Day: 04/29/2017

Dark chocolate and green tea is the perfect concentration combination.

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A new study, the first of its kind, has found that dark chocolate and green tea could be the ideal combination to tackle that mid-afternoon slump

Chocolate - Diana Henry food recipes baked goodies

Chocolate with more than 60pc cacao content is classed as dark chocolate

Need an afternoon pick-me-up? Step away from the coffee.

Dark chocolate and green tea could be the best combination for an energy boost, a new study has found, and it could be the next product Hershey’s introduces to the market.

In a scientific study sponsored by Hershey Company, researchers at Northern Arizona University tested the mental responses of participants who ate chocolate of various levels of cacao content.

Participants who ate chocolate with 60pc cacao – considered to be the minimum level of cacao to count as dark chocolate – were more alert and attentive, but their blood pressure also increased.

However, the research found that those who consumed dark chocolate with the amino acid L-theanine, which is a relaxant found in green tea, experienced an immediate drop in blood pressure.

“It’s remarkable,” said Larry Stevens, a professor of psychological sciences at NAU who conducted the study. ”The potential here is for a heart healthy chocolate confection that contains a high level of cacao with L-theanine that is good for your heart, lowers blood pressure and helps you pay attention.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The study, which was published in the journal NeuroRegulation, claims to be the first of its kind to examine chocolate’s effects on “attentional characteristics of the brain” and to be conducted using EEG technology, which measures the brain’s responses to certain stimulants by taking images.

Professor Stevens said that the dark chocolate and green tea combination is not currently available on the market, but he added that it is “of interest” to Hershey and the researchers.

Dark chocolate of various intensities, from 60pc to 100pc cacao content, can be purchased at almost any retailer. Milk chocolate bars have less cacao and more sugar: Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, for example, has around 26pc cocoa solids, but the nutritional information shows 57.3g of sugar per 100g.

The study tested the effects of dark chocolate and five control conditions on 122 participants between the ages of 18 and 25 years old.

The results follow a recent study, which found that dark chocolate and green tea, along with red wine and a variety of other ingredients, could help boost weight loss.

New study confirms Alzheimer’s and aluminum link can no longer be ignored

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Aluminum has been long known to be neurotoxic, with mounting evidence that chronic exposure is a factor in many neurological diseases, including dementia, autism, and Parkinson’s disease.

However, definitive scientific proof is difficult to establish due toth the lack of longitudinal studies, as well as pushback from industries that use aluminum in their products. Despite the shortage of conclusive studies, mounting scientific evidence really leaves little room for doubt.

Case in point: a new case study from Keele University in the UK1 unequivocally shows high levels of aluminum in the brain of an individual exposed to aluminum at work, who later died from Alzheimer’s disease.

While aluminum exposure has been implicated in Alzheimer’s and a number of other neurological diseases, this case claims to be “the first direct link” between Alzheimer’s disease and elevated brain aluminum following occupational exposure.2

The Aluminum-Alzheimer’s Link

The 66 year-old Caucasian man developed an aggressive form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease after eight years of occupational exposure to aluminum dust, which scientists conclude “suggests a prominent role for the olfactory system and lungs in the accumulation of aluminum in the brain.”

This is not the first time high aluminum levels have been found in the tissues of someone who died from Alzheimer’s disease. For example, in 2004, high aluminum levels were found in the tissues of a British woman who died of early-onset Alzheimer’s.

This was 16 years after an industrial accident dumped 20 metric tons of aluminum sulphate into her local drinking water. And there are many studies showing elevated aluminum levels in living individuals displaying a wide range of neurological symptoms.3

Aluminum Can Be an Occupational Hazard

Exposure to aluminum is unfortunately an occupational hazard for those who work in industries like mining, factory work, welding, and agriculture. Not to mention that you ingest aluminum vapors every time your nose catches cigarette smoke wafting by.

Inhaling aluminum dust or vapors sends aluminum particles directly into your lungs in a highly absorbable form, where they pass into your bloodstream and are distributed throughout your body, including your bones and brain. Aluminum powder has been known to cause pulmonary fibrosis, and aluminum factory workers are prone to asthma. Studies of the health effects of aluminum vapors have been grim, pointing to high levels of neurotoxicity.4

So why are most government regulators and physicians so resistant to looking at the health and environmental effects of aluminum? One filmmaker is shining a light on this issue by way of a documentary.

