Turning repulsive feelings into desires

Feb. 6, 2013 ? Hunger, thirst, stress and drugs can create a change in the brain that transforms a repulsive feeling into a strong positive "wanting," a new University of Michigan study indicates.

The research used salt appetite to show how powerful natural mechanisms of brain desires can instantly transform a cue that always predicted a repulsive Dead Sea Salt solution into an eagerly wanted beacon or motivational magnet.

Mike Robinson, a research fellow in the U-M Department of Psychology and the study's lead author, said the findings help explain how related brain activations in people could cause them to avidly want something that has been always disliked.

This instant transformation of motivation, he said, lies in the ability of events to activate particular brain circuitry -- a structure called the nucleus accumbens, which sits near the base of the front of the brain and is also activated by addictive drugs.

Cues for rewards often trigger intense motivation. The smell of food can make a person suddenly feel hungry when this wasn't the case earlier. Drug cues may prompt relapse in addicts trying to quit. In some cases, desires may be triggered even for a relatively unpleasant event.

Researchers studied how rats responded to metal objects that represented either pleasant sugar or disgustingly intense Dead Sea saltiness. The rats quickly learned to jump on and nibble the sweetness cue, but turned away from and avoided the saltiness cue.

But one day the rats suddenly woke up in a new state of sodium appetite induced by drugs given the night before. On their first re-encounter with the saltiness cue in the new appetite state, their brain systems became activated and the rats instantly jumped on and nibbled the saltiness cue as though it were the sugar cue.

"The cue becomes avidly 'wanted' despite knowledge the salt always tasted disgusting," Robinson said.

The sudden brain changes help explain how an event, such as taking an addictive drug, could become "wanted" despite a person's knowledge of the negative and unpleasant consequences of the drug.

"Our findings highlight what it means to say that drugs hijack our natural reward system," said Robinson, who authored the new study with Kent Berridge, James Olds Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan, via Newswise.

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Journal Reference:

1. Mike?J.F. Robinson, Kent?C. Berridge. Instant Transformation of Learned Repulsion into Motivational ?Wanting?. Current Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.016

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/ubtWqeNqUOw/130206162127.htm

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ScienceOnline-spiration.

ScienceOnline is a conference put on by Karyn Traphagen, Anton Zuiker, and our own Bora Zivkovic. I?ve been going since I first stumbled across it in 2010, making this year the fourth time I?ve attended. Over the years the conference has managed to expand and change while keeping its original spirit of inclusiveness, discovery, collaboration, and fun.

It was easy enough to come to the conference when it was in my own backyard in Durham, North Carolina, but the sense of community of the conference drew me back all the way from my new home in Wisconsin. The result was four days of late nights talking at the bar, sitting in on perspective-granting sessions, and meeting tons of people with lots of moxie.

These people are truly my people. Why? Well, for one reason, Baba Brinkman, evolutionary rapper, was one of the Converge session presenters. His song Performance, Feedback, Revision plus the session on Blogging for the Long Haul (great post on the session by Scicurious here) congealed in my head to form a reminder of the energy and excitement I felt when I first started this blog. Attending ScienceOnline always gives me many new ideas for things to present on my blog, so watch this space for some new things to come.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1c74ef6586f5520992cddce581102a22

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Lights out: Ravens beat 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A power outage at the Super Bowl put the nation's biggest sporting event on hold for more than a half-hour Sunday, interrupting an otherwise electric, back-and-forth game that ended with Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens as NFL champions thanks to a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Flacco, voted the MVP, threw three first-half touchdown passes to cap an 11-TD, zero-interception postseason. Jacoby Jones returned the second-half kickoff 108 yards, a Super Bowl record, to give Baltimore a 28-6 lead.

Moments later, lights lining the indoor arena faded, making it difficult to see. When action resumed, Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers scored 17 consecutive points, getting as close as 31-29.

