Another physics video, this time with Richard Feynman giving a lecture on wave-particle duality.

I discovered that MIT posted over a thousand videos of their lectures on YouTube, with lots of the videos being science and physics related. I wish I was less tired so that I could watch them, but here’s a video for you guys to watch.

The death of a neuron: what is the electrical activity observed after decapitation?

When a research animal needs to be killed for studying, researchers try to find the most humane way to kill the animal. However, sometimes the animal can’t be anesthetized in order to preserve the normal chemical balance in the brain, so at times researchers will decapitate the animals. Is this humane?

Multiple studies over past years have noticed that there is a spike in sum electrical activity in the brain (this is called an electroencephalogram, or EEG) around thirty seconds after decapitation. Does this mean that for a few seconds the animal might have some sort of consciousness or pain felt after death? Read more to read more about the possible cause behind this phenomenon.

edit: Found a neat picture of a small animal guillotine. I would hate to have to use one of those.

What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physics students in the third or fourth year of graduate school… It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don’t understand it. You see my physics students don’t understand it… That is because I don’t understand it. Nobody does.
Richard P. Feynman, from QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.

You Are Not So Smart: Misattribution of Arousal

I love David McRaney’s blog You Are Not So Smart. Today’s article discusses how arousal — that feeling of excitement or anxiousness, analogous to a long-term adrenaline rush — can confuse the brain. When we are in an aroused state, we have very little of an idea of what’s causing our arousal. So, our brain guesses from context clues, and this is not always accurate.

There is a reason playful wrestling can lead to passionate kissing, why a great friend can turn a heaving cry into a belly laugh. […] You settle on something – the person beside you, the product in front of you, the drug in your brain.

Fascinating read. Check the link to read the full article.

Autism Linked To Moms' Antidepressant Use

lookoutsideyourself:

This worries me. People with depression are already derided as bad parents, pill poppers, and what have you. If it turns out they’re giving their children autism, that’s even worse.

I suppose the most important line of the article is:

A lot of people might get a little worried about these findings and change something they’re doing — which they shouldn’t. It indicates to us that there’s more to look at.

Brain buster: How the human brain confuses between reality and metaphors

How light cones work and how to build a spacetime

I’m trying to understand general/special relativity a bit more.. it might be a bit too much for me.

The structure of the ribosome uncovered: an RNA base peppered with proteins

Francis Crick suggested decades ago that an RNA-based world without DNA could be the first step for abiogenesis. The general consensus couldn’t vet for his hypothesis back then, but now scientists have identified the structure of the ribosome. It actually appears that ribosomes are almost completely based on RNA with a few catalytic proteins along the edge to help with linking amino acid chains together.

Read the full article to understand the implications for the history of the living world.

Via jayeesyoues.
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Via jayeesyoues.

(via stabbygrass)