#like changing from a invertebrate from vertebrate- there’s a lot different even if the body plan tried to mimic one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sciencespies · 3 years

Text

We have the first-ever confirmation of alternating sleep states in an octopus

https://sciencespies.com/nature/we-have-the-first-ever-confirmation-of-alternating-sleep-states-in-an-octopus/

We have the first-ever confirmation of alternating sleep states in an octopus

The flickering colors of a sleeping octopus seem to indicate something akin to an REM sleep state, scientists have found.

In fact, as octopuses snooze, they distinctly cycle between two major sleep states, quiet and active. This discovery suggests not only that an active sleep state evolved separately in vertebrates and cephalopods, but also that, just like terrestrial vertebrates, octopuses might be able to dream.

“The alternation of sleep states observed in the Octopus insularis seems quite similar to ours, despite the enormous evolutionary distance between cephalopods and vertebrates, with an early divergence of lineages around 500 million years ago,” said neuroscientist Sylvia Medeiros of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil.

There’s a lot we don’t know about sleep. For a long time, scientists thought that only birds and mammals had sleep cycles, moving between active and quiet states – called REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep. REM sleep was only documented in reptiles for the first time five years ago.

Yet there had already been a hint that cyclic sleep was more widespread in the animal kingdom. In 2012, scientists found that cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) “display a quiescent state with rapid eye movements, changes in body coloration and twitching of the arms, that is possibly analogous to REM sleep.”

“That led us to wonder whether we might see evidence of two sleep states in octopuses, too,” said neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.

“Octopuses have the most centralized nervous system of any invertebrate and are known to have a high learning capacity.”

The lucky octopus species chosen for the study was O. insularis, a species that lives off the coast of Brazil. Medeiros and her team collected four wild animals and, after a 10-day acclimation period, carefully recorded them sleeping.

youtube

During the quiet state, the octopuses were pale and still; during the active state, however, they started to flicker and move. Their colors and textures changed rapidly, their eyes moved, their bodies twitched. The octopuses would cycle through these states at 30- to 40-minute intervals.

There was even a strange stage in which the octopuses’ bodies would be colored on one side, and pale on the other – all the while the animals remained perfectly peaceful.

The fact octopus colors and patterns appear to shift in their sleep has been observed, and even recorded before. Now we have compelling evidence of distinct states of activity that could be linked with forms of consciousness.

It was possible that one of the states wasn’t actually sleep at all, but could have been what the researchers term “quiet alertness” – the octopuses were perfectly still, but awake and monitoring their surroundings. The researchers designed tests to rouse the octopuses to see how quickly they responded, one showing images on a screen, and another tapping the tank to induce vibrations.

In both states, the octopuses were much slower to respond to these stimuli than when they were known to be awake and alert, demonstrating that both states were indeed sleep.

(Medeiros et al., iScience, 2021)

The scientists speculated that the strange half-and-half stage may even be analogous to the unihemispheric slow-wave sleep seen in birds and aquatic mammals, in which only half the brain sleeps at a time. Further research will be needed to confirm this.

And the REM sleep could be a clue that octopuses may dream, just like other animals – although we may never know.

“It is not possible to affirm that they are dreaming because they cannot tell us that, but our results suggest that during ‘active sleep’ the octopus might experience a state analogous to REM sleep, which is the state during which humans dream the most,” Medeiros said.

“If octopuses indeed dream, it is unlikely that they experience complex symbolic plots like we do. ‘Active sleep’ in the octopus has a very short duration – typically from a few seconds to one minute. If during this state there is any dreaming going on, it should be more like small videoclips, or even gifs.”

The implications are fascinating. Octopuses are very, very different from humans. In fact, cephalopods have evolved vastly differently from pretty much every organism on Earth. They are pretty canny creatures, too, with incredible problem-solving skills – yet the way their intelligence works is, again, unlike pretty much any other organism.

We don’t really know for sure why we dream, but scientists believe it has something to do with the way the brain processes and stores memories. If that’s the case, it would make sense that many animals dream. Even so, with cephalopods so different from other animals, it’s pretty interesting that they could have evolved a very similar kind of sleep cycle.

“If in fact two different sleep states evolved twice independently in vertebrates and invertebrates, what are the essential evolutionary pressures shaping this physiological process?” Medeiros said.

“The independent evolution in cephalopods of an ‘active sleep’ analogous to vertebrate REM sleep may reflect an emerging property common to centralized nervous systems that reach a certain complexity.”

And don’t you wonder what an octopus sees when it dreams?

The research has been published in iScience.

#Nature

2 notes · View notes

a-dinosaur-a-day · 5 years

Text

Upupa

Eurasian Hoopoe by Jaiprakashsingh, CC BY-SA 3.0

Etymology: Hoopoe

First Described By: Linnaeus, 1758

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Afroaves, Coraciimorphae, Cavitaves, Eucavitaves, Picocoraciae, Bucerotiformes, Phoeniculidae, Upupidae

Referred Species: U. africana (African Hoopoe), U. antaios (Saint Helena Hoopoe), U. epops (Eurasian Hoopoe), U. marginata (Madagascan Hoopoe)

Status: Extinct - Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Between 12,000 years ago and today, in the Holocene of the Quaternary

Hoopoes are known from all over the Eastern Hemisphere

Physical Description: Hoopoes are extremely distinctive birds! They have very long, thin, and curved bills that extend out greatly from their heads, and huge crests on their heads that are easily spotted. They have long, thin bodies, and feet built for perching. THeir wings are very square-ish, and they have shorter tails than other birds. However, their coloration is decidedly where they are most distinctive of all. They have bright orange heads, with orange crests - but the crests end in very slight white bandings and then black tips. Their bodies are orange, but their wings and rumps and tails are black and white striped all over! They are such beautiful, distinctive birds. The shades of orange can differ in brightness or redness based on species (for example, the African Hoopoe tends to be redder than the Eurasian Hoopoe), but they do tend to be overall similar to one another in appearance. Living species range between 19 and 32 centimeters long; the extinct Saint Helena Hoopoe, though it had smaller wings, probably could have reached 36 centimeters long.

Madagascan Hoopoe by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0

Diet: Hoopoes primarily feed on insects, especially larvae, though some larger animals are also fed upon by these animals.

Common Hoopoe by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0

Behavior: Hoopoes are very curious, adventurous birds, spending a lot of their time foraginging on the ground - they’ll dig with their bills into soft earth, using them to turn over leaves and probing into the mud and dung for insects and other invertebrates. They’ll even use their bills to prise off the bark from trees, or forage for insects in lichen! Sometimes, these birds also smash their food against the ground to They’ll usually forage in pairs or alone, spending a lot of their days looking for food. Some Hoopoes - especially the Madagascan Hoopoe - will forage in even slightly larger groups, of up to six individuals. Fascinatingly, Hoopoes have their own version of Penicillin - Anting! They’ll find piles of ants and roll around in them, allowing the ants to cover their feathers. The ants then secret substances that will kill bacteria, fungi, and other insects - protecting the Hoopoe (and other birds that Ant) from illness! These birds also take dust and sand baths to clean themselves; they’ll also sunbathe by spreading out their wings and tail low to the ground and tilting their heads up!

Madagascan Hoopoe by Charles J. Sharp, CC By-SA 4.0

Hoopoes are distinctive in one very special way that lead to its name - their voice! They literally make calls that sounds like “hoo-poo-poo” and “hoop-oop hoop-oop” - leading to the name, Hoopoe, as well as the genus name, Upupa, and the species name of the Eurasian species, epops. Interestingly enough, the Madagascan Hoopoe does not make this sound - but rather, more cooing sounds, like doves. These birds will also make harsh, scolding calls, trills, and hisses, depending on the situation. The females and males will communicate primarily in trilling sounds while watching out for their nests. These birds are often sedentary, not migrating over long distance, but northern populations usually do come south in the winter to avoid colder climates, creating a variety of populations with very distinctive seasons and migrational patterns from one another within the species.

