Cool places to visit in Switzerland


Vivid dreams. Yes, I'm writing about vivid dreams. Those unexpected dreams where reality and imagination combines in astonishing sceneries, where the surrounding seem unreal but yet so close you can almost touch it, where you can feel the touch of Divinity, where you feel a need to shed a tear because you are happy. Vivid dreams. If you plan to get memories for a lifetime, Switzerland is the perfect place to be. You can visit beautiful cities where you can enjoy a history preserved like nowhere in the world, you can take your backpack and walk the Swiss mountains. Check some of the best places to visit in Switzerland:

Zermatt:



Geneve


Crans Montana:



Zurich:



via MySwissRoom

What is Deer Antler and how it's used [infographic]


We love deers, but what you may not know about deers, is that the deer antler was used ever since antiquity for tool making and as dietary supplements. Ancient people used these antlers to create weapons, ornaments and even toys. In some tribes, they were worn in traditional "deer dances".

Into their early stage of growth, the antler are called deer antler velvet, because they are software and are not harden into bone. If the antlers were taken from a velvet stage, they can be used for medicine purposes. What's even more interesting, is that these deer antler grow every spring, it is cast in winter, and the cycle starts again the next spring.

Antlers of elk have been used in ancient Asia as a natural cure for various disease like kidney disorders, muscle disorder, impotence and has also been used as an immune stimulant. Today, there are various products based on Deer antler velvet that give the user more stamina, enhanced power and will help in joint health cases. Here is an infographic with more information on this topic:



Via: Nutronics Labs

Earth hit stronger than everybody thought


global warming

A study published in Nature Geoscience raised many questions that we need to be aware of. The Earth's temperatures rise sharply in western Antarctica, twice faster than originally estimated.

From 1958 until now, average temperatures have risen by 2.4 degrees Celsius. This phenomenon affects not only that region but the entire world, because the world's oceans will rise and many coastal villages are now under seriously threat. Forbes magazine writes that risks of something bad to happen in those areas are 2 times higher than researchers originally thought.

David Bromwich, a researcher at  Ohio University, said that the western part of the ice face twice a warming than it was previously anticipated. In order to reach to these conclusions, the researchers made ​​a thorough study. They took data recorded by meteorologists at Byrd Station and filled the gaps using advanced mathematical and computer modeling. Using all these techniques, they managed to better estimate the global warming. Everything points to the fact that West Antarctica is the region of the World that melts the fastest.

source: world.edu and  nature.com/ngeo

Do we live in a Matrix World?


The idea that we live in a Matrix-like world is not new. In fact, many scientists say that it is possible to test whether our world is real or a computer simulation. 


In 2003, Nick Bostrom, a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford, published a paper called The Simulation Argument, arguing that it is most likely we live in a computer simulation world. Now, several researchers at Cornell University are trying to find a viable method of testing to see if we, as humans, are a string of numbers into a computer. Scientists at the University of Washington say that this theory can be tested. A similar idea came from German researchers, in November. 

How to test if our world is real or imaginary?

Researchers say that they can use a technique named latticequantum chromodynamics. In simple words, they will use computer simulation and they will try to build their own models. 

The idea that we live in a computer simulation is not new. In 1977, the famous science fiction writer Philip K. Dick was convinced this is true: 



Going forward with the idea, Professor Martin Savage says that the same principle used in creating these simulations can be applied to a larger scale to see what happens to the universe in which we live. This could be the first signature test the idea, and if they simulate large enough, they can even create an universe like ours.

One of Savage's students went even further, and she believes that we could communicate with the civilization that created us. Zohreh Davoudi said that whoever did simulate our universe could have done other simulations. The question arises: if we can communicate with other worlds if they use the same platform? This is based on Multiverse theory.

Breakthrough: Leukemia Cured with HIV virus

The world of medicine witnessed a new medical breakthrough: a 7 year old girl was miraculously healed from a serious form of leukemia with a disabled form of HIV.

Emma Whitehead was diagnosed with acute form leukemia and she underwent every conventional treatment for long two years. The parents were really desperate at that point, so they agreed to enroll their daughter into an experimental program. 

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have perfected a treatment that will reprogram the immune system, so it will destroy every cancer cell in the body. The treatment is extremely hard, and it almost killed the little girl. But, miraculously, she resisted to the harsh cure. Moreover, her aggressive form of leukemia was cured.

7 months after that treatment phase passed and Emma's condition is still in remission. She was not the only girl who tried this, and the experimental treatment showed amazing results in more adults. The scientists who developed this treatment think that their discovery will gradually replace the known treatment: the bone marrow transplantation - a difficult procedure that remains a last hope for patients with leukemia.

