4,000 Meters Below Sea Level, Scientists Have Found the Spectacular ‘Dark Oxygen’

 4,000 Meters Below Sea Level, Scientists Have Found the Spectacular ‘Dark Oxygen’

What if it could solve all of our energy problems?

By Darren Orf Published: May 04, 2026 10:22 AM EDT

 

 

 

 

                                       Iryna Veklich//Getty Images

 

 Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• Scattered across an abyssal plain known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) are polymetallic nodules that are a potato-sized prize for mining companies in search of materials needed for humanity's green energy transition.
• A study analyzing these modules reveals that these rocky lumps are capable of producing “dark oxygen” 4,000 meters below sea level where light cannot reach.
• While this discovery could upend our understanding of how life started on Earth, the study also complicates negotiations around deep-sea mining regulations as it showcases how little we really know about the ocean’s depths.

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Nestled between Hawaii and the western coast of Mexico lies the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a 4.5 million-kilometer-square area of abyssal plain bordered by the Clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones. Although this stretch of sea is a vibrant ecosystem filled with marine life, the CCZ is known best for its immense collection of potato-sized rocks known as polymetallic nodules.

These rocks, of which there are potentially trillions, are filled with rich deposits of nickel, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt. Those particular metals are vital for the batteries needed to power a green energy future, leading some mining companies to refer to nodules as a “battery in a rock.”

However, a study reports that these nodules might be much more than simply a collection of valuable materials for electric cars—they also produce oxygen 4,000 meters below the surface where sunlight can’t reach.

 

 

Source: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/ (06/05/2026)

 Science Says Sleeping in a Really Dark Room Will Make You Smarter

The darker the room tonight, the smarter and more alert you’ll be tomorrow. 

EXPERT OPINION BY JEFF HADEN @JEFF_HADEN

Nov 23, 2025

 

 

 You probably already know you need at least seven hours of sleep a night to function at your best. (And don’t say, “Not me. I do just fine on five or six hours.” According to a study published in Cell Research, only a tiny fraction of the population functions well on less than seven hours.)

Why? A 2018 study published in Sleep says if you only sleep for five to six hours you’re 19 percent less productive than people who regularly sleep for seven to eight hours. If you only sleep five hours a night? You’re nearly 30 percent less productive.

That’s especially true for entrepreneurs: A study published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice found that lack of sleep makes people more likely to start a business on impulse or whim rather than on a solid, well-considered idea. More broadly, a study published in Journal of Business Venturing found that lack of sleep causes you to come up with worse ideas.

And to believe your bad ideas are actually good ideas. ​

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So, yeah: Getting enough sleep is actually a competitive advantage.

Especially if you take it one step further. According to a 2022 study published in Sleep, sleeping in as close to total darkness as possible can not only improve the quality of your sleep, it can also improve your memory and alertness. 

After just two nights of wearing a sleep mask, participants:

• Displayed significantly better learning skills
• Displayed significantly better physical reaction times
• Learned new motor skills more quickly

Why? One explanation could be the “synaptic homeostasis hypothesis,” the theory that increased slow-wave activity during sleep (which is promoted by darkness) promotes the “down-scaling” of synapses that became saturated while you were awake and restores your capacity for encoding new information. 

Or, in non-researcher-speak, a dark night’s sleep primes both your cognitive and motor skills for the next day. The same holds true for feeling (and actually being) more alert.

That doesn’t mean I’m eager to embrace a sleep mask. It feels weird to have a mask on, and it made me feel like I didn’t sleep as well. But I’m probably wrong; as the researchers write: 

It deserves mention that even though participants reported that sleeping with the control mask was more uncomfortable in comparison with the eye mask, this did not impact self-reported sleep quality, morning alertness, or sleep parameters.

So even if you don’t love the idea of a mask, the mask will still — in terms of the benefits it provides — love you back. 

But you don’t have to wear a mask. Draw your blinds. Consider room-darkening curtains. Turn off device notifications and leave them face-down on your nightstand. The darker you make your bedroom — the more you limit the presence of ambient or intermittent light that can disturb your sleep — the more you’ll benefit in terms of memory performance and alertness the next day.

