Teratoma
A dermoid cyst is a type of ovarian cyst that contains many types of cells that would later on differentiate. It is almost always benign, but in some rare cases it usually develops into a squamous cell carcinoma.
They may be filled with hair, teeth, and other tissues that become part of the cyst.
To learn more about ovarian cancer and health concerns of women just go to this website.
CHRISTMAS IN THE NETHERLANDS
Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter is Santa’s helper in the Netherlands. Sinterklass arrives on the eve of St. Nicholas Day in a steamship with his slave Zwarte Piet, portrayed in public processions in several cities. Since about 1850, children who don’t behave during the year were told that Black Peter might take them back to Spain, where Sinterklaas lives. The racist aspects of the custom have been downplayed in recent decades, and the tale of Black Peter now describes him as a chimney sweep instead of a slave, which explains the blackface. But charges of racism still follow Black Peter, as he is often portrayed with an Afro and exaggerated features.
Christmas in Spain
Spain seems to have quite a few unusual Christmas traditions. Here is a New Year’s Eve’s one for you: In Spain it is customary to wear red underwear on New Year’s Eve. The small town on La Font de la Figuera has taken this tradition one step further - a New Year’s Eve run wearing just red underwear. People of all ages participate in this event.
CHRISTMAS IN NORWAY
Norwegian legend says that on Christmas Eve witches and evil spirits come out looking for brooms to ride on (a bad omen). To thwart the witches, all brooms in the house are hidden and men go outside and fire a shotgun to scare the bad spirits away
Christmas in the Czech Republic
On Christmas Eve, unmarried Czech women practice a traditional fortune telling method to predict their relationship status for the upcoming year. If you’d like to give this a try, here’s how to do it: Stand with your back to your door and toss one of your shoes over your shoulder. If it lands with the toe facing the door it means that you will get married within the year. If it lands with the heel facing the door, you’re in for another year of unmarried status.
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRIA
Krampus is Santa’s evil twin whose job is to beat and punish all the children who have misbehaved. On December 5th men dress up in some of the scariest devil-like costumes you can imagine and drunkenly run around towns hitting people with sticks and switches. The Krampus legend originates in the Germanic alpine regions and is widespread throughout Hungary, Bavaria, Slovenia and is especially popular in Austria.
i noticed i haven’t updated for like months now. really sorry.
soon!
Methane is a colorless, odorless gas with a wide distribution in nature. It is the principal component of natural gas, a mixture containing about 75% CH4, 15% ethane (C2H6), and 5% other hydrocarbons, such as propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10).
The “firedamp” of coal mines is chiefly methane. Anaerobic bacterial decomposition of plant and animal matter, such as occurs under water, produces marsh gas, which is also methane. At room temperature, methane is a gas less dense than air. It melts at –183°C and boils at –164°C. It is not very soluble in water.
Methane is combustible, and mixtures of about 5 to 15 percent in air are explosive. Methane is not toxic when inhaled, but it can produce suffocation by reducing the concentration of oxygen inhaled. A trace amount of smelly organic sulfur compounds (tertiary-butyl mercaptan, (CH3)3CSH and dimethyl sulfide, CH3–S–CH3) is added to give commercial natural gas a detectable odor. This is done to make gas leaks readily detectible.
An undetected gas leak could result in an explosion or asphyxiation. (The attached scratch-and-sniff sheet from Madison Gas & Electric Company is for your use outside of class.) Methane is synthesized commercially by the distillation of bituminous coal and by heating a mixture of carbon and hydrogen. It can be produced in the laboratory by heating sodium acetate with sodium hydroxide and by the reaction of aluminum carbide (Al4C3) with water. In the chemical industry, methane is a raw material for the manufacture of methanol (CH3OH), formaldehyde (CH2O), nitromethane (CH3NO2), chloroform (CH3Cl), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), and some freons (compounds containing carbon and fluorine, and perhaps chlorine and hydrogen).
The reactions of methane with chlorine and fluorine are triggered by light. When exposed to bright visible light, mixtures of methane with chlorine or fluorine react explosively. The principal use of methane is as a fuel. The combustion of methane is highly exothermic.