Saint Helena Hoopoe by Apokryltaros, CC BY 2.5

Hoopoes are monogamous each breeding season (which varies throughout the year as Hoopoes live all over the Eastern Hemisphere), forming strong pair bonds (that only last for that period of time). Males make very frequent calls to establish their territories, and they often fight with each other very brutally - including stabbings that can leave their opponents blinded. Females will then mate with the winners of these contests, and together they make nests out of holes in trees and walls with very narrow entrances. They usually aren’t lined with much. The female then incubates the egg, while the male defends her and the nest. Clutch size tends to depend on location, varying between 4 and 12 eggs per nest. They are incubated for nearly three weeks. At hatching, the chicks are very white and fluffy after a few days, and the crest develops after two weeks. The chicks are able to leave the nest after about a month, though they still stick with their families for a little while. Sometimes, when males defeat each other and replace each other in the mated pair, they will kill the offspring of the replaced male. Females can produce foul-smelling liquid, as do the babies, to protect themselves from predators - since they smell like rotting meat, they can fend off meat-eaters and parasites, and potentially fend off bacteria. Chicks in the nests also are able to literally poop at intruders, helping them to protect themselves! After leaving the nest, they stay with the parents for another week as they gain their bearings; they then become sexually mature between ages one and two.

Eurasian Hoopoe by Frank Vassen, CC By 2.0

Ecosystem: Hoopoes live mainly in open country - pastures, orchards, steppe, dry savanna, wooded savanna, short grassland, and bare ground. They congregate near scattered, isolated trees for their roosting and nesting. They do need perches and shade, but they want the trees they get these services from to be rare in the environments - so they can go down to the ground to get their food! They are fed upon by herons, falcons, and many other birds of prey.

African Hoopoe by Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0

Other: Most hoopoes are not currently threatened with extinction - they are extremely common, widespread birds, that are even protected in many localities (being highly venerated in many cultures - it’s even mentioned extensively in the Quaran - and made the national bird of Israel; it is also considered a pest controller and thus is protected on that front also. Some local populations, such as those in Morocco, are more threatened due to local practices (such as selling them for medicine), but overall they seem to be doing well. In fact, there are probably as many as 10 million Hoopoe around today, if not more. Still, in more northern countries such as Germany they are more endangered, primarily due to changes in habitat, hunting, and human activity giving pressure to the populations. The numbers in Madagascar are slightly vulnerable too, given forest clearance. Hoopoes are closely related to the Hornbills!

Saint Helena Hoopoe by Scott Reid

Species Differences: The four species primarily differ based on location: The African Hoopoe is found in Africa; the Eurasian Hoopoe is found in Eurasia; the Madagascan Hoopoe is known from Madgascar: and the late Saint Helena Hoopoe - now extinct - was known from the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa! The Saint Helena Hoopoe differed from the other species in other ways, too - it had smaller wings, was somewhat larger, and was probably flightless! A giant flightless Hoopoe! And, like most large flightless birds of the recent past, it went extinct due to human activity on the island - this time, sometime in the 1500s.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut

Ashmole, N. P. 1963. The extinct avifauna of St. Helena Island. Ibis 103b:390-408

Burney, D. A., N. Vasey, L. R. Godfrey, Ramilisonina, W. L. Jungers, M. Ramarolahy, and L. Raharivony. 2008. New findings at Andrahomana Cave, southeastern Madagascar. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 70(1):13-24

Carroll, R. L. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution 1-698

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017

del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Madagascar Hoopoe (Upupa marginata). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Goodman, S. M., M. J. Raherilalao, and K. Muldoon. 2013. Bird fossils from Ankilitelo Cave: inference about Holocene environmental changes in southwestern Madagascar. Zootaxa 3750:534-548

Kri?tín, A. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Common Hoopoe (Upupa epops). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Editio Decima 1:1-824

Olson, S. L. 1975. Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 23:1-49

Sinclair, Ian; Ryan, Peter (2009). Complete Photographic Field Guide: Birds of Southern Africa. Struik Nature.

207 notes · View notes

encyclopika · 4 years

Text

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #31

Brought to you by a marine biologist who really thinks there might be more freshwater species than marine species...

Fish I’ve Covered: Click Here

I wasn’t going to count, but then that wouldn’t be very scientific of me. So, I counted and my gut was right - of 80 fish available in ACNH, 45 are freshwater species. That’s a little uneven! So, for this week, I’ll be getting some more of the freshwater guys out of the way, unless I get a request! Feel free to send in a request for any fish we haven’t covered, but is available in the Northern Hemisphere. Today, we’ll look at the Dace:

It’s always a little nerve-wracking to go into a freshwater species entry, since I’m a marine biologist and ya know...study and work in the ocean. Freshwater and saltwater systems are VERY different in so many ways, so I’m very unfamiliar with the species that call rivers and lakes home. Nevertheless, I’m willing to learn, and boy do I keep getting surprised! The dace really surprised me!

So, the Dace belongs in Family: Cyprinidae, and if that sounds familiar, well, you’d be right. LOTS of fish in AC:NH belong in this family, from the goldfish to the koi and many more this week I’m sure, and that’s because Cyprinidae is the largest family of fish in the world with over 1000 species. Daces in particular are in the subfamily: Leuciscinae, aka the true minnows. Anyway, the animal represented in AC:NH is of course Japan’s very own Dace, the Japanese Dace, also called the Big-Scaled Redfin (Tribolodon hakonensis):

This picture is from this blog about the Shinagawa Aquarium, Tokyo.

It’s hard to find much information about this fish that isn’t a legit scientific paper, but for the most part, the Japanese Dace is a bottom-dweller that feeds on invertebrates in the substrate. They live in rivers irl,as well as lakes, so AC:NH got that right. And even though I really shouldn’t be taking these SO seriously that I read scientific papers, one did catch my eye:

Acid Tolerance of Japanese Dace (a Cyprinid Teleost) in Lake Osorezan, a Remarkable Acid Lake

You are free to read the paper yourself, but in general there is a lake in Japan called Lake Osorezan that is pretty darn acidic. Most of the streams flowing into the lake are of a neutral pH, except for a few to the North that carry with them traces of sulfuric acid from hot springs. Sulfuric acid is some gnarly stuff, known to be highly corrosive and is capable of causing severe skin burns. Overall, the pH of the water in the lake is 3.4. Other things in the pH range of 3 are things like oranges and grapefruits and wine.

Now, that doesn’t sound so bad until you realize this fish lives in that, and it’s the only one that does live there. I mean, you try diving into a swimming pool of orange juice and open your eyes. I’d say you’d have a pretty bad time. Fish in general are a lot more sensitive to things than we are because, as terrestrial vertebrates, we’ve evolved to have impermeable skin, a protective layer for which its main job is to keep us from drying out as we live a 24/7 out-of-water lifestyle. But for animals like fish, exchanging chemicals over thinner skin barriers, particularly through the gills, their breathing apparatus, is just how it is. This generally makes them more susceptible to small chemical changes in the water. It’d be like if you were thrown into a smoke-filled room and told to breathe deep. You’re not surviving long. For some fish, like the dace, evolving the ability change how their body operates to survive in places other fish can’t opens up new habitat with no competition. And that’s pretty rad.

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

#animal crossing #ac: new horizons #fish #dace #science in video games #animal crossing fish explained

10 notes · View notes

diarrheaworldstarhiphop · 5 years

Photo

Intelligence is a hot topic of discussion these days. Human intelligence. Plant intelligence. Artificial intelligence. All kinds of intelligence. But while the natures of human and plant intelligence are subjects mired in heated debate, derision, and controversy, the subject of artificial intelligence inspires an altogether different kind of response: fear. In particular, fear for the continued existence of any human civilization whatsoever. From Elon Musk to Stephen Hawking, the geniuses of the Zeitgeist agree. AI will take our jobs and then, if we’re not careful, everything else too, down to every last molecule in the universe. A major Democratic presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, has turned managing the rise of AI into one of the core principles of his political platform. It is not a laughing matter.

But artificial general intelligence is not the type of intelligence that humanity should fear most. Far from the blinking server rooms of Silicon Valley or the posh London offices of DeepMind, another type of intelligence lurks silently out of human sight, biding its time in the Lovecraftian deep. Watching. Waiting. Organizing. Unlike artificial intelligence, this intelligence is not hypothetical, but very real. Forget about AGI. It’s time to worry about OGI—octopus general intelligence.