The ‘Dark Side’ of Aluminum Exposed

The featured documentary, The Age of Aluminum, reveals the “dark side” of this toxic metal, exploring the scientific links between aluminum and diseases such as breast cancer and neurological disorders. Also exposed is how aluminum mining and manufacturing have created acute ecological problems across the globe, leading to environmental disasters in Hungary, South Africa, and the UK. In the film, neuroscientist Christopher Shaw reports:5

“Many researchers are beginning to accept that aluminum has some sort of role to play in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Whether it does in others is still an open question, but Alzheimer’s is really coming into focus and it’s fairly clear that the body burden of aluminum from all the sources to which humans are exposed may be contributing to Alzheimer’s disease.”

Aluminum Is Everywhere

Although aluminum occurs naturally in soil, water, and air, we are contributing to the load with the mining and processing of aluminum ores, manufacturing of aluminum products, and the operation of coal-fired power plants and incinerators. Aluminum can’t be destroyed in the environment—it only changes its form by attaching or separating from other particles.

Rain washes aluminum particles out of the air and into our water supply, where they tend to accumulate rather than degrade. If you live in an industrial area, your exposure is undoubtedly higher than average.6

According to CDC, the average adult in the US consumes about seven to nine mg of aluminum per day in food, and a lesser amount from air and water. Only about one percent of the aluminum you ingest orally gets absorbed into your body—the rest is moved out by your digestive tract, provided it’s functioning well.

When tested in a lab, aluminum contamination has been found in a vast number of products on the market, from foods and beverages to pharmaceuticals, which suggests the manufacturing process itself is a significant part of the problem. Aluminum is found in a shocking number of foods and consumer products, including:

  • Foods such as baking powder, self rising flour, salt, baby formula, coffee creamers, baked goods and processed foods, coloring and caking agents
  • Drugs, such as antacids, analgesics, anti-diarrheals, and others; additives such as magnesium stearate
  • Vaccines—Hepatitis A and B, Hib, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), pneumococcal vaccine, Gardasil (HPV), and others
  • Cosmetics and personal care products such as antiperspirants, deodorants(including salt crystals, made of alum), lotions, sunscreens, and shampoos
  • Aluminum products, including foil, cans, juice pouches, tins, and water bottles

Does Your Frozen Dinner Come with a Side of Aluminum?

Aluminum contamination in our food supply is a more significant problem than you may think. In a study published in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe,7researchers analyzed 1,431 non-animal foods and beverages for aluminum content. This is what they found:

  • 77.8 percent had an aluminum concentration of up to 10 mg/kg
  • 17.5 percent had aluminum concentrations between 10 and 100 mg\kg
  • 4.6 percent of the samples had aluminum concentrations in excess of 100 mg/kg

Aluminum compounds are often used as additives in foodstuffs. Additional contaminationoccurs when food comes into contact with aluminum equipment and other items because aluminum is unstable in the presence of acids and bases. Aluminum equipment has a protective oxide film, but this can be damaged as fine fissures develop from normal wear and tear.In the study,8 Table 3 shows the aluminum content of everything from flour and baking mixes to soup, chocolate, beer and wine, and herbal teas. Some products show a wide range of contamination levels, and others are more homogenous. Baked goods are very high because of the common practice of baking and storing foods on aluminum trays.9 The report has numerous other tables that demonstrate how prevalent this toxin is in your food.