As the researchers write:

Given the current climate of life-hacking, sleep monitoring, and cognitive enhancers, our findings suggest the eye mask as a simple, economical, and noninvasive way to get more out of a night of sleep.

Source: https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/science-says-sleeping-in-a-really-dark-room-will-make-you-smarter/91269306 (25/11/2025)

Coffee drinking is associated with increased longevity

Coffee drinking is associated with increased longevity
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220926200838.htm

Summary: Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day is linked with a longer lifespan and lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with avoiding coffee, according to new research. The findings applied to ground, instant and decaffeinated varieties.

Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day is linked with a longer lifespan and lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with avoiding coffee, according to research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the ESC.¹ The findings applied to ground, instant and decaffeinated varieties.

"In this large, observational study, ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee were associated with equivalent reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and death from cardiovascular disease or any cause," said study author Professor Peter Kistler of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. "The results suggest that mild to moderate intake of ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee should be considered part of a healthy lifestyle."

There is little information on the impact of different coffee preparations on heart health and survival. This study examined the associations between types of coffee and incident arrhythmias, cardiovascular disease and death using data from the UK Biobank, which recruited adults between 40 and 69 years of age. Cardiovascular disease was comprised of coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure and ischaemic stroke.

The study included 449,563 participants free of arrhythmias or other cardiovascular disease at baseline. The median age was 58 years and 55.3% were women. Participants completed a questionnaire asking how many cups of coffee they drank each day and whether they usually drank instant, ground (such as cappuccino or filtered coffee), or decaffeinated coffee. They were then grouped into six daily intake categories, consisting of none, less than one, one, two to three, four to five, and more than five cups per day. The usual coffee type was instant in 198,062 (44.1%) participants, ground in 82,575 (18.4%), and decaffeinated in 68,416 (15.2%). There were 100,510 (22.4%) non-coffee drinkers who served as the comparator group.

Coffee drinkers were compared to non-drinkers for the incidence of arrhythmias, cardiovascular disease and death, after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, smoking status, and tea and alcohol consumption. Outcome information was obtained from medical records and death records. The median follow up was 12.5 years.

A total of 27,809 (6.2%) participants died during follow up. All types of coffee were linked with a reduction in death from any cause. The greatest risk reduction seen with two to three cups per day, which compared to no coffee drinking was associated with a 14%, 27% and 11% lower likelihood of death for decaffeinated, ground, and instant preparations, respectively.

Cardiovascular disease was diagnosed in 43,173 (9.6%) participants during follow up. All coffee subtypes were associated with a reduction in incident cardiovascular disease. Again, the lowest risk was observed with two to three cups a day, which compared to abstinence from coffee was associated with a 6%, 20%, and 9% reduced likelihood of cardiovascular disease for decaffeinated, ground, instant coffee, respectively.

An arrhythmia was diagnosed in 30,100 (6.7%) participants during follow up. Ground and instant coffee, but not decaffeinated, was associated with a reduction in arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation. Compared with non-drinkers, the lowest risks were observed with four to five cups a day for ground coffee and two to three cups a day for instant coffee, with 17% and 12% reduced risks, respectively.

Professor Kistler said: "Caffeine is the most well-known constituent in coffee, but the beverage contains more than 100 biologically active components. It is likely that the non-caffeinated compounds were responsible for the positive relationships observed between coffee drinking, cardiovascular disease and survival. Our findings indicate that drinking modest amounts of coffee of all types should not be discouraged but can be enjoyed as a heart healthy behaviour."

ENDS

Authors: ESC Press Office Mobile: +33 (0)7 8531 2036 Email: press@escardio.org" title="mailto:press@escardio.org">press@escardio.org

Follow us on Twitter @ESCardioNews

Funding: None.

Disclosures: Please see the paper.

