Xpand Your Horizons is a growing online community that shares videos and other material aimed to intrigue people to think outside the box and expand the interest all around. The Xpand Your Horizons Family is sometimes shortened to "XYH" or "XYHor" here on Tumblr in our many secondary and more specific blogs. Our Family has compiled more than 60 playlists on YouTube now and has viewed every video to make sure that what is delivered is factual. If something appears questionable or the comment feedback alludes to mistakes, research is done and it is determined whether or not it's worth sharing. As of late, it is so easy to come across videos containing little to no actual research or are so heavily boggled down with opinions that you can find yourself in a battle of so-called "whits" on the internet. The Xpand Your Horizons Family doesn’t yet upload or produce any original content...yet... but we would like to make it known that We’re sharing all this contentbecause it's important to take Science seriously in a healthy and safe environment. Each playlist can be found on YouTube under the Xpand Your Horizons moniker and their specific topic(s) is/are displayed in the title, and further explanation is in their descriptions. Not all are academic inclined, some deal with pop culture as well as media. Enjoy!For more content, Click Here and experience this XYHor in its entirety!
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Latest Posts by xpandyourhorizons-blog - Page 2
AI-controlled brain implants for mood disorders tested in people
Brain implants that deliver electrical pulses tuned to a person’s feelings and behaviour are being tested in people for the first time. Two teams funded by the US military’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have begun preliminary trials of ‘closed-loop’ brain implants that use algorithms to detect patterns associated with mood disorders. These devices can shock the brain back to a healthy state without input from a physician.
The work, presented last week at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting in Washington DC, could eventually provide a way to treat severe mental illnesses that resist current therapies. It also raises thorny ethical concerns, not least because the technique could give researchers a degree of access to a person’s inner feelings in real time.
The general approach — using a brain implant to deliver electric pulses that alter neural activity — is known as deep-brain stimulation. It is used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, but has been less successful when tested against mood disorders. Early evidence suggested that constant stimulation of certain brain regions could ease chronic depression, but a major study involving 90 people with depression found no improvement after a year of treatment.1
The scientists behind the DARPA-funded projects say that their work might succeed where earlier attempts failed, because they have designed their brain implants specifically to treat mental illness — and to switch on only when needed. “We’ve learned a lot about the limitations of our current technology,” says Edward Chang, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who is leading one of the projects.
Holtzheimer, P.E., et al. Lancet Psychiatry. 4(11):839–849. (2017)
Today in Godsmack History marks the release of the lead single and title track “Awake” from Godsmack’s second studio album. The music video made for this single was filmed at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. The video contains footage of prisoners rioting and leaving the reformatory and seeing Godsmack play in the exercise yard inside a fenced-in area. The music video was produced by the band.
In an MTV online chat, Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna said that “Awake” is Godsmack “getting some closure, on a past relationship”. Erna then said: “That’s me getting closure on a relationship. I’m just saying that now I’m awake, and I’m able to deal with everything I have to deal with. Where before I felt like I was going to lose control without this person in my life. I’m saying that I’m okay now without that person”.
“Awake” was released to radio on October 3, 2000. "Awake" achieved mainstream success. The song was on the Mainstream Rock chart for 53 weeks and peaked at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. "Awake" also was on the Alternative Songs chart for 28 weeks and peaked at number 12 on the Alternative Songs chart. "Awake" was on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart for 24 weeks and peaked at number 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in 2001. "Awake" was nominated for the Rock Single of the Year category at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards. With the popularity of “Awake”, Godsmack’s album of the same name was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in March 2002.
There are three versions of “Awake”, the first version, which is the original version, appeared on Godsmack second studio album, Awake. The second version is a radio edit which appeared on the single release of the song and music video, and the third is an acoustic version called “Asleep”, which appeared on their EP, The Other Side.
The radio edit is the same song as the album version, just shortened. The album and acoustic versions have very similar lyrics but different sound. The acoustic version runs for 3:58, making it closer to the radio edit than the full album version.
This song was featured prominently in the Nash Bridges episode “Manhunt” that first aired on November 3, 2000. It was also featured in the game Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 and The One starring Jet Li.
Since the mid-2000s, the song has been featured extensively in the U.S. Navy’s “Accelerate Your Life” commercials. The Godsmack albumAwake’’s opening track, “Sick of Life,” would also be used in the campaign.
The song also made an appearance on several compilations including the band greatest hits album, Good Times, Bad Times… Ten Years of Godsmack, WWF Tough Enough, Kerrang: Life Is Loud, and Crusty Demons: Unleash Hell.
The song features as the background track in the promos of the 2006 Bollywood film Fight Club.
Although the song was featured in the United States Navy’s “Accelerate Your Life” commercials, Erna insists that Godsmack doesn’t support any war: “By no means has this band ever supported any war for any country or that we support government decisions or why we’re sticking our nose in other people’s business at times. What we support is our troops. And the women and men that go over there — or anywhere — to fight for our country and our lives and protect our freedom and I feel that.”
“I actually sympathize with a lot of the soldiers, and the military in general, that are trained to go out and protect for us, and what they have to go through, it’s really kind of shitty in a sense that these young kids have to go over there and die, sometimes, for something that isn’t our problem. And that kind of sucks. So what I have to do is at least support them, because they don’t have the choice that we do.”
