Wonders of Biology

It's a slow process - doesn't stop new ones from coming in.
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Though it's certainly suggestive that Venus may have life, it's also such an energetic, chemically rich atmosphere that I wouldn't rule out a process we haven't thought of yet. The authors of the right attitude of "please try to prove us wrong".

What until the space deniers get on to this!

They obviously have a bible or something equally as conclusive as their evidence though.

'Researchers at MIT have devised a way to allow chemical signals from spinach plants to transmit an email.
In a study published this week in Nature Materials, researchers engineered the roots of spinach plants to contain microscopic nanosensors that are capable of detecting nitroaromatics — chemicals that are often found in explosives and man-made industrial chemicals.
When the nanosensors detect those compounds, they can send a signal to an infrared camera, which can shoot out an email alert.
DARPA — the Defense Department's advanced research wing — has an entire program dedicated to exploring how plants could be engineered to detect threats like pathogens and chemicals in the environment. ' - Axios

{{ Once we start talking to them going to be tricky to keep mowing the grass and chopping trees down and eating plants! }}

wow thats amazing.

I am fascinated about rhyzomes as well, which are fungii growing underground which communicate to trees. I think its something like that, it might be other things as well.

There's a whole tree communication thing going on, which I would think would extend to grasses as well. Researchers working with trees must be very patient people.

Not sure why wonders of biology ended up in the serious forum. Case in point:

https://medium.com/happy-brain-club/what-happens-when-you-give-ecstasy-to-an-octopus-6149a0c2e524

So sometime before the sun came up I sat up in bed and the room was whirling around.  I hadn't been drinking, but went and got some water, which didn't make a difference.  With sunrise I staggered to my computer and looked up "room spinning but not drunk".  This is when I discovered benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

We all know about the semicircular ear canals that are rings in different directions.  It turns out they all feed into a chamber where the fluid causes floating things called canaliths to bump into nerve endings, signalling that the head is turning one way or another.  But sometimes these canaliths escape into the canals causing fluid to slosh instead of flow, with all sorts of unpleasant effects.

Fortunately in the 1990's a certain Epley devised a simple set of maneuvers you can do at home to get all the canaliths to bunch together, then maneuver them back where they belong.  It involves turning the head 45 degrees, suddenly laying down and waiting, then turning the head 45 degrees the other side and waiting....etc.

Seems to have been largely successful.  Had to have a vomit bucket near me at all times until I figured it out.  I still have some residual effects which suggest I didn't wait long enough for the small canaliths to settle into place, so will be repeating.

But yeah, the Epley maneuver.  I realized when reading the description I had done some of it in reverse that night: felt a bug crawling across me, turned the head, then suddenly turned on my side and fumbled with the light, then suddenly sat up.  All of a sudden the room was spinning.  Dratted canaliths got shook loose.

I have that Halfy, and as far as I can guess its called a vestibular migraine, I also get vomiting and I get an attack once ever so often. I either wake up with spinning room or it comes along during the day, it lasts for hours then fucks off until another month. Its horrible. I already suffer from tinnitus so maybe its connected to the inner ear. To get rid of it I was given some super dooper drugs from the hospital which sorts it out. Its called Levopraid, 15 drops once or twice a day. does the trick nicely, it is also an anti-psychotic which elevates dopamin/seratonin levels so happy happy days as well.
when they first gave me the prescription I asked them why the freak were they giving me an anti-psychotic but by all accounts along with vertigo, its used mainly for gas in the stomach dyspepsia, than anything else, but the intestines are all connected to the brain so it figures really. Its pretty good stuff with zero negative effects as far as i can tell it makes me feel my normal self before the pandemic and gets rid of my paranoia, hypochondria and OCD, result!  

by the way this started at the beginning of 2020 during the first lockdown, my gut tells me its connected to extreme anxiety and will go once my anxiety levels have normalised. The timing was probably logical as the body doesn't like prolonged stress. People with high levels of stress have lowered seratonin levels. more migraines.

In your case Halfy it might just be the results of the vaccine kicking in and is totally temporary. So don't start doing weird shit manoeuvres with your brain.

No, the Epley maneuver is well established, not weird.  There's not a single abnormal move that you do, and if you think of those games with the marbles on a board that you are trying to work through a maze to get back into the hole, that's all that you are doing.  And you wait between each move for things to settle down.  You may want to try it, it's absolutely safe, though if they are prescribing drugs they already decided it was something else.

And it largely worked for me.  There's some time while the brain tries to readjust to the readjustment it did once the gizmos shook loose, but there was an immediate difference.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

well that seems gentle enough and not likely to do any harm, so if it works that's good. Do you wear ear plugs at night? I have used them for years and I always think they may not be very good for ear health. might be wrong though.

No, I usually am sleeping alone.

My twin brother snores as well as my dad, and I long thought I didn't snore because nobody ever threw pillows at me, until I was with a light sleeper and she told me I did in fact snore.  But all she had to do is say "you're snoring" and I'd turn on my side and it would go away.