References

¹Chieng D, Canovas R, Segan L, et al. The impact of coffee subtypes on incident cardiovascular disease, arrhythmias, and mortality: long-term outcomes from the UK Biobank. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2022. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwac189.

Link will go live on publication:

https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/eurjpc/zwac189

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives.

About the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology is the world's leading preventive cardiology journal, playing a pivotal role in reducing the global burden of cardiovascular disease.

(Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220926200838.htm)

Happy New Year 2025 CE

Dear Everyone! Wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2025 CE! God blee you more. Be happy always! with warm regards Puttaraj Choukimath

How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain: Research explores how gratitude works to improve our mental health

How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain: Research explores how gratitude works to improve our mental health. Greater Good Magazine / Joshua BrownJoel Wong With the rise of managed health care, which emphasizes cost-efficiency and brevity, mental health professionals have had to confront this burning question: How can they help clients derive the greatest possible benefit from treatment in the shortest amount of time? Some evidence suggests that a promising approach is to complement psychological counseling with additional activities that are not too taxing for clients but yield high results. In our own research, we have zeroed in on one such activity: the practice of gratitude. Indeed, many studies over the past decades have found that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed. The problem is that most research studies on gratitude have been conducted with well-functioning people. Is gratitude beneficial for people who struggle with mental health concerns? And, if so, how? We set out to address these questions in a research study involving nearly 300 adults, mostly college students who were seeking mental health counseling at a university. We recruited these participants just before they began their first session of counseling, and, on average, they reported clinically low levels of mental health at the time. The majority of people seeking counseling services at this university in general struggled with issues related to depression and anxiety. We randomly assigned our study participants into three groups. Although all three groups received counseling services, the first group was also instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks, whereas the second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences. The third group did not do any writing activity. What did we find? Compared with the participants who wrote about negative experiences or only received counseling, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended. This suggests that gratitude writing can be beneficial not just for healthy, well-adjusted individuals, but also for those who struggle with mental health concerns. In fact, it seems, practicing gratitude on top of receiving psychological counseling carries greater benefits than counseling alone, even when that gratitude practice is brief. And that’s not all. When we dug deeper into our results, we found indications of how gratitude might actually work on our minds and bodies. While not definitive, here are four insights from our research suggesting what might be behind gratitude’s psychological benefits. 1. Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions First, by analyzing the words used by participants in each of the two writing groups, we were able to understand the mechanisms behind the mental health benefits of gratitude letter writing. We compared the percentage of positive emotion words, negative emotion words, and “we” words (first-person plural words) that participants used in their writing. Not surprisingly, those in the gratitude writing group used a higher percentage of positive emotion words and “we” words, and a lower proportion of negative emotion words, than those in the other writing group. However, people who used more positive emotion words and more “we” words in their gratitude letters didn’t necessarily have better mental health later. It was only when people used fewer negative emotion words in their letters that they were significantly more likely to report better mental health. In fact, it was the lack of negative emotion words—not the abundance of positive words—that explained the mental health gap between the gratitude writing group and the other writing group. Perhaps this suggests that gratitude letter writing produces better mental health by shifting one’s attention away from toxic emotions, such as resentment and envy. When you write about how grateful you are to others and how much other people have blessed your life, it might become considerably harder for you to ruminate on your negative experiences. 