(Source: scifun.chem.wisc.edu)
Some information about Mosquitoes
Male mosquitoes have a feather-like proboscis, while the proboscis of the female mosquito is relatively smooth, not bushy.
Normally, the lifespan of the female mosquito is much longer than that of the male mosquito. In their natural environment, female mosquitoes can live as long as 1 to 2 weeks. However, in captivity, female mosquitoes can live over a month, depending on the correct level of humidity, proper temperature, and whether or not it can successfully nourish itself with blood.
On the other hand, male mosquitoes usually live for approximately 1 week, even when they are placed under ideal environmental and nutritional conditions.
Male mosquitoes survive by feeding on flower nectar and sweet juices. Female mosquitoes not only feed on various sugars for energy, but also require the nutrition of blood for the development of their eggs. The typical female mosquito bites humans and mammals and sucks blood in order to acquire enough protein to produce her eggs. Once a blood meal is obtained, it will rest a few days until the eggs are fully developed.
Even though most species of female mosquitoes need blood for their offspring, some types can actually lay a batch of eggs without a blood meal. Others do not drink the blood of mammals, but will feed only on the blood of amphibians or other insects. Then, there are a few species of female mosquitoes that do not drink blood at all; like male mosquitoes, they only feed on nectar and other sugars.
(Source: tinymosquito.com)
Dracunculus medinensis
It is a parasite which is mostly found in the tropical regions, especially where bath water is the same as the drinking water. Most frequent is Africa, Middle East, India. Commonly called as the guinea worms or dragon worms. It can be acquired by ingestion of contaminated water, or of infected crustaceans.
Happiness and Sadness
The common emotions of sadness and happiness are a problem for researchers. Depression and mania are core areas of study for a neuroscientist. But everyday ups and downs are so broadly defined that researchers have a hard time figuring out what exactly to study. They note activity in virtually every part of the brain. Last year Drs. Peter J. Freed and J. John Mann, publishing in The American Journal of Psychiatry, reported on the literature of sadness and the brain. In 22 studies, brain scans were performed on nondepressed but sad volunteers. Sadness was mostly induced (subjects were shown sad pictures or films, asked to remember a sad event), although, in a couple of studies, subjects had recently experienced a loss. In the aggregate, sadness appeared to cause altered activity in more than 70 different brain regions. The amygdala and hippocampus both show up on this list, as do the front part of the brain (prefrontal cortex) and the anterior cingulate cortex. A structure called the insula (which means “island”) also appears here—it is a small region of cortex beneath the temporal lobes that registers body perceptions and taste.
The authors believe this complicated picture makes sense. The brain regions on their list process conflict, pain, social isolation, memory, reward, attention, body sensations, decision making and emotional displays, all of which can contribute to feeling sad. Sadness triggers also vary—for example, the memory of a personal loss; a friend stressing over a work conflict; seeing a desolate film.
In the brain, happiness is as widely distributed as sadness. In his book “This Is Your Brain on Music,” Dr. Daniel Levitin (page 58) notes that music simultaneously enlists many parts of the brain. We listen and respond to sounds and rhythms (auditory, sensory and motor cortex, cerebellum). We interpret (sensory cortex) and reason (prefrontal cortex). Music pulls on memories for experience and emotion (amygdala and hippocampus). If the music is working for you, it is probably triggering the reward system (nucleus accumbens). And if you’re playing it, as Dr. Levitin does, you also get to throw satisfaction into the mix. This may or may not be a description of happiness, but it certainly coincides with the notion of flow, described by the author Dr. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi: concentrated attention and the absence of self-consciousness. A neuroscientist might say that a life that fully engages your brain in these ways is a life worth living.
Anger Management
Until recently, there was relatively little research showing how the brain processes anger. But that has begun to change. Recent studies indicate that anger may trigger activity in a part of the brain called as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (abbreviated dACC). Like the amygdala, the dACC’s function makes sense, given its connections to areas of the brain involved in recognizing an offense (he just stole my iPod), registering a feeling (I’m angry) and acting on it (I’m going to …). It also links to the reasoning centers in the front part of the brain, as well as memory centers, which play a role in angry rumination or stewing after the fact.