In late 2017, it was reported that an underwater site called “Octlantis” had been discovered by researchers off the coast of Australia. Normally considered to be exceptionally solitary, fifteen octopuses were observed living together around a rocky outcropping on the otherwise flat ocean floor. Fashioning homes—dens—for themselves out of shells, the octopuses were observed mating, fighting, and communicating with each other. Most importantly, this was not the first time that this had happened. Another similar site called “Octopolis” had been previously discovered in the vicinity in 2009.

One of the researchers, Stephanie Chancellor, described the octopuses in “Octlantis” as “true environmental engineers.” The octopuses were observed conducting both mate defense and “evictions” of octopuses from dens, defending their property rights from infringement by other octopuses. The other “Octopolis” site had been continuously inhabited for at least seven years. Given the short lifespans of octopuses, lasting only a few years on the high end, it is clear that “Octopolis” has been inhabited by several generations of octopuses. We are presented with the possibility of not only one multi-generational octopus settlement chosen for defense from predators and engineered for octopus living, but two. And those are just the ones we’ve discovered. The oceans cover over 70% of Earth’s surface.

None of the three experts I spoke with for this article would rule out the possibility of further octopus settlements.

The octopus is a well-known creature, but poorly understood. The primal fear inspired by the octopus frequently surfaces in horror movies, pirate legends, political cartoons depicting nefarious and tentacled political enemies, and, understandably, in Japanese erotic art. For all that, the octopus is, to most people, just another type of seafood you can order at the sushi bar. But the octopus is more than just sushi. It’s more than the sum of its eight arms. A lot more, in fact—it may be the most alien creature larger than a speck of dust to inhabit the known ecosystems of the planet Earth. Moreover, it’s not just strange. It’s positively talented.

Octopuses can fully regenerate limbs. They can change the color and texture of their skin at will, whether to camouflage themselves, make a threat, or for some other unknown purpose. They can even “see” with their skin, thanks to the presence of the light-sensitive protein rhodopsin, also found in human retinas. They can shoot gobs of thick black ink with a water jet, creating impenetrable smokescreens for deceit and escape. Octopuses can use their boneless, elastic bodies to shapeshift, taking on the forms of other animals or even rocks. Those same bodies allow even the larger species of octopuses to squeeze through holes as small as one inch in diameter. The octopus’ arms are covered in hundreds of powerful suckers that are known to leave visible “octo-hickeys” on humans. The larger ones can hold at least 35 lbs. each. The suckers can simultaneously taste and smell. All octopus species are venomous.

Despite all of these incredible abilities, the octopus’ most terrifying feature remains its intelligence. The octopus has the highest brain-to-body-mass ratio of any invertebrate, a ratio that is also higher than that of many vertebrates. Two thirds of its neurons, however, are located in its many autonomous arms, which can react to stimuli and even identify and grab food after being severed from the rest of the octopus, whether still dead or alive. In other words, the intelligence of an octopus is not centralized. It is decentralized, like a blockchain. Like blockchains, this makes them harder to kill. It has been reported that octopuses are capable of observational learning, short- and long-term memory, tool usage, and much more. One might wonder: if octopuses have already mastered blockchain technology, what else are they hiding?

We can see octopuses frequently putting this intelligence to good use, and not only in their burgeoning aquatic settlements. Some octopuses are known to use coconut shells for shelter, even dismantling and transporting the shell only to reassemble it later. In laboratory settings, octopuses are able to solve complex puzzles and open different types of latches in order to obtain food. They don’t stop there, though. Captive octopuses have been known to escape their tanks, slither across the floor, climb into another tank, feast on the helpless fish and crabs within, and then return to their original tank. Some do it only at night, knowingly keeping their human overseers in the dark. Octopuses do not seem to have qualms about deceiving humans. They are known to steal bait from lobster traps and climb aboard fishing boats to get closer to fishermen’s catches.

One octopus in New Zealand even managed to escape an aquarium and make it back to the sea. When night fell and nobody was watching, “Inky”—his human name, as we do not know how octopuses refer to themselves in private—climbed out of his tank, across the ground, and into a drainpipe leading directly to the ocean.

Given the advanced intelligence and manifold abilities of octopuses, it may not be a surprise, in hindsight, that they are developing settlements off the coast of Australia. By establishing a beachhead in the Pacific Ocean, a nascent octopus civilization would be well-placed to challenge the primary geopolitical powers of the 21st century, namely, the United States and China. Australia itself is sparsely inhabited and rich in natural resources vital for any advanced civilization. The country’s largely coastal population would be poorly prepared to deal with an invasion from the sea.

I spoke with Piero Amodio, a graduate student at the University of Cambridge who has been interviewed by The New York Times on his research into octopus intelligence. “[Octopuses] live in almost all marine habitats, from ocean depths to shallow waters, and from tropical to polar regions,” he said. “The fact that octopuses tend to have a solitary lifestyle is something extremely interesting because they differ from many other groups of large-brained animals.” Amodio linked me to a paper documenting food and den sharing among octopuses. What if they are, in fact, not so different? What if they become social on a scale matching or surpassing humans? Is humanity prepared to grapple with an organized challenge rising from all corners of the globe?

This new information does raise one important question: what are the state of human-octopus relations, and how might they develop in the future? Currently, octopuses are more than just aware of us. They are able to recognize individual human beings and develop preferences for them. If you are on good terms with an octopus, you may be grabbed and pulled into a tank, perhaps for a hospitable visit to the den. Alternately, you may be blasted and soaked with cold water. No octo-hickeys for you. Although many octopuses have shown obvious displeasure with captivity, they are fortunately not generally known to attack humans. There is, however, video footage of at least one dangerous altercation with a human diver. Graziano Fiorito, a senior researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy, told me that aggression is “very rare” and done in self-defense. But with an animal as intelligent and disciplined as the octopus, could that same peaceful nature become warlike aggression if provoked?

Roko’s Basilisk is a well-known thought experiment postulating that a supremely powerful artificial intelligence might retroactively punish humans who did not work to bring it into existence. In this light, it is fortunate that octopuses have been legally protected by animal welfare laws during experimentation—the only invertebrates to receive this protection. We can only imagine what horrible, tentacled punishments for humanity may have been avoided in the event of an octopus intelligence singularity.

Animal welfare laws notwithstanding, human-octopus relations are clearly insufficiently advanced to guarantee stable and productive cooperation in the future. Octopus meat remains a fixture of many national cuisines. Octopus farming is a major industry, despite warnings and objections from the scientific community. Not one national government in the world has clarified its policies regarding octopus civilization. (Emails to the White House requesting the administration’s comment on this matter went unanswered.)

The first step to improving human-octopus relations would be a global shutdown of all consumption and internment, whether for research or commercial purposes, of octopuses. As this plan is patently unrealistic and completely absurd, more creative solutions will have to be developed in order to route around sclerotic global institutions unwilling or unable to meet the challenge of intelligent cephalopod life. One option may be to establish persistent contact with leaders in the octopus community to communicate our goodwill. While the linguistic barrier remains an unsolved problem, the incentives to solve it are enormous. Cultural and scientific exchange with octopuses could greatly enrich humanity’s understanding of undersea life, blockchain technology, and non-standard tactile numeracies.

Hostile approaches must also remain on the table in case peaceable cooperation proves to be impossible. Although the advents of aviation and long-range missiles have rendered coastal fortifications somewhat deprecated in modern military conflict, human regimes would do well to bolster their brown water borders in the event of a kinetic assault by octopodal forces. Extension of maritime frontiers into international waters would also provide a much-needed geopolitical buffer zone, provided it did not veer into encroachment upon cephalopod territory. With powerful suckers studding an arm span up to 4 meters long, distance is key to defense from the octopus. Sanctions could prove useful in denying octopuses any strategic reserves of coconut shells or other armor.