2. Gratitude helps even if you don’t share it We told participants who were assigned to write gratitude letters that they weren’t required to send their letters to their intended recipient. In fact, only 23 percent of participants who wrote gratitude letters sent them. But those who didn’t send their letters enjoyed the benefits of experiencing gratitude nonetheless. (Because the number of people who sent their letters was so small, it was hard for us to determine whether this group’s mental health was better than those who didn’t send their letter.) This suggests that the mental health benefits of writing gratitude letters are not entirely dependent on actually communicating that gratitude to another person. So if you’re thinking of writing a letter of gratitude to someone, but you’re unsure whether you want that person to read the letter, we encourage you to write it anyway. You can decide later whether to send it (and we think it’s often a good idea to do so). But the mere act of writing the letter can help you appreciate the people in your life and shift your focus away from negative feelings and thoughts. 3. Gratitude’s benefits take time It’s important to note that the mental health benefits of gratitude writing in our study did not emerge immediately, but gradually accrued over time. Although the different groups in our study did not differ in mental health levels one week after the end of the writing activities, individuals in the gratitude group reported better mental health than the others four weeks after the writing activities, and this difference in mental health became even larger 12 weeks after the writing activities. These results are encouraging because many other studies suggest that the mental health benefits of positive activities often decrease rather than increase over time afterward. We don’t really know why this positive snowball effect occurred in our study. Perhaps the gratitude letter writers discussed what they wrote in their letters with their counselors or with others. These conversations may have reinforced the psychological benefits derived from the gratitude writing itself. For now, the bottom line is this: If you participate in a gratitude writing activity, don’t be too surprised if you don’t feel dramatically better immediately after the writing. Be patient and remember that the benefits of gratitude might take time to kick in. 4. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain About three months after the psychotherapy sessions began, we took some of the people who wrote gratitude letters and compared them with those who didn’t do any writing. We wanted to know if their brains were processing information differently. We used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity while people from each group did a “pay it forward” task. In that task, the individuals were regularly given a small amount of money by a nice person, called the “benefactor.” This benefactor only asked that they pass the money on to someone if they felt grateful. Our participants then decided how much of the money, if any, to pass on to a worthy cause (and we did in fact donate that money to a local charity). We wanted to distinguish donations motivated by gratitude from donations driven by other motivations, like feelings of guilt or obligation. So we asked the participants to rate how grateful they felt toward the benefactor, and how much they wanted to help each charitable cause, as well as how guilty they would feel if they didn’t help. We also gave them questionnaires to measure how grateful they are in their lives in general. We found that across the participants, when people felt more grateful, their brain activity was distinct from brain activity related to guilt and the desire to help a cause. More specifically, we found that when people who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. This suggests that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude. Most interestingly, when we compared those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn’t, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner. This is striking as this effect was found three months after the letter writing began. This indicates that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain. While not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time. Though these are just the first steps in what should be a longer research journey, our research so far not only suggests that writing gratitude letters may be helpful for people seeking counseling services but also explains what’s behind gratitude’s psychological benefits. At a time when many mental health professionals are feeling crunched, we hope that this research can point them—and their clients—toward an effective and beneficial tool. Regardless of whether you’re facing serious psychological challenges, if you have never written a gratitude letter before, we encourage you to try it. Much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don’t have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do. Joshua Brown, Ph.D., is a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University. His research interests include functional neuroimaging, higher cognitive function, addiction, and computational neural modeling. Joel Wong, Ph.D., is an associate professor of counseling psychology at Indiana University. His research interests include positive psychology, men and masculinities, and Asian-American mental health. Originally published by Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Source: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-gratitude-changes-you-and-your-brain?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-intl (06/12/2024)