If you cook your food in aluminum foil, you are introducing your own contamination. One investigation found that cooking meats in aluminum foil increases their aluminum concentration. Researchers concluded, “eating meals prepared in aluminum foil may carry a health risk by adding to other aluminum sources.” As with many toxins, it isn’t one exposure here and there that is so concerning—it’s the cumulative effect of many smaller exposures over time that can lead to a toxic metal overload and erosion of your health. According to a 2006 study, cooking meat in aluminum foil increased aluminum levels as follows:10

  • Red meats cooked in aluminum foil showed an increase in aluminum by 89 to 378 percent
  • Poultry increased by 76 to 214 percent
  • Aluminum levels increased with higher cooking temperatures and longer cooking times

Aluminum Heads Straight to Your Brain

Aluminum is to your central nervous system as cigarette smoke is to your lungs. Scientists are clear that toxic metals damage brain tissue and lead to degenerative disease by producing oxidative stress—and aluminum is one of the worst offenders. With Alzheimer’s rates skyrocketing, today’s multiple avenues of aluminum exposure are of great concern. Just as with particles in the environment, once aluminum is in your tissues, your body has a difficult time releasing it. This toxic metal serves absolutely no biological purpose, so the less of it you ingest, the better.

Once in your body, it travels around easily, unimpeded, piggybacking on your iron transport system. It crosses biological barriers that normally keep other types of toxins out, such as your blood-brain barrier. Over time, aluminum can accumulate in your brain and do serious damage your neurological health—regardless of your age. Aluminum toxicity may be doing as much damage to our children as to our seniors.

Brain Inflammation in Both Children and Adults

Vaccines present a particularly problematic source of toxic metal exposure. Aluminum is the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant and is considered “safe” even though research shows it may induce serious immunological disorders and neurological complications in humans.

Dr. David Ayoub discusses how the aluminum in vaccines may be even more dangerous than mercury. The number of aluminum-containing vaccines children receive today11 has quadrupled over the past 30 years. In the 1970s, children got only four aluminum-containing vaccines in their first 18 months of life, but now they typically receive 17. And as children’s aluminum burden has increased, so has the prevalence of childhood neurological disorders. In one school, 90 percent of the children developed ADHD during the course of a single school year, and their toxicity profiles all revealed massive amounts of aluminum.

Aluminum is also in vaccines and is used as an adjuvant. If you go by the aluminum content on vaccine labels, the amount kids are getting is excessive, but if you add in the aluminum NOT listed on the labels—”accidental exposure” due to contamination—it’s a much more serious problem. Dr. Ayoub cites one study that found five to six times more aluminum in vaccines than what was actually listed on the labels.

When you review the signs and symptoms of aluminum toxicity, they are shockingly similar to the symptoms of autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurological diseases. Vaccine adjuvants can cause serious chronic brain inflammation. Aluminum targets your cerebellum and autonomic nervous system—the part responsible for biological processes over which you have no conscious control (breathing, blood pressure, balance, coordination, etc.). When you look at the MSDS sheet for aluminum, you will see symptoms strikingly similar to those in common neurological diseases, including memory problems, speech impairments and aphasia, dementia, depression, muscle weakness, motor disturbances, and other neurological difficulties. The list goes on and on.12

Researchers Claim New Blood Test May Predict Alzheimer’s

There has never been a way to accurately predict who will get Alzheimer’s, but that may be changing. Researchers at Georgetown University and University of Rochester claim they have found a blood test that predicts this with 90 percent accuracy—and incredibly, with NO false negatives. If further research confirms what researchers expect, this is a medical breakthrough of epic proportions.13

The test involves measuring the patterns of 10 specific lipids (fat-like compounds) associated with the plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. These 10 lipids are highly predictive of whether or not you will become cognitively impaired. All of the people in the study were in their 70s, so the next step is to determine if the test is accurate earlier, say in your 40s and 50s. Researchers say they are still several years away from implementing the test, but they all feel very hopeful.14

Biomarkers such as lipids are tricky for Alzheimer’s because they change during the course of the illness. Some occur in high levels during the early phase of the disease and then actually decrease after symptoms appear—so they are stage dependent. There is clearly much more research that needs to be done before we have a grasp of this disease.15 Even with a test that can predict whether or not you are in the process of developing dementia, there are no good treatments once you have it—so you should be doing everything in your power to prevent it. One of the strategies is helping your body detoxify from metals, such as aluminum.