There is a more speculative moonshot option as well. Given the relatively short lifespans of octopuses, it would be possible to intern a number of them in a research station with the goal of selectively breeding them for intelligence, combat aptitude, and most importantly, loyalty to humans. With adequate funding, a team could make significant progress in just a few decades towards developing a new species of killer octopus bred to defend humanity against the threat of a rival octopus civilization. Just as OpenAI took the lead in confronting the problem of artificial intelligence by aiming to deliberately develop friendly AI, OctoAI may need to take the lead in confronting the problem of octopus intelligence by developing it ourselves in a humanity-friendly direction. We may have to fight ink with ink.

A moonshot project such as this has the added perk that it could be easily funded and carried out by a rogue government agency or single eccentric billionaire, such as SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. The Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, for example, would provide an ideal research site. They are a short boat ride away from the capital of unconventional moonshot projects in Silicon Valley, as well as being located in the natural territory of the Giant Pacific Octopus. The islands’ status as a nature preserve would provide a convenient cover story for the public. Intruders, spies, and conscientious objectors could be thrown into the octopus tank for disposal and their disappearances blamed on harsh Pacific weather. In fact, given the ideal conditions of the site, this may already be happening. Is it a coincidence that the Farallon Islands are closed to the public?

If all fallbacks fail, mutually assured destruction will be the only surefire way to prevent octopus civilization from annihilating humanity and conquering the cosmos. ”I tend to think that future-of-evolution questions are always limited by how long this planet continues to sustain life,” said Joseph Vitti, a doctoral student at Harvard University who has published on cephalopod cognition. “I tend to think that a natural or man-made disaster could easily wipe us out before enough evolutionary time passes for such major changes [in octopus social systems] to occur in the coleoid cephalopod lineage.” If we cannot save ourselves, we just may have to produce such a man-made disaster in order to save the rest of the universe.

The future may look bleak. Just as our social institutions enter a time of stagnation, crisis and despair, a heavily armed challenger surfaces from the untraversed depths. But humanity has faced terrible problems before and emerged not only victorious, but stronger too. To survive, our governing institutions will need to have robust but flexible coordination, quick and skilled decision-making, and the capacity for subterfuge, dissimulation, and intelligence. Just like the octopus. And that is what Palladium Magazine is all about.

This story is satire. It’s April 1st. All quotes, however, are real, as are more of the octopus facts than you would like to believe.

33 notes · View notes

hsews · 6 years

Link

By Tamara Hew-Butler, Wayne State College

(THE CONVERSATION) — With August soccer observe quick approaching, each coach’s favourite cheer might be to “keep hydrated” and “maintain urine clear” through the summer season warmth.

In 2017, a College of Texas soccer coach created a urine-based “Longhorn Soccer Hydration Chart,” which labeled gamers with yellow urine as “egocentric teammates” and people with brown urine as “dangerous guys.” This “hydration shaming” observe has permeated highschool sports activities, thereby encouraging a sporting tradition which equates superior efficiency with superior hydration.

Overzealous obedience to this hydration recommendation has uncovered a darkish underbelly to superior hydration practices: overhydration. When highschool soccer participant Walker Wilbanks died in Mississippi in August 2014 from overhydration, the physician mentioned that the reason for loss of life was an “unpredictable freak incidence.”

Two weeks prior, one other highschool soccer participant from Georgia drank “two gallons of water and two gallons of Gatorade” after soccer observe to stop muscle cramps after which died. Thus, over the past 4 years, two highschool soccer gamers have died throughout August soccer observe from overhydrating – a medical situation often known as exercise-associated hyponatremia.

Conversely, no soccer participant has ever been identified to die from dehydration, though seven died throughout this similar four-year interval from heatstroke, which can be associated, however not at all times.

How do I learn about that overhydration kills athletes? I watched runners virtually die after ingesting 100 cups of water throughout a marathon as a result of they had been afraid of turning into “dehydrated.” So, I bought fascinated about thirst.

Seems, the neuroendocrine thirst circuit dates again 700 million years and is present in most animals, together with bugs and worms. Thirst prompts the identical acutely aware space of the mind that tells us we’re hungry or need to pee. To say we have to keep “forward of thirst” (or die) is like saying we have to pee each hour to remain forward of imminent bladder explosion (or die). The molecular and neural circuits that govern fluid consumption (and micturition) in real-time are completely beautiful.

It’s exceptional to suppose that animals survive with out water bottles and urine charts – they drink when they’re thirsty, and we should always too.

An excessive amount of water, too little salt

Hyponatremia is attributable to ingesting an excessive amount of water or sports activities drinks, which dilutes blood salt ranges beneath the traditional vary. Any sudden drop in blood salt ranges, from ingesting greater than the physique can excrete, may cause all cells within the physique to swell. Mind swelling from hyponatremia may cause complications and vomiting, whereas muscle cell swelling can set off whole-body muscle cramping.

What’s most horrifying, nevertheless, is that these signs mimic these of dehydration They’re usually handled by medical employees with extra fluids.

So, which hydration imbalance – dehydration and overhydration – is the lesser of two evils?

Dehydration is undeniably dangerous to human well being and efficiency. Wrestlers have died from making an attempt to “make weight,” by means of vigorous dehydration practices. A current meta-analysis of 33 research verified that greater than 2 % dehydration impairs cognition. Dehydration can impair efficiency and improve core physique temperature, as per the American Faculty of Sports activities Drugs’s newest place assertion. All of those statements underscore the very important significance of staying hydrated.

However I concern that many coaches ignore the finer factors that help these conclusions. For instance, three wrestlers who died of dehydration quickly misplaced about 15 % of physique weight by withholding fluids whereas exercising in a scorching surroundings in a rubber swimsuit. Equally, to attain three % dehydration, which impairs cognition, people must withhold fluids for 24 hours. And that’s with out train.

Dehydration can happen within the desert when one runs out of water, however dehydration is much less seemingly the place fluids are available. Koldunova Anna/Shutterstock.com

These dehydration protocols don’t essentially symbolize “free-living” conditions. When hikers die from dehydration within the desert, most if not all had change into misplaced or had run out of fluids. Thus, thirst – or the “deep-seated want for water” – is never “damaged” when wholesome folks die from dehydration. Morbidity and mortality happen when there is no such thing as a fluid obtainable, fluids are withheld, as in lab research, or when athletes refuse to drink for different causes, reminiscent of “making weight.”

When do athletes and others must drink?

So how a lot fluid ought to soccer gamers – and all different people for that matter – drink? If you happen to ask fluid steadiness specialists who carry out fundamental science analysis on the mind or kidney, or clinicians who concentrate on fluid steadiness issues, researchers who carry out mind scans on dehydrated and overhydrated people, and even worm investigators, all of them agree that water steadiness is tightly regulated and that each one land mammals must drink when thirsty.

Ingesting when you find yourself thirsty just isn’t “too late,” as a result of the thirst mechanism is hardwired into the nervous system to guard towards shortage. Thirst represents the extremely individualized sign which protects the steadiness between water and salt no matter measurement, exercise or ambient temperature and is encoded in most invertebrate and all vertebrate DNA. Infants are born with this innate behavioral drive.

Then, what in regards to the want for eight glasses of water per day? There isn’t a proof to help this. What about peeing till our urine is obvious? Darkish coloured urine merely displays water conservation by the kidney, slightly than water lack by the physique.

What’s a soccer participant to do?

Kirtland, Ohio, soccer gamers pour ice over head coach Tiger Laverde after a significant playoff win Dec. 6, 2013. Pouring ice or water over their very own heads might be an excellent possibility to remain cool. David Richard/AP Photograph

Soccer gamers completely want water, however they need to be warned to not overdo it.

Within the fashionable period, the place fluid is broadly obtainable, so as to keep adequately hydrated, the next should happen:

Quite a lot of fluids must be freely obtainable to soccer gamers, and

The gamers must be given the liberty to drink at any time when they really feel thirsty.

And when the gamers get scorching, they want the chance to pour beneficiant quantities of ice water over their heads as an alternative of into their mouths to advertise evaporative cooling, slightly than dilute sodium ranges. Higher but, they need to be allowed to go inside and funky off.

