#bright yellow = neuron activation

[oneiroy]

seeing @alackofghosts's art full of summer and joy day after day has definitely changed my brain chemistry for the better

i wanted to do a gpose inspired by these bright backgrounds and expressions/poses so full of love for ryss and fornax (@verysmallcyborg's oc)!!

making this brought so much joy so i might do it again ngl!

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: bluegill

This series goes all over the world; from the tropics to the poles to the deep sea. After all that, it can be nice to go home. For this Wet Beast Wednesday I'm going back to my spawnpoint of Illinois and discussing the state fish: the bluegill.

(Image: a bluegill underwater. It is a round fish flattened on the sides. It is green on the top ans fades to yellow on the sides. The underside of the chin is bright blue and behind the head is a bright orange patch. End ID)

Lepomis macrochirus is the most popular and famous of genus Lepomis, known as the sunfish or true sunfish (not to be confused with ocean sunfish). These fish are native to freshwater lakes, streams, wetlands, and rivers of North America and all share a fleshy ear flap extending from the operculum and are usually quite colorful. Bluegills are large for sunfish, which isn't saying much. Adults can reach and average of between 10 and 30 cm (4-12 in) and the largest bluegill on record reached a whopping 41 cm (16 cm) and was weighed in at 4 lbs 12 ox (2.2 kg). Bluegills and flattened and deep bodies with fused dorsal fins and spines in both the dorsal and anal fins that help prevent predation. The fish are brightly colored, but coloration varies widely based on size, diet, time of year, location, and many other factors. Because of this, two bluegill can look like completely different fish. Their bodies can range from dark green to orange, darkest on the top, and they usually have green faces with blue markings on the chin and bottom of the face that give them their common name. The "breast" region just below and behind the head ranges from yellow to orange and is usually a bright orange in mature males. A key feature is that the ear flap is black. Bluegills usually grow more brightly colored during mating season and less colorful other times of the year. There is a series of vertical stripes going down the side of the body that can quickly be darkened as a threat display.

(Image: a bluegill in a net with its stripes in full display. End ID)

Bluegill are skilled swimmers thanks to the shape and flexibility of their fins and the amount of fine control they have over them. This lets the fish maneuver gracefully through obstacles and confined spaces that other fish would struggle in and turn while not having to move forward. Bluegills are also one of a relatively few fish that are skilled at swimming backwards. This requires very different fin motion than swimming forwards. When swimming forwards, bluegills use their tail fin to provide thrust with the other fins helping with steering as is typical for fish. While swimming backwards, the dorsal and anal fins provide thrust while the pectoral fins are moved in a rowing motion to provide steering. Bluegills are also fast swimmers, their slender bodies allowing them to cut through the water at high speeds. Bluegills are also often used as an example when explaining the c-start escape response. This is a behavior found in tons of fish used to escape from danger. When the fish senses danger, a group of specialized neurons called Mauthner cells activate and control the escape response. The fish bends its body into a C shape. This shape allows for maximum thrust when it rapidly straightens its body out again for a speedy getaway. The c-start escape response is heavily customizable, allowing the fish to shoot off at nearly any angle it needs.

(Image: a young bluegill swimming amongst lilypads. It is not as round as the larger fish and its colors are more muted. End ID)

Bluegills are found in freshwater systems east of the Rocky Mountains (so most of North America) but they have been introduced west of the Rockies and to other parts of the world. They are very adaptable fish that can live in a wide variety of environments. It is probably easier to list bodies of water in North America that don't have bluegill than the other way around. They prefer to live in areas with cover, live brush, aquatic plants, and shady spots. Bluegill are diurnal predators that subsist on aquatic invertebrates like insect and crayfish larvae and worms, along with the occasional smaller fish. In times of famine, they will eat aquatic plants and algae or turn to cannibalism. Like many fish, bluegill feed through suction and they need to get within under 2 centimeters of they prey for the suction to be effective. Bluegills are also prey to larger predatory fish, turtles, birds, raccoons, and otters. Bluegill are mostly active in the morning and evening and will often move between feeding grounds and shelter during the day. They are reported to be aggressive to each other and other fish. Sighs of aggression include darkening their stripes, flaring their ear flaps, and biting.

(Image: someone holding a very fat bluegill. End ID)

Bluegills mate in the summer between May and August. Males will build nests in rocky or sandy bottoms by clearing away sediment to expose hard surfaces. The nests are circular and 15 to 30 cm (6-12 in) in diameter and built in shallow water. Males will swim around their nest to try to attract females through displays and grunting noises. Females carefully analyze the male's displays and appear to prefer males with larger ear flaps. Once a female chooses a male, they will circle each other as the male acts aggressive. Once they meet in the middle of the nest the two will touch their underbellies together, with the male on top, and the female will lay her eggs as the male fertilizes them. The eggs sink into the nest and stick to hard surfaces. After mating, the male takes the kids in the divorce chases the female away and will guard the nest until the eggs hatch and the larvae swim away. During this period, the male will aggressively defend the nest against anything that comes near. They have been known to approach and bite snorkelers who get too close. Females can produce between 1,000 and 100,000 eggs depending on their size. Bluegill will mate multiple times each season. Larvae live in the shallows and feed on plankton. They grow rapidly for their first three years and then slow down. Bluegill can live up to 11 years, but usually live between 5 and 8 years.

(Image: bluegill nests seen from above. The nests are circular depressions filled with pebbles. Each nest has a male hovering over it. End ID)

Bluegill can hybridize with other sunfish, though this is rare in the wild. It usually happens when two sunfish species live in an area with limited nesting ground. The most common hybrid is with the green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) to produce an offspring called a greengill. Greengills are highly varied in appearance and typically between their parents in size. Most greengills seem to be the result of a male bluegill attracting and mating with a female green. Greengills were long thought to be stile as are most hybrids, but a least some second generation hybrids have been discovered. Greengills do have reduced fertility compared to their parent species. Another hybrid that is less commonly seen and not as well studied is the pumpkingill, a hybrid of bluegill and pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus).

(Image: a greengill being held in someone's hand. It is more elongated than a bluegill and reatins the orange breast, blue chin, and black ear flap while being otherwise darker than most bluegills. End ID)

Bluegills are classified as least concern by the IUCN, meaning they are not in danger of extinction. Bluegills have been introduced to waters well outside of the native range by anglers and they have become an invasive species in multiple countries. They are banned from being imported in Germany and Japan because of how invasive they became. Bluegills are highly popular among anglers. They are small and easy enough to catch to be a good target for beginners and large bluegill are a good example of panfish, fish small enough to be cooked in a frying pan. Large males are particularly easy to catch due to their aggressive defense of their nest. Many places have very low populations of large males. Lakes and ponds are frequently stocked with captive-bred bluegill to attract anglers. Population management is important because bluegill can damage the local ecosystem if their numbers grow too large. They can also be introduced to ponds to try to help control aquatic insect populations. Bluegills have little fear of humans, especially in places where people feed them. I personally have been SCUBA diving in a quarry where people feed the fish and the bluegills swam right up to me. Bluegills that are very familiar with people are know to allow themselves to be pet. Bluegills can be kept in captivity, though they need large tanks and tend to be aggressive to other fish.

(Image: a larval bluegill. It is a long, white fish with small fins and a very large eye. A scale identified part of the tail as being 2000 micrometers long. End ID)

[manipalnatural2]

Curcumin Extract

At Manipal Natural, we believe in the power of nature to enhance health and wellness. One of the most powerful natural compounds we offer is Curcumin Extract, derived from the turmeric root. Revered for its potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, Curcumin has been used for centuries in traditional medicine. Today, it continues to captivate the scientific community for its extensive health benefits.

What is Curcumin Extract?

Curcumin is the active compound found in turmeric, a bright yellow spice that is a staple in Indian cuisine and Ayurvedic medicine. Curcumin Extract is a concentrated form of this compound, offering a higher potency and greater therapeutic benefits compared to turmeric powder. It is renowned for its ability to fight inflammation, reduce oxidative stress, and support overall health.

Health Benefits of Curcumin Extract

1. Potent Anti-Inflammatory Properties Inflammation is a natural response of the body to injury or infection. However, chronic inflammation can lead to various health issues, including heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Curcumin Extract is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent that can help reduce inflammation at the molecular level. It inhibits the activity of inflammatory enzymes and cytokines, providing relief from conditions such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and other chronic inflammatory disorders.

2. Strong Antioxidant Effects Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body, leading to cell and tissue damage. Curcumin Extract is a potent antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals, protecting the body from their harmful effects. It also boosts the activity of the body's own antioxidant enzymes, enhancing the body's ability to fight oxidative stress.

3. Supports Heart Health Curcumin Extract has been shown to improve heart health by enhancing the function of the endothelium, the lining of blood vessels. It helps regulate blood pressure, reduce bad cholesterol (LDL), and increase good cholesterol (HDL). Additionally, its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties contribute to the prevention of heart disease by reducing the risk of atherosclerosis and improving overall cardiovascular function.

4. Promotes Brain Health Curcumin has neuroprotective properties that can improve cognitive function and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and boosts levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a growth hormone that supports the survival and growth of neurons. This makes Curcumin Extract beneficial for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, depression, and age-related cognitive decline.

5. Aids in Cancer Prevention and Treatment Curcumin Extract has shown promise in the prevention and treatment of various types of cancer. It inhibits the growth of cancer cells, suppresses tumor formation, and enhances the effects of chemotherapy. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties play a crucial role in reducing cancer risk and supporting the body's natural defenses against cancer development.

How to Use Curcumin Extract

Curcumin Extract is available in various forms, including capsules, powders, and liquid extracts. Here are some ways to incorporate it into your daily routine:

Capsules: Take the recommended dose with water, preferably with meals, to enhance absorption.

Powders: Add Curcumin powder to smoothies, teas, or food for a nutritious boost.

Liquid Extracts: Mix a few drops of Curcumin Extract into water, juice, or herbal teas.

Incorporating Curcumin Extract into Your Wellness Routine

Adding Curcumin Extract to your daily wellness routine can bring a multitude of health benefits. Whether you're looking to reduce inflammation, protect against oxidative stress, support heart and brain health, or improve digestive function, Curcumin Extract is a versatile and powerful natural supplement that can help you achieve your health goals. Experience the healing power of nature with Manipal Natural’s Curcumin Extract. Discover how this potent natural compound can transform your health and well-being. Visit our website to explore our range of Curcumin products and take the first step towards a healthier, more vibrant life.

To Know More https://www.manipalnatural.com/curcumin-extract.html

[grimmradiance]

Sunlight/White Light: Thoughts on the "TPK is artificial light" theory

Hey, you know that theory that's floating around that the Pale King represents artificial light? (if someone has that thread please link me I've lost it) Of course, I love it on the immediate merits of artificial/natural symbolism, but it scans even better if you know about the physical properties of light and neuroscience. Let me geek out about how light changes the way your body works, and how this most definitely helps TPK seize control over the Radiance:

[Image descriptions: two screenshots from Hollow Knight. The first is of the Radiance in her Dream; her glow, and the world around her, are largely tinted in orange and gold. The second is of the closing cutscene of the Path of Pain, showcasing the Pale King and the light of his palace, which is pure white. End descriptions.]

The fact that the Radiance is yellow-orange is most definitely not a coincidence. The sun itself emits frequencies of light from infrared to ultraviolet, which means it also emits every frequency of visible light, from the reds to the violets. Not in equal measures, though! The sun's electromagnetic output looks something like this:

[Image description: a graph charting the sun's output in terms of Solar Irradiance against Wavelength. It indicates that the sun outputs a variety of wavelengths, with the largest amount in the "green" medium-length wavelengths of visible light. End description.]

You might look at this and wonder--if sunlight is more green than anything else, why do people say the sun is yellow? To make a long scientific story short, shorter wavelengths of light scatter in the atmosphere, which is both why the sky looks blue during the day and why the sun tends to look yellower than the light it actually puts out.

Artificial lights, on the other hand, often have a narrow band of wavelengths they put out:

[Image description: another chart of light output. The sun spectrum from before is plotted on a yellow line. Alongside it is a standard filament lightbulb (a red line), which has similar proportions of light but shifted more towards red. There's also a line for a fluorescent lightbulb in green and an LED in blue--both have several "peaks" in both reds and blue-greens, and have almost no infrared or ultraviolet light. End description.]

Note the blue and green lines--blue represents an LED, and green is a fluorescent light. Instead of an even curve of wavelengths, they have certain targeted frequencies that are far more common (which is why you might look washed-out under a fluorescent light--way less red!)

What does this have to do with the higher beings? The kind of light you're exposed to actually affects the way your body and mind function! There's a lot of ways this happens, but today I'm focusing on the action of the pigment melanopsin. In humans, it's found in ipRGC cells of the eye, which are clustered alongside rods and cones. Eye receptors (rods, cones, and ipRGCs) all contain pigments that break down when exposed to light; when they break down, that nerve cell fires. However, they each react differently to different kinds of light--cones have three kinds of pigments that respond to short, medium, and long (blue, green, and red) light wavelengths, rods take far less light to respond than cones (so they work in dim light), and ipRGCs and melanopsin react to long/blue light. What this means is that cells with melanopsin are far more sensitive in response to blue light, compared to other colors.

In humans, melanopsin triggers the suprachiasmic nucleus of the hypothalamus (just above the place where your optic nerves cross in your brain, in your midbrain where sensory information is relayed throughout the nervous system). This nucleus is absolutely vital in keeping the body on a schedule--your circadian rhythm, which coordinates hormones, organs, and cognitive processes around a 24-hour schedule. By itself, the suprachiasmic nucleus can keep a rhythm without any outside input, but information from sources like melanopsin-containing neurons helps to adjust this rhythm to things like changing seasons and social input.

Have you ever heard "don't use your phone at night?" This is why. Light that's especially bright or especially blue, like what you see in the sky during the day, or artificial lights, suggests to the suprachiasmic nucleus that it's currently daytime. Red-shifted, dimmer light suggests nighttime. Ergo, this is another example of "things that worked fine until technology started going really fast."

What does this mean for Hallownest? Well, one of two things. Depending on where in Hallownest you are, either the brightest light you'll ever see is the Pale King, white light extraordinaire, or you're surrounded by it, like in the palace. So either you have, on a neurochemical level, a king who lights you up when he comes around, or you're literally bathing in it non-stop.

