal to) everyone on both sides of (the) political eye(aisle).

MVTUID: 2588209

2010.03.10

SINKING SHIPS IMPLY ALTRUISM TAKES TIME

When in ocean lanster(an ocean liner starts) taking on water, what governs whether it's women and children first, or everyman for himself? According to a report in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, men's altruistic (versus) selfserving behavior depends on how quickly the ship sinks.

On the evening of April 14th, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg. It(and) took nearly 3 hours to sleep underneath(slip beneath) the waves. Some 1500 people perished. And the survivors tend(ed) to be femal or young. The titanic's women were over 50% more likey to make it than were the males. Children had 15% better chance of being rescued than adults.

But kids r not lucky on the Lusitania, which, 3 years later, sank just 18 minutes after being hit by (a) German T(orpedo). In this situation, it truely was survive with physiest(survival of the fittest). With healthy young males being the most likely lived(to live) to tell the tale. Well passengers on Lusitania r panic(panicked) and scrambled for survival. Scientists say that those on the Titanic had enough time to overide their animal survival instincts and do the shivering(chivalrous) thing.