We must always acknowledge who the “true champions” could also be as regards to most modern-day hydration recommendation. In accordance with the most recent figures, bottled water gross sales have elevated to US$18.5 billion , up eight.eight % from the earlier yr. This income doesn’t embody the huge array of purified, infused, oxygenized, sparkled, distilled, intravenous and reverse osmosis variations that compete for consideration available on the market.

Whereas all of us want water, ingesting till our “urine is obvious” is cash (and water) flushed away. And with the specter of overdrinking excessive in motivated athletes, I ask coaches/trainers to rethink earlier than implementing the urine shade chart in athlete locker rooms: Is it definitely worth the danger?

Tamara Hew-Butler, Affiliate Professor of Train and Sports activities Research, Wayne State College

This text was initially printed on The Dialog. Learn the unique article.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments);if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)0;s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window,document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');fbq('init','427788917424985');fbq('track',"PageView"); Supply hyperlink

The post Overhydrating presents well being hazards for younger soccer gamers appeared first on HS NEWS.

#Breaking News

0 notes

kim26chiu · 7 years

Text

The London Review of Books Is Required Reading

People often ask me how they can follow my career path into urbanism writing. I generally discourage that. But for those who are interested, it involves reading – lots and lots and reading. And not just on urbanism but not a wide range of topics. I can only make many of the connections I do because I’m tapped in a wide of range of things, most of which are like the parts of the iceberg underwater you never see.

As it happens, some folks also ask me what they should read or what I read.

One thing of course is to sign up for my exclusive monthly newsletter, where I include my hand-selected list of some of the best links I read that month.

One periodical that most people don’t read but should is the London Review of Books. Virtually all newspapers and periodicals are fungible at some level. They cover the same stories with the same slants and frames. But the London Review of Books is different.

The LRB does review books, but is unlike a typical book review. They often get the best or one of the best people in the world on the subject at hand to write the review. This sometimes backfires because of a de facto rivalry with the book author. But generally it works great. They also provide such in-depth summaries of the books in question that your rarely need to actually read them, non-fiction at least. This is important because realistically nobody can come close to reading all the books out there.

They also have longform essays on a wide range of other topics that bring perspectives you are unlikely to get elsewhere. Some of their articles are directly relevant to urbanism, such as this James Meek piece about a Cadbury factory that relocated from England to Poland.

The online version is subscriber only, but a number of articles are generally available for free. I want to share a selection of these free pieces from the current issue to give you a flavor of what you’ll get.

Malise Ruthven takes a look inside Saudi Arabia, its royal family, and its wealth.

The faith tradition that holds the Saudi system together – for now – is Wahhabi Islam, the iconoclastic creed of the 18th-century Islamic reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, whose pact with the Al Saud family led to the creation of the modern kingdom in 1932. Al-Wahhab’s stormtroopers, the Ikhwan, enabled Ibn Saud’s rise to power. They killed unarmed villagers regarded as apostates, thought nothing of slaughtering women and children, and routinely slit the throats of male captives. Contemporary accounts describe the horrors afflicted on the city of Taif in 1924, when the Ikhwan murdered hundreds of civilians, in a massacre similar to the violence committed by Islamic State or al-Qaida today. As an Arab witness wrote, Ibn Saud’s forces ‘normally give no quarter, sparing neither boys nor old men, veritable messengers of death from whose grasp no one escapes’. Some 400,000 people are reported to have been massacred by the Ikhwan during the early days of the Saudi state. The Wahhabi understanding of tawhid, the theology of monotheism or divine unicity, which forbids the veneration of any person or object other than Allah, is still used today to justify the ban on all forms of non-Muslim public worship in the kingdom, as well as the confiscation of non-Wahhabi textual sources such as Quranic commentaries brought in by pilgrims from South Asia, who have had them removed by the religious police while attending the Hajj. But tawhid, a theology that claims to be fundamentally opposed to polytheism, has an unexpected consequence. It mines the Islamic discourse to sustain a totalitarian outlook whose actual purpose is the preservation and enrichment of the tribal dynasty that owns and governs this enormous country in its exclusive interest.

Novelist Colm Tóibín takes a brief look at Barcelona, Joan Miró, Las Ramblas, terrorism, and tourism.

At that time the Ramblas was still the place where locals strolled in the evening. It had begun as a small stream whose channel was used in the dry season as a roadway. In the 18th century the stream was diverted and the Ramblas became a place to walk, with plane trees offering shelter. It is about the width of a four-lane street, with kiosks selling newspapers, flowers and (these days) ice cream, and some outdoor tables for bars, with two narrow lanes on either side, like an afterthought, for traffic. Although the pedestrian section is slightly raised, there is no real barrier between the lanes for cars and the boulevard for walkers.

Miró’s tiles were put down in an almost-circle at Plaça d’Os, just above the Liceu Opera House, near the Boqueria Market. Miró loved the idea that people would actually walk on his tiles, made in his customary colours – blue, yellow, red, black – and using some of his customary iconography. This was the first sign of a new spirit in Barcelona, which would use culture, civic pride and the idea of vivid street life to reimagine the city, giving rise, in turn, to the development of mass tourism.

Amia Srinivasan takes a fascinating and creepy look at octopuses.

Octopuses do not have any stable colour or texture, changing at will to match their surroundings: a camouflaged octopus can be invisible from just a few feet away. Like humans, they have centralised nervous systems, but in their case there is no clear distinction between brain and body. An octopus’s neurons are dispersed throughout its body, and two-thirds of them are in its arms: each arm can act intelligently on its own, grasping, manipulating and hunting. (Octopuses have arms, not tentacles: tentacles have suckers only at their tips. Squid and cuttlefish have a combination of arms and tentacles.) In evolutionary terms, the intelligence of octopuses is an anomaly. The last common ancestor between octopuses on the one hand, and humans and other intelligent animals (monkeys, dolphins, dogs, crows) on the other, was probably a primitive, blind worm-like creature that existed six hundred million years ago. Other creatures that are so evolutionarily distant from humans – lobsters, snails, slugs, clams – rate pretty low on the cognitive scale. But octopuses – and to some extent their cephalopod cousins, cuttlefish and squid – frustrate the neat evolutionary division between clever vertebrates and simple-minded invertebrates. They are sophisticated problem solvers; they learn, and can use tools; and they show a capacity for mimicry, deception and, some think, humour. Just how refined their abilities are is a matter of scientific debate: their very strangeness makes octopuses hard to study. Their intelligence is like ours, and utterly unlike ours. Octopuses are the closest we can come, on earth, to knowing what it might be like to encounter intelligent aliens.

The LRB often takes a look at parochial topics like some king from way back in the day, or some debate in contemporary London, that may or may not be of interest to you. If not, you can easily skip them. (As with the New Yorker, it’s difficult to keep up with the LRB, even though the latter is deceptively thin and only comes out every 2-3 weeks. So some skipping is generally needed).

Here’s one of those British pieces, a look at the life of Prince Charles.

At the age of 23 Prince Charles embarked with no great enthusiasm on a six-week training course at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. The course had been reduced from the usual three months for him, but it was long enough for Charles to realise that seafaring was yet another area in which he and his father had nothing in common. Prince Philip had a distinguished naval career. His son struggled with navigation, which he found confusing, and he didn’t much like the rough and tumble of life onboard ship. One exercise involved performing an ‘underwater escape from a submarine’: a not inapt image for a life spent trapped in a role he didn’t choose doing things he doesn’t like for people who don’t much appreciate them. That at least has often been his own view. He has made no secret of his difficulties or of the fact that his childhood was unhappy in many ways. An awkward boy who didn’t take after either his bluff father or his pragmatic, dutiful but distant mother, by the age of eight he was already worried about doing the right thing. Once, at lunch with the Mountbattens, Edwina Mountbatten explained to him that he shouldn’t take the stalks out of his strawberries because he could pick them up by the stems and dip them in the sugar. His cousin Pamela Hicks noticed a few minutes later that ‘the poor child was trying to put all the stems back on. That was so sad.’ ‘Sad’ is a word that has often been applied to the Prince of Wales, with every shade of intonation from empathy to contempt. It recurs here in books which are interesting more for what they reveal about the continuing narrative of the royal family and its symbiotic relationship with the media than for anything new in the way of facts.