So what does this look like? Sudden exposure to bright white light looks like the body's rhythm being thrown off, causing cognitive difficulties and fatigue. Constant exposure to white lights outside of expected times brings with it depression and the risks of allostatic load--the body kicks off the day with a burst of cortisol, to get the energy to get going; constant activation of cortisol taxes the body and contributes to chronic disease.

But most of all, artificial white lights encourage you not to sleep.

[btyibhlder]

Color Psychology - What Colors Symbolize And How They Affect Us? | Divya Toshniwal |

-Divya

There is a reason we don't see the world as white and black. What is life without colors? Not only we would miss this amazing festival of Holi but our entire lives would be dull. But did you know that the colors you wear or the colors you stay around can affect your mind and your body? These colors can tweak your personalities. Colors have the power to impact your thoughts, change the way you feel and influence your soul.

Have you ever wondered why the majority of food courts or restaurants have colors like bright orange or yellow in their interior while the interior in the hospitals is mostly white? This is because each color has a different impact on your physiology and your psychology.

On this festival of colors here are a few interesting facts about how colors impact your mind and body that you should know about :

PINK

Holi is most associated with the color pink. The most beautiful 'Gulal'. Pink is a positive color inspiring warm, affectionate and comfortable feelings. We know that the color pink is often associated with the term 'girly' but why is it so? Pink is the color of romance, compassion, kindness, softness, nurturing, and calmness. Pink reduces anger and frustration. It increases positive and calm energy in an individual. Pink is often associated with the feeling of ' being home'. Being in a pink room or wearing pink can reduce aggression and create feelings of calmness, compassion, and affection. Pink also increases creativity and intuition in a person.

RED

The color of love, passion, affection on one hand and on the other it also symbolizes danger, anger, and frustration. The color red is something we can all associate too. Personally, I feel it is one of the most beautiful colors on the surface of the earth. But did you know that The color red has certain physiological and psychological impacts too? Red stimulates the adrenal gland and neurons, it stimulates heartbeat and breathing, raises blood pressure and fills you with more energy. It also increases feelings of love and excitement. But too much exposure to red can also cause stress. It may result in provoking anger and frustration.

BLUE

The most natural color that we see every day no matter where we are till we are under the open sky. A variety of shades of blue represent various feelings and has a different effect on us. The color is often associated with the emotion of sadness. The lighter shades of blue have a very soothing effect on the mind. Though generally associated with being calm and serene, some shades of blue may also feel cold and distant. The color blue is also associated with loyalty and productivity. It is one of the most used colors in professional settings. But on the other hand, too much exposure to certain shades of blue can cause depression. Blue also suppresses your appetite and slows down your metabolism.

Yellow

One of the brightest colors in nature is yellow. The sight of which cans instigate an immediate surge in our happiness. It is a color that symbolizes happiness, optimism, and youth. Well, that is not my personal liking of yellow. It is definitely not my favorite color. But it is what the scientists have to say. Yellow increases happiness. It helps in increasing serotonin causes, which is one of the happy hormones, causing a happy mood. it also speeds up metabolism and increases your appetite. But too much exposure to yellow can cause fatigue and also frustration.

PURPLE

Symbolizing fantasy, creativity, spirituality, royalty, and ambition the color purple also represents the color of the crown chakra representing it to be a connection to the higher world. The color purple is also associated with mystery since it wasn't a natural dye available. In the old day, the purple dye could be made only with great efforts and could only be afforded by the royal and the rich. The making of the color remained mysterious for long and hence it is still associated with the element of mystery. The serenity of the color purple can be estimated with its association with the crown chakra and by the imagination of lavender fields alone.

GREEN

Green is an immediate connection to nature. As soon as we think of green we think of trees, forests, and green grounds. Green is the color of nature, tranquility, and safety. Green has long been a symbol of fertility due to its strong association with nature. Green is associated with healing, success, and hope. Green alleviates stress and improves vision too. green is also often associated with the emotion of jealousy and disgust.

ORANGE

Orange is a very strong and energetic color. It is often associated with energy, fun, and warmth. It is an attention-seeking color, like red and yellow, often associated with happiness and enthusiasm. We find orange in most food courts because orange has the ability to increase our metabolism and appetite. Orange increases oxygen supply to the blood and stimulates mental activity. orange color is also said to offer emotional strength at times of difficulty as it is uplifting, optimistic and rejuvenating our spirit.

BLACK

Black absorbs all light in the color spectrum and is the deepest color in existence. Black is the most controversial color when it comes to the effect it has on various individuals. Black represents bold, strength and power for one set of individuals while for another set of individuals it is dull, evil and depressing. But all agree on one point that, Black is mysterious. It is associated with death and evil in many cultures. Black gives insight and depth. It also brings clarity. It is often used in the fashion industry due to its slimming look.

WHITE

White represents purity, cleanliness, goodness, calmness, and innocence. Though wearing white and being in the presence of white color may seem to calm for some time, too much exposure to white may give vibes of stone and cold atmosphere. White is a water element. It becomes the color you mix it with. It points towards the fluidity of getting mixed up easily. Politicians tend to wear white to create a clean image. White aids mental clarity and enables a fresh beginning. It is also a color of peace.

[themuaresearchcenter]

The Ghesh race is an extremely strange one on the planet Mua. Their numbers are almost double that of the human population at most key points in their shared histories and yet they seem to predate their post-human inhabitants by hundreds of thousands of years. At some point in the past, it appears the Parthi of the separatist faction of the ancient galaxy were able to successfully procure segments of human genetic code capable of being worked into their own genetic scheme, allowing them to create a tertiary race capable of living in near-earth environmental circumstances.

While the Ghesh species, who get their name from an unclear ancient origin in the northern deserts of the Pre-Gostian super continent known as “Muater”, were planted on the planet through a similar process as their human cohabitants. They were initially designed from their basis genetic codes upwards, being build on a foundation of augmented Parthi genes with heavy human genetic influences. The Ghesh seem to have been created first as a “seed” species, meaning they were originally derived from a simpler life-form genetically coded to evolve a certain way over time before reaching an evolutionary plateau for a time. In current times, the Ghesh seem to be just well into the first steps of this evolutionary stagnation.

Ghesh blood is purple while their skin is green, a strange feature for the species. On closer examination, the Ghesh seem to have a mild photosynthetic element to their anatomy in which their skin takes in various wavelengths of light which is then converted into energy, giving them a higher resistance to UV radiation and a secondary defense (after sweating) to the natural heat of their preferred desert environments. Their ability to sweat was seemingly absent in their Parthi ancestors and it seems that they actually leech trace amounts of the purple enzyme in their blood through their sweat. From what can be parsed through their genetic abnormalities, their Parthi ancestors were inhabitants of a low gravity, low atmosphere environment in which exothermic venting occurred through large spires of bone and skin on their back- much like the insulating fins of a Dimetrodon of ancient earth. Ghesh possessed a heavily pigmented tongue comparable both in length and function to a Giraffe or Anteater tongue. Primitive Ghesh used their tongues to fish larvae from tree hollows and insect hives- a feeding practice still in use to this very day in some regions.

Ghesh has “Hard-Telepathic” abilities inherent in over ninety percent of their population, with a small percentage being born without any extrasensory abilities not inherent in their overall physiology. These abilities included a neuron-electric disruptive burst of psionic energy capable of both discombobulating other living things on a neurological level that often resulted in a range of symptoms such as sudden sickness, epileptic convulsions, and even death. Aside from their neurological ability to scramble neurological activity, Ghesh could also summon up a special field of telekinetic energy and form it into a concussive blast of force capable of breaking human bones up to five and a half feet from it’s body.

[justanotherloveaffair]

Somewhere Secret (T’Challa x Reader)

Word Count: 2,677

Warnings: Smut, remote controlled vibrator, public sex, NSFW

Tell me when it’s in.

You grunted, pushing the smooth round toy into its tight new home, where a pleasant pressure made you shiver as your fingers withdrew from your panties to send a response back to T’Challa.

It’s in.

Your sharp gasp carried through the small office as Bast knows how many volts of vibranium-charged energy turned your pussy into ground zero of a catastrophic earthquake, sending shockwaves out to each extremity. It ended almost as soon as it began, leaving you breathless, with one hand on the desk to prop up your weight.

Once stable, you let out a short laugh.

T’Challa could be such an asshole sometimes.

Your heartbeat sounds like a herd of elephants. Did it work? Are you okay?

In the interest of anticipating a future emergency, like an attack on the Queen’s life, the King’s genius sister Shuri had figured out how to tweak your bracelet to download your diagnostics real-time into T’Challa’s.

It wasn’t too long after that the idea for this little sex game was born.

Your legs were still shivering a little, almost a queasiness in your stomach as you mentally evaluated your day full of meetings. The world’s most powerful bullet vibrator was in your pussy and the remote control was in the hands of a man who could be ruthless.

It worked. Go easy on me, Kumkani. Please.

You sent the message and involuntarily clenched, expecting a playful retaliation that never came. 

Your hand rested against the door while you counted to five, using each second to mentally center yourself before rejoining the Dora Milaje dutifully awaiting you in the hall. 

~ ~ ~

Not once during your morning and afternoon of polite visits did you forget that a horny King had control of your pussy. And not once did he use it.

It was almost worse that he didn’t. You nearly hoped for it, the way people living in a seismically active region hope for little earthquakes to avoid The Big One. Every hour he didn’t use it, the desire to was building, under the surface. You knew it, just like you knew he was paying attention right now, tuned in to his favorite radio frequency. You.

You were distracted all morning. All it took was an innocent shift of the body to rediscover the invading shape inside. As you went from meeting to meeting, you constantly imagined what would happen if he flipped that switch. You thought about it as you outstretched your hands to receive a plate of food at your lunch meeting. You thought about it as you discussed the health of the economy with the merchant tribe leader. You thought about it whenever you entered a new room, immediately looking for wherever you could make a hasty exit, should you need.  

Just before 2:00, your guards were accompanying you down a sun-drenched hallway towards your next meeting when the sight of T’Challa turning the corner with Okoye gave you an unexpected shock. 

Your steps faltered at the sight of his intense eyes, lit up with pleasure at having caught you off guard. 

While he closed the distance, you felt the presence of his soulful brown orbs sliding all up and down your body, with the slightest smirk on his face.

Your enthusiasm to see him bubbled out of you in a string of words, as your animated hands moved about. “My King! What are you doing here? I’m supposed to meet Tayo about the exhibition.” 

You and Tayo, the royal art collector, were about to finalize the details on a grand exhibition in a few weeks.

A business-like tone met you, but the warmth in his eyes was intimate, and the amused smirk made your stomach start to twist. 

“The schedule has changed, Tayo had to suddenly cancel. Will you join me for a walk, my Queen?”

A walk? What was he planning?

“Uh… yes. Sure.”

After dismissing your guards, you accepted his arm with a dubious glance his way, one he didn’t reciprocate as he was too busy looking proud as a panther who just caught his prey. 

As you began to stroll, you had to slow your usual walking pace to match with his more deliberate one. The two of you were constantly bumping into each other’s side, sometimes by accident but mostly on purpose. You gathered he was taking out outside and sure enough, you emerged from the cool palace into the punishing afternoon heat. 

“T’Challa,” you stated, finally sick of being led around with no explanation, “are we walking somewhere in particular?”

Nobody had mastered the expression of playful secrecy quite like T’Challa could. His eyebrows lifted in a wouldn’t you like to know twitch and his shapely lips pursed together with a restrained smile, but he did not answer your question.

You returned to walking together, this time with the frenetic sounds of the city surrounding you instead of the echoing corridors of the palace. It was a gorgeous day and Wakanda’s citizens was clearly enjoying it, based on the smiling faces you noticed everywhere. They were, of course, also smiling at the sight of their King and Queen, arm-in-arm, taking in the city just like everyone else. 

The visit to the city seemed perfectly mundane until a shocking vibration of unimaginable levels struck your insides. 

Your fingers gripped the solid muscle of T’Challa’s upper arm and you let out a squeal, loud enough to startle the Dora Milaje at your sides. 

“My love,” T’Challa’s honey soft voice called out to you as he examined you with mock concern. “Are you feeling alright?”

Meanwhile, the vibrations were still going. 

“Uh... I feel a little.. uh...”

As you spoke, you noticed his fingers partially hidden by the cuff of his wrist, lightly twisting a Kimoyo bead. As he did, what felt like a couple thousand volts of energy shot up to a million. 

The four of you had stopped right in the middle of a busy alley, where crowds were clustered around food stands. Knowing how public the area was, you clenched your teeth and resumed walking, even while the juices of your arousal began to make your thighs slick, originating from the throbbing heartbeat in your pussy. 

T’Challa never let up on you. He raised the vibrations, then lowered them, made them disappear entirely only to reintroduce them in full. 

His tinkering with your pleasure senses made you ache, and your heart beat faster. The colors around you were vivid and bright, your eyes picking out banana yellow, forest green, bright orange in textiles and clothes. You felt the fabric around your legs gather and caress your skin as the relaxing breeze made it swirl. Rich scents of spices and smoking, sizzling meat made your taste buds salivate.

Your every neuron was wide open to receive the sensations around you, and no sensation was more intense than your desire for T’Challa.

His presence seemed to engulf yours, like his huge palm and long fingers that had yours clasped tight, where sweat, warmth and tingling pleasure thrived within his touch. 

The vibrations continued to climb, and when your grip weakened, his got stronger, pulling you along. 

Surely, if not from the Kimoyo bead, then his enhanced senses could tell your heart was beating abnormally fast. He must have noticed how you pressed your thighs together whenever you could, or when nobody was looking, brushed the back of your hand across your crotch, just to reel from the fireworks of your aching nerve endings responding to the contact.

Sweat gathered at your forehead and made you feel damp and hot everywhere else. If the heat didn’t kill you, then T’Challa’s teasing would.

A tug at your hand made you turn and take a sudden left. T’Challa led you at an urgent, self-assured pace down a narrow street empty of people, while his guards followed, glancing at each other. 

He turned suddenly, stopping Okoye and Ayo a few feet away as they blinked impassively.

“Please, wait here. The Queen is not feeling well, and needs a moment to rest. We will return when she is feeling better.”

His earnest sincerity was no match for the sharp intelligence of his top general, who wisely hid her smirk.

“Kumkani, we will ensure your privacy. My Queen, I hope you feel better soon.”

You nearly disintegrated at her knowing smile and patronizing tone. It wasn’t the first time Okoye had stood guard while the King pounded you silly, and it wouldn’t be the last. 