How does the revolutionary treatment work


The doctors remove millions of T cells and adds new genes into them, programming them to destroy the affected B cells of the immune system. The technique involves a disabled form of HIV which turned out to be very good for transporting genetic material in the T cells. Modified T cells are then reintroduced into the patients' veins, they multiply and begin to destroy the affected tissue. The disadvantage of this form of treatment is that modified cells attack both cancerous and healthy tissues, so patients will become more sensitive and can develop certain infections. 

image source: khoahoc.com.vn

The Secret of Immortality

The secret of immortality may be found in water,because researchers have discovered a creature that rejuvenates and never dies.

Turritopsis dohrnii is a jellyfish whose abnormal cycle of development was first observed in 1988 by Christian Sommer, a German marine-biology student of 20 years old. He discovered that the marine creature can rejuvenate and get back to an early stage of life. Basically, this jellyfish never dies.

Nowadays, science has managed to better understand the scientific miracle discovered 15 years ago by the young student. The rejuvenation process of Turritopsis dohrnii is determined by the environmental stress or a physical assault. During the transformation, the body cells change their function, such as a nerve cell can turn into a skin cell (the phenomenon also occurs in humans, with stem cells).

The process of aging in reverse it is not yet understood completely, and James Carlton, a professor of marine sciences at Williams College and the director of the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program say that the case needs great hydroid experts in order to fully reveal the secrets of  Turritopsis dohrnii.



source

Nanoparticle that can stop multiple sclerosis

Men of science at Northwestern Medicine research center had a successful discovery in the field of nanotechnology and multiple sclerosis. They have discovered a perishable nanoparticle that seems to be the complete vehicle to stealthily bear an antigen that deceptions the immune system into discontinuing its aggression on myelin, and stop a model of reverting remitting disseminated multiple sclerosis (MS) in mice.  

This discovery can be practiced to a diversity of immune-disorders like Type 1 diabetes, nutrient negative reactions and bronchial asthma. In multiple sclerosis, the immune system aggresses the myelin tissue layer that isolates nerves cells in the brain, optic nerve and spinal cord. When the layer is destroyed, the signals are having a hard time getting from one place to another, consequent in symptoms that chain from mild arm numbness to palsy or sightless. Almost 80% of multiple sclerosis patients have the getting worse postponing variant of the disease.

What's inside a CT Scanner


No, this is not a time machine! It's the inside of a CT Scanner.

CT Scan means Computed Tomography scan, and some call it CAT (Computer Axial Tomography) . Mainly, it uses digital geometry to generate a 3D image of the inside of our bodies. 

How it works
The CT Scanner sends beams through the human body, while moving through an arc. 

Genetics and Heredity - Lookalikes

Mom is blonde with green eyes, dad is dark-haired and has brown eyes. He has 1, 93m, she, on heels, is barely reaching his shoulder. Will their child inherit Mommy's genetics, or he/she will be a "carbon copy" of his Daddy? 


Genetics - a lottery or a cocktail 

There are so many possible combinations, that one couple can give birth to 70 billion different children. That, because every cell in the human body has 80,000 genes. In principle, half of these are given by the father, and half-mother. 


And yet, these pictures say otherwise. Usually, a son or daughter has features of both parents. This is not the case here. The "dominant" gene was real strong in these cases, and it manifested clearly. Looking at these lookalikes, a single thought comes to mind: we are all copies of our parents. 


Children will be smart like their parents? 

Without a doubt, genetics acts like that! But if it's not stimulated since childhood, you can lose much of the native talent of the child. Patience is very important for a mature IQ. The ability to learn and to be passionate about one thing is achieved only through training and by the attention of parents..


I have another observation of my own: as time goes by in our life, we look more and more like our parents. An older man looks a lot more like his father now, compared to the time he was a kid, and he was looking more like his mother. 

via ImgUr

Work out could improve the quality of sperm

The way we live may have a huge impact on our reproductive capabilities: it has been variably evoked that biking, wearing scrawny jeans,using drugs or using the laptop on your can affect the quality of sperm to some extent. The same speculations stated that healthy habits could improve the quality of sperm.

Men of science at University of Cordoba have gathered the semen from 31 subjects. From those 31, 16 were physically active and 15 were sedentary. Also, scientists have tested their fitness levels in the lab. In order to get more accurate results, the subjects were asked to restrain from sexual activities before the tests. 

Scientist have evaluated the samples, paying attention to volume, sperm count, motility, sperm morphology, color, odor, pH, vitality, viscosity. They have also analyzed the blood samples from every patient, looking for the levels of LH, testosterone and cortisol (a stress hormone). 

The results demonstrated once more that physically active men had a better quality of sperm (faster sperm, high percentage, high sperm concentration). Also, the blood analysis demonstrated that non-sedentary men had higher levels of FSH (important for sperm creation), LH (testosteron secretion) and a higher ratio of T/C (which shows the anabolic vs catabolic status). 

So, if you plan to have children in a near future, you should be more active, do a lot of sport and eat healthy. 

source

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Many thanks to our friends at Crazy Cool Gadgets for the inspiration that they show every time in their posts.