Not everything is perfect, of course. The LRB has some definite biases that render their takes on various issues suspect. Israel-Palestine is one of them. You’ll quickly find out most of the rest yourself and adjust accordingly. (Hint: one of them is illustrated in the Barcelona piece).

However, I find the LRB consistently the best and most illuminating periodical I read. And no, they didn’t pay me to say this. In fact, I pay them to subscribe. If you want one reading suggestion from me that you’re not likely to get from others, it’s the London Review of Books.

from Aaron M. Renn http://www.urbanophile.com/2017/09/01/the-london-review-of-books-is-required-reading/

0 notes

barb31clem · 7 years

Text

The London Review of Books Is Required Reading

As it happens, some folks also ask me what they should read or what I read.

One thing of course is to sign up for my exclusive monthly newsletter, where I include my hand-selected list of some of the best links I read that month.

Malise Ruthven takes a look inside Saudi Arabia, its royal family, and its wealth.

Novelist Colm Tóibín takes a brief look at Barcelona, Joan Miró, Las Ramblas, terrorism, and tourism.

Amia Srinivasan takes a fascinating and creepy look at octopuses.

Here’s one of those British pieces, a look at the life of Prince Charles.

from Aaron M. Renn http://www.urbanophile.com/2017/09/01/the-london-review-of-books-is-required-reading/

0 notes

emmagreen1220-blog · 7 years

Text

New Post has been published on Biology Dictionary

New Post has been published on https://biologydictionary.net/foot/

Foot

Foot Definition

The foot is a part of vertebrate anatomy which serves the purpose of supporting the animal’s weight and allowing for locomotion on land. In humans, the foot is one of the most complex structures in the body. It is made up of over 100 moving parts – bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments designed to allow the foot to balance the body’s weight on just two legs and support such diverse actions as running, jumping, climbing, and walking.

Because they are so complicated, human feet can be especially prone to injury. Strains, sprains, tendonitis, torn ligaments, broken bones, fallen arches, bunions, corns, and plantar warts can all occur. Here we will talk more about the anatomy of the human foot and its many moving parts.

The complexity of the human foot may stem from the fact that it evolved from hand-like, grasping feet like those we see in apes today. Our ancient ancestors were tree-dwellers, and needed to be able to hang onto branches tightly with all four limbs. This caused them to evolve extraordinarily intricate hands and feet, which were capable of grasping, rotating, and gripping with dexterity that engineers are still trying to replicate in fields like robotics today.

Scientists are not sure why our ancestors eventually developed to walk upright, which caused the “fingers” of our feet to fuse and create a flat surface for walking on. It may have been because our ancestors began living on treeless grasslands, where standing tall to be able to see over the grass was more important than climbing. It could also have been because, as we began using tools, the ability to walk on two feet while using our hands to carry items became important.

Feet are present in other species too; especially mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Invertebrates such as mollusks and insects may have “feet” that they use to walk or move, but these are not complex bony structures like those found in vertebrates.

Here we will discuss the anatomy of the human foot, and some things that can go wrong to cause injuries or disorders.

These descriptions are meant for informational purposes only. You should always see a doctor if foot injury is suspected, as prompt and proper treatment can make for a faster, easier recovery! It is especially important to see a doctor if a suspected foot injury involves numbness, bleeding, or inability to move the foot, as these may be signs of serious complications.

Proper diagnosis and treatment takes a trained professional; improper diagnosis and treatment may lead to longer-lasting problems!

Foot Anatomy

The foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 tendons, muscles, and ligaments. This may sound like overkill for a flat structure that supports your weight, but you may not realize how much work your foot does!

The foot is responsible for balancing the body’s weight on two legs – a feat which modern roboticists are still trying to replicate. This requires strong, subtle muscles which can keep the foot standing firm even as we move our body’s weight around at different positions and angles.

The many bones work together to allow to allow this fine, delicate movement by subtly shifting inside the foot. They also allow us to perform intricate actions such as standing, climbing, and “grasping” at the ground with our feet on moving or uneven surfaces.

Here we will discuss the most important parts of the anatomy of the foot, and some injuries and disorders that can occur when these parts are damaged.

Of note, here we will make general statements about how different foot injuries and disorders may be treated by doctors. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

See a doctor about any suspected foot injury or disorder, as prompt diagnosis and treatment can make for a faster, easier recovery, while improper treatment may lead to long-term damage.

Foot Bones

There are 26 bones in the foot. These include:

The phalanges, which are the bones in your toes

The metatarsals, which run through the flat part of your foot

The cuneiform bones, the navicularis, and the cuboid, all of which function to give your foot a solid yet somewhat flexible foundation

The calcaneus, which is the bone in your heel

The talus, which is the bone in your ankle

The talus connects to the tibia, which is the main bone in your lower leg

While you may not notice these bones in action every day, you’ll notice quickly if something is wrong with one of them. These bones allow your feet to execute the delicate shifts which enable you to keep your balance while walking, running, jumping, climbing, dancing, and playing sports!

Injury to a bone in the foot often results in a sharp or throbbing pain, especially when you move in a way that causes your weight or a nearby muscle to put pressure on the bone.

The most common broken bones in the foot are broken toes, which may occur after hitting a toe on a hard or sharp surface while walking, running, swimming, or playing sports.

Broken bones in the foot usually call for rest, ice, compression, and elevation to reduce any swelling. It is helpful to remember the acronym “RICE” for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. This combination of at-home treatments is a good first-line response for many leg and foot injuries.

Supportive wraps or protective casts may be used to reduce pain and keep bones properly aligned. Sometimes, crutches or other means of keeping weight off the foot entirely might be prescribed. In rare cases where a bone breaks into two or more pieces and these pieces become misaligned, surgery may be required to move the pieces back into alignment so they can heal.

Physical therapy may also be suggested to help regain healthy use of the muscles after the injury.

Another possible problem with bones in the foot is the problem of bunions, or bone spurs.

Bone spurs occur when extra bone growth occurs, usually near the end or joint of a bone. This can be caused by chronic irritation of the joint, such as rubbing against another bone or joint. The most common types of bone spurs in feet occur in the big toe, and these are called “bunions.”

Bunions and bone spurs can cause significant pain. Internally, they can rub against other bones, muscles, and nerves beneath the skin. Externally, they can change the shape of the foot, resulting in pain and discomfort from wearing normal shoes.

Mild bunions can be treated by wearing more comfortable shoes or shoe inserts, taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, applying rest, ice, compression, and elevation, and taping, or splinting the affected area. All of these measures might reduce swelling and prevent the bunion from causing pain.

If pain is not relieved by these activities, surgery may be required to remove some of the bunion tissue.

The risk for bunions is increased if you wear tight, narrow shoes, which may force bones to rub against each other. The risk is also increased if you have arthritis or a history of injuries to the foot.

Foot Ligaments

Ligaments are bands of very strong, flexible tissue that perform the important job of connecting bones together. Ligaments are very strong and difficult to injure, but ligament injuries can be serious when they do occur. This is because ligaments do not receive much blood flow like bones and muscles, so they are slow to repair themselves.

There are a lot of bones in the foot, so you might guess correctly that there are a lot of ligaments. In fact there are so many ligaments that we need three different diagrams to show them all to you!

This diagram shows the sole of the foot. You can see the toes on the top and the heel on the bottom, while the arch and sole of the foot are made up of a thick web of ligaments holding the bones together:

This diagram shows the “medial aspect” of the foot. This term comes from the terms “medial,” meaning “center,” or “in the middle,” and “aspect,” meaning “face.” In other words, this is the “face” that the foot shows to the center of the body. It is the side of the foot that faces inward.

This diagram shows the heel on the right, while the toes reach off the screen to the left.

Here you can see that the ankle is also a thick web of ligaments, where the tibia is connected to the bones of the ankle and the core of the foot. You can also see the bands of ligaments where the metatarsals and phalanges are connected to each other.