“Thank you, Okoye.”

Strong fingertips guided your body around and you were intrigued, excited, shaky and nervous about wherever you were going. Your gaze swung side to side, finding solid building walls on both sides and in front of you, a T shaped alley. The faster you both walked, the more all the friction between your thighs made you bite your lip. 

With a simple yank of your hand and twirl of your body, you spun and then caught yourself with your hands, clutching the wall in an abandoned and empty, yet clean, alley. Before you knew what was happening, T’Challa was clawing at your panties under your dress, with one hand lifting your skirt while the other twisted and tugged, ripping your panties with a loud tearing sound.

“I think I have tortured you long enough.”

“Please,” you begged.

His fingers danced up your thighs that he pushed apart with his knee, and sank inside you to draw out the pulsating vibranium globe. He regarded it, turning it aside to see every bit of your cream left behind, before it disappeared in his pocket.

You braced against the wall but couldn’t stop your noisy gasp when T’Challa’s fingers began to explore you under your dress, while grinding his solid front all along you from head to toe. Your touch-starved body trembled like an overloaded circuit. You felt his power, his breath, his heat all around you. He had turned you into a greedy, weak, starving little thing, intoxicated on his touch. 

T’Challa’s hand slid up and gripped your throat, pulling you back towards him with gentle pressure until his lips were at your ear. 

“I cancelled your meeting with Tayo,” he whispered. “Do you know why?” 

You swallowed. The answer immediately left your lips. “So you could fuck me?”

An amused smile came to T’Challa’s face, softening his eyes for only a moment. He continued to hold your neck, while his other hand was busily handling the barriers of your clothes. “That’s right Y/N,” he purred. “So I could bury myself in you.”

You felt his cock sliding along your lubricated pussy, and you clenched up with surprise and anticipation, jerking upwards in his arms. 

“Relax,” he soothingly rubbed the palm of his hand over your clit until you grinded back into him, sighing. “Relax for your King,” he murmured, his voice thick with seduction. He knew this kind of talk made you melt, and used it against you.

You were turned away from him, facing a moss-covered wall with your legs being urged further apart, your dress a heap of fabric piled on your ass so his eyes could have access to your pussy. You leaned your chest down and braced your hands on the wall, creating an irresistible angle and telling him, in your way, that you were ready. 

Your act of submission was the ultimate turn on and he groaned, studying your glistening pussy. His hand pumped along his length a few times before he held himself against you, each breath from his lips coming strained and heavy. You closed your eyes, seeing starbursts as you were pulled back on him, taking half his length at once. 

You instinctively pulled forward and away, but the Panther side of T’Challa, wildly animal and possessive, wasn’t having it. He gripped your hips with both hands and pulled you back, burying every inch of himself deep in you with a groan of deep satisfaction. 

The pleasure of finally having him was tinged with nervous excitement of knowing you were outdoors, with people just minutes away in every direction, unknowingly walking past an alley where their King was currently pounding their Queen from behind. You couldn’t shake the thought as you were ass-up, thighs spread, stifling your moans with your hand, bent in half and taking Wakanda’s most astonishing dick like you were born to do it.

The first orgasm came so quickly you weren’t even aware of it until it started. “I’m coming!” You exclaimed with surprise, alerting your lover who began to slam into you with excitement. Nothing escalated his lust more than hearing and watching you come. He could become addicted, making you do it so many times you’d be exhausted for hours after.

“More,” he demanded, just as the initial rush was tapering off. His palms gripped your ass so hard you felt them pinching, as he pulled your cheeks apart to watch himself slowly thrust in and out, zoning in on your juices gathering around the base. 

Hearing his demand, you knew it would be easy enough with a bit of extra help. You reached up with your fingers to find your clit, only to feel them being pushed away.

His hips paused, and his voice took on an authoritative tone, grumbly and deep. “You will not touch yourself. Your pleasure is mine to give, you understand?”

“Ah, yes,” you gently retrieved your hand, placing it back against the wall.

T’Challa shifted you, pulling you upright to a standing position, but still behind you. He thrust into you again, both of you sucking in your breath. 

You felt a metallic coolness and looked down to see the vibranium bullet, cupped in T’Challa’s palm, held against you. 

When he turned the vibration on low, the rush of stimulation had you almost crawling out of his arms. He countered you with his strength and rocked his hips up into you, now with the urgency of wanting to race you to your second orgasm. 

“Oh Bast… I am….” you choked, “T’Challa… please…” 

The vibrations went to just the right setting and his hands and cock were in just the right spot to trigger something powerful enough to trap you in electric cage of pure pulsating pleasure for nearly a minute. The waves kept coming and coming, and you clenched and screamed, having not only beat T’Challa to orgasm but outlasting his. By the time his came and went, you were still riding the unbelievable high as the powerful bullet remained lodged against your clit by T’Challa, addicted to your pleasure.

“Please stop,” you begged with tears rolling down your cheeks. He finally relented and you slumped down, your body parts held together with nothing but willpower.

He took over your needs, dressing you and holding you upright while you hung there, dazed and weak. 

As he tucked, zipped and tied himself back into his formal clothes, you tracked his movements with the kind of goofy, starry eyed smile that made him laugh at the attention. You were both glowing, and it was going to impossible to disguise what you’d just done.

Sure enough, you rejoined Okoye and Ayo, who gave each other subtle eye rolls when their beaming King and Queen strolled up behind them. 

Okoye gave you a prim and proper smile, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Are you feeling better, my Queen?”

“General,” T’Challa said with a warning growl. 

You bit back a laugh, Okoye’s prickliness not bothering you in the slightest. 

The crowd soon enveloped you as you retraced your steps back to the palace, both you and T’Challa off to your next meetings with matching smiles and a shared secret.

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[sciencespies]

MATRIEX imaging: Simultaneously seeing neurons in action in multiple regions of the brain

https://sciencespies.com/physics/matriex-imaging-simultaneously-seeing-neurons-in-action-in-multiple-regions-of-the-brain/

MATRIEX imaging: Simultaneously seeing neurons in action in multiple regions of the brain

Design and implementation of MATRIEX imaging: (a) Experimental diagram of the MATRIEX imaging system. The two round 3D objects in the lower-left corner are the top and bottom views of the mouse head chamber used for in vivo imaging. (Ti:Sa): Ti:Sapphire ultrafast pulsing laser; PC: Pockels cell; BE: beam expander; SM1 and SM2: x–y scanning mirrors; SL: scan lens; TL: tube lens; DM: dichroic mirror; CL: collection lens; PMT: photomultiplier tube; DO: dry objective; MOs: miniaturized objectives. (b) Photograph showing an oblique overview of the actual MATRIEX imaging system. (c) The photograph in the upper image shows a zoomed in view of the three MOs attached to the manipulating bars over the head chamber; the lower photograph was taken directly above the MOs with a smartphone camera. All MOs used in this figure are of the same model: ‘standard version.’ (d, e) Illustrations of the two-stage magnification and multiaxis coupling. The square images are actual two-photon images taken of 20-μm beads. Each red circle indicates one FOV. The model of DO used in panels (d-f) is the Olympus MPlan ×4/0.1, and all MOs in this figure are of the same customized model. (f) Illustration showing the absence of inter-FOV crosstalk under adjacent MOs. The images were taken on a uniform fluorescent plate. The red circles indicate the areas of analysis used to compare the image contrast between two conditions; the left-side condition shows the fluorescent plate under both MOs, and the right-side condition shows the fluorescence plate under only one MO. (g) Testing the optical resolution of the compound assembly with 0.51-μm beads. Curves: Gaussian fittings of raw data points. The on-axis or off-axis fluorescence intensity profiles were measured when the axis of the MO was aligned with the axis of the DO or apart from the axis of the DO (2 mm for the DO of ×4 or ×5, 3 mm for the DO of ×2.5, and 4 mm for the DO of ×2), respectively. Credit: Light: Science & Applications, doi: 10.1038/s41377-019-0219-x

Two-photon laser scanning microscopy imaging is commonly applied to study neuronal activity at cellular and subcellular resolutions in mammalian brains. Such studies are yet confined to a single functional region of the brain. In a recent report, Mengke Yang and colleagues at the Brain Research Instrument Innovation Center, Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Systems Neuroscience and Optical System Advanced Manufacturing Technology in China, Germany and the U.K. developed a new technique named the multiarea two-photon real-time in vitro explorer (MATRIEX). The method allowed the user to target multiple regions of the functional brain with a field of view (FOV) approximating 200 µm in diameter to perform two-photon Ca2+ imaging with single-cell resolution simultaneously across all regions.

Yang et al. conducted real-time functional imaging of single-neuron activities in the primary visual cortex, primary motor cortex and hippocampal CA1 region during anesthetized and awake states in mice. The MATRIEX technique can uniquely configure multiple microscopic FOVs using a single laser scanning device. As a result, the technique can be implemented as an add-on optical module within existing conventional single-beam-scanning, two-photon microscopes without additional modifications. The MATRIEX can be applied to explore multiarea neuronal activity in vivo for brain-wide neural circuit function with single-cell resolution.

Two-photon laser microscopy originated in the 1990s to become popular among neuroscientists interested in studying neural structures and functions in vivo. A major advantage of two-photon and three-photon imaging for living brains include the optical resolution achieved across densely labelled brain tissues that strongly scatter light, during which optically sectioned image pixels can be scanned and acquired with minimal crosstalk. However, the advantages also caused significant drawbacks to the method by preventing the simultaneous view of two objects within a specific distance. Researchers had previously implemented many strategies to extend the limits, but the methods were difficult to implement in neuroscience research labs. Nevertheless, an increasingly high demand exists in neuroscience to investigate brain-wide neuronal functions with single-cell resolution in vivo.

LEFT: Experimental diagram of the MATRIEX imaging system. The two round 3D objects in the lower-left corner are the top and bottom views of the mouse head chamber used for in vivo imaging. (Ti:Sa): Ti:Sapphire ultrafast pulsing laser; PC: Pockels cell; BE: beam expander; SM1 and SM2: x–y scanning mirrors; SL: scan lens; TL: tube lens; DM: dichroic mirror; CL: collection lens; PMT: photomultiplier tube; DO: dry objective; MOs: miniaturized objectives. RIGHT: Illustrations of the two-stage magnification and multiaxis coupling. The square images are actual two-photon images taken of 20-μm beads. Each red circle indicates one FOV. Credit: Light: Science & Applications, doi: 10.1038/s41377-019-0219-x

In a straightforward approach, scientists can place two microscopes above the same animal brain to image the cortex and cerebellum simultaneously. But such efforts can lead to substantial increases in complexity and cost. The existing high expectations for performance and feasibility therefore pose a highly challenging engineering question on how a single imaging system can simultaneously obtain live microscopic images from multiple brain regions in vivo. To address the question, Yang et al. introduced a new method that combined two-stage magnification and multi-axis optical coupling.

They realized the method using a low-magnification dry objective (DO), with multiple water-immersed, miniaturized objectives (MOs) under the dry objective. The scientists placed each of the MOs at the desired target position and depth in the brain tissue. The team used the new compound object assembly similarly to the original water-immersed microscope objective without additional modifications to the image scanning and acquisition subsystem.

TOP: Configuring the MOs with different parameters to target object planes at different depths to then be conjugated on the same image plane. Each gray cylinder represents one lens with a pitch value, front working distance (L1), back working distance (L2) and length (Z). BOTTOM: Demonstration of MATRIEX imaging: structural imaging in multiple brain areas in vivo. a Left image: a full-frame image including two FOVs in the frontal association cortex (FrA) and the cerebellum. The red and yellow circles indicate two FOVs that are digitally enlarged and shown in the upper-right and lower-right images. A GAD67-GFP transgenic mouse (with the interneurons labeled brain-wide) was used. Two MOs (‘standard version’) were placed at the same depth under a DO (Mitutoyo ×2/0.055). b Example configuration of three FOVs in the cortex of a Thy1-GFP transgenic mouse (with layer 5 cortical neurons specifically labeled and with tuft dendrites visible near the cortical surface). Three MOs (‘standard version’) were placed at the same depth under a DO (Olympus ×4/0.1). Credit: Light: Science & Applications, doi: 10.1038/s41377-019-0219-x

The research team first assembled the MATRIEX compound objective. For this, they replaced the conventional water-immersion microscope objective with a customized compound objective assembly, inside a two-photon laser scanning microscope equipped with a conventional single-beam raster scanning device. The compound assembly contained multiple MOs (miniaturized objectives) inserted through multiple craniotomies during which the scientists glued a 3-D printed plastic chamber to the skull of the mouse model. The chamber roughly aligned the MOs with the same space to adjust lateral position and depth. Yang et al. precisely manipulated the individual MOs to view the objects under all MOs simultaneously in the same image plane.

They implemented the MATRIEX method using two principles; two-stage magnification and multiaxis coupling. For example, using two-stage magnification with the dry objective (DO) alone, they observed 20 µm beads as tiny blurry dots while observing crisp, round circles through the compound assembly. During multiaxis coupling, the scientists coupled a single DO with multiple MOs on the same image plane. Using a simple raster scan in a single rectangular frame, the research team acquired a rectangular image containing multiple circular FOVs (Field of Views) – where each FOV corresponded to one MO with minimal inter-FOV pixel crosstalk.

