Monthly Archives: May 2011

EVENT! Climate Change, Science and Society: A Multidisciplinary Discussion

Posted on by
Reply

This special event will explore the topic of climate change from diverse disciplinary perspectives, illustrating that this phenomenon is not simply a scientific problem, but a social and economic one as well.

Presented by:

The Hot Topics in Green Science and Sustainability Discussion Group
and
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change

When: Wednesday June 1st, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Where: The New York Academy of Sciences
(7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, 40th floor, New York, NY 10007-2157)
Link: http://www.nyas.org/Events/Detail.aspx?cid=3aa97087-2f89-4f13-891a-01e2f2551192
Moderator: Sarah Andrus, John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Speakers:

Dr. David H. Rind
NASA/GISS

Dr. Steven Rose
Senior Project Manager, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Lauren Chambliss, M.A.
Assistant Director, Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station

Erasing Memories

Posted on by
Reply

Memory erasing is a hot topic in Hollywood. From the 1997 sci-fi flick Men in Black to the 2004 romantic comedy Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, characters are constantly trying to erase painful or dangerous memories from their minds. While neuroscientists are currently aiming their memory-erasing efforts at clinical conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, they are making progress that may one day allow you to erase any memory you desire.

Memory formation essentially works like this:

  • Sensory information (wind on your face, the smell of coffee, a Picasso painting) is encoded as electrical pulses called action potentials.
  • Action potentials cause glutamate, an important neurotransmitter, to exit one nerve cell (neuron), cross a small channel of space called a synapse, and bind to receptors on the next neuron, which chemically activates the next cell to transmit the impulse and glutamate-release along the chain of neurons. Read more here! ⇒
  • Ultimately, this signal reaches the areas of the brain responsible for encoding memory: the amygdala, and the hippocampus.
  • When the amygdala and the hippocampus are simultaneously activated by glutamate and an electrical pulse, that particular “community” of neurons is changed to become more sensitive to each other. In this way, a memory is formed.

Because memory is created by experience, we are sometimes stuck remembering experiences we’d rather forget. This is especially true for PTSD patients, whose traumatic experience causes significant neurological patterns to take root and, often times, disrupt their lives. To try and help these individuals, some scientists have begun to investigate ways to actually erase memories from our brains.

During his research on memory formation, Joe Tsien of the Medical College of Georgia found that the enzyme CaMKII plays a significant role in memory consolidation. However, in experiments with mice, Tsien found that if he increased CaMKII above a normal limit while the mouse was remembering an experience, the connections between the neurons suddenly weakened and the memory would vanish. This effect happens within a few minutes, and it is permanent and selective: the memory being recalled is erased, while all other memories are left intact. 1

Meanwhile, researchers at UCLA targeted the enzyme kinase M in their memory research. Using Aplysia—a type of marine slug, they first gave the slug a memory: a shock to its tail. For as long as a week after the initial shock, the slug would still retract its tail for a full 30 seconds when touched on the same spot, proving that it had formed a memory. Next, the researchers injected the slug with zeta inhibitory peptide, which blocked the activity of kinase M. When the slugs were prodded again twenty-four hours later, they flinched for only a moment before relaxing—the same reaction they showed when they were poked before the shock. 2 State University of New York professor Todd Sacktor has demonstrated similar results with rats. 3

The bottom line is that scientists are moving step-by-step toward being able to target memories in the brain and erase them. The closer we get to achieving this goal, however, the more closely we will have to examine the ethical implications, lest we end up with scenarios like those in Paycheck (2003) or Total Recall (1990)….

Resources from Wiley on This Topic
Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders, 2nd Edition

by James A. Chu
Handbook of Neural Engineering

by Metin Akay
Enzyme Technologies: Metagenomics, Evolution, Biocatalysis and Biosynthesis

by Wu-Kuang Yeh, Hsiu-Chiung Yang, James R. McCarthy

1. Wang, H., Feng, R., Wang, L., Li, F., Cao, X., & Tsien, J. (2008). CaMKII Activation State Underlies Synaptic Labile Phase of LTP and Short-Term Memory Formation Current Biology, 18 (20), 1546-1554 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.08.064
2. Cai D, Pearce K, Chen S, & Glanzman DL (2011). Protein kinase m maintains long-term sensitization and long-term facilitation in aplysia. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31 (17), 6421-31 PMID: 21525283
3. Shema, R., Sacktor, T., & Dudai, Y. (2007). Rapid Erasure of Long-Term Memory Associations in the Cortex by an Inhibitor of PKM Science, 317 (5840), 951-953 DOI: 10.1126/science.1144334