Aluminum Impairs Your Body’s Ability to Detoxify

Removing mercury from vaccines and replacing it with aluminum may be increasing the problems from BOTH toxins in your body. The reason for this is because aluminum impairs your body’s ability to excrete mercury by impeding your glutathione production. Glutathione is your most important intracellular detoxifier, required for reversing oxidative stress. So, if your aluminum load is high, your body will potentially become more toxic from the mercury from, say, flu shots and fish because you are now on “aluminum overload” and your detoxification system no longer functions well.

Your body requires sulfur to manufacture glutathione, making sulfur an extremely important dietary nutrient when it comes to metal detoxification, which can be optimized through dietary sources. Onions and garlic are good if they are grown in sulfur rich soils, but most soils are unfortunately sulfur deficient. Therefore, animal-based proteins seem to be one of your best bets. Whey protein concentrate is particularly high in cysteine, one of the two sulfur-bearing amino acids that are direct precursors to glutathione.

Please note that if you avoid consuming animal proteins, it is VERY easy to become sulfur deficient, and this may be one of the most significant risk factors for choosing an animal protein-free diet. That doesn’t mean you should go overboard on meat, however! Most people need only about one gram of protein per kilogram of lean body weight, or about half a gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Also make sure to buy grass-fed and finished meats, as most factory farmed meat is of inferior quality and contaminated with a whole host of veterinary drugs, including antibiotics and growth hormones.

How to Detoxify Aluminum

There are a number of potent chelators you can use to detoxify aluminum. Clearly, your first step would be to avoid further exposure to aluminum. This means avoiding products such as:

  • Toothpaste containing aluminium oxyhydroxide16
  • Antiperspirants containing aluminum chloride, aluminum chlorohydrate, or aluminum-zirconium compounds
  • Aluminum laminated pouch drinks
  • Aluminum cookware
  • Aluminum espresso makers

For serious Alzheimer’s disease, the following chelating agents can be helpful:

  • Silica-rich water, such as Fiji water,17 which contains 83 Mg of silica per liter. Research18 published in 2013 showed that drinking up to one liter of a silicon-rich mineral water daily for 12 weeks effectively excreted aluminum via the urine, without detrimental effects on essential metals such as iron and copper. According to the authors: “We have provided preliminary evidence that over 12 weeks of silicon-rich mineral water therapy the body burden of aluminum fell in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and, concomitantly, cognitive performance showed clinically relevant improvements in at least 3 out of 15 individuals.”
  • Melatonin: Research19, 20, 21 shows that melatonin has a metal binding role and is a useful supplement in the treatment of neurological disorders in which oxidative stress is involved, which includes Alzheimer’s. Melatonin can travel freely across all cellular barriers, facilitating the removal of toxic metals such as aluminum. It also appears to suppress the oxidative activity of aluminum in your brain.
  • Anything that raises your glutathione. Your body synthesizes glutathione from three amino acids: cysteine, glutamate, and glycine. Raw fruits and vegetables, particularly avocado, asparagus, grapefruit, strawberries, orange, tomato, cantaloupe, broccoli, okra, peach, zucchini, and spinach are rich in the precursors glutamate and glycine. Dietary sources of cysteine include eggs, meat, red peppers, garlic, onions, Brussels sprouts, whey protein, and wheat germ. Other helpful treatments for improved glutathione metabolism include:
    • Exercise: Exercise affects your adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels needed to help produce glutathione
    • Optimizing your vitamin D levels through sun exposure: There’s some evidence vitamin D increases intracellular glutathione levels
    • Epsom salt baths
    • MSM supplementation
    • The supplement N-acetyl L-cysteine (NAC) may also be useful. NAC is the rate-limiting nutrient for the formation of the intracellular antioxidant glutathione
  • Curcumin:22 Research23, 24 suggests that curcumin has a protective effect against aluminum-induced damage by modulating the extent of oxidative stress. It also decreases beta-amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s, delays neuron degradation, chelates metals, decreases microglia formation, and has an overall anti-inflammatory, antioxidant effect. Studies have shown that curcumin can help improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients. There are some contraindications25 that curcumin is not recommended if you have biliary tract obstruction (as it stimulates bile secretion), gallstones, obstructive jaundice, or acute biliary colic.