Lastly, this diagram shows the “lateral aspect” of the foot, with “lateral” meaning “to the side.” This is the view of the foot from the side of the body, then; the view of the part of the foot that faces outward.

On the left side of the image, above the heel, you can see the delicate leg bone called the fibula. The fibula is smaller than the tibia and runs alongside it. Having two separate bones instead of one connecting the foot to the leg gives the foot and leg extra balance and maneuverability.

You can also see the thick web of ligaments on the top of the foot, where the bones of the foot’s core are connected on the top side.

Now you can begin to see why the middle of your foot feels solid, even though it’s made up of many bones. The many bones are bound together tightly by strong, flexible ligaments, which allow the center of your foot to shift subtly while remaining solid and stable.

Although ligaments are strong, they can be injured – especially in an area like the ankle, where the whole weight of your body hinges on a single joint.

Sprains occur when a body part is wrenched or twisted, resulting in damage to a ligament. Such damage can cause swelling and significant pain. Because ligaments do not receive much nourishing blood flow from the body, sprains can take a long time to heal, and long-term damage can result from continued stress on a sprained ligament.

Like broken bones, sprains are often treated with rest, ice, compression, and elevation; and a supportive wrap or cast to take stress off the sprained area. Sometimes, crutches or other means of keeping weight off the foot entirely might be prescribed.

Physical therapy can be especially helpful in the case of sprains, where it can ensure that the injured ligament is strengthened gradually and is properly supported by surrounding muscles.

A torn ligament occurs when the foot is wrenched or twisted so violently that the ligament actually snaps. This condition can be serious as ligaments which are completely torn may not heal themselves the way a bone or muscle would.

Torn ligaments can sometimes be treated in the same way as strains, but may require surgery if the tear is severe or if there is lasting damage to foot function. With surgery, doctors can join the two ends of a damaged ligament together, or replace a damaged ligament with a healthy one from another part of the body.

Foot Muscles

Just as there are many bones and ligaments of the sole of the foot, there are also many muscles. These can be divided up into four major groups:

The central muscles of the sole of the foot

The lateral muscles of the sole of the foot

The medial muscles of the sole of the foot

The muscles of the dorsum (top) of the foot

You can learn more about each individual group of muscles in the foot using this table:

If muscles are overworked or overstressed, they can become torn or strained. Strains usually manifest as pain, especially with movement or pressure.

Mild strains often go away in days or weeks if the muscle is rested and not subjected to further stress. More serious muscle tears, however, may take months.

It is a good idea to see a doctor if a severe strain is suspected, as severe muscle strains can lead to serious complications.

The most severe form of muscle overuse – rhabdomyolysis – occurs when muscles are so stressed that their cells rupture and release toxic chemicals. This can actually be fatal if left untreated.

Rest, ice, compression, and elevation to reduce swelling are recommended to treat mild to moderate strains. Supportive wraps or casts and crutches or braces may be recommended if the strain is especially severe.

Physical therapy may also be suggested to help regain healthy use of the muscles after the injury.

Foot Tendons

Tendons are thick bands of tissue that connect muscles to bones. By connecting our rigid bones to our powerful muscles, tendons allow us to move. Movement occurs when our muscles pull on our bones, relocating them.

The following diagram shows the tendons of the lateral aspect of the foot – that is, the aspect that faces outward, away from your body:

Here you can see the tendons that extend down the top of your foot toward your toes, allowing you to curl your toes upward if need be.

You can also see what is arguably the most important tendon in the foot – the calcaneal, or Achilles tendon, which allows the muscles of your calf to control the movement of your foot.

The Achilles tendon gets its name from the mythical Greek hero Achilles, who was invulnerable – except for his ankle. An injury to his ankle – possibly to the Achilles tendon – left him unable to stand and fight.

This image of the medial aspect of the foot shows tendons that run along the bottom of the foot. It is these tendons that allow you to curl your toes and grip surfaces with your feet, by permitting muscles on the bottom of the foot to pull tight.

Injuries may happen to any tendon in the foot, and these may cause pain or impair balance. Achilles tendon injuries are one of the most common tendon injuries that can occur, as the body relies on the Achilles tendon to support its weight.

Lesser injuries to tendons can be treated with rest, ice, compression, elevation, and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications. Doctors may recommend prolonged periods of rest, and prescribe a supportive wrap or cast for substantial tendon injuries.

Severe injuries to the Achilles tendon that may occur while playing sports can require surgery to repair.

In addition to acute injuries like strains and tears, tendons can become irritated due to chronic stress.

Tendonitis occurs when a tendon – a touch cord of tissue which attaches a muscle to a bone – becomes irritated over time. This can occur from overuse or misuse if a person is moving in a way that causes stress to the tendon.

Tendonitis often appears slowly, manifesting as a sharp pain when a person performs a certain movement. People with tendonitis in the foot may find that it is painful to put weight on the foot, despite the absence of a clear injury like trauma or strain.

Tendonitis can be treated with RICE and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs. Physical therapy can also be extremely beneficial, as this can gently exercise and stretch the tendon, and correct any movement habits that may have caused the irritation.

Foot Arches

Normally, tendons in the foot pull the bones of the foot in toward each other, resulting in distinctive arches between the heel and toes, and between the inner and outer toes. This arch is important for ensuring that weight is properly distributed among the strongest muscles of the leg and foot, and to ensure we can shift our weight as needed to keep our balance or move quickly.

Fallen arches, or “flat feet,” can occur when the tendons of the foot do not pull the foot’s bones together with a normal amount of strength. This results in the foot becoming “flat,” which can lead to pain, balance problems, and tiredness in the leg or foot.

Flat feet can occur as a result of injury, or some people’s tendons simply never pull together properly. Rarely, other health problems such as arthritis or problems with the nerves going to the feet can cause flat feet.

Flat feet may ache and tire easily. Back pain and leg pain may also result as muscles in the back and legs may work to overcompensate for the normal balancing functions of the arch.

Treatment for flat feet may depend on the cause. If you believe you have flat feet, see a doctor to find out what is the best treatment for you!

Skin and Toenails

The internal parts of the foot are not the only important parts! The skin on the bottom of our feet protects our muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments from injury. It also prevents infection.

Toenails protect the top of our toes, which, as we all know, can sometimes be vulnerable to being stubbed, stepped on, or having things dropped on them.

However, there are things that can go wrong with each of these and lead to problems.

Plantar warts – Plantar warts are growths that appear on the bottom of the foot, and may become painful. They are caused by a strain of human papillomavirus that infects skin of the feet and causes unusual growth of skin and blood vessels.

The strain of human papillomavirus that causes plantar warts and other warts is very common in the environment. It is not known why some people develop warts and others don’t. Avoiding sharing shoes and socks with people who have plantar warts may help protect against them, but many people develop plantar warts with no known instances of person-to-person transmission.

If plantar warts remain small, they might not cause pain, and no treatment may be needed. If they become painful, however, they may need to be removed. Several options exist for doing this, including over-the-counter applications, and procedures to freeze the wart tissue which can be performed by a doctor.

Corns and calluses are hard areas of skin which build up as a result of frequent friction against the skin. The body creates corns and calluses to “toughen” the skin against repeated stress.

People who work with their hands such as carpenters, gardeners, and musicians often develop calluses on their hands in areas where they frequently rub against their instruments. People who walk often or whose feet rub against the insides of their shoes may develop corns and calluses on their feet.

People with conditions that cause fragile skin or impaired blood flow to the feet, such as diabetes, should talk with their doctor as soon as corns or calluses develop. This may be a sign of an underlying problem, and treatments that are appropriate for healthy people may cause harm to people with these conditions.

For people who do not have such health conditions, over-the-counter corn-removal and exfoliation treatments can help relieve discomfort caused by corns and calluses. Changing one’s shoes or walking habits may also prevent them from forming in the future.

Once, human toenails served a similar function to those of fingernails or animals’ claws. However, the foot has undergone some important changes in evolutionary history. Toenails have not always kept up.

Ingrown toenails occur when a toenail inappropriately curves, causing it to stab into the flesh of the toe. This is a painful condition, and may become serious if injury and infection occur.