Demonstration of MATRIEX imaging: simultaneously acquiring live neuronal activity patterns in V1, M1, and hippocampal CA1 in mice in the anesthetized state or awake state. The neurons were labeled by a genetically encoded fluorescent Ca2+ indicator, GCaMP6f (a) Illustration showing the positioning of three MOs over the V1, M1 and hippocampal CA1 regions in a model mouse brain. (b) A camera photograph taken through the microscope ocular lens under white light bright-field illumination, in which three FOVs are readily visible. The upper region is V1, the lower-left region is CA1, and the lower-right region is M1. (c) A two-photon image, which is an average of 100 frames, acquired by simple full-frame raster scanning with a two-photon microscope. The solid white boxes show the three parts of the image that are enlarged in panel (d). (d) Digitally enlarged individual FOVs showing neurons in V1, M1, and CA1, from top to bottom. Scale bar: 40 μm. (e) Time-lapse Ca2+ signal traces of five example cells from each region, with each labeled by the cell index. Recordings of the same cell in the same animal in the anesthetized state (left side) and in the awake state (right side) are shown. (f) Left: traces showing individual Ca2+ signal events (split from each onset time and overlaid) from randomly selected example cells. Middle: Ca2+ signal traces of each of the neuropil zones that are directly adjacent to each of the example cells. Right: three box plots comparing the neuronal Ca2+ signal event amplitude to the neuron’s adjacent neuropil Ca2+ signal amplitude; paired Wilcoxon rank sum test, ***P < 0.001. (g) Log-normal fitting of the distribution histograms of the spontaneous Ca2+ event amplitude for data pooled from all animals. The red bars and fitted curve show the distribution of data recorded in the awake state, and the blue bars and fitted curve show the distribution of data recorded in the anesthetized state. (h) Pairwise neuronal activity correlation (Pearson correlation coefficients) for data pooled from all animals. The red bars show the distribution of data recorded in the awake state, and the blue bars show the distribution of data recorded in the anesthetized state. Credit: Light: Science & Applications, doi: 10.1038/s41377-019-0219-x

The scientists credited the magnification of the numerical aperture (NA) for allowing better resolution with the compound assembly. The associated lenses were also flexible and custom-designed for mass-production at low cost to assist experimental design. The main feature of MATRIEX was its capacity to image multiple objects simultaneously at large depth intervals. To highlight this, Yang et al. designed different MOs with diverse parameters, placing them at a specific depth where the corresponding object planes conjugated on the same axis. In practice, the research team compensated minor mismatches between the desired and actual object depth by adjusting MOs individually along each of the z axes.

Typically, under the DO (dry objective) the maximum lateral size of the target zone is limited by the maximum size of the scanning field. For example, using a DO with a 2x magnification and target zone of 12 mm in diameter, scientists can image an entire adult mouse brain. In this study, Yang et al. simultaneously imaged the frontal association cortex and cerebellum of the mouse. In practice, a 4x air objective was suited to achieve better resolution to observe fine dendrite structures.

Simultaneous calcium imaging in the V1, M1 and CA1 regions using MATRIEX during anesthetized and awake states in mice. View full movie on Credit: Light: Science & Applications, doi: 10.1038/s41377-019-0219-x

As proof of principle, the research team used MATRIEX to perform simultaneous two-photon Ca2+ imaging of fluorescently-labelled neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1 region), primary motor cortex (M1 region) and hippocampal CA1 region of mice. In the configuration of the three MOs, the scientists placed two MOs suited for the V1 and M1 region, directly above the cortex and inserted an MO within the hippocampal CA1 region after surgically removing a cortical tissue. The team then designed the lenses for the object planes corresponding to V1, M1 and CA1 for conjugation on the same image plane. Using a two-photon microscope equipped with a 12 kHz resonant scanner, the scientists scanned the full image to observe three FOVs and their single cells after enlarging the three different sections to resolve single neurons. Then they noted the laser power to be distributed among multiple FOVs.

While Yang et al. could have obtained these results using conventional single-FOV imaging within a single brain region, the MATRIEX technique provided them data beyond those offered with single-FOV imaging techniques. Taken together, these results allowed a highly inhomogeneous distribution and transformation of spontaneous activity patterns from the anesthetized state to the awake state in mice, spanning a brain-wide circuit level at single-cell resolution.

In this way, Menge Yang and co-workers developed the MATRIEX technique based on the principle of two-stage magnification and multiaxis optical coupling. They simultaneously conducted two-photon Ca2+ imaging in neuronal population activities at different depths in diverse regions (V1, M1 and CA1) in anesthetized and awake mice with single-cell resolution. Importantly, any conventional two-photon microscope can be transformed into a MATRIEX microscope, while preserving all original functionalities. The key to transformation is based on the design of a compound objective assembly. The researchers can use different, carefully designed MOs to suit diverse brain regions with 100 percent compatibility between the MATRIEX technique and conventional microscopy. The research team expect the MATRIEX technique to substantially advance three-dimensional, brain-wide neural circuit dynamics at single-cell resolution.

Explore further

Bringing faster 3-D imaging for biomedical researches

More information: Mengke Yang et al. MATRIEX imaging: multiarea two-photon real-time in vivo explorer, Light: Science & Applications (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-019-0219-x

Tianyu Wang et al. Three-photon imaging of mouse brain structure and function through the intact skull, Nature Methods (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41592-018-0115-y

Rongwen Lu et al. Video-rate volumetric functional imaging of the brain at synaptic resolution, Nature Neuroscience (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nn.4516

© 2019 Science X Network

Citation: MATRIEX imaging: Simultaneously seeing neurons in action in multiple regions of the brain (2019, December 24) retrieved 24 December 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-12-matriex-imaging-simultaneously-neurons-action.html

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#Physics

[burberrycanary]

The Probable Stars (Matthew x Diana, ADOW Ep. 107)

Summary: That’s the way of the world, he remembers. You break the things you are fondest of.

Nocturns

Next to him, Diana’s breathing slows. He tracks the way her body relaxes into sleep and the beat of her heart. The dying firelight turns her hair a darker shade of gold.

The air, the sheets and his skin all smell of her, easing for now the need he will not satisfy.

But beneath that, the other scent lingers, bright with copper and headier even than desire. How her body felt under his mouth blurs together with the memory of blood in pools and splatters.

I won’t let you harm me, she’d said, lying in his arms, brilliant like a shooting star or a shower of sparks. Matthew has sworn too many vows not to hear the weight behind her words. He’s sworn and kept some, sworn and broken—

—blood on his hands, the arterial gushes from her emptying heart—

He sees Diana again in his mind’s eye, lit with moonlight, slipping from his grasp into the night sky and more cruel than she could understand.

If her little game had not worked, what would he have taken from her? What would have been enough to slake so ravenous a—

Matthew leans over to kiss the top of her head, breathing her in. Mine, he thinks, with the old confusion of hungers.

He leaves the warmth of her—their—bed.

He will not sleep tonight.

Lauds

The house continues to settle with creaks and murmurs.

He retrieves their scattered clothes from the floor. Each piece conjures up overlapping flashes—her hands rushing to open his shirt, the way she’d smiled against the backs of her fingers when he’d tugged her closer on the bed with his palms cupped behind her spread knees.

He sets her folded clothing on the chest at the foot of the bed, finds a clean undershirt in his bag and redresses.

Her heartbeat is the loudest sound in the nighttime hush. How far could they be separated and still he would be able to pick out the cadence of her heart from all the tumult of the world?

Matthew turns out the remaining lamps, content with the glow from the fire as he considers the room that has been hers since childhood—the sloping angles of the gabled ceiling, the gray and black feathers suspended over the bed on long white threads, the moonlight slanting in through small windows.

Little has changed from what he saw in the dreamlike vision of the night her vast wild magic was hobbled by those she loved and trusted most. The temporary rooms in Oxford he had searched for the book of life had revealed much more.

But, in the far corner, a pair of low bookcases overflow with worn paperbacks scattered with the bright yellow secondhand stickers of a university bookstore—Ptolemy, Grosseteste, Bacon, Robert of Chester translating Jabir ibn Hayyan. He flips through Sidereus Nuncius with its printed many-pointed stars from an age that had not yet divided science from art. On the Nature of Things is turned sideways to fit into a too full shelf next to a Latin dictionary with a broken spine.

His fingers skim over the titles to map the history of her quick and hungry mind. Had she been happy, he wonders, as he pictures her at library study tables, losing her turn in lines unaware of anything outside her reading, curled up in oversized chairs with her bare feet pulled up.

What first drew her imagination so far into the past?

He recalls the black-and-white photo on the back of her first book more as an impression than an image: she’d been pretty, of course, smiling. But her startlingly young eyes were what he had noticed, how they clashed with the way she wrote of those long dead.

Even then, she was making him remember things he thought forgotten.

In honor of old friends—monks and humanists in service of God’s Rome and lost Romes equally—who searched for manuscripts with an obsession that matched his own, he reads Lucretius’s opening invocation of life-giving Venus soaring beneath the spinning constellations of heaven again. Then, more dimly, another line returns to him, ni muer ni viu ni no guaris. I do not die nor live nor heal—a poet had sung of love in a language that no longer exists only to die with his guts spilling out into the chaos of gore on the road outside Damascus eight-and-half centuries ago.

The furious speed of Diana’s life is already rushing through his fingers.

The loss of her should kill him but it won’t.

Well, then. A road outside some Damascus awaits him, too, some charnel house of violence he will throw himself at as many times as he must until at last—

Her heartbeat quickens in his ears, drawing him back towards her with that magnetic pull to sit on the edge of the bed. Her eyes dart behind her closed lids. REM sleep prompts the unlovely language of this current life. Dreams. What once had been known to be the workings of planetary influence on a troubled mind, or so the astrologers had taught off and on for a thousand years, transformed now into shifting waves of neuronal activity shown on modern star maps of the mind, lit up with celestial complexity.

Diana flinches with a moan, turning her face into the pillow. He can still count the hours since he woke to find her missing, taken, somewhere alone and hurt and—

She survived those lost hours. She’ll survive their memory, he knows, for all he wishes he could spare her this and take the recollection from her.

Matthew draws back the hair that has fallen over her face, careful not to touch her.

He had not expected this strength in so fragile a creature.

Let me not break her—this—us, he prays in fragments to God, always God, despite everything.

Her trust, so carelessly granted, unearned, had settled over him from the first with a staggering lightness, as exacting a burden as grace.

Perhaps He is as careless with what He gives as what He takes away.

Her fingers twitch, curling inward as loose fists.

God, what would I have done tonight?

Matthew crosses himself and watches as her face tightens with the memory of pain and fear he failed to shield her from.

Outside, a gray dawn slips past the windows.

Prime

Just after six, the quiet is interrupted by the tread of feet down the stairs with a softness that must be Em rather than Sarah.

Matthew remembers their discarded clothes near the front door, Diana’s kicked off shoes. He hadn’t cared, not when her hands kept touching his face and cupping the back of his neck, not when she smelled of blood and lust and the night air.

He listens, idly, to Em in the kitchen, running water and then the click of a gas stove. Her aunts know where he sleeps and what he is to her. He can at least spare Diana this small awkwardness.

He pulls on a sweater against the vulnerable informality of short sleeves and leaves Diana, half-hidden under the faded patchwork quilt, with one last look.

Gossamer-pale light fills the lower floor, broken into occasional patches of red and green by panels of stained glass.

Em calls out good morning and then pushes their folded clothes against his chest.

“It's a good thing the house likes you.”

He doesn’t ask what exactly she means because his father had taught him better than to begin conversations he does not wish to have. He sets the clothing down on the kitchen work table and, with a glance for permission, picks up the small wooden tray of casting artifacts she has gathered—feathers and a bundle of sage, a candle and spool of red thread—so Em can carry her tea and the bowl of water out to the porch.

He will never forget whose magic found Diana for him.

But outside she doesn’t seem in a hurry to cast. Steam rises from her cup of tea and her breath is visible in the morning air. Birds call to each other. The family cat clicks its teeth in response. Its yellow eyes trace arcs and swoops.

Em watches him from over the rim of her cup, thoughtful. Her gaze sharpens.

He waits for the warning or judgment that he will listen to with patience for Diana’s sake. Em sets down her mug, keeping her hands cupped around the warm sides.

“The house used to play hide and seek with Diana when she was little.”

Matthew tilts his head and tries to decipher her, this witch that seems so welcoming and holds so much back.

“If Diana hadn't had any gift at all that would’ve been fine. Every family of witches around here has someone like that. But her magic, it just wasn't right and kids can sense difference like hounds. She would hide in some cupboard or closet and the house would slam doors or rattle windows, room to room, to show it was looking for her.”

Em smiles, quick and broad, though her eyes remain serious.

“The house would play with her for hours. It’d shift furniture nearby, something like that, to let her know she'd been found. How she used to laugh, sweet and carefree as though her heart wasn't still cracked in two with missing her mom and dad. And she never lost that, the way she can light up with joy brighter than anything. Grief didn’t take that from her. She remained herself, happy and kind and stubborn enough to drive Sarah half to distraction and back more days than not. She remained herself,” she repeats.

Em picks up one of the black feathers off the table, twirling it back and forth between her fingers. She gives him another steady look that contains none of Sarah’s anger or distaste. But something protective, ancient and terrible, moves behind her eyes that makes the hairs at the nape of his neck stand on end.

Matthew has seen what a mother’s love is capable of more than once.

He forces himself not to tense, to stay leaning against the porch railing.

Em closes her eyes and presses a kiss into the feather. She spreads open her hand. The wind grabs the feather. With a shimmering curl of air, it’s gone.

What did you pray for? He wants to ask. But that is between her and her pagan gods.

Em plays with the tea bag string. Finally, she says, “I'm going to start breakfast. Come inside if the smell of biscuits won't bother you.”

She holds the door open for the cat to follow them but it stares back with blank indifference. Another bird chirps, closer, and the cat’s teeth give a series of rattling clicks.

She shrugs, “All right, then, suit yourself.”

Em hums while she measures out flour and dices cold butter. Other than asking if he drinks tea, she seems content to let him simply be here in her space. He watches as she uses a mug to cut the dough into rounds. She slides a sheet into the oven with smooth automatic motions as though the calm and ordinary turns of life could be drawn like a paper screen over this maelstrom of change.

Above him, Diana’s heart beats, speeding and then slowing in familiar circuits as she sleeps. The light in the room warms to stronger slants that set the stained glass pieces aflame.

With a sudden immediacy, he hears Diana give an indrawn gasp and then, after a pause, a yawn that sounds like she was in the room rather than two floors away.

Em laughs and pulls the biscuits from the oven.

“You see now what I mean? Sometimes you can hear a sigh from the attic. Other times, well, let’s say the house understands the value of a little privacy. But it always let us know when she was awake as a child and I suppose it’s never lost the habit.”

Em cuts a biscuit and drizzles it with honey that still carries the scent of wildflowers—a trace of anise from end-of-summer goldenrod and the sage-like smell of aster. She adds a cup of tea to the tray that she slides towards him for Diana.

“The house likes you well enough. Ask her about the boy she tried to sneak in once if you want to hear what happens when the house thinks otherwise.”

Matthew traps the sound deep in his chest that’s triggered by the thought of other hands touching her and retreats back upstairs. He drops their clothes on the chest at the foot of the bed and leaves the tray on a side table for her.

Diana’s past is her own and she’ll tell him in time or she won’t as she chooses.

But as he crawls back into her bed in this gabled room where the air is still tinged with the desire he drew from her open, quivering body, he kisses her wrists, one after the other.

He leans in to kiss her throat while her fingers card through his hair with a sleepy and contented slowness.