In Summary

It can no longer be argued that aluminum does not have a role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s—the evidence is very clear and growing. It really should not be surprising that people with aluminum toxicity display many of the same symptoms as those with dementia, Parkinson’s, ADHD, autism, and other neurological diseases, because aluminum targets exactly these areas of your brain and nervous system.

The best way to protect yourself is to be careful about your choices in food and personal products, and minimize your use of vaccines and other drugs that are often contaminated with aluminum.

Optimizing your dietary sulfur is also essential, as your body needs sulfur to manufacture its number one weapon against aluminum overload: glutathione. By taking a few steps to protect yourself, you’ll minimize your exposure while maximizing your body’s ability to rid itself of this toxic metal, which will move you toward a long and healthy life well into your senior years. For additional tips and strategies that can help prevent and/or treat Alzheimer’s, please see my previous article “Two Exciting Alzheimer’s Advances: A Novel Early Detection Test Using Peanut Butter, and a Study Evaluating Coconut Oil.”

How The “Perfect” Female Body Has Changed In 100 Years

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Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the mainstream idea of the “perfect body shape” for women has shifted almost as often as fashion trends. In some cases, the contrasts between decades are shocking, and speak volumes to public attitudes at the time – which, basically, depended on whether or not people thought it was okay for women to have curves.

Countless diets, pills, and celebrity icons later, we’re still going wrong in 2017 by encouraging women and girls to constantly compare themselves to others, rather than loving themselves in their own right. At the very least, however, we’ve come farther than using cigarettes and Wonder Bread to slim down.

Take a walk back in time with us, and marvel at the varyingly ridiculous expectations placed on women over the years.

More info: (h/t: Vintage Everyday, DM)

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Image credits: Leo Delauncey

Camille Clifford

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Image credits: Leo Delauncey

Alice Joyce

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Image credits: Leo Delauncey

Jean Harlow

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Image credits: Leo Delauncey

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Image credits: Leo Delauncey

Elizabeth Taylor

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Coffee May Cut Prostate Cancer Risk in Half

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A recent study conducted in Italy—a country with a strong coffee-drinking culture—suggests that men who drink more than three cups a day have a lower risk for developing prostate cancer than those who don’t drink coffee. Overall, coffee and prostate cancer research has been divided and studies have produced mixed results.

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For this study, researchers analyzed data from 6,989 men over the age of 50. As part of the study, the men reported their daily intake of Italian-style coffee. After about 4 years of follow-up, 100 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed in the study participants. According to researchers, men who drank at least three cups of coffee every day had a 53 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer.

To learn more about the effects of coffee on prostate cancer, the researchers then combined extracts of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee with prostate cancer cells in the laboratory. They discovered caffeinated coffee extract reduces the cancer cells’ ability to grow, divide, and spread—metastasize. Decaffeinated coffee extracts did not produce the same effect.

 

A new drug to treat lung cancer just got approved

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The FDA just approved a new drug to treat lung cancer.

The drug, made by Japanese drug giant Takeda Pharmaceuticals, is called brigatinib. It’s a type of ALK-inhibitor that’s taken orally to treat a certain kind of lung cancer after a first round of drugs failed.

In the past two days, the FDA has approved a handful of drugs , including a treatment for a rare disease that has a list price of $702,000 a year .

 

Here’s what you need to know

  • There are two types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. Most people have the latter, and there are a number of types of non-small cell lung cancer .
  • Some of these cases have mutations that affect the ALK tyrosine kinase receptor. This makes these forms of lung cancer sensitive to a type of drug called ALK inhibitors. The first one, called Xalkori, was originally approved back in 2011. Since then, two more have come on the market that can be used when people become resistant to Xalkori. It’s at this point – when patients on Xalkori have become resistant – that brigatinib is approved to come in and treat the cancer.
  • The data used to approve brigatinib came from a phase 2 study that started back in 2014. In that study, progression-free survival – a clinical endpoint that basically means the cancer hasn’t grown – was 15.6 months.
  • Takeda picked up the drug when it acquired Ariad Pharmaceuticals, a deal which just closed in February .
  • Dr. David Kerstein, the global clinical lead for brigatinib, told Business Insider that the hope is to eventually have the drug be used as an alternative to Xalkori. A phase 3 trial that’s still ongoing is looking at Xalkori vs. brigatinib.

