Ireson Hill on Mars

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

What created this unusual hill on Mars? Its history has become a topic of research, but its shape and two-tone structure makes it one of the more unusual hills that the robotic Curiosity rover on Mars has rolled near. Dubbed Ireson Hill, the mound rises about 5 meters high and spans about 15 meters across. Ireson Hill is located on the Bagnold Dune field on the slope of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater on Mars. The featured 41-image panorama has been horizontally compressed to include the entire hill. The image was taken on February 2 and released last week. Because Mars is moving behind the Sun as seen from the Earth, NASA will soon stop sending commands to its Martian orbiters and rovers until about August 1.

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neurosciencestuff: Teach yourself everyday happiness with...

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

neurosciencestuff:

Teach yourself everyday happiness with imagery training

In a recently published paper in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, scientists at the Smartbrain Clinic in Oslo, Norway find that self-guided positive imagery training can successfully combat negative emotions in our daily lives. This tool is so powerful that it also changes the way our brain functions.

Flashbacks of scenes from traumatic events often haunt those suffering from psychiatric conditions, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). “The close relationship between the human imagery system and our emotions can cause deep emotional perturbations”, says Dr Svetla Velikova of Smartbrain in Norway. “Imagery techniques are often used in cognitive psychotherapy to help patients modify disturbing mental images and overcome negative emotions.” Velikova and her team set out to see if such techniques could become self-guided and developed at home, away from the therapist’s chair.

Healthy people are also emotionally effected by what we see and the images we remember. Velikova explains, “if we visually remember an image from an unpleasant interaction with our boss, this can cause an increased level of anxiety about our work and demotivation.” There is great interest in ways to combat such everyday negative emotional responses through imagery training. But she warns, “this is a challenging task and requires a flexible approach. Each day we face different problems and a therapist teaches us how to identify topics and strategies for imagery exercises.”

To find out if we can train ourselves to use imagery techniques and optimize our emotional state, Velikova and co-workers turned to 30 healthy volunteers. During a two-day workshop the volunteers learnt a series of imagery techniques. They learnt how to cope with negative emotions from past events through imagery transformation, how to use positive imagery for future events or goals, and techniques to improve social interactions and enhance their emotional balance in daily life. They then spent the next 12 weeks training themselves at home for 15-20 minutes a day, before attending another similar two-day workshop.

Velikova compared the results of participant psychological assessment and brain activity, or electroencephalographic (EEG), measurement, before and after the experiment. “The psychological testing showed that depressive symptoms were less prominent. The number of those with subthreshold depression, expressing depressive symptoms but not meeting the criteria for depression, was halved. Overall, volunteers were more satisfied with life and perceived themselves as more efficient” she explains.

Following analysis, the EEG data showed significant changes in the beta activity in the right medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. Velikova notes that this region is known to be involved in imaging pleasant emotions and contributing to the degree of satisfaction with life. There were also changes in the functional connectivity of the brain, including increased connectivity between the temporal regions from both hemispheres, which Velikova attributes to enhanced coordination of networks linked to processing of images. She concludes, “this combination of EEG findings also suggests a possible increase in the activity of GABA (gamma -aminobutyric acid), well known for its anti-anxiety and antidepressant properties.”

Velikova and co-workers’ results indicate that self-guided emotional imagery training has great potential to improve the everyday emotional wellbeing in healthy people. The team is now further exploring how the approach affects the cognitive function of healthy people. With minimal professional intervention, this technique could be developed to be a cost-effective aid for those with subthreshold depression. It could also be promoted by businesses to help improve workforce morale and drive up productivity.

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Deep down in the waters off the coast of Australia, the water is...

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

Deep down in the waters off the coast of Australia, the water is a chilly 34 degrees and no light cuts through the highly pressurized surroundings. It’s a thoroughly inhospitable environment. And yet marine life has been caught living there. A crew of scientists caught a fairly ugly blob of a creature this month, and they were thrilled. It had no visible eyes, mouth, or gills. One scientist said “It looks like two rear-ends on a fish, really.” The scientists were extremely excited to have discovered a new species, and even started thinking of possible names.

But it turns out, they were the second to discover it! It makes sense that the scientists wouldn’t know that at first, though, since the Typhlonus nasus (Faceless’s scientific name) hasn’t been seen around Australia for more than a century. The typhlonus nasus was first collected on August 25, 1874!

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SETI desenvolve novo instrumento de caça alienígena

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

Os cientistas encontraram uma maneira de escanear os céus para pulsos de luz de uma civilização alienígena.

O Instituto SETI (Pesquisa de Inteligência Extraterrestre) tem tentado determinar se estamos ou não sozinhos no universo há mais de 30 anos, mas, infelizmente, apesar dos melhores esforços, ainda não encontrou nenhuma evidência que sugira que haja qualquer outra coisa lá fora.

Uma das razões para isso, dizem os cientistas, poderia ser que estamos procurando no lugar errado.

E se uma civilização alienígena suficientemente avançada, depois de ter visto nosso planeta através de seus telescópios, nos “esticasse” com pulsos curtos de luz laser em um esforço para chamar nossa atenção?

Os telescópios convencionais não conseguem pegar esses pulsos, o que significa que nunca os veríamos.

Agora, em um esforço para explicar essa possibilidade, O SETI apresentou um novo tipo de instrumento projetado especificamente para escanear os céus para pulsos curtos de luz.

Conhecido como “Laser SETI”, o projeto está atualmente em desenvolvimento e buscando apoiadores.

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Jetpacks

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

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Ryōji Uehara was a Japanese Kamikaze pilot. He wrote a last...

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

Ryōji Uehara was a Japanese Kamikaze pilot. He wrote a last letter, the night before his final mission, to his parents. It was published after the end of World War 2 and to this day is considered a masterpiece of wartime Japanese literature.

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NASA Evaluates How Crew Will Exit Orion Spacecraft

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

When astronauts return to Earth from destinations beyond the moon in NASA’s Orion spacecraft and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, they’ll still need to safely get out of the spacecraft and back on dry land. Using the waters off the coast of Galveston, a NASA and Department of Defense team tested Orion exit procedures on July 10-14, 2017.

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VISIT –> http://ift.tt/1eWNk1f for quality...

By: vivian on terça-feira, julho 18, 2017

VISIT –> http://ift.tt/1eWNk1f for quality psychology information and resources.

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