『dum spiro spero.』

"I am jealous of your bedsheets—the ones you wrap yourself in over and over when you are unreasonably..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:52:00 -0600

“I am jealous of your bedsheets—the ones you wrap yourself in over and over when you are...

MALICE MIZER | Le ciel ～空白の彼方へ～— merveilles (1998) This song...

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:37:00 -0600

MALICE MIZER | Le ciel ～空白の彼方へ～
— merveilles (1998)

This song kills me every single time.

When an artist’s physical beauty rivals that of their...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:38:43 -0600

When an artist’s physical beauty rivals that of their musical output.

LX. melpomene

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:36:00 -0600

On the precipiceof endurance I found notTruth but a Reason.

neurosciencestuff: Waiting for a sign? Researchers find...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:16:12 -0600

neurosciencestuff:

Waiting for a sign? Researchers find potential brain ‘switch’ for new behavior

You’re standing near an airport luggage carousel and your bag emerges on the conveyor belt, prompting you to spring into action. How does your brain make the shift from passively waiting to taking action when your bag appears?

A new study from investigators at the University of Michigan and Eli Lilly may reveal the brain’s “switch” for new behavior. They measured levels of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, which is involved in attention and memory, while rats monitored a screen for a signal. At the end of each trial, the rat had to indicate if a signal had occurred.

Researchers noticed that if a signal occurred after a long period of monitoring or “non-signal” processing, there was a spike in acetylcholine in the rat’s right prefrontal cortex. No such spike occurred for another signal occurring shortly afterwards.

“In other words, the increase in acetylcholine seemed to activate or ‘switch on’ the response to the signal, and to be unnecessary if that response was already activated,” said Cindy Lustig, one of the study’s senior authors and an associate professor in the U-M Department of Psychology.

The researchers repeated the study in humans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which measures brain activity, and also found a short increase in right prefrontal cortex activity for the first signal in a series.

To connect the findings between rats and humans, they measured changes in oxygen levels, similar to the changes that produce the fMRI signal, in the brains of rats performing the task.

They again found a response in the right prefrontal cortex that only occurred for the first signal in a series. A follow-up experiment showed that direct stimulation of brain tissue using drugs that target acetylcholine receptors could likewise produce these changes in brain oxygen.

Together, the studies’ results provide some of the most direct evidence, so far, linking a specific neurotransmitter response to changes in brain activity in humans. The findings could guide the development of better treatments for disorders in which people have difficulty switching out of current behaviors and activating new ones. Repetitive behaviors associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism are the most obvious examples, and related mechanisms may underlie problems with preservative behavior in schizophrenia, dementia and aging.

The findings appear in the current issue of Journal of Neuroscience.

"Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious."

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:11:55 -0600

“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious.” -...

The Fall of Every Season | Aurelia— Amends (2013) I seldom...

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:56:33 -0600

The Fall of Every Season | Aurelia
— Amends (2013)

I seldom come across metal nowadays that moves me like this.

Photo

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:45:16 -0600

"I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:46:58 -0600

“I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire...

actegratuit: Just only 13 years old, Zev (Fiddle Oak) creates a...

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:09:11 -0600

actegratuit:

Just only 13 years old, Zev (Fiddle Oak) creates a fantasy dreamland through his photographs. His camera is named Betsy. Zev’s sister and assistant Nellie is 17. They enjoy working and creating together. The magic of Fiddle Oak cannot be described in words; no word that already exists can accurately sum up the extreme talent and wonder of Zev and Nellie.

"We tend to think animals are lower than us, but all the scientists in the world couldn’t design and..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:53:22 -0600

“We tend to think animals are lower than us, but all the scientists in the world couldn’t...

Cult of Luna | In Awe Of— Vertikal (2013)

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:27:54 -0600

Cult of Luna | In Awe Of
— Vertikal (2013)

I just adore it when writing prompts cater to scenes in one of my stories. May share a snippet in...

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:22:01 -0600

I just adore it when writing prompts cater to scenes in one of my stories. May share a snippet in...

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 03:09:09 -0600

jonnoxvxrevanche: I wonder how devastated every pseudo intellectual bro dude would feel if they...

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:09:53 -0600

jonnoxvxrevanche: I wonder how devastated every pseudo intellectual bro dude would feel if they...

"There is no beauty without some strangeness."

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:55:33 -0600

“There is no beauty without some strangeness.” - Edgar Allan Poe

Chromatics | Kill for Love— Kill for Love (2012)

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:24:51 -0600

Chromatics | Kill for Love
— Kill for Love (2012)

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:50:57 -0600

LIX.

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:39:20 -0600

Ours is a love lined with speed limits but they'rea blur in your wake.

"The artistic life is a long, lovely suicide."

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:35:07 -0600

“The artistic life is a long, lovely suicide.” - Oscar Wilde