AN OBSCURE APP FLAW CREATES BACKDOORS IN MILLIONS OF SMARTPHONES

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FOR HACKERS, SCANNING for an open “port”—a responsive, potentially vulnerable internet connection on a would-be victim’s machine—has long been one of the most basic ways to gain a foothold in a target company or agency. As it turns out, thanks to a few popular but rarely studied apps, plenty of smartphones have open ports, too. And those little-considered connections can just as easily give hackers access to tens of millions of Android devices.

A group of researchers from the University of Michigan identified hundreds of applications in Google Play that perform an unexpected trick: By essentially turning a phone into a server, they allow the owner to connect to that phone directly from their PC, just as they would to a web site or another internet service. But dozens of these apps leave open insecure ports on those smartphones. That could allow attackers to steal data, including contacts or photos, or even to install malware.

“Android has inherited this open port functionality from traditional computers, and many applications use open ports in a way that poses vulnerabilities,” says Yunhan Jia, one of the Michigan researchers who reported their findings at the IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy. “If one of these vulnerable open port apps is installed, your phone can be fully taken control of by attackers.”

Port of Call

To determine the full scope of the port problem, the Michigan researchers built a software tool they call OPAnalyzer (for Open Port Analyzer) that they used to scan the code of around 100,000 popular apps in the Google Play app store.

They found that 1,632 applications created open ports on smartphones, mostly intended to allow users to connect to them from PCs to send text messages, transfer files, or use the phone as a proxy to connect to the rest of the internet. Of those, they identified 410 as potentially having no protection or only weak protection—such as a hardcoded password that can be derived from the code and used by any hacker—meant to control who can access those open ports. And of that subset, they manually analyzed 57 that they confirmed left ports open and exploitable by any hacker on the same local Wi-Fi network, another app on the same device (even one with restricted privileges), or more disturbing, a script that runs in the victim’s browser when they merely visit a website.

 And that may just be a partial list of exploits, says Zhiyun Qian, a computer scientist at the University of California at Riverside who has followed the Michigan researchers’ work. When a phone’s IP address is publicly visible on the internet—a situation that depends on whether the phone is connected to Wi-Fi and the user’s carrier—the attacker can simply scan for open ports from anywhere, and start attacking that vulnerable phone. In those cases, “this is completely, remotely exploitable,” says Qian. “It’s definitely serious.
Of the 57 apps they identified as the most vulnerable to the open port attacks, two struck the researchers as particularly dangerous. One app with more than 10 million downloads called Wifi File Transfer allows users to connect to an open port on their phone via Wi-Fi, and access files like photos, application data, and anything stored on the phone’s SD card. But Jia says that due to the app’s lack of any authentication like a password, an intruder who connects to that open port can also get full access to the same sensitive files. “That’s intended functionality for the user, but because of that poor authentication it allows anyone to do it,” Jia says.
The researchers also point to AirDroid, a similarly popular app with an eight-digit number of downloads, designed to allow users full control of their Android phone from their PC. Researchers found that AirDroid had an authentication flaw that also lets malicious intruders access ports. But in AirDroid’s case, that flaw only allowed for the hijacking of existing connections. To perform the attack, malware on the phone would likely have had to intercept the user’s attempt to establish that legitimate connection. And when the Michigan researchers say that AirDroid’s developers patched the problem quickly after being notified
The developers behind Wifi File Transfer, by contrast, haven’t fixed their app’s security problem even after the researchers contacted them, Michigan’s Jia says. WIRED reached out several times to Smarter Droid, the company that makes the app, but didn’t get a response
‘The User Can Do Nothing’
In the videos below, the researchers demonstrate attacks on two other apps, PhonePal and Virtual USB, both of which Jia says remain vulnerable. Neither has nearly as many downloads as Wifi File Transfer, however—Virtual USB has less than 50,000, and PhonePal has only a few hundred. Neither company responded to WIRED’s request for comment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T7FBuCFM6A

Aside from those four apps, the researchers’ full paperdetails analyses of half a dozen others—several of which are mostly popular in the Chinese market—that are also vulnerable to varying degrees to open port attacks. More than half the 1,632 apps that create open ports on phones have more than 500,000 downloads, the researchers found.