7 Sneaky Habits That Can Cause Heart Problems

These common behaviors may lead to cardiovascular issues. Here's what to watch out for.

By Julia Ries Sep 9, 2022, 05:45 AM EDT 

You may be contributing to heart damage and not even know it. Experts share the lifestyle habits to avoid in order to protect your cardiovascular health.

It’s well known that certain habits, like smoking or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, can damage your heart over time.

But many of the everyday habits that we don’t really think about — how frequently we brush our teeth, the supplements we take and the amount of coffee we drink — can also take a toll on the health of our hearts.

What we do, eat and drink can significantly influence our blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate, and ultimately influence our overall heart function.

Here are a few everyday habits that can contribute to heart problems:

Crash Dieting Or Eliminating Certain Macronutrients

Dr. Daniel Edmundowicz, the chief of cardiology at Temple University Hospital, said that people often think they are eating a healthy, balanced diet but, in actuality, are setting themselves up for heart problems down the road.

For example, he’s seen people adhering to a low cholesterol diet avoid healthy fats, an important macronutrient. Then, they may eat too many carbohydrates. While this type of diet wouldn’t cause an increase in cholesterol levels, it can lead to weight gain and put a lot of stress on the sugar system and diabetes system, according to Edmundowicz.

Crash dieting can similarly tax the cardiovascular system, and research has shown that a sudden and extreme shift in eating habits can lead to a deterioration in heart function. 

“Going from one extreme to another really doesn’t help,” Edmundowicz said.

Social Isolation And Loneliness

Being isolated from others can also have a profound impact on our heart health, according to Dr. Rigved Tadwalkar, a board-certified cardiologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

A recent study found that older women have a 8% higher risk of cardiovascular disease when living in social isolation and a 5% higher risk for cardiovascular disease when they’re living with loneliness. For people experiencing both social isolation and loneliness, the risk for heart disease grows to 27%.

Social isolation can also contribute to depression, and depression can lead to cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension, sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits, according to Edmundowicz.

“Social isolation is a biggie, and it does contribute to poor heart health,” Edmundowicz said.

10'000 Hours via Getty Images

Social connection can help improve heart health outcomes.

Poor Dental Health

Dental issues — like gum and tooth decay — can increase the risk of bacterial infections in the bloodstream. According to Tadwalkar, it’s very easy for bacteria in the mouth to travel to the blood. 

Recent research also found that regularly having your teeth cleaned is linked to better heart health outcomes.

Edmundowicz said it’s known that gingivitis and poor oral health causes an inflammatory state that could exasperate heart problems like high cholesterol or plaque rupture.

“Good oral hygiene is important. We can’t say 100% that brushing and flossing every day is going to prevent a heart attack, but it can increase one’s vulnerability if they have the other standard risk factors,” Edmundowicz said.

Certain Medications And Supplements

Some medications have been found to trigger cardiovascular issues. ADHD medications, for example, can ramp up the nervous system and cause increased heart rate and blood pressure. Drugs with a diuretic effect, such as the anti-hormonal medication Spironolactone, can decrease blood pressure, and in people with naturally low blood pressure, lead to symptoms like lightheadedness and dizziness.

Tadwalkar stressed that this doesn’t mean that everyone needs to be concerned about their medications. However, those who are predisposed to blood pressure or heart rhythm issues may need to be careful with the dosing of their medications. Your physician should take your heart health history into consideration while figuring out the right dosage for you.

Supplements can also impact the heart, especially among people taking vitamins and herbal supplements they don’t actually need. Supplements can interact with prescribed medications and also have destructive effects on the heart, according to Tadwalkar. He recommends talking to a physician about supplements to determine if they may have cardiovascular effects.

Too Much Caffeine

Caffeinated coffee is generally safe and protective for the heart. Research suggests that drinking two cups of coffee per day provides the greatest cardiovascular benefits.

But too much coffee can have a negative effect because it “can speed up the heart, cause increased heart rate, cause contraction of the blood vessels and increased blood pressure, and certainly if you’re prone to rhythm disturbances of the heart, the caffeine at high doses can cause that,” Tadwalkar said.

Caffeine is considered safe until 300 to 400 milligrams, and after that, it can have a cascade of negative effects.

Research has also shown that filtered coffee is associated with better cholesterol levels than unfiltered coffee, such a French press. “Oftentimes we don’t link cholesterol with coffee, but filtered coffee has less bad cholesterol content than less filtered coffee,” Tadwalkar said. In general, the blacker the coffee, the healthier it is for the body.

Your daily coffee habit can be beneficial for your heart — but only up to a certain point.

Unmanaged Stress

When the body’s fight-or-flight system is chronically activated, it can cause inflammation in the body and prolonged release of stress hormones like adrenaline. These factors together can cause physiological changes in the body, including increases in blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, insulin resistance and electrical rhythm disturbances, according to Tadwalkar.

Chronic stress can also increase the risk of blood clotting throughout the body. If a clot forms in an artery that’s already narrow, it can cause a heart attack. “This is why people who have a lot of chronic stress, you may see, oftentimes, will end up with a heart attack,” Tadwalkar said.