All the while, her heartbeat sounds in his ears like the toiling of a clear and solemn church bell.

Terce

(Later, dying, he’ll hear Diana’s prayer as from a terrible distance. The air will shimmer with gold. She’ll press her torn open skin against his mouth—don’t—forcing her blood onto his tongue until the clamorous speed of her heart is the only sound left on earth. She’ll curl her small light body forward, around him.

Death marriage birth he’ll think in a confused rush as his teeth sink into the skin of her neck, so fragile, so yielding.

I won’t let you—

Blood on his hands, splattered everywhere, the arterial gushes of her emptying heart—

God—save me from doing this.

But the only answer he gets from God is more blood, always blood, despite everything.)

[hataraku-headcanons-blog]

What Happens When We Fall Asleep?

A quick repost since I forgot about the read under cut function. Hopefully this makes it nicer!

Also, an FYI about the blood-brain barrier: blood travels along certain vessels, and regulation of blood along these pathways is highly controlled. So in this story, RBC can see the neurons and they can see her, but she cannot leave the path or go up to them really. :)

Without further ado, here’s the story:

----------

The night shift was starting and the typically quick pace in the internal carotid artery was beginning to slow. While many red blood cells yawned, trudging along the dirt path at as slow a speed as the blood pressure would allow, one red-headed cell seemed to almost light up the darkened vessel with her enthusiasm.

AE-3803 hummed to herself as she pushed her box of oxygen, marveling at the scenery at night time.

“It’s so peaceful,” she murmured, taking in the slightly cooler night air and the way the lights from the windows of the common cells’ houses cast a faint glow along the street.

She followed the straight, wide path up and up and still further up until she reached the entrance to the brain.

She paused, checked her notes and nodded.

“I’m going the right way!” she whispered excitedly, not wanting to be too loud and disturb the serene atmosphere. Taking a deep breath, the red blood cell kept along the path she had written.

3803 stepped into the brain and gasped aloud.

Brain: “A major organ of the body. A control center for coordination of actions and motion, regulation of homeostasis and involuntary bodily functions, and the processing of external information into thoughts, feelings and memories.”

The brain was like nothing she’d ever seen before. A rich forest bloomed before her, tall flowering trees with lights strung along them. The little lights illuminated, one after another, down a row to another tree, then went out. Again and again they flickered and glowed, all up and down the criss-crossing pathways, now an uneven cobblestone.

She was delighted to see the beautiful flowering trees were actually homes- lights flickered from within, and she could see a cell poke his head out of a door, graciously accepting a cup of steaming tea from a yellow-suited man with a floral lapel. AE-3803 could smell the tea as it wafted through the air and her whole body began to feel more relaxed and sleepy.

She shook her head. No time for that- she had a job to do!

3803, from what she had just seen and what her senpai had told her, was pretty sure that the man serving tea was an astrocyte.

Astrocyte: “Maintains homeostatic levels in the brain and central nervous system. Performs a wide variety of tasks such as axon guidance, synaptic support and control of blood flow through the brain. Their role in sleep is not well understood, but it is known that astrocytes produce a hormone called adenosine, which makes us tired. They are called ‘astro’ for their star-like shape.”

The man smiled and bowed his head towards her in greeting, one hand over his heart. 3803 cheerily waved back.

“Hello!” she called out. She waved to the other cell who was just about to go back inside. He blinked and blearily waved back before closing the door.

“Ah, it really is lovely up here!” she sighed, pulling out her notes. “Okay, so there’s a crossroads up ahead… if I take a right, I’ll be in the ophthalmic artery… no wait, is that the cerebral? Maybe I have to take a left? Aaah, I don’t want to get lost! Senpai trusted me with thi-”

She abruptly crashed into something and went flying backwards. The thing grunted and she realized with a jolt that she had collided with an actual person.

“Ahh! I’m so sorry! Are you okay? Eee, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s alright,” said a familiar voice. “I- oh. Red Blood Cell.”

“White Blood Cell!” 3803 gasped.

The two got to their feet slowly, 3803 feebly trying to conceal her embarrassment, U-1146 honestly just amazed at the fact that his tea hadn’t gone flying out of his hand.

“I’m really sorry!” 3803 said again.

“Don’t be,” he replied. “No harm done. We sure do bump into each other a lot though. I suppose quite literally now.”

“Ahaha, yeah…”

“I’ve never seen you on a night shift before,” 1146 commented. “Where are you headed?”

“Ah, I have a delivery to a cell above the eye!” 3803 exclaimed, some of the enthusiasm returning to her voice. “My senpai thought I should take the night shift since I’ve been able to navigate better in the day, as a kind of challenge. And it’s my first time this far up in the brain too, but I’ve come prepared!”

She held up her notes and he nodded.

“All I have to do,” she pointed to the left, “is take that path straight up to the supraorbital artery! I’ve got it all planned out!”

“Um. Well,” 1146 said quietly, trailing off.

She pointed to the right.

“It’s the other way, isn’t it.”

He nodded.

She just sighed and pushed her trolley along to the right.

In a few moments, the neutrophil had caught up, keeping pace beside her.

“Wait, are we going the same way?” 3803 asked, puzzled.

“Just patrolling,” he replied, sipping his tea. “I thought we could walk together for a bit.”

“Sure!” she agreed, beaming.

They walked in silence for a bit, both taking in the beautiful lights that slowed in their progress as they traveled.

A bright stream of light suddenly went coursing above their heads and out of the brain, lighting the street below almost as though it were day.

AE-3803 shrieked, ducking down and instinctively covering her head.

“What was that?!”

“Just a strong electrical signal sent by the neurons. Probably triggering the hypnagogic jerk. Nothing to be afraid of.”

The red blood cell slowly rose to her feet, and sensing no danger, she continued along the opthalmic artery, the neutrophil following alongside. AE-3803 grabbed her notes.

“Hypnagogic jerk…” she muttered, flipping through the pages.

U-1146 narrowed his one visible eye curiously.

“Ah, it’s when the muscles twitch as sleep starts!” AE-3803 exclaimed. “It’s a normal thing; it happens during stage one sleep!”

“That’s right,” 1146 said, with mild surprise. “Where did you learn that?”

“Oh,” she smiled. “My senpai wanted me to be prepared so she told me what she knows. I took lots of notes, see?”

She flipped through the pages rapidly and U-1146 nodded appreciatively.

“Would you tell me what you know?”

“Eh? Um,” 3803 hesitated, suddenly a little self-conscious. “Don’t you already know these things?”

“I do,” he replied evenly. “But I’m not as familiar with the role of red blood cells at night. I may learn something.”

“Well…” she trailed off, then shook her head, beaming. “Okay! I’ll tell you what I know!”

At that moment, static crackled from his transceiver.

“Ah, one moment, Red Blood Cell.”

“Sure, sure!”

The neutrophil removed the transceiver and spoke into it clearly.

“This is U-1146. No activity to report from the ophthalmic artery. Will continue patrolling through to the supraorbital and continue to report at regular intervals.”

“Cool,” came U-4989′s reply, crackling out from the speaker. “We’ll both end up in the same vein on the way back; guess I’ll see you later!”

“Later,” 1146 replied, then he put away the transceiver. “Sorry, Red Blood Cell. You can start now.”

“Oh it’s no problem!”

1146 took a sip of his tea as she began.

“So,” she said, looking around. “Things seem to have settled down, so I think we’re done with stage 1 sleep and are on to stage 2!”

He nodded.

“This is the time the neurons help make memories! They take the events of the day and decide from there what should be kept and what can be forgotten. Some of them will encode the memories for later.”

She pointed at a neuron, who was feeding a thick cable through a hole in the wall that led inside his house.

“That’s probably what he’s doing right now!”

The two blood cells continued walking, unaware of the bewildered blinking neuron behind them.

“Why was she pointing at me? What am I doing?” he mumbled, sleepy from the chamomile tea. After a moment of confusion, he shrugged and got back to work.

“I believe that neuron was also rearranging the connections between him and his neighbours,” 1146 added.

“He was?”

“Yes. That’s one of the main principles of how neuroplasticity works.”

Neuroplasticity: “The brain’s ability to rearrange and form new neuronal connections in response to learning, experience or injury.”

“So what’s your role in this?” 1146 asked.

“I deliver oxygen and take away carbon dioxide, like usual,” 3803 smiled. “But the blood flow is slower at night, so it’s not as rushed.”

She briefly checked her notes and nodded.

“While I’m up here, I’m supposed to also gather up any loose hormones that didn’t get used today. After I circulate around the heart and lungs, I’ll take what I’ve collected to the liver for the hepatocytes to get rid of.”

A crackling static sound and 1146, briefly apologizing, reported into his transceiver again. A dainty sounding female voice replied and the conversation came to a close.

“You sure are using that a bit more than usual White Blood Cell,” 3803 commented, tilting her head.

“We neutrophils have to at night,” he replied. “There are less of us circulating, but we communicate more to compensate. The other white blood cells; the macrophages and dendritic cells also communicate more, with each other and with us. That was Macrophage just now.”

“I see!”

“Hey,” called a cell from the right. “You, red blood cell!”

“Yes?” she answered, startled.

“Could you take these for me?” he asked, holding up three file folders. “I didn’t use them and they’re just kind of lying around.”

“Oh, of course!” 3803 agreed, taking the folders from him and plopping them on top of her box of oxygen.

“Thank you for your hard work!” the cell said, returning to his house.

“Thank you for yours!” 3803 called out cheerfully after him.

AE-3803 held up the file folders for U-1146 to see.

“These are the hormones I was telling you about. My first collection!”

She looked positively jubilant about the whole thing, even though it was just another job in the life of a red blood cell. U-1146 tipped his hat slightly as the pair continued to meander up the tree-lined arterial pathway.

——————-

“Delta sleep is beginning now,” AE-3803 commented, watching the neurons catch a few zzz’s while their computers’ delta programs ran lazy waves up and down the strings of lights.

“Mm,” 1146 agreed.

A few red blood cells ran by, carrying red and white striated file folders labelled “Growth”.

“They’re taking growth hormone to the muscles in the body, White Blood Cell,” 3803 told him. She sighed wistfully. “I almost wish I’d had that job instead. I’d love to see how the muscle cells repair themselves.”

“Next time?” 1146 suggested.

“I hope so!”

AE-3803 suddenly jolted, her head alert. U-1146 instantly tensed, his fingers itching to grab his knife.

“What happened?”

“I just realized- where are all the T-cells?” she gasped. “There’s usually at least one squad that jogs by, but I haven’t seen any!”

“Ah, they barely circulate in the bloodstream at night,” 1146 told her, releasing some of his tension.

“Where do they go?”

“Actually… no one’s completely sure.”

“Eh?!?” AE-3803 glanced around her with wide eyes, as if a killer T-cell was going to jump out of nowhere all of a sudden.

“They probably go back to the lymph ducts,” 1146 added quickly. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“It’s still kind of scary…” she muttered.

“…it is,” the neutrophil agreed.

“We’re almost there!” 3803 realized, bouncing on her feet excitedly. “The capillary I need should be right up here-”

A rumbling echoed from behind the duo, growing steadily louder.

“Uhh…” the two uttered, hesitantly turning their heads in sync and blanching when they saw what was happening.

Red blood cells raced towards them in a mass of hats, jackets, and trolleys of oxygen.

“W-White Blood Cell?! What’s happening?!”

“It’s-”

AE-3803 screeched as the mass of cells overtook them.

“Ahh! I lost White Blood Cell!” she shrieked, racing just to keep up with the other cells and keep her footing. “White Blood Cell! What’s going on?”

“REM sleep!” a red blood cell on her right shouted.

“REM sleep?”

REM sleep: “Stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement, increased pulse and breathing, and muscle paralysis. This is the stage in which dreams take place.”

“Oh, of course!” the red blood cell exclaimed. “The blood flow increases during this stage!”

Running through the supraorbital, packed in with other busy red blood cells, AE-3803 marveled at the way the trees seemed to come to life again, lighting strings along the path, swooping from tree to tree in sparks of light. Slowly, monitors folded down from the branches, acting as projector screens, capturing the light from the neuron’s homes like a feature film.

The dream ran across the projectors like a kaleidoscope of thought, memory and colour as AE-3803 pushed her oxygen along, gazing upwards and all around at the dazzling display.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” a red blood cell shouted as her trolley very nearly collided with his own.

“Aah! Sorry!”

————-

AE-3803 breathed a sigh of relief. REM sleep over, next sleep cycle beginning,  oxygen delivered, carbon dioxide and hormones picked up- she was ready to circulate through the heart and lungs again.

Back in the veins, things were a bit quieter, so she had time to do one extra thing before she headed off.

“U-4989!”

The neutrophil whirled around suddenly, speaking around the dumpling he was carrying in his mouth. His hands were occupied with fastening his knife to a large rock.  

“Oh, hey Red Blood Cell!”

If the sight confused her at all, then AE-3803 said nothing of it.

“Have you seen White Blood Cell- U-1146? We got separated during REM sleep…”

U-4989 let out a short bark of laughter.

“Yeah, I can take you to him.”

The neutrophil weaved through the red blood cells, the girl close behind him.

“There he is!” U-4989 said, gesturing.

“White Blood Cell! …oh.”

On a bench off to the side of the vessel, U-1146 sat, his head having since bobbed back to allow his tired body to relax.

AE-3803 blinked to ensure she was seeing things right. U-1146… had fallen asleep! Then again, she thought, he must’ve needed the rest after all the work he did.

“Out like a neuron’s signal,” 4989 shrugged, winking.

AE-3803 smiled at the sleeping neutrophil, then patted him on the shoulder.

“Good night, White Blood Cell,” she said softly. She returned to her pathway and hurried off, calling out over her shoulder to 4989 briefly.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

———————————————————————-

Disclaimers:

This series, Hataraku Saibou, was not written by me but by Akane Shimizu.

**RBCs do not actually carry hormones; they are transported through the blood plasma… but since nutrients were represented as being carried by the RBCs (they are also in the plasma), then I think it’s fine.

**The length of time of a sleep cycle is much longer than the time it takes for a blood cell to circulate the body; this was changed merely to give the two main characters a chance to talk for a bit and explain what’s happening.

[delhi-architect2]

Journal - 10 Clever Examples of Color-Coded Architecture

Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter

When combined with elements like wayfinding or circulation, color profoundly shapes how we experience architectural space. While color-coded circulation has been used throughout history, it’s being increasingly used to highlight expressive forms or delineate multiple thresholds. Defining the boundaries of a wall or room, colored circulation draws attention by activating staircases, halls or platforms.

