Study suggests balance between preserving memories and integrating new learning

By Greta Friar, Harvard Medical School Communications

The human brain has a region of cells responsible for linking sensory cues to actions and behaviors and cataloging the link as a memory. Cells that form these links have been deemed highly stable and fixed.

Now, the findings of a Harvard Medical School (HMS) study conducted in mice challenge that model, revealing that the neurons responsible for such tasks may be less stable, yet more flexible than previously believed.

The results, published Aug. 17 in the journal Cell, cast doubt on the traditional notion that memory formation involves hardwiring information into the brain in a fixed and highly stable pattern.

The researchers say their results point to a critical plasticity in neuronal networks that ensures easier integration of new information. Such plasticity allows neuronal networks to more easily incorporate new learning, eliminating the need...

RSF Science News Article

A big question in science is how life emerged from ostensibly abiotic environments. What demarcates the transition from prebiotic matter to living systems? What environments could have fostered such complex chemical circuitry? Life is supported on three primary pillars: (1) replication – a molecular system capable of encoding information, most importantly its own reproduction; (2) Synthesis – the molecular machinery to read and execute encoded information to assemble new parts and replicate; and (3) Metabolism – the ability to extract energy from the environment to drive far-from equilibrium processes including chemical synthesis of molecular “building blocks”.

A popular explanation for the emergence of the first chemical replicators is known as the ‘RNA world hypothesis’. Ribonucleic acid is a polymer that is capable of encoding information in its nucleic acid sequence, and performing enzymatic catalysis – it...

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is a key theoretical limit on the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a quantum state, such as position and momentum, can be known. In the Bohr-Heisenberg formulation of quantum theory, also known as the Copenhagen interpretation, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is taken beyond a mere theoretical limit on the precision with which measurements can be made on quantum systems, and is instead interpreted as a fundamental property of the universe in which there is a certain level of intrinsic indeterminacy that places unsurpassable constraints on the degree of certainty with which any measurement of complementary variables can be made.
This of course, is according to the Bohr-Heisenberg theory of quantum mechanics, and essentially argues that the absolute uncertainty and irreducible limitations on the possibility to obtain certain knowledge about a quantum state reflects the inherent meaninglessness of actual, real...

Article by William Brown, Biophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Metamaterials are a class of super-materials with remarkable characteristics. Metamaterials have been engineered to bend and shape light, providing an effective invisibility cloak.

By Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientists

By Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientists

The mechanism underlying the formation of crystals is the breaking of symmetry in the spatial domain. Also responsible for phase transitions between liquid and solid it has long been associated with a system in equilibrium – that is a system in its ground state.

However, two independent teams of scientists have recently confirmed the existence of crystals in a non-equilibrium state – known as time crystals. Predicted in 2012 by Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek these systems break symmetry in the time domain – where they show periodicities at an emergent sub-harmonic frequency and are robust to external perturbations. Could this be a resonant frequency of the quantum vacuum?

The basic idea of a time crystal is relatively straight-forward. A crystalline medium has a periodic, or regularly repeating structure. However, because of entropic considerations (forcing the substance into its lowest energy state) the crystal...

Writing in the International Journal of Nanotechnology, Dr. Maestro and co-authors explain how the physical and chemical properties of water have been extensively studied for over 100 years and revealed some odd behavior not seen in other substances. In recent research, Dr. Maestro's team was able to identify two distinct phases or states of liquid water. The preliminary findings suggest that the structure of liquid water can strongly influence the stability of proteins and how they are denatured at the crossover temperature, which may well have implications for understanding protein processing in the food industry but also in understanding how disease arises when proteins misfold.

Article: http://www.sci-news.com/physics/two-states-liquid-water-04359.html

   
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The question of life on Venus, of all places, is intriguing enough that a team of U.S. and Russian scientists working on a proposal for a new mission to the second planet — named Venera-D — are considering including the search for life in its mission goals. If all goes as planned, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could one day be cruising the thick, sulfuric-acid clouds of Venus to help determine whether dark streaks that appear to absorb ultraviolet radiation could be evidence of microbial life.