Money 💲💵 Money 💲💵 Money 💲💵

What are you saying Ace ? 

♠️👩‍🚀☄️

Don’t get to the end of your life and regret all the things you didn’t do.

Rhonda Byrne. (via alterated)

Wise words. No regrets. 👌

I so badly wanted one of these as a kid.

Moon Landing 1969

Redneck education at its finest.  📚🎓

Trader Joe

Brain cells that aid appetite control identified

It’s rare for scientists to get what they describe as “clean” results without spending a lot of time repeating the same experiment over and over again. But when researchers saw the mice they were working with doubling their weight within a month or two, they knew they were on to something.

“About twenty years ago there was a big step forward in our understanding of obesity when researchers discovered that our appetite is controlled by a key molecule called leptin. Leptin is a hormone which is produced by our fat cells, and is delivered by the blood to the brain to signal the brain that we are full and can stop eating,” explains Dr. Maia Kokoeva who is affiliated both with McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. “But even though receptors for leptin were discovered soon after in the hypothalamus, a brain area that regulates food intake and body weight, it has remained unclear how exactly leptin is detected.”

So about four years ago, Kokoeva and her team set out to explore which brain cells might play a role in the process of leptin sensing and weight gain. The answer, it turns out, lies in the median eminence.

“Protection” and “preservation” cells in a busy place

The median eminence is a brain structure at the base of the hypothalamus. It is a bit like a busy hub or market place through which hormones and molecules of various kinds travel in both directions between the brain and the bloodstream to ensure that the body functions smoothly.

The McGill research team has now discovered that without a particular group of cells (known as NG2-glia cells) in place in the median eminence, the leptin receptors in the brain never receive the messages from the body telling it that it is sated.

“Most of the brain is a well-protected fortress, designed to shelter delicate nerve cells,” says Kokoeva. “The median eminence is outside these protections, and so can be a dangerous environment for the nerve cells that detect leptin. We think that the NG2-glia cells act to support and shelter the leptin receptor neurons, enabling them to instruct the body when to stop eating.”

Crucial role of the median eminence in weight gain

“We developed an interest in NG2-glia cells in this specific part of the brain because unlike neurons, during much of our adult lives these cells are constantly dividing and they do so most actively in the median eminence,” says Tina Djogo, a McGill doctoral student and one of two lead authors on the study which was published in Cell Metabolism. “But though these cells were first described about thirty years ago it has been difficult so far to pinpoint their exact functions in the adult brain.”

Because of their particularly high turnover in the median eminence, the researchers wondered if the NG2-glia cells might play a role in leptin sensing and therefore in appetite control. So they used a drug to kill the NG2-glia cells in the median eminence of a group of mice and then watched to see whether there was a difference in food intake. The results were stunning.

Within three days after they started to receive the medication, some of the mice dubbed “gainers” had already started to eat more compared with the control group of mice who had not received medication. And by 30 days afterwards, the weight of some of the mice had doubled - from 25 grams to around 50 grams.

“But what was most exciting to us, was that even though NG2-glia are found across the brain” explains Sarah Robins, a research associate who was also a lead author on this study, “it was only when we removed these cells from the median eminence that we saw this clear increase in body weight.”

A possible explanation for weight gain in brain tumour patients

The researchers then corroborated the role of the NG2-glia cells in the median eminence in appetite control through experiments using genetically modified mice, and also by using irradiation. This latter discovery suggested an explanation for a previously unexplained phenomenon in human brain cancer survivors.

“People who have been treated for brain tumours using radiation to block cell proliferation often become overweight,” says Kokoeva. “However, there has never been any satisfactory explanation, but our experiments in mice now suggests that the reason for this weight gain may be the loss of NG2-glia in the median eminence as a result of radiation.”

The researchers are hopeful that the identification of NG2-glia in the median eminence as crucial elements in body weight and appetite control will pave the way to new targeted anti-obesity approaches directed towards maintaining or raising the NG2-glia population in the median eminence.

I always loved Scooby-Doo

velma and daphne 💕

I could do with some of that right now. lol.