Taking a deep dive into novel circulation techniques, we’ve gather the following collection of projects that utilize color to emphasize a particular building path or movement. As elements defining perception, each route reinterprets traditional ideas on progression and sequence. Building identity, they make a statement and reveal the diverse ways that color can transform architecture.

Children’s Museum of the Arts by WORKac, New York City, N.Y., United States

WORKac is known for work that’s as inventive as it is serious and critical. In the children’s museum, the design is organized around a large central gallery with a color wheel that identifies different programs. This “wheel” organizes the different flows of people while articulating different spatial experiences.

Seattle Central Library by REX and OMA, Seattle, Wash., United States; photographed by James Ewing

Known across the world, the Seattle Central Library has become a celebrated civic and cultural project. Programming was at the project’s heart from the outset, directly shaping the building’s form while combining diverse functions. The library was designed as five platforms and four flowing planes connected by a series of bright-colored escalators, rooms and passageways.

W Hollywood Hotel & Residences by designstudio ltd, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif., United States

Stair Railing by CRL-U.S. Aluminum

The Hollywood branch of the international hotel chain uses a touch of movie magic. A red carpet fit for a premier cascades down its grand staircase, playfully nodding to its storied context. A transparent glass handrail makes sure that the color is visible across the room.

El “B” by selgascano, Cartagena, Spain

Inspired by the nearby port, this cultural museum was formed around the idea of creating an “interior beach” and promenade. Following the boundary of the old El Batel Beach, the reclaimed “beach-ramp” flows beneath the waterline to reveal brightly colored circulation that encourages movement.

Tower House by GLUCK+, Ulster County, N.Y., United States

Inspired by the trees that surround it, this vacation house features green enamel back-painted glass and a spacious living area on the top floor. Made with views to the Catskill mountains, the project includes glass-enclosed yellow stairs that ascend to the treetops.

City of Santa Monica Public Parking Structure #6 by Behnisch Architekten, Santa Monica, Calif., United States

Located in downtown Santa Monica, this parking structure overlaps programs like retail, public space, storage and areas to relax. Built with a façade that features a red exterior diagonal stair, the envelope was made as a light-enhancing screen formed with perforated metal panels.

Singapore University of Technology and Design by DP Architects, Singapore

The new East Coast campus for Singapore University of Technology and Design was made to reflect a pedagogic model of inter-disciplinary and collaborative learning. Brightly colored and interconnected circulation paths combine with open atriums and large outdoor areas.

Neuron Bio Headquarters by Cayuelas Arquitectos, Granada, Spain

As a new biomedical, pharmacological and technological research center in Granada, the Neuron Bio Headquarters is located near the Monachil River. A bright façade echoes colored interior stairways and walls, a strategy used to identify laboratories and programmatic areas to create a forward-looking image.

New United States Courthouse – Los Angeles by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP ( SOM ), Los Angeles, Calif., United States

Stair Railing by CRL-U.S. Aluminum

White is a color, right? Okay, maybe it isn’t, but this courthouse uses a very subtle translucency to create a whitish haze that introduces the only variation in color tone in the circulation spaces.

Why Factory Tribune by MVRDV, Delft, Netherlands

Designed around a newly created interior courtyard on the Delft University campus, the Why Factory features a three-story wooden structure that accommodates diverse programs. The project centers on a distinct, bright orange auditorium stair for learning and discourse.

Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter

The post 10 Clever Examples of Color-Coded Architecture appeared first on Journal.

from Journal https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/coloredcirculation/ Originally published on ARCHITIZER RSS Feed: https://architizer.com/blog

[tipsycad147]

Forbidden Colours

Published November 24, 2016 | By shirleytwofeathers

Try to imagine reddish green — not the dull brown you get when you mix the two pigments together, but rather a colour that is somewhat like red and somewhat like green. Or, instead, try to picture yellowish blue — not green, but a hue similar to both yellow and blue.

Is your mind drawing a blank? That’s because, even though those colours exist, you’ve probably never seen them. Red-green and yellow-blue are the so-called “forbidden colours.” Composed of pairs of hues whose light frequencies automatically cancel each other out in the human eye, they’re supposed to be impossible to see simultaneously.

The limitation results from the way we perceive colour in the first place. Cells in the retina called “opponent neurons” fire when stimulated by incoming red light, and this flurry of activity tells the brain we’re looking at something red. Those same opponent neurons are inhibited by green light, and the absence of activity tells the brain we’re seeing green. Similarly, yellow light excites another set of opponent neurons, but blue light damps them. While most colours induce a mixture of effects in both sets of neurons, which our brains can decode to identify the component parts, red light exactly cancels the effect of green light (and yellow exactly cancels blue), so we can never perceive those colours coming from the same place.

Almost never, that is. Scientists are finding out that these colours can be seen — you just need to know how to look for them.

Colours without a name:

The colour revolution started in 1983, when a startling paper by Hewitt Crane, a leading visual scientist, and his colleague Thomas Piantanida appeared in the journal Science. Titled “On Seeing Reddish Green and Yellowish Blue,” it argued that forbidden colours can be perceived. The researchers had created images in which red and green stripes (and, in separate images, blue and yellow stripes) ran adjacent to each other. They showed the images to dozens of volunteers, using an eye tracker to hold the images fixed relative to the viewers’ eyes. This ensured that light from each colour stripe always entered the same retinal cells; for example, some cells always received yellow light, while other cells simultaneously received only blue light.

The observers of this unusual visual stimulus reported seeing the borders between the stripes gradually disappear, and the colours seem to flood into each other. Amazingly, the image seemed to override their eyes’ opponency mechanism, and they said they perceived colours they’d never seen before.

Wherever in the image of red and green stripes the observers looked, the colour they saw was “simultaneously red and green,” Crane and Piantanida wrote in their paper. Furthermore, “some observers indicated that although they were aware that what they were viewing was a colour (that is, the field was not achromatic), they were unable to name or describe the colour. One of these observers was an artist with a large colour vocabulary.”

Similarly, when the experiment was repeated with the image of blue and yellow stripes, “observers reported seeing the field as simultaneously blue and yellow, regardless of where in the field they turned their attention.”

It seemed that forbidden colours were realisable — and glorious to behold!

Crane’s and Piantanida’s paper raised eyebrows in the visual science world, but few people addressed its findings. “It was treated like the crazy old aunt in the attic of vision, the one no one talks about,” said Vince Billock, a vision scientist. Gradually though, variations of the experiment conducted by Billock and others confirmed the initial findings, suggesting that, if you look for them in just the right way, forbidden colours can be seen.

Then, in 2006, Po-Jang Hsieh, then at Dartmouth College, and his colleagues conducted a variation of the 1983 experiment. This time, though, they provided study participants with a colour map on a computer screen, and told them to use it to find a match for the colour they saw when shown the image of alternating stripes — the colour that, in Crane’s and Piantanida’s study, was indescribable.

“Instead of asking participants to report verbally (and hence subjectively), we asked our participants to report their perceptions in a more objective way by adjusting the colour of a patch to match their perceived colour during colour mixing. In this way, we discovered that the perceived colour during colour mixing (e.g., red versus green) is actually a mixture of the two colours, but not a forbidden colour,”

When shown the alternating stripes of red and green, the border between the stripes faded and the colours flowed into each other — an as-yet-unexplained visual process known as “perceptual filling in,” or “image fading.” But when asked to pick out the filled-in colour on a colour map, study participants had no trouble zeroing in on muddy brown. “The results show that their perceived colour during colour mixing is just an intermediate colour,” Hsieh wrote in an email.

So if the colour's name is mud, why couldn’t viewers describe it back in 1983? “There are infinite intermediate colours … It is therefore not surprising that we do not have enough colour vocabulary to describe [them all],” he wrote. “However, just because a colour cannot be named, doesn’t mean it is a forbidden color that’s not in the colour space.”

Colour fixation:

Fortunately for all those rooting for forbidden colours, these scientists’ careers didn’t end in 2006. Billock, now a National Research Council senior associate at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, has led several experiments over the past decade that he and his colleagues believe prove the existence of forbidden colours. Billock argues that Hsieh’s study failed to generate the colours because it left out a key component of the setup: eye trackers. Hsieh merely had volunteers fix their gaze on striped images; he didn’t use retinal stabilisation.

“I don’t think that Hsieh’s colours are the same ones we saw. I’ve tried image fading under steady fixation … and I don’t see the same colours that I saw using artificial retinal stabilisation,” Billock said. In general, he explained, steady eye fixation never gives as powerful an effect as retinal stabilisation, failing to generate other visual effects that have been observed when images are stabilised. “Hseih et al.’s experiment is valid for their stimuli, but says nothing about colours achieved via more powerful methods.”

Recent research by Billock and others has continued to confirm the existence of forbidden colours in situations where striped images are retinally stabilised, and when the stripes of opponent colours are equally bright. When one is brighter than the other, Billock said, “we got pattern formation and other effects, including muddy and olive-like mixture colours that are probably closer to what Hseih saw.”

When the experiment is done correctly, he said, the perceived colour was not muddy at all, but surprisingly vivid: “It was like seeing purple for the first time and calling it bluish red.”

The scientists are still trying to identify the exact mechanism that allows people to perceive forbidden colours, but Billock thinks the basic idea is that the colours’ cancelling effect is being overridden.

When an image of red and green (or blue and yellow) stripes is stabilised relative to the retina, each opponent neuron only receives one colour of light. Imagine two such neurons: one flooded with blue light and another, yellow. “I think what stabilisation does (and what [equal brightness] enhances) is to abolish the competitive interaction between the two neurons so that both are free to respond at the same time and the result would be experienced as bluish yellow,” he said.

You may never experience such a colour in nature, or on the colour wheel — a schematic diagram designed to accommodate the colours we normally perceive — but perhaps, someday, someone will invent a handheld forbidden colour viewer with a built-in eye tracker. And when you peek in, it will be like seeing purple for the first time.

https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/colortherapy/category/color-combinations/

[groundbreaking-science]

1.6 - Colour: From Source to Perception (part 2)

After sunlight has either been absorbed or scattered from the surface of an object, we're left with a barrage of photons that can be any particular pattern of wavelengths from the rainbow (a spectrum). How does the eye and brain even begin to process this myriad of wavelength information into colour?

Dragging your mind back to that wonderful world of Biology 101, we know light enters the eye through the pupil, passes through the lens and is focussed onto the back of the eye. Then there's some handwaving discussion of a special type of cell, something about signals being passed through an optic nerve into the brain and voila, we can see. That's usually where the explanation in class stops, never diving into the depths of what's truly going on in the back of the eye and brain. This is a huge shame; a fuller description makes the difference in perception between seeing with your eyes and ki extremely obvious. And who would I be to deny you, dear reader, a learning opportunity?

The eye is a delicate instrument and has evolved to protect itself. If a damagingly bright level of light is detected entering the pupil, the iris will restrict to reduce the amount of light. The iris is scaffolded by a ring of muscle that can contract to make the pupil smaller, and radial muscles that can pull the ring back out, widening the pupil instead. Behind the muscles lies a thin layer of pigmented cells. Those cells act like screens, preventing light other than that from the pupil entering the eye. The iris' colour is mostly driven by concentrations of melanin, the same pigment giving rise to skin colour; the usual colour range from a deep brown with high concentration (like my own), blue with a low concentration, and those middling hazels, deep greens and green-blues (also like my own at times). The darker the iris, the better this protection.

Behind the iris is the lens, a fairly solid, curved and clear mass. The shape of the lens causes light to bend as it passes through and focuses light down at the back of the eye. The lens can stretch to focus down light at different distances, but there’s a finite limit to its abilities. Even with standard, healthy vision your finger still looks fuzzy if you hold it too close to your eye. The same failure occurs at long distances, too. Not all eyes are built the same and if the range of distances your eye works at isn't suitable for your life, you'll often struggle focussing and may need glasses to offset the problem. With the more common condition of near-sightedness the focus point of light from the lens falls just short of the back of the eye. This could be caused by the eye being too long or the lens set too far back. Someone with near-sightness would probably hold a book closer to their face to comfortably read it. I have the opposite problem of far-sightedness. My eyesight is marginally more suitable for long-distance vision, therefore not so helpful for reading tiny, spidery handwriting from my colleagues or performing intricate bench-work in the lab, so I wear glasses to help. Far-sightedness runs in my family. Dad probably should have worn glasses too, but he did so little regular reading he improvised by squinting and holding books at arms length instead. I have the sneaking suspicion many of our friends assumed he was barely literate for the longest time.

You may notice from the figure the incoming image gets turned upside-down in the eye. Luckily, your brain can combine the image with other senses and calculate the image needs to flip. What you may not know is, if you wear a pair of glasses that flips the image before your eye sees it, your brain will adapt over the space of two weeks or so and re-correct the image inversion. This is brain plasticity in action and shows how the brain can adapt to new or modified senses. And not only that, but this correction doesn't happen all at once; oddly the brain flips the parts of the scene it believes are important first, usually faces. How strange must that be to see? I would very much like to try this experiment for a month to test my own brain's plasticity, although I'm not sure how long Videl would find my pin-balling around the house amusing. – I sincerely apologise; the notes Pan has left on this section's draft are getting increasingly exasperated at these tangents but I'm letting this fun-fact lie because it's fantastic.

The effect of colour-blindness on the wavelengths of light cones are sensitive to. Certain types of colour-blindness can be mitigated by screening out particular confused wavelengths.

Back to that focused image. Light travels to the back of the eye, hitting the retina. The retina contains a sheet of cells sensitive to light. There are four types of cell - three of a cone-type that respond to different colours (covering blue, red and green light) and one rod-type that responds to a broad range of colours and low light levels. The cells are so-named due to their shape. The cones sit with the highest density on the part of the retina corresponding to the region at the centre of our vision. Rods barely exist in the centre but have a higher density in our peripheral vision. About half of the information from our vision comes from this tiny centre spot, the fovea centralis, and is why the very centre of your vision is so much better than your peripheral. Animals and some zoomorphic people often have reduced colour vision (usually missing the red cone) with a different distribution of these cells across the eye. Rabbits, evolved to survive as prey animals, have a line of high-density of these cells across the eye so they can see clearly along the horizon for predators, instead of the clear centre of vision like anthropoids.