Researchers, however, have been more focused on one of the consequences of anger—aggression—probably because it can be observed through behavior. It’s known, for example, that men are overtly more aggressive than women because of differences in male and female hormones. But the brains of men and women are also different, and some of those differences may affect aggression. In the front of the brain, the orbitofrontal cortex is recruited to help make decisions and temper emotional responses. It lights up when people are making judgments. Adrian Raine and colleagues at the University of Southern California note that, on average, men have a lower volume of gray matter (the bodies of nerve cells) in the orbitofrontal cortex than women. According to their analysis, this brain difference accounts for a healthy portion of the gender gap seen in the frequency of antisocial behavior.
Even a neuroscientist can see that murder and mayhem are undesirable. But a neuroscientist can also see why that trait might still be in the gene pool. The gene for sickle cell anemia survived because it provided protection against another disease, malaria. Similarly, aggression is often an advantage. Until recently in historical terms, a readiness to fight and the ability to kill was a way to consolidate control over resources for survival.
Fortunately, diplomats have also evolved. Some of our ancestors who understood that aggression carried risks as well as advantages used their creative human brains to devise better solutions for resolving conflicts. Our predecessors also originated symbolic diversions for aggression, like sports and chess.
The Angora rabbit (Turkish: Ankara tavşanı) is a variety of domestic rabbit bred for its long, soft wool. The Angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, originating in Ankara (historically known as Angora), Turkey, along with the Angora cat and Angora goat. The rabbits were popular pets with French royalty in the mid 18th century, and spread to other parts of Europe by the end of the century. They first appeared in the United States in the early 20th century. They are bred largely for their long Angora wool, which may be removed by shearing, combing, or plucking. There are many individual breeds of Angora rabbits, four of which are recognized by ARBA; English, French, Giant, and Satin. Other breeds include German, Chinese, Swiss, and Finnish.
George III of the United Kingdom was born
Today in History: June 4, 1738
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King ofGreat Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector ofBrunswick-Lüneburg (“Hanover”) in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two Hanoverian predecessors he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.
His life and reign, which were longer than those of any previous British monarch, were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years’ War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of its American colonies were soon lost in theAmerican War of Independence. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic Francefrom 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
In the later part of his life, George III suffered from recurrent, and eventually permanent,mental illness. Medical practitioners were baffled by this at the time, although it has since been suggested that he suffered from the blood disease porphyria. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, and George III’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent. On George III’s death, the Prince Regent succeeded his father as George IV.
Why fear is necessary to our survival
Fear is one of the emotions that cognitive neuroscientists understand well. It is an unpleasant feeling, but necessary to our survival; humans would not have lasted very long in the wilderness without it. Two deep brain structures called the amygdalae manage the important task of learning and remembering what you should be afraid of.
Each amygdala, a cluster of nerve cells named after its almond shape, sits under its corresponding temporal lobe on either side of the brain. Like a network hub, it coordinates information from several sources. It collects input from the environment, registers emotional significance and—when necessary—mobilizes a proper response. It gets information about the body’s response to the environment (for example, heart rate and blood pressure) from the hypothalamus. It communicates with the reasoning areas in the front of the brain. And it connects with the hippocampus, an important memory center.
The fear system is extraordinarily efficient. It is so efficient that you don’t need to consciously register what is happening for the brain to kick off a response. If a car swerves into your lane of traffic, you will feel the fear before you understand it. Signals travel between the amygdala and your crisis system before the visual part of your brain has a chance to “see.” Organisms with slower responses probably did not get the opportunity to pass their genetic material along.
Fear is contagious because the amygdala helps people not only recognize fear in the faces of others, but also to automatically scan for it. People or animals with damage to the amygdala lose these skills. Not only is the world more dangerous for them, the texture of life is ironed out; the world seems less compelling to them because their “excitement” anatomy is impaired.
(Source: thedailybeast.com)