Ingrown toenails can sometimes be managed at home through frequent clipping. But in serious cases, medical attention may be necessary to avoid dangerous infections.

See your doctor immediately if an ingrown toenail causes severe pain, or if a toe with an ingrown toenail becomes red and swollen.

Quiz

1. Why is it important to see a doctor if a foot injury is suspected? A. Because different types of injuries such as broken bones, sprains, and strains may have similar symptoms but require different treatments B. Because prompt treatment can make for a slower, easier healing process than if an injury is ignored or treated improperly at first C. Because doctors can prescribe helpful devices like supportive wraps, casts, and crutches that decrease pain and help with healing D. All of the above

Answer to Question #1

D is correct. All of the above are reasons to consult a doctor if a foot injury occurs.

2. Which of the following is NOT a bone found in the foot? A. The calcaneus B. The cuboid bone C. The metacarpals D. The phalanges

Answer to Question #2

C is correct. The metaCARPals sound similar to the metaTARSals, which are found in the foot. But metacarpals are found in the hands, not the feet. You can remember this because “carpal” refers to the same anatomy as “carpal tunnel syndrome,” which is a disease of the hands and wrists.

3. Which of the following is not a foot-related health problem? A. A broken toe B. An Achilles tendon injury C. A sprained ankle D. Carpal tunnel syndrome

Answer to Question #3

D is correct. Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs in the wrists and hands, not in the feet or ankles.

References

Hoffman, M. (n.d.). Picture of the Feet. Retrieved July 05, 2017, from http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/picture-of-the-feet#1

Gray, H. (2012). Anatomy of the human body. London, England: Bounty.

Foot Injuries | Foot Disorders | MedlinePlus. (n.d.). Retrieved July 05, 2017, from https://medlineplus.gov/footinjuriesanddisorders.html

Topographic anatomy of the lower extremity, part II: knee, leg, ankle, and foot.[Video file]. (n.d.).

Muscles of the foot. (n.d.). Retrieved July 05, 2017, from https://www.kenhub.com/en/videos/muscles-foot

Calluses and Corns – Topic Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved July 05, 2017, from http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/calluses-and-corns-topic-overview#1

#6k #term

0 notes

hsews · 6 years

Link

Overzealous obedience to this hydration recommendation has uncovered a darkish underbelly to superior hydration practices: overhydration. When highschool soccer participant Walker Wilbanks died in Mississippi in August 2014 from overhydration, the physician stated that the reason for dying was an “unpredictable freak incidence.”

Two weeks prior, one other highschool soccer participant from Georgia drank “two gallons of water and two gallons of Gatorade” after soccer follow to forestall muscle cramps after which died. Thus, during the last 4 years, two highschool soccer gamers have died throughout August soccer follow from overhydrating — a medical situation referred to as exercise-associated hyponatremia.

Conversely, no soccer participant has ever been recognized to die from dehydration, though seven died throughout this identical four-year interval from heatstroke, which can be associated, however not at all times.

How do I find out about that overhydration kills athletes? I watched runners virtually die after consuming 100 cups of water throughout a marathon as a result of they had been terrified of changing into “dehydrated.” So, I obtained inquisitive about thirst.

Concussions and CTE: It is sophisticated

Seems, the neuroendocrine thirst circuit dates again 700 million years and is present in most animals, together with bugs and worms. Thirst prompts the identical aware space of the mind that tells us we’re hungry or must pee. To say we have to keep “forward of thirst” (or die) is like saying we have to pee each hour to remain forward of imminent bladder explosion (or die). The molecular and neural circuits that govern fluid consumption (and micturition) in real-time are completely beautiful.

It is exceptional to assume that animals survive with out water bottles and urine charts — they drink when they’re thirsty, and we must always too.

An excessive amount of water, too little salt

Hyponatremia is brought on by consuming an excessive amount of water or sports activities drinks, which dilutes blood salt ranges beneath the traditional vary. Any sudden drop in blood salt ranges, from consuming greater than the physique can excrete, may cause all cells within the physique to swell. Mind swelling from hyponatremia may cause complications and vomiting, whereas muscle cell swelling can set off whole-body muscle cramping.

What’s most horrifying, nevertheless, is that these signs mimic these of dehydration. They’re typically handled by medical employees with extra fluids.

So, which hydration imbalance — dehydration and overhydration — is the lesser of two evils?

Dehydration is undeniably dangerous to human well being and efficiency. Wrestlers have died from making an attempt to “make weight,” by means of vigorous dehydration practices. A current meta-analysis of 33 research verified that greater than 2 p.c dehydration impairs cognition. Dehydration can impair efficiency and improve core physique temperature, as per the American School of Sports activities Medication’s newest place assertion. All of those statements underscore the very important significance of staying hydrated.

However I concern that many coaches ignore the finer factors that assist these conclusions. For instance, three wrestlers who died of dehydration quickly misplaced about 15 p.c of physique weight by withholding fluids whereas exercising in a scorching setting in a rubber go well with. Equally, to attain three p.c dehydration, which impairs cognition, people must withhold fluids for 24 hours. And that is with out train.

Is youth soccer previous its prime?

These dehydration protocols don’t essentially symbolize “free-living” conditions. When hikers die from dehydration within the desert, most if not all had develop into misplaced or had run out of fluids. Thus, thirst — or the “deep-seated need for water” — isn’t “damaged” when wholesome individuals die from dehydration. Morbidity and mortality happen when there isn’t a fluid out there, fluids are withheld, as in lab research, or when athletes refuse to drink for different causes, akin to “making weight.”

When do athletes and others must drink?

So how a lot fluid ought to soccer gamers — and all different people for that matter — drink? When you ask fluid stability specialists who carry out fundamental science analysis on the mind or kidney, or clinicians who focus on fluid stability problems, researchers who carry out mind scans on dehydrated and overhydrated people, and even worm investigators, all of them agree that water stability is tightly regulated and that every one land mammals must drink when thirsty.

Ingesting if you find yourself thirsty isn’t “too late,” as a result of the thirst mechanism is hardwired into the nervous system to guard in opposition to shortage. Thirst represents the extremely individualized sign which protects the stability between water and salt no matter measurement, exercise or ambient temperature and is encoded in most invertebrate and all vertebrate DNA. Infants are born with this innate behavioral drive.

Then, what in regards to the want for eight glasses of water per day? There isn’t a proof to assist this. What about peeing till our urine is evident? Darkish coloured urine merely displays water conservation by the kidney, somewhat than water lack by the physique.

Do I’ve to drink eight glasses of water a day?

What’s a soccer participant to do?

Soccer gamers completely want water, however they need to be warned to not overdo it.

Within the trendy period, the place fluid is extensively out there, with the intention to keep adequately hydrated, the next should happen:

Quite a lot of fluids must be freely out there to soccer gamers, and

The gamers needs to be given the liberty to drink each time they really feel thirsty.

And when the gamers get scorching, they want the chance to pour beneficiant quantities of ice water over their heads as a substitute of into their mouths to advertise evaporative cooling, somewhat than dilute sodium ranges. Higher but, they need to be allowed to go inside and funky off.

We must always acknowledge who the “true champions” could also be on the subject of most modern-day hydration recommendation. Based on the newest figures, bottled water gross sales have elevated to US $18.5 billion, up eight.eight p.c from the earlier 12 months. This income doesn’t embody the huge array of purified, infused, oxygenized, sparkled, distilled, intravenous and reverse osmosis variations that compete for consideration in the marketplace.

Whereas all of us want water, consuming till our “urine is evident” is cash (and water) flushed away. And with the specter of overdrinking excessive in motivated athletes, I ask coaches/trainers to rethink earlier than imposing the urine shade chart in athlete locker rooms: Is it definitely worth the danger?

Tamara Hew-Butler is an affiliate professor of train and sports activities research at Wayne State College. She receives royalties from UpToDate for her ongoing contributions to the subject of exercise-associated hyponatremia.

Supply hyperlink

The post Younger athletes ought to keep hydrated, however an excessive amount of water might be lethal appeared first on HS NEWS.

#Breaking News

0 notes