But Baltimore stopped San Francisco on fourth-and-goal from the 5 with under 2 minutes left when Kaepernick's pass sailed beyond Michael Crabtree in the end zone.

The biggest deficit a team has ever overcome to win a Super Bowl is 10 points, and there were moments were it appeared San Francisco had a chance to better that mark. Instead, the 49ers lost for the first time in six trips to the Super Bowl.

The AFC champion Ravens (14-6), a franchise that moved from Cleveland to Baltimore 17 years ago, improved to 2-0 in the big game. They also won the championship in 2001, when linebacker Ray Lewis was voted the game's MVP. Lewis was not a major factor this time, but he was a center of attention, playing in the final game of his 17-year career before retiring.

The 49ers struggled early in the first Super Bowl coaching matchup between brothers: Baltimore's John Harbaugh is 15 months older than San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh.

Baltimore led 28-6 after Jones opened the second half with the longest kickoff return in a Super Bowl, his eyes glancing up at the videoboard, presumably to watch himself sprint to the end zone. The 49ers showed they were capable of a comeback in their previous game: They trailed by 17 against the Atlanta Falcons before winning the NFC championship game.

Shortly following Jones' return, the sudden, odd power outage arrived. Escalators weren't working. Officials stopped play about 1? minutes into the third quarter, and the bizarre delay lasted 34 minutes in real time before action resumed. Some players sat. Others stretched. Some fans chanted, "Let's go, Ravens!" Others passed time by doing the wave.

This was the 10th time New Orleans hosted the big game ? tying Miami for most in a city ? and first since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Big Easy in August 2005.

When play resumed, NFC champion San Francisco (13-5-1) began making things more interesting, scoring 17 points in less than 4? minutes.

First, Kaepernick threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Crabtree, pulling them within 15 points midway through the third quarter. Ravens defensive backs Cary Williams and Bernard Pollard missed tackles on the play. Then, with 5 minutes left in the third quarter, Frank Gore swept around right end for a 6-yard TD run, making it 28-20, before Ravens running back Ray Rice's fumble gave the ball right back to the 49ers.

San Francisco tacked on David Akers' 34-yard field goal to get within 28-23 after he missed from a longer distance but the Ravens were whistled for running into the kicker. It was his third successful kick of the game after hitting from 36 and 27 yards in the first half.

How close was it heading into the fourth quarter? Each team had exactly 17 first downs. Total yardage was nearly the same, with the 49ers slightly ahead, 317-315. Time of possession was nearly split down the middle, too.

About 2 minutes into the fourth quarter, rookie kicker Justin Tucker made a 19-yard field goal to stretch the Ravens' lead to 31-23. Not long later, Kaepernick's 15-yard run around the left side ? the longest TD run by a quarterback in Super Bowl history ? made it 31-29. His 2-point conversion pass intended for Randy Moss was incomplete.

A 38-yarder by Tucker made it 34-29 with 4:19 left in regulation. Baltimore purposely gave up a safety in the closing seconds to run time off the clock, setting the final score.

Kaepernick was making only his 10th start the NFL, having taken over the job after Alex Smith got a concussion during a game. After his touchdown run, Kaepernick kissed his tattooed right biceps, his celebration move.

The first half was all about Flacco. He went 13 for 20 for 192 yards and the three scores over the opening two quarters, becoming only the sixth QB in 47 Super Bowls to throw for that many TDs by halftime.

Flacco finished 22 of 33 for 287 yards.

It's been one impressive game after another for a guy who never has commanded the widespread respect usually accorded a top player ? but now will head into an offseason that could land him a $20 million-per-year contract in free agency.

To get to the Super Bowl, Flacco already led the Ravens past Denver's Peyton Manning and New England's Tom Brady for two of his league-record six career postseason road victories by a quarterback.

San Francisco turned over the ball twice in about a 5-minute span of the second quarter: Rookie running back LaMichael James fumbled ? leading to a Ravens TD ? and safety Ed Reed tied an NFL record with his ninth career postseason interception by picking off Kaepernick.