Some critics say that the band’s young audience will now be influenced to join the military because of the popular tunes. However, Erna doubts very seriously that a kid is going to join the Marines or the United States Navy because they heard Godsmack as the underlying music in the commercial.
President Trump tweeted that he was putting that decision “on hold,” pending a review of “all conservation facts.”
The world mocks… as it should.
‘Tobacco at a cancer summit’: Trump coal push savaged at climate conference
The Trump team was heckled and interrupted by a protest song at the UN’s climate change summit in Bonn on Monday after using its only official appearance to say fossil fuels were vital to reducing poverty around the world and to saving jobs in the US.
While Donald Trump’s special adviser on energy and environment, David Banks, said cutting emissions was a US priority, “energy security, economic prosperity are higher priorities”, he said. “The president has a responsibility to protect jobs and industry across the country.”
Other attendees at the summit condemned the argument.
“Promoting coal at a climate summit is like promoting tobacco at a cancer summit,” said Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor and a UN special envoy for cities and climate change.
White House officials and business leaders appear at the event, titled The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA
Biologists create beetle with functional extra eye
On “Game of Thrones,” a three-eyed raven holds the secrets of the past, present and future in a vast fantasy kingdom. But for real-world biologists, a “three-eyed beetle” may offer a true glimpse into the future of studying evolutionary development.
Using a simple genetic tool, IU scientists have intentionally grown a fully functional extra eye in the center of the forehead of the common beetle. Unraveling the biological mechanisms behind this occurrence could help researchers understand how evolution draws upon pre-existing developmental and genetic “building blocks” to create novel complex traits, or “old” traits in novel places.
The study’s results appear in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The work also provides deeper insights into an earlier experiment that accidentally produced an extra eye as part of a study to understand how the insect head develops.
“Developmental biology is beautifully complex in part because there’s no single gene for an eye, a brain, a butterfly’s wing or a turtle’s shell,” said Armin P. Moczek, a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology. “Instead, thousands of individual genes and dozens of developmental processes come together to enable the formation of each of these traits.
Eduardo E. Zattara, Anna L. M. Macagno, Hannah A. Busey, Armin P. Moczek. Development of functional ectopic compound eyes in scarabaeid beetles by knockdown oforthodenticle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; 114 (45): 12021 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1714895114
The creation of three-eyed beetles through a new technique developed at IU provides scientists a new way to investigate the genetic mechanisms responsible for the evolutionary emergence of new physical traits.Credit: Photo by Eduardo Zattara
Davide D'Amico
People react to fear, not love – they don’t teach that in Sunday school, but it’s true.
Richard Nixon, circa 1975. That year he was questioned by the Watergate Grand Jury, the Vietnam War ended, and OPEC raised oil prices by 10% worldwide. (via historical-nonfiction)
A collaboration of engineers and researchers has found a way to prevent helium, a byproduct of the fusion reaction, from weakening nuclear fusion reactors.
The secret is in building the reactors using nanocomposite solids that create channels through which the helium can escape.
Researchers from Texas A&M University, working with a team from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, have tested a new method for creating the materials used in nuclear fusion reactors and found that it could eliminate one of the obstacles preventing humanity from harnessing the power of fusion energy.
Continue Reading.
A Campbell River family is growing increasingly desperate to find a teen who has been missing for almost a month.
Jordan Holling hasn’t been seen since the early morning of Oct. 16, when he left a friend’s house on 16th Avenue in Campbell River to walk the few blocks home. He never arrived at his mother’s house on 17th Avenue and failed to show up for work later that day.
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If we can tap into its potential to suck even more carbon pollution out of the air, it would be a massive advantage.
Lactarius allardii
© Dan Molter, CC 3.0
An Asian elephant calf and its mother flee from a mob, throwing fiery balls of tar, in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Louis C.K. admits sexual misconduct allegations are true - BBC News
“Come on, folks. Let’s be honest. Clovis has zero scientific credentials for the chief scientist post to begin with. The former professor and right-wing radio host who has a doctorate in public administration is already a USDA staffer, but the investigative news site ProPublica could find no evidence he ever even took a graduate-level course in science. He believes human contributions to climate change are a hoax.
The chief scientist, who advises the government on scientific issues, has long been some leader in biochemistry, medicine, food nutrition, and ecosystem ecology. But Clovis has said the USDA under Trump would focus mostly on slashing regulations.“
Keep fighting back: climatetruth.org/standup
https://instagram.com/p/BYlXF8hD-q7/
Awkward dinosaur illustrations explained! Check out this new book! #paleoart #awkward #dinosaurs #dinosaur #dinofight
Outrage after Kyrgyzstan reburies its only ancient mummy
Scientists have called for Kyrgyzstan’s only mummy to be immediately dug back up after the 1,500-year-old relic was taken from a museum and hastily reburied on the eve of a presidential election in a decision celebrated by self-professed psychics.
The female mummy was put back in the ground in mid-October in the same dusty corner of southern Kyrgyzstan where it was discovered in 1956 after a sudden ruling by a state commission.
The decision was made despite strong opposition from the only archaeologist on the commission and culture minister Tugelbai Kazakov, who played the decisive role in the call, resigned on Saturday.
Kazakov said the mummy had been largely neglected by scientists and the country lacked the finances to keep it in good condition. Read more.
Living in a Bum! The Sea Cucumber and the Pearl Fish.