What makes these cone cells suitable for colour vision? There is a pigment in the cells that absorbs light at a particular set of wavelengths causing an electron in the molecule to move - sound familiar? When the electron moves the whole molecule changes shape to compensate, becoming the right shape to fit inside a receptor within the cell, much like a key fitting into a lock. This in turn triggers a nerve attached to the cell to fire. Outside the fovea centralis there's more than one cell attached to a nerve and so the nerve has to reach a different activation threshold to fire, but the principle is the same. Oddly, the nerves are attached to the front of the retina rather than the back, but the nerves don't interfere with your vision. Those nerves bundle together into a thick mass of cabling known as the optic nerve and pass out the back of the eye into the brain.

Whilst our eyes can respond to a many wavelengths of light and there exists an overlap in what cones respond (for example yellow light triggers both the red and green cones in different amounts) the signal leaving the eye in regards to colour is only four numbers relating to the intensity of red, green, blue light and overall intensity. That's it. That's why LCD monitors, with only red, green and blue pixels next each other, can trick our eyes into thinking there's a full spectrum of colours on the screen - the screen providing only the information that passes from the eye regardless so your brain cannot tell the difference.

With so few types of detectors then, a fault in one will have a large impact on vision. Some forms of colourblindness are caused by missing cone types. Other forms are by mutations in the cone cells that mean the response function of the cells greatly overlap, so green and red cones are almost always triggered at similar levels, for example. The colour vision in some cases can be corrected by wearing sunglasses that block wavelengths of light in the confusing overlap, allowing the brain to distinguish between red and green far easier.

The colour signal has now been broken down from the nuanced spectrum we began with to just three (plus one) numbers. This is an absurdly clever form of data compression by the eye; imagine how many cones we'd need to capture every wavelength explicitly? The nerves take this even further - instead of keeping the absolute values of these red, green and blue cells the nerves combines the signals in two different ways. The first is (red signal) - (green signal), the “red-green channel” and is a proxy for yellow light. The second is calculated as (red signal) - (green signal) - (blue signal), the so-called “yellow-blue” channel. This one extra step, whilst seemingly arbitrary, reduces the information and processing needed from four numbers to three, a reduction of 25%. Since most anthropoidal people rely on vision this is a highly significant saving for the brain to make.

From these three numbers the brain can more-or-less re-expand and perceive the entire colour spectrum. As the data about particular wavelength intensities has been so compressed however, the reconstruction in the brain is not loss-less. This can lead to a few interesting quirks of colour vision (and not ki-sense) which I'll get to in a moment.

The main regions I'll be discussing and their location in the brain, using Pan's head. I could make a Dad comment here about actually finding her brain but I won't.

First, how and where this vision reconstruction happens. The information from the eye needs to pass from the retina to the correct regions of the brain. Signals from the cells (and because the cells are attached to nerves fixed in place, the spatial location information) are sent down the optic nerve towards the back of the brain where the visual processing regions live, the so-called visual cortex. On route is the thalamus - two lumps of brain cells (neurons) on either side of the centre of the brain that perform partial processing on visual as well as taste, auditory and touch sensation. Sense of smell is a little different; molecules we breathe in binding to receptors in the olfactory bulb at the back of the nose, which is a part of the brain itself. This very direct connection could be why the sense of smell is so immediate and memories so intense even for anthropoids, even more so for animals and zoomorphic people (and my family) with sensitive noses. The thalamus is able to weigh up which sensory information is important enough to properly process and pass on to other areas of the brain, including which senses need our immediate and limited attention. This is why you'll often find yourself turning down music when driving in an unfamiliar area, or closing your eyes when using ki-sense.

For vision in particular, the thalamus' analysis is used to help focus the eyes and bring the signals from both eyes into alignment, then information is passed onto other areas of the brain. Whilst there's a general hierarchical structure between sub-regions of the visual cortex (the aptly-named V1 coming before V2 for example), the thalamus has connections to - and can therefore communicate with - all these regions directly.

These “backstreet” connections to some areas of the visual cortex are thought to explain blindsight, a phenomenon where some individuals can't see some part of their field of vision but are still able to act as though they can. They're able to reach out for and grab objects accurately without consciously seeing them. In this case, the lower parts of the visual cortex responsible for projecting the external world have partially failed, but the regions able to label objects (whatever they may be) and locate them in space has not. If the information in the brain travelled strictly in one direction this would not be possible. Note, blindsight isn't the same as ki-sense as it's still visually driven, (those with blindsight wouldn't be able to perform these tasks if they shut their eyes) but shows how incredibly complicated and interwoven the brain is.

Whilst the thalamus doesn't play much of a role in colour processing, the concept of backstreets through the brain and processing information without perceiving it becomes important when we learn how to use ki to move at speeds our bodies haven't evolved to. At that point your visual system will become a deceptive mess and we'll be revisiting integrating your senses in later chapters.

Most of the information from the eyes then travels to the back of the brain into the visual cortex. The regions of the brain that process visual information are ridiculously complex and still not well understood, particularly in human anatomy as opposed to rats for example. So, to avoid having to reissue this textbook every few months with updates and drawing the ire of an academic community I'm not immersed in, I'll skirt the finer details. What we can say for certain is there are defined regions of the visual cortex that can: - encode spatial information (what signals are from where in the visual field to build a picture) - find contrasting edges - distinguish between horizontal and vertical lines of colour and contrast - compare signals from both eyes to calculate depth - monitor incoming signals over time to detect motion direction and understand that in 3D space - distinguish objects - distinguish colour and map them onto the image.

These functions may occur in multiple places with slightly different results to be merged together, (colour is picked out of the visual signal in regions called V1 and V4 for example, not just in one place) but all-in-all the process is bafflingly complex even for seasoned academics.

The main signal enters V1 right at the back of the brain and radiates out in two directions - dorsally (that is, towards the top of the brain) and ventrally (along the side and underneath of the brain). The signal moving dorsally is referred to as the “where” pathway, moving through areas of the brain associated with movement. These regions help you understand your body in relation to the space you're seeing. I know these pathways are pretty strong for me! The ventral pathway is the “what” pathway and information moves through regions like the temporal lobe (associated with memory) and the limbic system (governing emotion). This pathways labels what's in your visual field. What makes a book a book? How do we know that an object is a square-shape if we've never seen a true, perfect square in our lives to compare to? Who knows exactly, but the ventral pathway seems to.

The flow is not just a one-way street either - the parts of the brain directing attention (the salience network) can feed back down to these visual regions and modulate their activity, effectively switching off their communication with the conscious areas of your brain for a time. Have you ever been thinking so hard about something you can't remember what you've been reading? Blame the salience network switching to “internal mode” and ignoring external stimuli.

Metamers - colours that look the same to our eyes but have a completely different spectrum. The similarity between colours can break down under different types of light in the environment.

V4 is where the colour information is combined to form all the hues we know, and feeds into that ventral “what” pathway. Here’s where our eyes are deceived by colour. The extreme data compression the eye performs means we have information only on brightness, red to green and yellow to blue, rather than intensity information for every possible wavelength of light. This, then, means we can encounter what are known as metamers - different combinations of light wavelengths that produce exactly the same colour in our eye under normal conditions. You could have a spectrum with one wavelength of yellow light and a different spectrum with red and green light. As long as the difference between the signal that's picked up by the red and green cones is the same (with no blue cone signal), the result of that red-green channel calculation will be the same value (0) and you'll perceive the same yellow colour. These metamers are interesting as if you had a different set of colours in the incident light (say, only red light rather than a rainbow of white light), this will cause the spectrum of light scattered from an object to differ and the metamer pairing break.

Whilst we can see a huge range of colours, the existence of these compressed channels means there are some mixes of colours we just can't experience. Imagine we had wavelengths of light entering the eye that were yellow and blue. The red-green channel picks out the yellow fine but then moving to the yellow-blue channel calculation it'll fall over. We can see reddish-orange colours and reddish-blue (purples) but we can't see yellow-blue as a colour, nor reddish-green. \these colour mixes definitely can exist as a spectrum of light,  but in our brain they can't exist at all.

Usually.

In a previous section I mentioned a condition called synaesthesia. This is the mixing of sensory signals, where one sense can trigger another. One of the most common is grapheme-colour synaesthesia, experiencing colour when reading words and numbers either within the mind's eye (‘association') or 'projected' onto the letter themselves. The colours are as consistent as the reading of the letter - the colours appear to the person at the time the letter or number is understood and are intrinsic to one another. Grapheme-colour synaesthesia is caused by an overlap in function and increased size of the right fusiform gyrus, a long region of brain matter on the underside of the brain and is the area responsible for “labelling” the faces, shapes, places and words in your vision. This region connects to the angular gyrus above to further process shape and colour labels. For synaesthetes there’s a misfiring at this point, saying a letter shape must be a particular colour.

It is an odd condition. Even projection synaesthetes, those that physically see a letter or number coloured in the world around them, know that what they're experiencing is not a real colour. They know for example that the letters on this page are black, both truly physically seeing the colour and processing and labelling the colour in the ventral stream as black. But whilst the synaesthete does not see a real rainbow of colours triggered when reading, they do process and label the letters with colours regardless, like imagining the colour automatically. They have a partial experience of colour.

Crucially for synaesthetes, as the accidental synaesthetic colours are not passing through cone cells and mixing in the red-green, yellow-blue channels, the final colour result doesn't have to be bound by the limit of the eyes. Synaesthetes can “see” yellow-blue and red-green colours. They won't be able to experience the colour beyond what they see with their eyes, only know and insist that the colours are definitely blue-yellow, as those were the label the brain assigned. This kind of mixing of signals applies for all synaesthetic responses whereby strange, seemingly unphysical sensations can occur. Other types of synaesthesia like “auditory-taste” can leave a synaesthete disliking someone's name purely for the imaginary taste it leaves in their mouth. Synaesthesia can be very disruptive to lives, although useful as as memory aid.

What, then, does all this mean for ki-sense? My own studies have been embarrassingly small - the number of reliable ki-users I know who would willingly lie in a body scanner numbering less than ten - however I have located brain regions that are associated with ki-sensing. You can read the paper if you like (“case study of fMRI responses in ki-sensing”) although it is a lot of academic waffle for a simple take-home message. I just asked my friends and family to lie in the scanner and actively sense my ki with eyes closed as I sat in the control room, then compared the result to them ignoring me and looking at bright lights and loud noises. Then bored them witless making them repeat the task for half an hour on multiple days so I had huge stack of data to work with.

As with a standard synaesthetic response, the fusiform and angular gyri were activated when there was no apparent need to be, as though they were “seeing” something. The same with hearing in auditory centres and active memory retrieval - all were activated, matching the experience of ki-sense touching on every part of sensation and combining into something more. Higher regions of the visual field are activated even when eyes were shut. This included some of the dorsal (“where”) pathway, showing what I know from experience; that ki-sensers are projecting ki into the world around them in a vision-like way. This all means when I fail at communicating the intricacies of Pan's ki through drawing this is is purely because the eye works with three colours and ki works with millions of possible - and seemingly impossible - combinations, never-mind every other sense and memory type that can be folded in. Ki-sense by default is a synaesthetic experience. There is no way for me to communicate the richness of ki-sense without getting you to learn to use it in the first place.

And if I haven't convinced you to work on developing your ki-sense after this, I don't think I ever will.

In case you've been wondering, this study would have been impossible to sneak passed the University's ethics board without raising suspicion. Instead, I did the study at Capsule Corp on their mostly-idle medical-grade scanner. Bulma installed the beast to settle an argument with Vegeta on how much damage his martial arts training was doing to his body. …Let's just say results were inconclusive as neither would concede. Bulma was very keen for me to use it, even running some of the analysis herself - she did admit in the end she was pleased something “less petty” came of the machine's installation. Conducting a study without ethics isn't good scientific practice I know, and for that and other questionable research I've performed on myself I fully expect to get into trouble, but needs must. I doubt anyone repeating this particular study would have trouble obtaining ethics however, so don't fret if you're ever asked to be part of the replication!

I've introduced a lot of science in this section, I realise. I'm hoping parts may be familiar to you, maybe you now have an army of “fun facts” to share at parties at least. It goes without saying that proficiency in ki-sense does not require this level of background knowledge, but I feel compelled to provide the information nonetheless to paint a fuller, multi-wavelength picture. Many of these concepts, appearing tangential now, will be referred to again directly or in analogy. The dual-nature of light will rear its head again, for example, in the next section.

next section previous first contents ask?

[paullassiterca]

The Best Anti-Anxiety Foods to Munch On

Whenever their stress levels rise, some people typically reach for a bag of chips or pint of ice cream, a habit known as “stress eating”1 or “emotional eating.” But although you may temporarily feel good after eating “comfort food,” you might end up regretting this in the long term. Emotional eating can result in inability to address the situation responsible for triggering unhealthy heating habits, devastating stress2 and weight gain.3

These Stress-Busting Foods Are All You Need

Being anxious is not an excuse for you to be reckless with what you eat. The next time you’re down in the dumps, opt for these potentially stress-busting foods to allow you to combat these feelings:4

• Green leafy vegetables — According to Heather Mangieri, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, green leafy vegetables contain folate that produces “dopamine, a pleasure-inducing brain chemical [or neurotransmitter], helping you keep calm.”5 Your best bets for green leafy vegetables include spinach, kale and Swiss chard.6

• Fermented foods such as kimchi, kefir and natto — Beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, are abundant in fermented foods, and may positively impact your mood and brain health, given that they are able to move mood- and behavior-regulating signals to the brain via the vagus nerve.

One example of a beneficial probiotic is the Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain. It improved GABA levels in certain brain regions,7 and helped decrease corticosterone (a stress-inducing hormone) levels and alleviated anxiety- and depression-related behavior.8

• Animal-based omega-3 fats — Ideally acquired from fish like wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines or anchovies, or high-quality krill oil supplements, omega-3 fats can do wonders for your mood.

Research has proven that omega-3 fats were effective in inhibiting initial symptoms of depression without the side effects.9 Another study recorded a 20 percent decrease in anxiety among medical students who took omega-3s.10

• Blueberries — Pigments called anthocyanins are responsible for the deep colors of blueberries, and help with the brain’s production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that may boost your mood, memory and function.

• Bananas — These yellow fruits are home to dopamine, which may assist with promoting a better mood. Other vital mood-boosting nutrients present in bananas include B vitamins and magnesium. The former may help calm down the nervous system.