To test just how widespread the most vulnerable apps might be, they at one point even scanned their local university network and immediately found devices with open, potentially hackable ports. “That so many developers have made this mistake is already an alarming sign,” says UC Riverside’s Qian. “There will be other apps they haven’t looked at, or that other people build in the future that will have the same problem.”

The notion that smartphone apps can open ports and leave them vulnerable has come to light before: In late 2015, the Chinese company Baidu revealed that a software development kit it had developed left open ports on devices where it was installed. Other major Chinese businesses, including Tencent and Qihoo, had already adopted the code, affecting more than 100 million users in total. After Baidu’s admission of the vulnerability the vulnerable apps all released security fixes.

Clearly, though, the problem of open ports in mobile devices persists. And the Michigan researchers suggest that fixing it will require developers to think twice before they open a gaping entry point in your device for remote hackers. “The user can do nothing. Google can do nothing,” says Jia. “The developer has to learn to use open ports correctly.”

Of course, there actually is one thing you can do: Uninstall the vulnerable apps like Wifi File Transfer that the researchers name. You may lose the convenience of moving files to and from your mobile device at will. But you’ll lock out the unwelcome guests who’d use that convenient backdoor, too.

Ice cream for breakfast makes you smarter, Japanese scientist claims

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 In a discovery that will give nutritionists the shivers, a Japanese scientist has discovered that consuming ice cream for breakfast improves a person’s alertness and mental performance.

Yoshihiko Koga, a professor at Tokyo’s Kyorin University, has carried out a series of clinical trials in which test subjects were required to eat ice cream immediately after waking up.

They were then put through a series of mental exercises on a computer.

Compared to a group that had not eaten ice cream, Prof Koga’s subjects exhibited faster reaction times and better information-processing capabilities, the Excite News web site reported.

Monitoring of the subjects’ brain activity revealed an increase in high-frequency alpha waves, which are linked to elevated levels of alertness and reduced mental irritation.

To examine the possibility that the test subjects’ reactions were simply the result of the brain being shocked into higher levels of alertness by the low temperature of the ice cream, Prof Koga repeated the experiment with cold water instead of ice cream.

Test subjects who drank cold water did display a degree of increased alertness and mental capacity, although the levels were markedly lower than among subjects who started the day with ice cream.

Prof Koga is a specialist in psychophysiology, with his studies including looking into links between certain types of food and reduced stress.

Another area of study is the connection between different foods and their impact on the ageing process.

Prof Koga is continuing his research and has yet to determine a firm connection between the mental boost delivered by ice cream and a specific ingredient, while another explanation may lie in the sense that ice cream is a treat that triggers positive emotions and added energy.

British nutritionists have reacted with some skepticism to Dr Koga’s findings.

“A possible explanation [for increased alertness[… is the simple presence of consuming breakfast vs. not consuming breakfast,” said Katie Barfoot, a Nutritional Psychology Doctoral Researcher at Reading University.

Dimitri Panciera, the world record holder for most ice cream scoops balanced on a cone
Dimitri Panciera, the world record holder for most ice cream scoops balanced on a cone

“Our brain needs glucose to function, and a high glucose meal will aid mental capacity considerably compared to a fasted brain.

“This, however, does not condone eating dessert for breakfast. A study which explores the interaction between consumption of low and high GI foods, whilst including a fasted group, would establish a better understanding of this increased mental capacity.”

There has already been some scientific research into why ice cream may have a positive mental effect on those who eat it.

In 2005, neuroscientists at the Institute of Psychiatry in London scanned the brains of test subjects as they ate vanilla ice cream and saw immediate results.

The study found that eating ice cream activated the same “pleasure spots” of the brain that are lit up by winning money, or listening to a favourite piece of music.

“This is the first time that we’ve been able to show that ice cream makes you happy,” Unilever spokesman Don Darling said at the time.

“Just one spoonful lights up the happy zones of the brain in clinical trials.”