Triggers of stress are all around us, and it can be hard to escape. Because those triggers aren’t going away, it’s crucial to learn how to effectively manage your stress, said Tadwalkar, who recommends stress-relieving activities like meditation, yoga, exercise and enjoyable hobbies.

Too Much Or Too Little Sleep

Most people need about seven to eight hours of sleep a night — too much or too little sleep can contribute to cardiovascular issues, including heart attack and stroke. 

It’s not just about the quantity of sleep, but the quality, too. High-quality, regenerative sleep is crucial to maintaining a healthy heart. Lower-quality sleep is linked to high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and atherosclerosis (a build up of plaque in the arteries).

“We want people to sleep well, and for the expected duration of time, to really protect their heart,” Tadwalkar said.

Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/habits-cause-heart-problems_l_6318c9fde4b0ed021dedd968?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-intl (28/05/2024)

Healthy gut, healthy mind: The schizophrenia and digestion connection

If you’ve ever had a gut feeling that you are what you eat, new research suggests that you may be much closer to the mark than you think.

The role of the gut – dubbed our body’s most under-rated organ – briefly hit the popular consciousness with the international best-selling book, Gut, by micro-biologist Guilia Enders.

What is becoming clear in this rapidly evolving field of academic research is that our largest sensory organ – about eight metres long if laid end to end – has an intimate connection with our brain, and thus both with our mental health, our emotions and disorders such as schizophrenia.

Often called ‘the second brain’, the trillions of microbes that we carry in the gut produce the vast bulk of the same neuro-transmitters that are used for regulation of the brain. If the vagus nerve, which connects the brain and the digestive system, is cut, the digestive system functions fine on its own.

Enders writes that 10 years ago there was hardly any research linking the gut with the brain, where now there are several hundred academic articles. 
 

World-first study

Adding to that field of research is a project about to start at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute at the University of Wollongong, headed by Dr Katrina Green and Professor Xu-Feng Huang, as well psychiatric Professor Nagesh Pai and psychologist Dr Jason Cusack.

The pilot project will study about 30 patients with schizophrenia to investigate the link between bacteria in our gut and brain functioning to identify new ways to improve cognitive function.

Source: University of Wollongong (from left)  1. Dr Katrina Green    2. Professor Xu-Feng Huang

 

“I find it fascinating that we get these gut feelings,” Dr Green says.

“When a person has a psychotic episode it’s in your face, so that’s what gets treated. The cognitive deficit that comes along with schizophrenia is in the background. 
 

Memory and learning loss

“Research is showing that cognitive deficit – problems with memory and learning – occurs in a lot of people before the first signs of the illness appear.

“I often hear that people’s sons or daughters are performing well at school, and then they go into a decline. By the time they are 19 or 20, they end up with psychosis.”

The project will not only look at ways of improving the brain functioning of those with schizophrenia, but also has the potential of providing early diagnosis for the disease.

The hypothesis of the study is that gut microbes are a key factor in the psychological changes in the brain.

The method will be to examine the gut microbes in the stool samples of patients, both when they are exhibiting symptoms of psychosis, and when they are not.

“Cognition is often not tested by clinicians and is not addressed by current anti-psychotic medications,” Dr Green says. 

Neuro-transmitters in the gut

These gut bacteria produce the same neuro-transmitters that regulate emotion and mental health in the brain – dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, norephinephrine.

“If we can find out what’s dysfunctional, then we can figure out how to fix it. The aim is to try and improve the functioning of people with schizophrenia and restore normality to their lives.”

Clinical psychologist Dr Jason Cusack is the researcher in charge with testing the cognition of the patients in the study.

As part of the Illawarra Brain Injury Service, he is experienced at administering tests to measure impairment of brain function, whether that’s from trauma or psychosis.

“The very interesting thing with schizophrenia and cognition is that it’s becoming more recognised as a core effect,” he says.

“Traditionally, the disease has been seen in terms of psychosis and hallucination, as well as the social factor of withdrawal. We have these negative symptoms of apathy, as well as the positive symptoms of psychosis.” 