7 Things You Didn’t Know Came from NASA Technology

Every  year, we publish a round-up of 50 or so NASA innovations that can also be found  in our daily  lives here on Earth.

We call them spinoffs — technologies spun off from America’s space program — and this week the 2017 edition was published.  Here are some of our favorite things we bet you didn’t know use space technology.

1.Crash Test Cameras 

Parachutes are a key part of the landing system for many of our spacecraft, but before we send them into orbit — or beyond — we have to make sure that they’re going to work as designed. One important component of testing is a video that captures every millisecond as the chute opens, to see if it’s working and if not, what went wrong. 

Integrated Design Tools built a camera for us that could do just that: rugged and compact, it can film up to 1,000 frames per second and back up all that data almost as fast.  Now that same technology is being used to record crash tests, helping ensure that we’re all safer on the roads.

2.Archaeology 

We often use laser-imaging technology, or lidar, on missions in outer space. Thanks to lidar, snow was discovered on Mars, and the technology will soon help us collect a sample from an asteroid to bring home to Earth. 

To do all that, we’ve helped make smaller, more rugged, and more powerful lidar devices, which have proven useful here on Earth in a lot of ways, including for archaeologists. Lidar scans can strip away the trees and bushes to show the bare earth—offering clues to help find bones, fossils, and human artifacts hidden beneath the surface. 

3.Golf Clubs 

A screw is a screw, right? Or is it?  

When we were building the Space Shuttle, we needed a screw that wouldn’t loosen during the intense vibrations of launch. An advanced screw threading called Spiralock, invented by the Holmes Tool Company and extensively tested at Goddard Space Flight Center, was the answer.  

Now it’s being used in golf clubs, too. Cobra Puma Golf built a new driver with a spaceport door (designed to model the International Space Station observatory) that allows the final weight to be precisely calibrated by inserting a tungsten weight before the door is screwed on.  

And to ensure that spaceport door doesn’t pop off, Cobra Puma Golf turned to the high-tech threading that had served the Space Shuttle so well. 

4.Brain Surgery 

Neurosurgery tools need to be as precise as possible.

One important tool, bipolar forceps, uses electricity to cut and cauterize tissue. But electricity produces waste heat, and to avoid singeing healthy brain tissue, Thermacore Inc. used a technology we’ve been relying on since the early days of spaceflight: heat pipes.  The company, which built its expertise in part through work it has done for us over more than 30 years, created a mini heat pipe for bipolar forceps.  

The result means surgery is done more quickly, precisely — and most importantly, more safely.

5.Earthquake Protection 

The Ares 1 rocket, originally designed to launch crewed missions to the moon and ultimately Mars, had a dangerous vibration problem, and the usual solutions were way too bulky to work on a launch vehicle.  

Our engineers came up with a brand new technology that used the liquid fuel already in the rocket to get rid of the vibrations. And, it turns out, it works just as well with any liquid—and not just on rockets.  

An adapted version is already installed on a building in Brooklyn and could soon be keeping skyscrapers and bridges from being destroyed during earthquakes. 

6.Fertilizer 

When excess fertilizer washes away into ground water it’s called nutrient runoff, and it’s a big problem for the environment. It’s also a problem for farmers, who are paying for fertilizer the plant never uses. 

Ed Rosenthal, founder of a fertilizer company called Florikan, had an idea to fix both problems at once: coating the fertilizer in special polymers to control how quickly the nutrient dissolves in water, so the plant gets just the right amount at just the right time.  

Our researchers helped him perfect the formula, and the award-winning fertilizer is now used around the world — and in space. 

7. Cell Phone Cameras  

The sensor that records your selfies was originally designed for something very different: space photography.  

Eric Fossum, an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, invented it in the 1990s, using technology called complementary metal-oxide semiconductors, or CMOS. The technology had been used for decades in computers, but Fossum was the first person to successfully adapt it for taking pictures. 

As a bonus, he was able to integrate all the other electronics a camera needs onto the same computer chip, resulting in an ultra-compact, energy-efficient, and very reliable imager. Perfect for sending to Mars or, you know, snapping a pic of your meal. 

To learn about NASA spinoffs, visit: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/index.html