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from E Magazine --
While most of the world fixates on how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we emit into the atmosphere, scientists and engineers around the world are busy working on various “geo-engineering” technologies—many of which are highly theoretical—to mitigate global warming and its effects. Some scientists oppose using new technology to fix problems created by old technology, but others view it as a quick and relatively inexpensive way to solve humankind’s most vexing environmental problem.

One of the theories proposed for reducing global warming involves deflecting heat away from the Earth’s surface with solar shields or satellites with movable reflectors. Computer models suggest that blocking eight percent of the sun’s Earth-bound radiation would effectively counteract the warming effect of our CO2 pollution. The idea was inspired by the cooling effects of large volcanic eruptions—such as Mt. Pinatubo in 1991—that blast sulphate particles into the stratosphere. These particles reflect part of the sun’s radiation back into space, reducing the amount of heat that reaches the atmosphere.

from Mail Online.com --

According to new research, long working hours could be putting millions at risk of dementia, Middle-age workers doing more than 55 hours a week have poorer mental skills, including short-term memory and ability to recall words, than those clocking up fewer than 41 hours, a study has found. The stress and exhaustion of long hours could be as bad for the brain as smoking, concluded the study.

Britain has some of the longest working hours in Europe, with one in eight doing more than 48 hours a week. Many claim to thrive on the stress and long hours of demanding jobs. But the study of 2,214 British civil servants, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggests they are underestimating the long-term damage they could be doing to their brains.

Researchers, led by Dr Marianna Virtanen from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, tracked the civil servants from the 1980s. Some 39 per cent worked fewer than 40 hours a week, 53 per cent between 41 to 55 hours and eight per cent more than 55. In their early 50s, they were put through a series of brain function tests. Those doing the most overtime recorded lower scores in two of the five key brain function tests - reasoning and vocabulary.

The researchers said: ‘This study shows that long working hours may have a negative effect on cognitive performance in middle age

from Science Daily --
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have discovered that a hallucinogenic compound found in a plant indigenous to South America and used in shamanic rituals regulates a mysterious protein that is abundant throughout the body. The finding, reported in the Feb. 13 issue of Science, may have implications for treating drug abuse and/or depression.

Scientists have been searching for years for naturally occurring compounds that trigger activity in the protein, the sigma-1 receptor. In addition, a unique receptor for the hallucinogen, called dimethyltryptamine (DMT), has never been identified.

The UW-Madison researchers made the unusual pairing by doing their initial work the "old-fashioned," yet still effective, way. They diagrammed the chemical structure of several drugs that bind to the sigma-1 receptor, reduced them to their simplest forms and then searched for possible natural molecules with the same features. Biochemical, physiological and behavioral experiments proved that DMT does, in fact, activate the sigma-1 receptor.

In addition to being a component of psychoactive snuffs and sacramental teas used in native religious practices in Latin America, DMT is known to be present in some mammalian tissues, and it has also been identified in mammalian blood and spinal fluid. Elevated levels of DMT and a related molecule have been found in the urine of schizophrenics.

The hallucinogen's involvement may mean that the sigma-1 receptor is connected in some fashion to psychoactive behavior.

The Wisconsin researchers found that DMT is derived from the naturally occurring amino acid tryptophan and is structurally related to the neurotransmitter serotonin. This finding illustrates the mantra often used in the biological processing of natural molecules: Nothing goes to waste.

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