Making Science More Better For You on 02/01/08

Headlines of the day
Blind Austinite again seeks acupuncture license (the statesman.com)

Pot Bust Made After Internet Advertisement Posted (WCBS)
Dude …you know…..dude.

BREAKING NEWS: Bush says there are 'serious signs' the economy is weakening (MSNBC)
Danger Will Robinson, danger.


Welcome to The Mouse Channel—All Cheese All the Time

Tiny camera implanted inside a mouse’s brain
Technique could lead to treatments for Parkinson’s disease, scientists say


TOKYO - Japanese researchers have implanted a small camera inside a mouse’s brain to see how memory is formed, in an experiment they hope someday to apply to humans to treat illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease.

The experiment, described in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods, as well as Sensors and Actuators, used a camera roughly 0.1 inch wide (3 by 2.3 by 2.4 millimeters), said Jun Ohta, professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in western Japan.

Working with researchers at Kinki University, Ohta implanted the special semiconductor camera inside the hippocampus of the mouse’s brain, designing the device so that a screen showed blue light whenever the camera captured memory being recorded by the brain.

The researchers injected the mouse with a substance that lights up whenever there is brain activity. The camera captures that light, and the visuals come up on a screen.

The team now plans to use the camera while the mouse is walking.

“We are thinking about how to apply this to humans, though we must be very careful, as it involves implanting something into the brain,” Ohta told Reuters. “It would take 10 years at the earliest.”

The researchers hope the study will lead to new ways to treat Parkinson’s disease, as they aim to have the camera track brain activity that trigger symptoms such as tremors.


Gong Hay Fat Chance

Mississippi Pols Seek To Ban Fats
New bill would make it illegal for restaurants to serve the obese

FEBRUARY 1--Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. Bill No. 282, a copy of which you'll find below, is the brainchild of three members of the state's House of Representatives, Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows. The bill, which is likely dead on arrival, proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. It does not detail what penalties an eatery would face if its grub was served to someone with an excessive body mass index.