Writing in the Stars

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magicalnaturetour:

Waxwing by ressaure on Flickr.

A Momentary Flow: The Ironic Success Of Experimental Philosophy : NPR

wildcat2030:

See on Scoop.it - Philosophy everywhere everywhen

Philosophers are burning their armchairs and heading for the lab as part of a new movement called, appropriately enough, “experimental philosophy.” Commentator Tania Lombrozo wonders why this small subfield of philosophy has captured…

31 notes | 1 month ago

"We accept reality so readily - perhaps because we sense that nothing is real."

- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Immortal” (via litverve)

(via wildcat2030)

322 notes | 1 month ago

wildcat2030:

To celebrate the 38th anniversary of the liberation of Da Nang, the government of Vietnam has constructed the world’s largest dragon-shaped bridge over the Han River. Not only is it the steel bridge the largest of its type in the world, but it is covered in over 2,500 LED lights - and it breathes fire!

(Source: stumbleupon.com)

52,009 notes | 1 month ago

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"Beauty has a lot to do with character."

- Kevyn Aucoin (via excrutiate)

(Source: caryrandolph, via perpetual-gray)

1,794 notes | 1 month ago

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magicalnaturetour:

Sweet Dreams beautiful friends ♥
Source

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ucsdhealthsciences:

Telomeres (yellow) on human chromosomes. Image courtesy of Michael West.
Caught short with a cold
Telomeres are the “caps” that sit at the ends of chromosomes in every cell, protecting vital DNA sequences from damage. Think of them as extended bumpers. Over the years, a number of studies have linked shorter telomeres to everything from aging to aging-related conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease and dementia.
Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say they’ve found evidence that shorter telomeres affect the well-being of relatively young, healthy people too. These people, the scientists write in JAMA, have a higher risk of catching a cold.
The researchers looked at 152 healthy adults, ages 18 to 55, living in and around Pittsburgh. They took blood samples and measured the telomere lengths in leukocytes, white blood cells involved in the immune response. Then they put the participants in quarantine and exposed them to a virus that causes the common cold.
More than two-thirds of the volunteers – 105 people, 69 percent – became infected with the virus; 33 actually developed colds. When researchers compared telomere measurements with who got sick, they found that, generally speaking, shorter telomeres in four types of blood cells were associated with a higher risk of infection. Most notably in a type of T-cell (another kind of immune response cell known as a lymphocyte) called CD8CD28. The link between shorter telomeres and catching a cold became stronger with increasing age in the study subjects.
The researchers speculate that T-cells with shorter telomeres don’t proliferate as well as T-cells with longer telomeres, making them less effective at removing virus-infected cells.
“A provocative possibility is that telomere length is a very stable marker of disease susceptibility, with associations between telomere length and clinical outcomes beginning to emerge in early adulthood,” the authors wrote.
It’s too early to know how this basic research will translate clinically. Lots of folks have suggested that maintaining telomere health is akin to maintaining overall well-being.
That remains to be proven conclusively, but it does beg the obvious question: How do I keep my telomeres long and healthy? Alas, shortening appears to be part of the aging process (every time a cell divides its DNA for replication, it’s telomeres shorten too), but there is some evidence to suggest that things like reduced stress and a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids might slow the shortening process or generally boost cellular health.

A Momentary Flow: Is it time we got over the taboo against human enhancement?

wildcat2030:

See on Scoop.it - Knowmads, Infocology of the future

Slate writer Will Oremus has put together a fairly revealing article about how easy it’s becoming to supercharge our brains, prompting him to wonder why there’s still so much push-back against the idea of technologically enhancing…

55 notes | 1 month ago

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Gottfried Helnwein working on the “Head of a Child,” 1991.

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cedricfindsthatamusing:

mario-l:

OMG you guys what if Waternoose had his heart broken by a child a long time ago and that’s why he’s so violently opposed to letting the other monsters get to know kids?! Actually this would explain the entire monster reality because they have entire government agencies devoted to keeping the kids out! Someone at the top of all of this knows that kids are actually really lovable but monsters can never befriend them because adults would hunt them all down and kill them. The scare tactics used in this movie were for the monsters own good, but not for their physical health, for their hearts!

You little shit.

(Source: potteraze, via goldentulips)

54,762 notes | 1 month ago