From Attention to Aggression: The Importance of Green Space

Posted on by
Reply

We’ve all taken a walk in the park to clear our minds and refresh our spirits. However, scientific studies show that time spent in green spaces can actually renew attention, reduce aggression, improve self-control, and even help to ease symptoms of ADHD. This is especially important as major cities such as San Diego, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Philadelphia lose their tree cover.

As early as the mid-1800s, city planners recognized the importance of green spaces. When his plan for New York City’s Central Park was put into place in 1865, Frederick Law Olmsted said, “It is a scientific fact that the occasional contemplation of natural scenes . . . is favorable to the health and vigor of men.” Over the next century, scientists developed theories and offered mounting evidence to prove that statement true.

In the 1980s, Stephen Kaplan, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, developed the attention restoration theory (ART). In simple terms, this theory suggests that natural stimuli (trees, grass, stars, etc.) engage our involuntary attention, requiring little effort and energy to engage in the environment. Conversely, urban stimuli (cars, lights, billboards, etc.) demand voluntary attention. Voluntary attention requires considerable focus and energy and is therefore susceptible to attentional fatigue. Thus, exposure to the natural environment actually rejuvenates attentional capacities, because it gives voluntary attention a rest.

Kaplan published his theory in 1995.1 In the following years, a number of published studies supported and expanded upon ART. Scientists at the Landscape and Human Health Lab at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign were particularly prolific, producing findings such as:

  • Fatigued attention—caused by lack of exposure to natural greenery—can result in increased aggression.2
  • Decreased exposure to nature results in decreased self-control.3

These same scientists then hypothesized that attentional fatigue may exacerbate attention deficit symptoms and that natural landscapes could help to alleviate these symptoms. Several studies supported this hypothesis, including:

  • “Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings” (Taylor, Kuo, & Sullivan, 2001)4
  • “A Potential Natural Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence from a National Study” (Kuo & Taylor, 2004)5
  • “Children with Attention Deficits Concentrate Better after Walk in the Park” (Kuo & Taylor, 2008)6

Whether using parental observations and ratings or a digit span task, the studies all demonstrated that time spent in green spaces makes children with ADHD calmer, more responsive, and better able to concentrate. Even despite criticisms of some of the study designs7, the consensus remains that people who are exposed to the natural environment function better than people who are not. Therefore, we may be wise to more closely guard our diminishing urban parks and forests, or our mental health may suffer the consequences.

Resources from Wiley on This Topic
Handbook of Environmental Psychology

by Robert B. Bechtel and Arza Churchman
Conservation Psychology: Understanding and promoting human care for nature

by Susan Clayton and Gene Myers

1. KAPLAN, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15 (3), 169-182 DOI: 10.1016/0272-4944(95)90001-2
2. Kuo, F., & Sullivan, W. (2001). Aggression and Violence in the Inner City: Effects of Environment via Mental Fatigue Environment and Behavior, 33 (4), 543-571 DOI: 10.1177/00139160121973124
3. TAYLOR, A. (2002). VIEWS OF NATURE AND SELF-DISCIPLINE: EVIDENCE FROM INNER CITY CHILDREN Journal of Environmental Psychology, 22 (1-2), 49-63 DOI: 10.1006/jevp.2001.0241
4. Taylor, A., Kuo, F., & Sullivan, W. (2001). Coping with add: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings Environment and Behavior, 33 (1), 54-77 DOI: 10.1177/00139160121972864
5. Kuo FE, & Taylor AF (2004). A potential natural treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: evidence from a national study. American journal of public health, 94 (9), 1580-6 PMID: 15333318
6. Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. (2009). Children With Attention Deficits Concentrate Better After Walk in the Park Journal of Attention Disorders, 12 (5), 402-409 DOI: 10.1177/1087054708323000
7. Canu, W., & Gordon, M. (2005). MOTHER NATURE AS TREATMENT FOR ADHD: OVERSTATING THE BENEFITS OF GREEN American Journal of Public Health, 95 (3), 371-371 DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.055962