When people say “I feel your pain,” they do not mean it literally, but certain people really do feel something that appears to be an extreme form of empathy, UK researchers said.
They said watching someone being touched triggers the same part of the brain as actual touch, and this connection helps explain how we understand what other people are feeling.
People who experience a tactile sense of touch when they see another person being touched — something called mirror-touch synesthesia — was first studied in 2005 in one person.
But researchers at University College London have now studied 10 people with the same condition. “It suggests there is a link between certain aspects of the tactile system and empathy,” said Michael Banissy of the university’s department of psychology, whose work appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Banissy and colleagues first did a series of experiments to authenticate peoples’ claims that they felt something when they saw someone else being touched. read more.....
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Monday, June 18, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
Laptops giving chronic back pain to millions
Booming sales of laptops have led to a surge in the number of computer users with back and muscle problems, experts have warned. Girls as young as 12 are being diagnosed with nerve damage caused by slouching over screens, a group of leading chiropractors said.
Millions of others are at risk of “irretrievable damage” to their spines, necks and shoulders because of poor posture when using laptops, it was claimed. Back specialists say as many as four in five patients have chronic nerve damage caused by working on portable PCs.
The problem is being driven by falling prices and the increasing availability of wireless technology, which makes portable computers more attractive. Laptop sales in PC World went up by more than 25% last year.
In addition, laptops used at work are not subject to the same health and safety regulations as desktop computers. This makes it more likely they will be used incorrectly. A common problem is perching a laptop on the legs so users stare down at the screen and put strain on their necks, spines and legs.
London-based chiropractor Michael Durntall was among those calling for more research into the issue. He said he had seen dozens of Xrays showing signs of degeneration in the joints of regular laptop users. Durntall added: “Mothers bring in their 12-year-old daughters suffering back pain and when they arrive I can see their slumped posture straight away.
“I also see many people in their twenties and thirties with a dowager’s hump — a rounding at the base of the neck — after only a few years of looking down at a small screen while sitting slumped on a chair for long periods.”
Rishi Loatey, a chiropractor from Wembley, North-West London, said he often treated back and neck pain caused by using a laptop on the move, such as on a train.
Nicola Hunter, a physiotherapist and occupational health specialist, said that hand and arm pain similar to repetitive strain injury was easily induced by resting wrists against the edge of a laptop.
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Millions of others are at risk of “irretrievable damage” to their spines, necks and shoulders because of poor posture when using laptops, it was claimed. Back specialists say as many as four in five patients have chronic nerve damage caused by working on portable PCs.
The problem is being driven by falling prices and the increasing availability of wireless technology, which makes portable computers more attractive. Laptop sales in PC World went up by more than 25% last year.
In addition, laptops used at work are not subject to the same health and safety regulations as desktop computers. This makes it more likely they will be used incorrectly. A common problem is perching a laptop on the legs so users stare down at the screen and put strain on their necks, spines and legs.
London-based chiropractor Michael Durntall was among those calling for more research into the issue. He said he had seen dozens of Xrays showing signs of degeneration in the joints of regular laptop users. Durntall added: “Mothers bring in their 12-year-old daughters suffering back pain and when they arrive I can see their slumped posture straight away.
“I also see many people in their twenties and thirties with a dowager’s hump — a rounding at the base of the neck — after only a few years of looking down at a small screen while sitting slumped on a chair for long periods.”
Rishi Loatey, a chiropractor from Wembley, North-West London, said he often treated back and neck pain caused by using a laptop on the move, such as on a train.
Nicola Hunter, a physiotherapist and occupational health specialist, said that hand and arm pain similar to repetitive strain injury was easily induced by resting wrists against the edge of a laptop.
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Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Almost lost: over 900 bird species
A COMBINATION of climate change and habitat destruction will significantly threaten 400 to 900 bird species by 2050, according to researchers who have carried out a global analysis of the effects of human activities on land-dwelling birds.
By the end of the century, the list will be roughly twice as long.
The birds at risk are those which the researchers predict will lose at least half of their habitat range. They said that although the effects of climate change are significant, they are dwarfed by damage to the birds' habitat due to, for example, logging to convert forest to farmland.
The analysis used data from the UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) a five-year project begun in 2001 involving more than 1,300 experts worldwide, which aimed to provide a state-of-the-art appraisal of the world's ecosystems, the services they provide and how to conserve them.
The team used global political scenarios developed by the MEA to project what would happen to habitats over the next century.
Even with the most optimistic assumptions about global action on climate change and efforts to slow habitat destruction in the tropics, large numbers of the 8,750 land bird species were endangered. read more........
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By the end of the century, the list will be roughly twice as long.
The birds at risk are those which the researchers predict will lose at least half of their habitat range. They said that although the effects of climate change are significant, they are dwarfed by damage to the birds' habitat due to, for example, logging to convert forest to farmland.
The analysis used data from the UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) a five-year project begun in 2001 involving more than 1,300 experts worldwide, which aimed to provide a state-of-the-art appraisal of the world's ecosystems, the services they provide and how to conserve them.
The team used global political scenarios developed by the MEA to project what would happen to habitats over the next century.
Even with the most optimistic assumptions about global action on climate change and efforts to slow habitat destruction in the tropics, large numbers of the 8,750 land bird species were endangered. read more........
For more details on Bird species visit www.halfvalue.com and www.halfvalue.co.uk
For more information on books visit www.Lookbookstores.com
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