The Niners had never thrown an interception in their previous five Super Bowls.

There was some testiness on the field right from the get-go, and after Reed stole the ball, a group of players from both teams engaged in a scrum and penalties were called. Both coaching brothers wound up on the field, too, trying to break up the skirmish.

Instead of adding more points after Reed's pick, Baltimore eventually gave the ball back after trying a fake field goal but failing to get a first down. Didn't matter a bit. San Francisco had to punt, and Flacco hit Jones on a 56-yard TD pass with under 2 minutes left in the first half.

Jones beat cornerback Chris Culliver ? the player who apologized for anti-gay comments during the week ? and tumbled onto his back, then got up and cut across the field to reach the end zone. It was Flacco's 70-yard toss to Jones with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter that allowed the Ravens to tie the Broncos in the second round of the playoffs, before winning in the second overtime period.

Earlier Sunday, Flacco connected with Anquan Boldin from 13 yards out less than 4? minutes into the game on Baltimore's first possession, then found tight end Dennis Pitta for a 1-yard score midway through the second quarter after James' error.

James fumbled at Baltimore's 25-yard line while straining to gain extra yards. Linebacker Courtney Upshaw punched the ball loose, and defensive lineman Arthur Jones recovered it, and the Ravens headed the other way.

The 49ers also began the game with an illegal formation penalty on the very first play, then needed to punt.

A good return by Jones set up the Ravens near midfield, and they promptly drove 51 yards in six plays. Another 49ers penalty on third down at the 18 came right before Flacco's nice scoring pass over the middle to Boldin with less than 4? minutes gone in the game.

About 45 minutes before the opening kickoff, Lewis gathered his teammates in the end zone painted the Ravens' purple team color. As they encircled him, Lewis ? large triangles of eye black covering his entire cheeks ? delivered his usual rousing pregame speech, and other players whooped it up, too.

Not long after, 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis ? who, like Lewis, wears No. 52 ? delivered his own fiery words, surrounded by the rest of his team near the red, white and blue NFL shield logo at midfield.

Before the game began, with 100 million or so Americans expected to tune in on TV, a chorus of 26 children from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. ? where 20 students and six adults were killed in a shooting rampage in December ? sang "America the Beautiful," accompanied by "American Idol" alum Jennifer Hudson. Grammy winner Alicia Keys performed the national anthem.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lights-ravens-beat-49ers-34-31-super-bowl-035132878--spt.html

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Was BlackBerry's Super Bowl Ad the Dumbest Tech Ad You've Ever Seen?

BlackBerry's Super Bowl ad from last night was... uh... interesting. The company claimed that in 30 seconds, it was easier to show us what BB10 couldn't do—which is perhaps some of the laziest marketing ever. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lhbomSQC2tc/was-blackberrys-super-bowl-ad-the-dumbest-tech-ad-youve-ever-seen

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Beating, torture fuel sense Egypt police unchanged

CAIRO (AP) ? The video outraged Egyptians, showing riot police strip and beat a middle-aged man and drag him across the pavement as they cracked down on protesters. The follow-up was even more startling: In his first comments afterward, the man insisted the police were just trying to help him.

Hamada Saber's initial account, given over the weekend as he lay in a police-run hospital, has raised accusations that police officials intimidated or bribed him in a clumsy attempt to cover up the incident, which was captured by Associated Press footage widely shown on Egyptian TV.

"He was terrified. He was scared to speak," Saber's son Ahmed told The AP on Monday, explaining his father's account. Saber himself recanted his story on Sunday after his own family pushed him to tell the truth and acknowledged that the police beat him.

The incident has fueled an outcry that security forces, which were notorious for corruption, torture and abuse under Hosni Mubarak, have not changed in the nearly two years since his ouster. Activists now accuse Mubarak's Islamist successor, Mohammed Morsi, of cultivating the same culture of abuse as police crack down on his opponents.

