MIT finds cure for fear | Press Esc

Inhibiting a kinase, an enzyme that change proteins, called Cdk5 facilitates the extinction of fear learned in a particular context, Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and colleagues showed.

This is interesting. If I'm reading the article right, they have chemically prevented a fear of a particular thing. They shocked the mice whenever they went to a certain spot until they were afraid of it. The more Cdk5 activity in their brains, the more fear. But when they cut down the activity, the mice were okay.

I'm not quite sure how this translates to humans, though. For example, I am quite rationally afraid of being eaten by a lion. I have never been close enough to a lion to really express that fear, but it is a fear nevertheless. Now, let's say you have inhibited the Cdk5 in my brain. Will I now happily approach a hungry-looking lion?

No, I won't. My fear of the lion, or lack thereof, has no bearing on whether or not it will eat me.

I suppose that what they really mean is that they could prevent me from being paralyzed by fear if I were ever in close proximity to a lion. But, I suspect I could prevent myself from being paralyzed by fear by spending a lot of time with lions and learning to avoid being eaten.

The article mentions soldiers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and panic attacks, which "stem from the inability of the brain to stop experiencing the fear associated with a specific incident or series of incidents". I guess I never realized that they were so technically precise.

It seems unlikely that they can stop rational fears. That is, I don't believe that they can inhibit my Cdk5 and allow me to waltz through a war zone, explosions and people trying to kill me all around. But if I come home and still find myself waking up at night, screaming and remembering that experience, that seems like something they could turn off.

Anyway, I don't mean to second guess MIT researchers. They probably know what they're talking about.

Prehistoric lovers found locked in eternal embrace - CNN.com

"It's rare for two young people to die at the same time, and that makes us want to know why and who they were, but it will be very difficult to find out."

Really?  It will be hard to figure out who they were?  Maybe because they were buried 5000 years ago.  I mean, it's not like there's some old guy you can just go ask.

Seriously, this sounds like an elaborate pre-Valentine's Day hoax.  Right near the place where "Romeo and Juliet" was set, a week before Valentine's Day, we find the remains of two young lovers?  Someone better check and make sure the skeleton doesn't say "Hallmark" on it.

Carbon globules in meteorite may have seeded Earth life - space - 30 November 2006 - New Scientist Space via Kurzweil AI

Now, analysis of atomic isotopes shows that the globules could not have come from Earth and must have formed in very cold conditions, possibly before the Sun was born.

It's crazy to think about little bits of carbon that have been hanging around inside a rock since before the sun was born.  I mean, that's, like, a long time ago, and stuff.

But to think that, maybe, some carbon got stuck inside this rock, where it was more or less protected, way back before the sun.  Then that rock flew around space until it eventually crashed into earth, where the conditions were right for life to emerge.  Eventually, that life became us, and koala bears, and fruit bats.

They aren't sure that's what happened, but it's a good theory.  Makes you feel really small and insignificant, doesn't it?