• Kiwis — These vitamin C-rich fruits may not just assist with combating infections, but aid in alleviating stress too. Studies have shown that consistent vitamin C intake helped lower both levels of stress hormones in the blood and typical indicators of physical and emotional stress.11

• Dark chocolate — Anandamide, a neurotransmitter found in dark chocolate, is said to be beneficial in momentarily inhibiting negative feelings of pain and depression. However, eat chocolate in moderation, since some varieties contain high amounts of sugar that can be devastating for your health.

• Turmeric — This spice has been renowned globally, and most of its health benefits may be traced to the pigment curcumin. It’s responsible for the spice’s bright yellow-orange hue and health benefits, such as neuroprotective properties that may defend your brain and improve your mood.12

Does the Combination of Caffeine and Anxiety Work?

Caffeine-containing beverages like sports drinks should not be considered for anxiety disorder patients because it may worsen their condition.13 However, a cup of organic, shade-grown black coffee without added creamers, sugars or sweeteners may be an exception to this rule.

A cup of joe can positively affect brain health by enhancing production of neurotransmitters that may assist with mood control, and promoting release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that allows brain stem cells to develop new neurons.

The key to making coffee work for you, despite the caffeine in it, is to consume it in moderation and know the amount of coffee your body can tolerate in a given day, since different studies have suggested varying amounts of black coffee for a specific benefit. However, if you’re pregnant, you should refrain from drinking any coffee at all.  

Let Go of Mood-Wrecking Foods

Steer clear of these three types of foods if you have been diagnosed with anxiety or are feeling anxious, since they can exacerbate symptoms:

• Sugar — Excessive sugar intake may contribute to different health problems for your mental and overall health. Apart from causing changes to blood sugar levels and mood swings, consuming way too much sugar may lead to insulin and leptin resistance that can cause impaired brain signaling, and reduce BDNF activity that may negatively affect stimulation or promotion of healthy brain neurons.

You may increase your depression risk if you consume excessive amounts of sugar as well, since this substance may cause chemical reactions in the body that may trigger chronic inflammation and immune system disruptions.

• Gluten — This protein found in grains like wheat, rye and barley14 was proven to negatively impact your mood and brain health. Various studies have proven this point. For instance, a 2001 Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology study showed that people with untreated celiac disease tend to experience anxiety and/or depression.15

Another study, published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica in 2005, revealed that subjects who underwent a gluten-free diet experienced reductions or even a full remission of schizophrenia symptoms.16

• Processed foods — You must avoid these foods, which are usually made with sugar or gluten, trans fats, artificial sweeteners and colors, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and synthetic ingredients, as much as possible because these may cause irritability and poor mood.

MORE ABOUT ANXIETY

• Anxiety: Introduction

• What is Anxiety?

• Anxiety Versus Panic Attacks

• Anxiety in Children

• Anxiety During Pregnancy

• Panic Attacks and Anxiety

• Anxiety Causes

• Anxiety Types

• Anxiety Symptoms

• Anxiety Treatment

• Anxiety Prevention

• Anxiety Diet

• Anxiety Support Groups

• Anxiety FAQ

Previous

Anxiety Prevention

Next

Anxiety Support Groups

Previous Anxiety Prevention

Next Anxiety Support Groups

from Articles http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/03/31/xdjm18-anxiety-18mcsa-diet.aspx source https://niapurenaturecom.tumblr.com/post/183834715756

[jerrytackettca]

The Best Anti-Anxiety Foods to Munch On

Whenever their stress levels rise, some people typically reach for a bag of chips or pint of ice cream, a habit known as “stress eating”1 or “emotional eating.” But although you may temporarily feel good after eating “comfort food,” you might end up regretting this in the long term. Emotional eating can result in inability to address the situation responsible for triggering unhealthy heating habits, devastating stress2 and weight gain.3

These Stress-Busting Foods Are All You Need

Being anxious is not an excuse for you to be reckless with what you eat. The next time you’re down in the dumps, opt for these potentially stress-busting foods to allow you to combat these feelings:4

Green leafy vegetables: According to Heather Mangieri, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, green leafy vegetables contain folate that produces “dopamine, a pleasure-inducing brain chemical [or neurotransmitter], helping you keep calm.”5

Your best bets for green leafy vegetables include spinach, kale and Swiss chard.6

Fermented foods such as kimchi, kefir and natto: Beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, are abundant in fermented foods, and may positively impact your mood and brain health, given that they are able to move mood- and behavior-regulating signals to the brain via the vagus nerve.

One example of a beneficial probiotic is the Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain. It improved GABA levels in certain brain regions,7 and helped decrease corticosterone (a stress-inducing hormone) levels and alleviated anxiety- and depression-related behavior.8

Animal-based omega-3 fats: Ideally acquired from fish like wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines or anchovies, or high-quality krill oil supplements, omega-3 fats can do wonders for your mood.

Research has proven that omega-3 fats were effective in inhibiting initial symptoms of depression without the side effects.9 Another study recorded a 20 percent decrease in anxiety among medical students who took omega-3s.10

Blueberries: Pigments called anthocyanins are responsible for the deep colors of blueberries, and help with the brain’s production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that may boost your mood, memory and function.

Bananas: These yellow fruits are home to dopamine, which may assist with promoting a better mood.

Other vital mood-boosting nutrients present in bananas include B vitamins and magnesium. The former may help calm down the nervous system.

Kiwis: These vitamin C-rich fruits may not just assist with combating infections, but aid in alleviating stress too.

Studies have shown that consistent vitamin C intake helped lower both levels of stress hormones in the blood and typical indicators of physical and emotional stress.11

Dark chocolate: Anandamide, a neurotransmitter found in dark chocolate, is said to be beneficial in momentarily inhibiting negative feelings of pain and depression.

However, eat chocolate in moderation, since some varieties contain high amounts of sugar that can be devastating for your health.

Turmeric: This spice has been renowned globally, and most of its health benefits may be traced to the pigment curcumin.

It’s responsible for the spice’s bright yellow-orange hue and health benefits, such as neuroprotective properties that may defendyour brain and improve your mood.12

Does the Combination of Caffeine and Anxiety Work?

Caffeine-containing beverages like sports drinks should not be considered for anxiety disorder patients because it may worsen their condition.13 However, a cup of organic, shade-grown black coffee without added creamers, sugars or sweeteners may be an exception to this rule.

A cup of joe can positively affect brain health by enhancing production of neurotransmitters that may assist with mood control, and promoting release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that allows brain stem cells to develop new neurons.

The key to making coffee work for you, despite the caffeine in it, is to consume it in moderation and know the amount of coffee your body can tolerate in a given day, since different studies have suggested varying amounts of black coffee for a specific benefit. However, if you’re pregnant, you should refrain from drinking any coffee at all.  

Let Go of Mood-Wrecking Foods

Steer clear of these three types of foods if you have been diagnosed with anxiety or are feeling anxious, since they can exacerbate symptoms:

• Sugar: Excessive sugar intake may contribute to different health problems for your mental and overall health. Apart from causing changes to blood sugar levels and mood swings, consuming way too much sugar may lead to insulin and leptin resistance that can cause impaired brain signaling, and reduce BDNF activity that may negatively affect stimulation or promotion of healthy brain neurons.

You may increase your depression risk if you consume excessive amounts of sugar as well, since this substance may cause chemical reactions in the body that may trigger chronic inflammation and immune system disruptions.

• Gluten: This protein found in grains like wheat, rye and barley14 was proven to negatively impact your mood and brain health. Various studies have proven this point. For instance, a 2001 Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology study showed that people with untreated celiac disease tend to experience anxiety and/or depression.15

Another study, published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica in 2005, revealed that subjects who underwent a gluten-free diet experienced reductions or even a full remission of schizophrenia symptoms.16

• Processed foods: You must avoid these foods, which are usually made with sugar or gluten, trans fats, artificial sweeteners and colors, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and synthetic ingredients, as much as possible because these may cause irritability and poor mood.

MORE ABOUT ANXIETY

• Anxiety: Introduction

• What is Anxiety?

• Anxiety Versus Panic Attacks

• Anxiety in Children

• Anxiety During Pregnancy

• Panic Attacks and Anxiety

• Anxiety Causes

• Anxiety Types

• Anxiety Symptoms

• Anxiety Treatment

• Anxiety Prevention

• Anxiety Diet

• Anxiety Support Groups

• Anxiety FAQ

Previous

Anxiety Prevention

Next

Anxiety Support Groups

Previous Anxiety Prevention

Next Anxiety Support Groups

from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/03/31/anti-anxiety-foods.aspx

source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/the-best-anti-anxiety-foods-to-munch-on

[sciencespies]

A marvelous molecular machine

https://sciencespies.com/biology/a-marvelous-molecular-machine/

A marvelous molecular machine

The adaptive iridocytes in the skin of the California market squid are able tune color through most of the spectrum.  Credit: University of California – Santa Barbara

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Squids, octopuses and cuttlefish are undisputed masters of deception and camouflage. Their extraordinary ability to change color, texture and shape is unrivaled, even by modern technology.

Researchers in the lab of UC Santa Barbara professor Daniel Morse have long been interested in the optical properties of color-changing animals, and they are particularly intrigued by the opalescent inshore squid. Also known as the California market squid, these animals have evolved the ability to finely and continuously tune their color and sheen to a degree unrivaled in other creatures. This enables them to communicate, as well as hide in plain sight in the bright and often featureless upper ocean.

In previous work, the researchers uncovered that specialized proteins, called reflectins, control reflective pigment cells—iridocytes—which in turn contribute to changing the overall visibility and appearance of the creature. But still a mystery was how the reflectins actually worked.

“We wanted now to understand how this remarkable molecular machine works,” said Morse, a Distinguished Emeritus Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and principal author of a paper that appears in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Understanding this mechanism, he said, would provide insight into the tunable control of emergent properties, which could open the door to the next generation of bio-inspired synthetic materials.

Light-reflecting skin

Like most cephalopods, opalescent inshore squid, practice their sorcery by way of what may be the most sophisticated skin found anywhere in nature. Tiny muscles manipulate the skin texture while pigments and iridescent cells affect its appearance. One group of cells controls their color by expanding and contracting cells in their skin that contain sacks of pigment.

Behind these pigment cells are a layer of iridescent cells—those iridocytes—that reflect light and contribute to the animals’ color across the entire visible spectrum. The squids also have leucophores, which control the reflectance of white light. Together, these layers of pigment-containing and light-reflecting cells give the squids the ability to control the brightness, color and hue of their skin over a remarkably broad palette.

Unlike the color from pigments, the highly dynamic hues of the opalescent inshore squid result from changing the iridocyte’s structure itself. Light bounces between nanometer-sized features about the same size as wavelengths in the visible part of the spectrum, producing colors. As these structures change their dimensions, the colors change. Reflectin proteins are behind these features’ ability to shapeshift, and the researchers’ task was to figure out how they do the job.

Thanks to a combination of genetic engineering and biophysical analyses, the scientists found the answer, and it turned out to be a mechanism far more elegant and powerful than previously imagined.

“The results were very surprising,” said first author Robert Levenson, a postdoctoral researcher in Morse’s lab. The group had expected to find one or two spots on the protein that controlled its activity, he said. “Instead, our evidence showed that the features of the reflectins that control its signal detection and the resulting assembly are spread across the entire protein chain.”

An Osmotic Motor

Reflectin, which is contained in closely packed layers of membrane in iridocytes, looks a bit like a series of beads on a string, the researchers found. Normally, the links between the beads are strongly positively charged, so they repel each other, straightening out the proteins like uncooked spaghetti.

Morse and his team discovered that nerve signals to the reflective cells trigger the addition of phosphate groups to the links. These negatively charged phosphate groups neutralize the links’ repulsion, allowing the proteins to fold up. The team was especially excited to discover that this folding exposed new, sticky surfaces on the bead-like portions of the reflectin, allowing them to clump together. Up to four phosphates can bind to each reflectin protein, providing the squid with a precisely tunable process: The more phosphates added, the more the proteins fold up, progressively exposing more of the emergent hydrophobic surfaces, and the larger the clumps grow.

As these clumps grow, the many, single, small proteins in solution become fewer, larger groups of multiple proteins. This changes the fluid pressure inside the membrane stacks, driving water out—a type of “osmotic motor” that responds to the slightest changes in charge generated by the neurons, to which patches of thousands of leucophores and iridocytes are connected. The resulting dehydration reduces the thickness and spacing of the membrane stacks, which shifts the wavelength of reflected light progressively from red to yellow, then to green and finally blue. The more concentrated solution also has a higher refractive index, which increases the cells’ brightness.

“We had no idea that the mechanism we would discover would turn out to be so remarkably complex yet contained and so elegantly integrated in one multifunctional molecule—the block-copolymeric reflectin—with opposing domains so delicately poised that they act like a metastable machine, continually sensing and responding to neuronal signaling by precisely adjusting the osmotic pressure of an intracellular nanostructure to precisely fine-tune the color and brightness of its reflected light,” Morse said.

What’s more, the researchers found, the whole process is reversible and cyclable, enabling the squid to continually fine-tune whatever optical properties its situation calls for.

New Design Principles

The researchers had successfully manipulated reflectin in previous experiments, but this study marks the first demonstration of the underlying mechanism. Now it could provide new ideas to scientists and engineers designing materials with tunable properties. “Our findings reveal a fundamental link between the properties of biomolecular materials produced in living systems and the highly engineered synthetic polymers that are now being developed at the frontiers of industry and technology,” Morse said.

“Because reflectin works to control osmotic pressure, I can envision applications for novel means of energy storage and conversion, pharmaceutical and industrial applications involving viscosity and other liquid properties, and medical applications,” he added.

Remarkably, some of the processes at work in these reflectin proteins are shared by the proteins that assemble pathologically in Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative conditions, Morse observed. He plans to investigate why this mechanism is reversible, cyclable, harmless and useful in the case of reflectin, but irreversible and pathological for other proteins. Perhaps the fine-structured differences in their sequences can explain the disparity, and even point to new paths for disease prevention and treatment.

Explore further

Marine biologists clarify how specialized cells in squid skin are able to control the animal’s coloration

More information: Robert Levenson et al. Calibration between trigger and color: Neutralization of a genetically encoded coulombic switch and dynamic arrest precisely tune reflectin assembly, Journal of Biological Chemistry (2019). DOI: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.010339

Provided by University of California – Santa Barbara

Citation: A marvelous molecular machine (2019, November 15) retrieved 16 November 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-11-marvelous-molecular-machine.html

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