The outcry was further heightened Monday by the apparent torture-death of an activist, who colleagues said was taken by police from a Tahrir Square protest on Jan. 27 and held at a Cairo security base known as Red Mountain. Mohammed el-Gindy's body showed marks of electrical shocks on his tongue, wire marks around his neck, smashed ribs, a broken skull and a brain hemorrhage, according to a medical report.

Blatant abuses by security forces under Mubarak were one factor that fueled the 2011 revolt against his rule. The highly public nature of the new cases put new pressure on Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, which was long repressed by security forces, to hold security officials responsible for any abuses.

Egypt's presidency said it is following up on the death of el-Gindy, adding that there will be "no return to violations of citizens' rights."

The Interior Ministry denied on Monday that el-Gindy was ever held by police. Morsi met Monday with top police officials, but the state newspaper Al-Ahram said his talks did not touch on the beating of Saber or el-Gindy's death. The paper said Morsi told officers he understands they operate under "extreme pressures" in the face of protests and that he would work for a political resolution to ease unrest.

Morsi's administration has said it is determined to stop what it calls violent protests that causing instability.

Morsi's prime minister, Hesham Kandil, indirectly warned the opposition and media not to raise public outcry against security officials. "This should not be used as a match to set fire to the nation ... to demolish the police," he said.

Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim warned that if police "collapse" Egypt will become "a militia state like some neighboring nations."

Many activists believe Morsi sought a tougher police line when he removed their previous boss, Ahmed Gamal Eddin, and installed Ibrahim as interior minister.

According to officials close to Gamal Eddin, he was fired because security forces did not intervene against anti-Morsi protests outside the presidential palace in Cairo in December. Islamists attacked those protesters, prompting clashes that left around 10 people dead. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

In contrast, police struck back heavily when several firebombs were thrown into the palace grounds during protests outside the compound Friday, part of a wave of nationwide anti-Morsi unrest the past 10 days that left more than 70 dead. Hours of clashes ensued, leaving at least one protester dead and dozens injured.

During Friday's clashes, Saber, a 48-year-old who works as a wall plasterer, was beaten.

Footage shows him writing naked in the street. Black-clad riot police yank his pants around his ankles, kick him with their heavy black boots and lean over to hit him with batons. They drag him by the legs across the pavement and bundle him into a police van.

But in interviews with Egyptian television from a police hospital the next day, a smiling Saber said it was protesters who had shot him in the leg with birdshot, then stripped and beat him. He said the riot police were only trying to help him afterward.

He even blamed himself for any rough police treatment, saying that in his confusion he was resisting them.

"I was afraid ... They were telling me: We swear to God we will not harm you, don't be afraid," Saber said, adding, "I was being very tiresome to the police."

His wife also praised the police, telling state TV, "they are giving him good treatment" at the police hospital.

But his children said he was forced to give the story.

"There are pressures on my mother to say that he is fine," his daughter Randa told independent Dream TV. "The government is the one pressing him."

In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault and vowed to investigate.

But Interior Minister Ibrahim echoed Saber's account and said initial investigation results showed it was protesters who stripped and beat Saber. He said riot police found Saber and tried to get him into the van ? "though the way they did it was excessive."

On Sunday, Saber told investigators that it was indeed police who beat and stripped him. Speaking to Al-Hayat TV, he said he gave his initial account because was afraid, then broke down in tears as he recounted begging the policemen for mercy.

"But no one gave me mercy," he wept. "My whole body was smashed." He has now been moved to a civilian hospital.

Rights activists say police intimidation of victims and their families to prevent complaints was rife under Mubarak and continues unabated. In a report last month, the Egyptian Initiative For Personal Rights documented 16 cases of police violence in which 11 people were killed and 10 tortured in police stations. Three died under torture during the first four months after Morsi took office on June 30, it said.