What freaked me out is I didn't even know I was asleep.  I'd be laying in bed thinking then suddenly a voice would tell me I was snoring.  Then I'd be thinking drowsily and a voice would tell me I was snoring again.  I'm a light sleeper too, but I don't wake myself up.   Turning on my side make me stop though; only snore on my back.

Halfy - you sound like my other half. She snores on her side and when she wraps the cover round her tightly.... it can get quite dramatic! She swears she wasn't asleep though!

I think people's brains are eased to certain things that allow them to sleep.... snoring, street noise, music etc. Mine accepts perfect silence only.

{{ Lance! I was starting to wonder where youd got to.

When I was a kid growing up in the little village with the US naval base the noise from the ship and base was constent- tannoys, boats going back and forth ect all night long.
When we moved into town a few miles away in my teens I dont couldnt sleep for ages as it was too quiet.
I must be one of the few people who ever moved from a village to a town and it got quieter! }}

Went and got my professional treatment for vertigo today.  The guy did some tests including wearing eye cameras, and pronounced my self diagnosis and treatment correct.  Then he did the maneuver on me, getting all those damn limestone nuggets back where they belonged, and did some more eye tests and declared it successful.

I thought I'd be suddenly better, but in fact I was worse.  My brain has been working hard since monday to make things work with my screwed up navigation system, then we went and pulled the rug out from under it and it has to start all over.  I had to weave and bob on my way home, and have some exercises I need to do several times a day that make me nauseous but it's all about retraining.

I figure the more moving around I do the better, and all my practice navigating the world while drunk is coming in handy.  But I miss being able to cure it with several long drinks of water once I get home.

I hope it starts to work soon. Being dizzy sucks. When it happens to me I cant move and have to lie on my back and focus on one area, otherwise I puke.

Already much better by the next morning. Brain had some time to ruminate on its new situation while I was off sleeping and seems to have decided to play along. Not 100% yet but if I wasn't looking for the signs I'd just think I was slow waking up.

{{ There's a quick way to wake up?! Not half an hour of groaning and cursing later? Live and learn!
Glad the treatment seems to be helping though Halfy. }}

there is a deep dark secret to waking up quickly. It will be a little shocking to you.

No alcohol the night before.

{{ Does it in any way at all involve having to go to bed sober and not waking up with a hangover? }}

I see my quiet whisper above went unnoticed.

{{ Thats microsopic, Blue would be proud of you! How do you expect drunk red bleary eyes to read that! Plus thats a very daft suggestion I put it to you, scientifically, how can you get to sleep if you're not first drunk enough to pass out? Got you there! Irrefutable logic! }}

Well I didn't want to alarm you. Work you up to it gently.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/africas-baobab-tree-photographs

So I was reading about the health benefits of fasting, and one thing struck me: by the third day you feel energized and alert as your body burns its fat reserves, and don't feel hungry at all!   That sounds like a superpower, so i had to try it.

Did my research and bought electrolytes and nutritional yeast.  Also found that the goal is to stay below 50 calories/day, but certain veggies like onions, carrots, peppers, and most leaves have almost no calories.  So each day I'd mix electrolytes, yeast, and soluable fiber in a glass with a squeeze of lime juice and drink it down, then when I might get hungry I'd make a light soup of a handful of these veggies boiled in a pint of water with some grated ginger and garlic and maybe some turmeric.  No oil frying, you don't want to cross the calorie threshold.

Made it to the third day and was feeling great.  Would have gone on but there was something interesting going on that night.  That's the problem: it's hard to fast and keep a social life going.  I would have continued a couple more days otherwise: the word is you can just keep going until you feel hungry again.  Pretty nifty and even reassuring.  It seems that when you need food the most your body has your back - turns off the hunger so you can concentrate on tracking down that next meal with a clear head and energized body (though you don't want to do heavy exercise unless you know you are about to break your fast).

So what were the benefits?  Mainly in my intestines.  Not only did I get stuff cleared out, but fasting does wonders for inflamation.  Perfect treatment for diarrhea, plus the whole body just looks younger after a few days.  But it also redefined my relationship with food.  I like my own cooking, so happily eat three large meals a day.  Too much at my age.  Now I'm down to 1 large meal and veggie soup.  I'm instantly slimmer from not having a backlog of food in me, and the reduction in calorie load has me feeling lighter.  

I'll be doing a multiday fast after each trip now: typically too much food and alcohol, and this is the solution.  Any other types of illness as well: digestion requires resources from the body which could be better used for healing, and I've already demonstrated to myself that my body has plenty of energy stores once you convince it to switch over to burning fat by a couple days of restricted calories.

Only been doing this a week, but I'm a convert.

This is a good idea Halfy, fasting and reducing calories intake is supposed to make people live longer (in theory). I have one large meal of 3 types of vegetables and white meat in the evening and don't really eat during the day apart from coffee and a yogurt. I am hardly ever hungry, but if I was working I would probably need to eat more. I have done this for two years and have lost 20 kilos which is 3 stones. I now wear extra small clothes. I am hoping it has sorted my cholesterol problem, but I have a weakness for tiramisu, so maybe not.