Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu: A mouse. A laser beam. A manipulated memory. | Video on TED.com http://www.ted.com/talks/steveramirezandxuliuamousealaserbeamamanipulatedmemory.html?utmsource=newsletterweekly2013-08-24&utmcampaign=newsletterweekly&utmmedium=email&utmcontent=topleft_image Can we edit the content of our memories? It’s a sci-fi-tinged question that Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu are asking in their lab at MIT. Essentially, the pair shoot a laser beam into the brain of a living mouse to activate and manipulate its memory. In this unexpectedly amusing talk they share not only how, but -- more importantly -- why they do this. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.)
Russell Foster: Why do we sleep? | Video on TED.com
Russell Foster: Why do we sleep? | Video on TED.com http://www.ted.com/talks/russellfosterwhydowesleep.html?utmsource=newsletterweekly2013-08-24&utmcampaign=newsletterweekly&utmmedium=email&utmcontent=toprightimage Russell Foster is a circadian neuroscientist: He studies the sleep cycles of the brain. And he asks: What do we know about sleep? Not a lot, it turns out, for something we do with one-third of our lives. In this talk, Foster shares three popular theories about why we sleep, busts some myths about how much sleep we need at different ages -- and hints at some bold new uses of sleep as a predictor of mental health.
The best one-liner I ever heard was from a 90-year-old Native Alaskan
The best one-liner I ever heard was from a 90-year-old Native Alaskan https://medium.com/bush-alaska-diary/450f2c7664bf Note: The following encompasses roughly month 9 through month 24 of my 24-month contract in Bush Alaska. So, it’s kind of a morbid habit, but every now and then I Google the phrase “Sidney Huntington obituary.” Last I checked, it still returned no exact matches.