Paralyzed Rats Regain Mobility in Lab
After severe spinal cord damage, paralyzed rats are able to walk again with the help of a robot to hold them up and stimulate their nerves, a new study shows.
After the rats are trained on the machine for about two months, they gained the ability to control their hind legs — which had previously been cut off from communicating with the brain — with enough dexterity to climb stairs and navigate around objects. This control means that the brain has forged new connections to get around the spinal cord injury.
I need to learn how to ride a bicycle (or just get my motorcycles license and buy a motorcycle), and how to swim.
I really want to go biking/hiking/everything, but it’s difficult to be active and “outdoorsy” if I don’t even know how to ride a bike or swim….
I should get training wheels….
But, my birthday is tomorrow. I will be turning twenty years old. I will no longer be a “teen”-ager.
I don’t want to get older. But, I do want to mature and develop into a better person. And, it’ll be nice to have new experiences and adventures. I just have a nagging feeling of wanting to be young forever. I wish I could stay the same age and die later, like in 60 years… I’m not afraid of death or of dying. I just would rather not age. It would be a better life to experience everything at my prime.
On the note of death, I’m so curious as to what happens after death…
Is there absolutely nothing when I die?
Is there really a Heaven or Hell?
Will I be reincarnated depending on my Karma?
Will it be whatever I want it to be?
The scientific part of me wants to say that there’s absolutely nothing when I die. No Heaven or Hell. No reincarnation. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
But, the emotional part of me wants there to be something. Anything. A continuation of some sort of “life” after death.
Anyways. I hope no one remembers my birthday tomorrow.
:)
I love the Summer. It’s my second favorite season. After all, Summer is the season that precedes my favorite season, Fall.
Yet, every Summer, I can’t help but feel utterly useless. On the 3rd day of my Summer break, I already began to miss school.
It’s not as though I enjoy going to school and having to sit on my butt for hours. But, I completely love learning. I don’t even mind the workload. And, I am incredibly passionate about what I want to learn.
I would get a job or volunteer more or something. But, it’s pointless. I have to go back to VB to babysit my adorable baby sister (who isn’t even a baby, but is almost 14 years old). So, a job isn’t going to find it very ideal for a just-hired-employee to be gone for over 2 weeks.
I want to be productive. I want to do something meaningful. I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself. I’ve never been consistently spontaneous, so I feel the need to plan or create a list of things to do.
My first thing on my list of summer activities is to get into an exercise routine. I’m so sick and tired of complaining about my imperfections. So, I’m going to correct them naturally to the best of my abilities. I want physical perfection in my opinion/standards by the time school starts.
However, I don’t want people to think I’m trying to lose weight or that I’m doing this for someone else. I don’t compare myself to anyone else. I feel as though that is a complete waste of time. And, people who compare themselves to others will never find satisfaction and contentment within themselves. I think I have to see the beauty of myself all on my own without any outside influence. Meaning, I have to be able to find myself beautiful without people telling me that I’m beautiful or without comparing myself to other beautiful people. Also, it’s hard to define beauty because it is a matter of opinion. Not everyone will find the same people to be beautiful.
Basically, I want to improve my physical appearance for myself. I’m not doing this for anyone else, not even my boyfriend. I just want to look good and feel healthy for me AND only me.
It’s difficult for any person to overcome insecurities and doubt. And, I commend anyone who has ever done so. I just hope I have enough motivation and perseverance to do so.
But, physically improving myself is not the only way I want to improve. I want to grow and develop mentally as well. So, the second summer activity will be to read and write more. I already read books as though books are drugs, but I haven’t been writing. I love to write, but sometimes, it’s such a chore. I’m so fastidious or finicky for lack of a better term over how I phrase words and sentences.
It just makes me a little sad to know that I lost a lot of creativity and inspiration to write. Anyways, besides continuing my drug-addicting-like reading habits, I want to put more time into writing, specifically poetry. I believe the last poem I wrote was months ago… And, it’s not even finished.
Yet, I know the poem will be finished by the end of summer break. I want to be productive. I have to be productive. I NEED to be productive. Or I will go insane. Those are the two main summer activities that I will be pursuing with lots of little side activities to fill in the time.
Maybe I’ll return to learning and researching about my life obsession— the human brain.
I am absolutely in love with my nipple piercings!
I just wish they would heal already. It’s been about 4 or so days since I had them done.
They don’t really hurt anymore.. They’re just a bit sore.
But, they’re amazing and look absolutely fabulous. I wish I could show everyone… hahah
Someone asked me if I enjoyed getting piercings or tattoos better?
I definitely love getting tattoos more.
… I want another tattoo now. ^_^
THE FRACTAL SOLUTION TO THE UNIVERSE: In his second year of neuroscience grad school, Greg Dunn was moonlighting with a different kind of experiment: blowing ink across pieces of paper. The neuron-like pattern it formed was instantly recognizable to him as a neuroscientist. “Ink spreads because it wants to go in the direction of less resistance, and that’s probably also the case of when branches grow or neurons grow,” he says. “The reason the technique works really well is because it’s directly related to how neurons are actually behaving.”
Dunn calls this the “fractal solution to the universe,” which he sees as the “fundamental beauty of nature.” He’s fascinated that this branching pattern holds true across orders of magnitude, whether that’s nanometers for neurons, centimeters for ink, or meters for a tree branch.
Since graduating with his PhD last fall, Dunn has continued to spend his days with neurons—big, golden ones ten thousand times the size of neurons in your brain. The former University of Pennsylvania grad student now creates paintings of neurons for a living.
(via Ink Wants to Form Neurons, and an Artful Scientist Obliges | Mind & Brain | DISCOVER Magazine, submitted by flamshiz, thanks!)
“I’m sorry”
Sorry? What does “sorry” truly mean? How can you tell whether a person is truly apologetic?
Someone can repeatedly say, “I’m sorry” or “I sincerely apologize”. But, does he/she feel any remorse?
I wonder how many times I’ve actually said, “I’m sorry”, but didn’t sincerely mean it.
theend.
This is my second tattoo. I got it because i saw the tree and loved it. The only problem was in the original picture the tree ended in landscape and i didn’t want that so i decided to get the heart to contrast the skull. I am a medic in the army and this tattoo reminds me that i hold others lives in my hands. The power of life or death. It was done by Cory at Sacred body works in massillon, OH. He did a fantastic job and i love it. (P.S. The heart beats when I flex my wrist)
(Source: fuckyeahtattoos)