The rights group said officers increasingly act "like a gang taking revenge."

In one case it documented, police in the Nile Delta town of Meet Ghamr stormed a cafe and beat up patrons in September. When one woman who was beaten went to the police station to complain, the man accompanying her was arrested and tortured to death, the report said.

The sister of the slain man told AP that her brother's widow was paid the equivalent of around $25,000 to say that he was killed by a rock to his head during a protest.

"The main issue is that nothing has changed about the police. No change about accountability. There is just as much impunity as there was under Mubarak," said Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch. The past two years "we've seen an increase in the police's likelihood to use lethal force ... in the context of regular policing activities."

In the case of el-Gindy, the activist who died Monday, fellow activists say he disappeared during the Jan. 27 Tahrir protest and they later learned from people who left the Red Mountain security camp that he was being held there. Soon after, el-Gindy was brought to a hospital in a coma and on Monday he died.

After his burial Monday in his hometown of Tanta in the Nile Delta, angry mourners marched on police headquarters and clashes erupted, with protesters throwing firebombs and stones and police firing back with tear gas.

At a funeral ceremony held earlier at a mosque in Cairo's Tahrir Square, there was widespread skepticism anyone would be held accountable for el-Gindy's death.

"So this blood will be wasted so easily?" one woman in black screamed.

"It will be lost," an elderly man responded. "Like others were before."

___

AP reporter Amir Maqar contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beating-torture-fuel-sense-egypt-police-unchanged-213233337.html

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Proposed agreement squashes US, Mexico tomato war

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Commerce Department has announced a proposed agreement on fresh tomatoes imported from Mexico that would strengthen anti-dumping enforcement and reset minimum wholesale prices.

The agreement with Mexico's tomato industry would suspend an investigation initiated after Florida tomato growers complained that Mexican producers were selling fresh tomatoes for less than the production cost.

The proposal would replace a pact that's been in place for 16 years. The Commerce Department has just released a draft of the agreement for public comment.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says it allow the U.S. tomato industry "to compete on a level playing field."

U.S.-produced fresh and processed tomatoes account for more than $2 billion in cash receipts. Mexico's tomato trade with the U.S. was worth more than $1.8 billion in 2011.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/proposed-agreement-squashes-us-mexico-tomato-war-154639872--finance.html

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Data waves keep your wearable tech in tune

IF LAST month's Consumer Electronics Show is anything to go by, we will soon be covered in wearable technology, from health monitors to smart watches. But there's a problem: how do we get them to communicate?

Traditionally, devices talk to one another either using wires, which are inconvenient, or Bluetooth, which is prone to interference. Now a new wireless technique that uses a phenomenon known as Zenneck surface waves could be the answer.

This type of electromagnetic wave stays at the interface between the surface of an object and the air, rather than travelling through open space. Radar systems have used them to see around the curvature of the Earth, but communicating in this way is a first.

Janice Turner and colleagues at Roke Manor Research in Romsey, UK, have created a demonstration system that uses the waves to send high-definition video over a short length of material. It has a bandwidth of up to 1.5 gigabits per second, making it almost three times faster than Wi-Fi. The signal does not travel through the material but rather over its surface for a few centimetres.

Turner's team has worked with a fabric made of a dielectric-coated conducting material. This could be tailored into a jacket to enable worn devices to communicate in a personal network. For example, a lapel camera, a wrist display and a pulse-monitor bracelet could all communicate through the jacket via surface waves. Other devices such as smartphones could attach automatically simply by being placed in a pocket. Zenneck wave-enabled devices could be on the market within two years, says Turner. Sandy Black, who studies how fashion design and technology merge at the London College of Fashion, says the idea sounds "interesting if it could be proved reliable and robust".

Such devices are also being explored for use on aircraft, where they could link up sensors embedded in the wings without wires, or form the backbone of a passenger entertainment system.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Jacket to connect wearable tech using data waves"

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