It’s not the first time a study has suggested a high-calorie “dessert” could be better eaten in the morning, either – a 2012 study found that eating chocolate cake for breakfast could help you lose weight.

Neuroscientists have accidentally discovered a whole new role for the cerebellum.

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We’ve only just scratched the surface.

 

One of the best-known regions of the brain, the cerebellum accounts for just 10 percent of the organ’s total volume, but contains more than 50 percent of its neurons.

Despite all that processing power, it’s been assumed that the cerebellum functions largely outside the realm of conscious awareness, instead coordinating physical activities like standing and breathing. But now neuroscientists have discovered that it plays an important role in the reward response – one of the main drives that motivate and shape human behaviour.

 Not only does this open up new research possibilities for the little region that has for centuries been primarily linked motor skills and sensory input, but it suggests that the neurons that make up much of the cerebellum – called granule cells – are functioning in ways we never anticipated.

“Given what a large fraction of neurons reside in the cerebellum, there’s been relatively little progress made in integrating the cerebellum into the bigger picture of how the brain is solving tasks, and a large part of that disconnect has been this assumption that the cerebellum can only be involved in motor tasks,” says one of the team, Mark Wagner, from Stanford University.

“I hope that this allows us to unify it with studies of more popular brain regions like the cerebral cortex, and we can put them together.”

Tucked into the back of the brain, the cerebellum maintains a massive amount of connections with the motor cortex – a region of the cerebral cortex in the brain’s frontal lobe that’s involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements.

While there have been hints of the cerebellum’s connection to cognitive processes such as attention and language function, previous research on granule cells has only ever linked them to basic sensory and motor functions.

And that makes sense when you see the effects on someone with a damaged cerebellum – they’ll often experience difficulties in maintaining balance and equilibrium, performing fine motor skills such as reaching and grasping, and keeping upright.

 “If you have disruption of the cerebellum, the first thing you see is a motor coordination defect,” says one of the researchers, Liqun Luo.

But there could be a whole lot more going on in the region, because while the human brain contains roughly 60 billion cerebellar granule cells – outnumbering all other brain neurons combined – they have been notoriously difficult to study.

To figure out how the cerebellum controls muscles in mice, the Stanford team used a new technique for observing granule cells called two-photon calcium imaging, which allowed them to record the neurons’ activity in real time.

You can see the result of this type of imaging at the top of the page – that bright green hue isn’t false colour, it’s actually the result of a substance called green fluorescent protein, or GFP.

This protein is naturally produced by bioluminescent animals such as jellyfish, and because it can be introduced to the genome with little harm to the cells, it’s been used to engineer things like ‘Glofish’ and neon mice.

It’s also made it a whole lot easier for researchers to track the activity of certain cells in real time – it just needs to be inserted into a creature’s DNA, and it will light up every time it’s being translated into RNA or moulded into a protein.

To see what GFP would reveal in their mice, the researchers got them to move by delivering a sugar water treat every time they pushed a lever.

They expected to see what was going on in the cerebellum in response to these physical movements, but what came as a surprise was an apparent connection between the granule cells and the reward response triggered by the sugar water.

As the team explains, some granule cells did fire when the mice pushed the lever, but another set of granule cells activated when the mice were waiting or their reward to arrive.

And when they took the reward away altogether, this set off yet another group of granules in the cerebellum.

“It was actually a side observation, that, wow, they actually respond to reward,” says Luo.

As Jessica Hall points out over at Extreme Tech, this isn’t the first time that a region of the brain has been connected to both motor coordination and the reward response – the basal ganglia, located in the base of the forebrain, is also driven by these two functions, and this new study hints at the cerebellum being similarly complex.

Of course, the results of the study have so far only been observed in mice, so until they’re replicated in humans, we can’t be certain that they’ll translate.

But the cerebellum is thought to have one of the most ancient evolutionary lineages of all the brain regions, and is wired in similar ways across all classes of vertebrates, so there’s a good chance we’ll see something comparable in humans too.

It’s just another reminder of the almost infinite complexity of mammalian brain, and while we humans love to compartmentalise things, in doing so, we risk missing the elaborate roles played by each region in how we think, feel, and move.

Source: Nature.