Lifeboat Foundation

It is an engineer’s dream to build a robot as competent as an insect at locomotion, directed action, navigation, and survival in complex conditions. But as well as studying insects to improve robotics, in parallel, robot implementations have played a useful role in evaluating mechanistic explanations of insect behavior, testing hypotheses by embedding them in real-world machines. The wealth and depth of data coming from insect neuroscience hold the tantalizing possibility of building complete insect brain models. Robotics has a role to play in maintaining a focus on functional understanding—what do the neural circuits need to compute to support successful behavior?

Insect brains have been described as “minute structures controlling complex behaviors” (1): Compare the number of neurons in the fruit fly brain (∼135,000) to that in the mouse (70 million) or human (86 billion). Insect brain structures and circuits evolved independently to solve many of the same problems faced by vertebrate brains (or a robot’s control program). Despite the vast range of insect body types, behaviors, habitats, and lifestyles, there are many surprising consistencies across species in brain organization, suggesting that these might be effective, efficient, and general-purpose solutions.

Unraveling these circuits combines many disciplines, including painstaking neuroanatomical and neurophysiological analysis of the components and their connectivity. An important recent advance is the development of neurogenetic methods that provide precise control over the activity of individual neurons in freely behaving animals. However, the ultimate test of mechanistic understanding is the ability to build a machine that replicates the function. Computer models let researchers copy the brain’s processes, and robots allow these models to be tested in real bodies interacting with real environments (2). The following examples illustrate how this approach is being used to explore increasingly sophisticated control problems, including predictive tracking, body coordination, navigation, and learning.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a prototypical serotonergic psychedelic drug and the subject of many clinical investigations. In recent years, a range of lysergamides has emerged with the production of some being inspired by the existing scientific literature. Others, for example various 1-acyl substituted lysergamides, did not exist before their appearance as research chemicals. 1-Cylopropanoyl-LSD (1CP-LSD) has recently emerged as a new addition to the group of lysergamide-based designer drugs and is believed to be psychoactive in humans. In this investigation, 1CP-LSD was subjected to detailed analytical characterizations including various mass spectrometry (MS) platforms, gas and liquid chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, solid phase and GC condensed phase infrared spectroscopy. Analysis by GC-MS also revealed the detection of artificially induced degradation products. Incubation of 1CP-LSD with human serum led to the formation of LSD, indicating that it may act as a prodrug for LSD in vivo, similar to other 1-acyl substituted lysergamides. The analysis of blotters and pellets is also included. 1CP-LSD also induces the head-twitch response (HTR) in C57BL/6J mice, indicating that it produces an LSD-like behavioural profile. 1CP-LSD induced the HTR with an ED₅₀ = 430.0 nmol/kg which was comparable with 1P-LSD (ED₅₀ = 349.6 nmol/kg) investigated previously. Clinical studies are required to determine the potency and profile of effects produced by 1CP-LSD in humans.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID: 32180350 DOI: 10.1002/dta.

Faith Osier, President of the IUIS — International Union of Immunological Societies, calls on researchers to share knowledge and resources to halt the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as she launches an expert commentary and webinar series on scientific and civil responses to the outbreak.

See all interviews: https://fro.ntiers.in/yDH4

👽Stromboli has just erupted again for the second time this month. There has been 8000 earthquakes since January 2020 in Iceland, coinciding with a volcano network that has not been awake for 800 years.

There has been 250 small Earthquakes in Idaho, and the most recent relatively strong quake worldwide was registered in Honduras, over 6,3 magnitude, yesterday.

Continue reading “Italy: Stromboli erupts for second time in one month” »

There have been 68 recent deaths of residents and nurses from the facility in a small New Jersey town.

The more clothing that you wear, the warmer you are … right? Well actually, scientists have developed a new textile that both warms wearers in cold environments, and cools them down when things heat up.

The experimental material was developed at China’s Huazhong University of Science and Technology, by a team led by Prof. Guangming Tao. It’s made by first freeze-spinning silk and chitosan, forming fibers with a porous microstructure – chitosan, incidentally, is a highly useful natural compound found in crustacean shells.

Next, the pores within the fibers are filled with polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is a phase-change material that takes the form of a liquid when warm, and a solid when cool. Finally, the fibers are coated with an organic polymer known as polydimethylsiloxane, to keep the PEG from leaking out while in its liquid state.

Scam alert.

THOMASTON, Me. (WSET) — Police are warning cell phone users of a new text message scam during the coronavirus pandemic. The Thomaston Police Department in Maine posted on Facebook a photo of the alert being sent to people in a text message. The message was sent to someone in Maine from an Indiana area code telling them they need to self-isolate because they came in contact with someone who tested positive or has shown symptoms for coronavirus. The alert also tells you to get tested.

Founded in 1986, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a 501©(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana. MAPS furthers its mission by: Developing psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines; Training therapists and working to establish a network of treatment centers; Supporting scientific research into spirituality, creativity, and neuroscience; and educating the public honestly about the risks and benefits of psychedelics and marijuana.