Moitah - Slashdot User

Submission + - Researchers Simulate Rat's Brain (guardian.co.uk) 3

Submitted by slick_shoes on Sunday December 23, 2007 @10:42AM

slick_shoes writes: Researchers working on the 'Blue Brain' project have developed a computer simulation of the neocortical column — the basic building block of the neocortex, the higher functioning part of our brains — of a two-week-old rat, and it behaves exactly like its biological counterpart. The machine that simulates this column is an IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer. Project director Henry Markram believes that with the state of technology today, it is possible to build an entire rat's neocortex. From there, it's cats, then monkeys and finally, a human brain.

Microsoft's Treatment of Google Defectors 572

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday November 11, 2007 @11:09AM from the well-thats-just-not-cool dept.

Miguel de Icaza (Note, this Miguel is not the Ximian developer, just someone whose small life is fulfilled by trolling under someone else's name) writes "Here is a story revealing just how threatened Microsoft is by Google. While senior partners can expect the full chair experience, some lowly staffers who are putting in their notice are being escorted off campus immediately. Why? Because they've put in their notice to join Google. In Microsoft's eyes, Google is Enemy No. 1. Anyone leaving Redmond for the search leader is a threat. Not because they'll scurry around collecting company secrets — as if Google's interested in Microsoft's '90s-era technologies. Departing employees, however, might tell other 'Softies how much better Google is. If an employee is leaving for Amazon.com or another second-tier employer which doesn't make Microsoft so paranoid, they'll probably serve out the traditional two weeks of unproductive wrapping up. So if you're planning on leaving Microsoft for Google, pack up your belongings and say goodbye to friends ahead of time. There'll be no cake and two weeks of paid slacking for you."

Researchers May Have Found Cause of Type 2 Diabetes 181

Posted by Zonk on Friday October 05, 2007 @09:23AM from the good-start dept.

ozmanjusri writes "Scientists at Sydney's Garvan Institute have identified an enzyme called PKCepsilon as the active agent that blocks the production of insulin in diabetics. Insulin injections and implants try to control levels but do not address the reasons why insulin production is failing. This discovery may allow pharmaceutical companies to develop a drug to block the enzyme, allowing cells in the pancreas to function normally, though the team's leader, Trevor Biden, says 'What we've identified is a target that we can now latch onto to get therapy, but the journey from target to tablet of course is a long one ... It's probably going to take another 10 years at least to get something that's effective in humans.'"

Hotmail On Your Desktop 235

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 30, 2006 @09:05AM from the mail-everywhere dept.

thomas2you writes "Microsoft has just started its beta testing on a new program, made to have Microsoft's hotmail on your own desktop according to an article on CNET. It's going to be free software, you're going to be able to manage multiple accounts and they are attempting to include the ability to also just control all pop3 and smtp accounts you have, including Google's gmail as well as Windows Live Mail, the successor to Hotmail. From the article, 'The move is a shift for the Hotmail business, which in the past, has charged users who wanted to read their mail using desktop software, rather than a Web browser. Microsoft charged $20 and up for its paid service.'"

Comment Re:Aspartame FUD (Score 2, Informative) 511

by Moitah on Monday April 07, 2003 @06:01PM (#5681746) Attached to: Endless Liquid Refreshment

Aspartame is an excitotoxin.

From http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/mom/aspartame/aspartame.h tml:

Aspartame is hydrolysed in the body to three chemicals, aspartic acid (40%), phenylalanine (50%) and methanol (10%). Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Much research has been carried out to determine its behaviour in the body when it is taken in its free form, i.e. unbound to proteins. It is claimed that when it is ingested the blood plasma levels of aspartate and glutamate rise significantly. Both aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain, carrying information from neuron to neuron. When there is an excess of neurotransmitter, certain neurons are killed by allowing too much calcium into the cells. This influx causes excessive numbers of free radicals to build up which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that is caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is the reason they are referred to as 'excitotoxins': they 'excite' or stimulate the neural cells to death.

From http://smart-drugs.net/ias-excitotoxins.htm:

MSG/aspartame defenders also like to point out that glutamate and aspartate are natural constituents of food protein, which is generally considered safe, so why the concern over MSG/aspartame (2)? Yet there is a key difference between food-derived glutamate/aspartate and MSG/aspartame. Food glutamate/aspartate comes in the form of proteins, which contain 20 other amino acids, and take time to digest, slowing the release of protein bound glutamate/aspartate like a "timed-release capsule." This in turn moderates the rise in blood levels of glutamate/aspartate. Also, when glutamate and aspartate are received by the liver (first stop after intestinal absorption) along with 20 other aminos, they are used to make various proteins. This also moderates the rise in blood glutamate/aspartate levels. Yet when the single amino MSG is rapidly absorbed (especially in solution - e.g. soups, sauces and gravies), not requiring digestion, human and animal experiments show rapid rises in glutamate, 5 to 20 times normal blood levels (2). Aspartame is a dipeptide - a union of 2 aminos- and there exist special di-and tripeptide intestinal absorption pathways that allow rapid and efficient absorption (21). The dipeptides are then separated into free aminos, and as with free MSG there will be a rapid rise in blood aspartate. Thus the characteristics of food-bound glutamate/aspartate and MSG/aspartame are completely different.

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