Source: University of Wollongong (from left)  3. Dr Jason Cusack 4. Professor Nagesh Pai

Cognition is key

More recently, research and the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, incorporates cognition as one of the key factors in schizophrenia.

Symptoms can include changes in memory and learning, perception and speech, distraction, inability to focus, depression, anxiety and a reduction in self-care.

For Professor Nagesh Pai, the research into the gut and its connection with mental health started in 2009; when he began researching why anti-psychotic drugs often caused weight-gain in patients.

Currently research is investigating a medication derived from lizard salvia; this medication is used   to counter the symptoms of diabetes. This medication has shown promise in mice with both weight loss and improvements in cognition; planning is under way for human trials. 
 

Huge effect on mental health

“We also know that patients with schizophrenia have two to three times the risk of developing diabetes, compared to the general population,” Dr Pai says.

“We are trying to find out the part that genetic factors play in this, as well as social or environmental factors. The aetiology of schizophrenia is multifactorial and while the role of genetic factors are well established further work is needed investigating the role of environmental and social factors in controlling diabetes in this population.

The UOW research team believe that altered gut microbes effect the neuronal functioning of the brain.

There is a lot of evidence that there is a bi-directional communication between the brain and the gut and that both influence the functioning of each other.

“If we are able to establish this, a new direction may be provided for the management of schizophrenia.”

 
Story By: William Verity 

Source: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/hub/university-wollongong (29/02/2024)

 

Writing by hand may increase brain connectivity more than typing, readings of student brains suggest

Writing by hand may increase brain connectivity more than typing, readings of student brains suggest

After recording the brain activity of university students, researchers in Norway determined that writing by hand may improve learning and memory.

A participant in the Norway study. Courtesy NTNU

Jan. 27, 2024, 4:00 PM IST

By Aria Bendix

Typing may be faster than writing by hand, but it’s less stimulating for the brain, according to research published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

After recording the brain activity of 36 university students, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology determined that handwriting might improve learning and memory.

At the start of the experiment, the students were told to either write words in cursive using a digital pen on a touchscreen, or to type the same words using a keyboard. When a word such as “forest” or “hedgehog” appeared on a screen in front of them, they had 25 seconds to write or type it over and over.

Meanwhile, a cap of sensors on their head measured their brain waves. The cap’s 256 electrodes attached to the scalp and recorded the electrical signals of the students’ brains, including where brain cells were active and how parts of the brain communicated with each other.

“Our main finding was that handwriting activates almost the whole brain as compared to typewriting, which hardly activates the brain as such. The brain is not challenged very much when it’s pressing keys on a keyboard as opposed to when it’s forming those letters by hand,” said Audrey van der Meer, the study’s co-author and a neuropsychology professor at NTNU.

In particular, the study found that writing by hand required communication between the brain’s visual, sensory and motor cortices. People who wrote with the digital pen had to visualize letters, then use their fine motor skills to control their movement when writing.

“When you have to form letters by hand, an ‘A’ will look completely different than a ‘B’ and requires a completely different movement pattern,” van der Meer said.

By contrast, when typing, the keys look mostly the same, regardless of the letter. As a result, the study found, typing required less brain activity in the visual and motor cortices.

“Because only small parts of the brain are active during typewriting, there is no need for the brain to communicate between different areas,” van der Meer said.

Van der Meer’s previous research in children and young adults similarly found that people’s brains are more active while writing by hand than while typing. A 2017 study from Indiana University also indicated that writing by hand could link visual and motor skills, which might help kids better recognize letters.

But so far, there’s mixed evidence as to whether taking notes on paper versus a laptop can help people remember and understand information better in the classroom or raise their performance on tests.

It’s also hard to know whether or how the brain activity in the new study might translate into real-life improvements in learning or memory, said Ramesh Balasubramaniam, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced, who wasn’t involved in the research.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/writing-by-hand-may-increase-brain-connectivity-rcna135880 (DoA: 31/01/2024)