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Our Search For Water On Mars Has Turned Snowy (hurricane storms)

By Aydan Corkern

 For centuries it has been wondered by man whether or not there was life on the Martian planet or not. Now that we have actually been able to send a rover there to explore the surface of this intriguing planet, we believe now that at least there is no visible life there. The testing done by the rover and the technical gadgets it is equipped has been taking soil and rock samples to see if there might be some sort of small lifeform or water.

One of the main things scientists wanted to know for sure other than are there any life forms on Mars is whether or not there is any water present just below the surface of the planet anywhere. Scientists firmly believe that water once flowed on this planet, but dried up on the surface long ago. In the water that is though to be beneath the ground is where scientists were hopeful that they might still find some form of life.

So far there has been no discovery of anything living. At least if there has been anything found alive the rest of us have not been told about it. One of the recent discoveries that have been made is when the rover detected snowfall in the Martian atmosphere. This is a welcome finding since it is associated with water. The snowfall and ice particles evidently were not making it to the ground surface, but it is intriguing for scientists none the less.

They have said they will continue to watch for more of the snow falling on the North Polar cap for as long as the rover is still working. Soon the sun will be setting for Mars and will not return until sometime in April. This means that the solar powered rover will stop working for good. The rover has already lasted longer than was expected and this is a good thing else the snowfall might not have been detected had the rover already shut down as scientists though it should have.

What all of this water on Mars business really has to do with all of us is still in question. It could mean more to our future generations and then again it could all amount to nothing except gaining knowledge about a far away place that none of us would ever have the opportunity to do to and would we want to even if we could?

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Cognitive Drug to Enhance Brain Functioning
By Robert Webb

 A pharmaceutical company is now currently working on a new drug that may be able to be used as a cognitive enhancer. In theory it could improve a person’s working memory. Working memory is the process by which the brain can temporarily store and also manipulate certain information, such as remembering a phone number. This specific drug is able to enhance the functioning a dopamine type 1 receptor in the brain. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in the brain that has a variety of functions. Increasing dopamine can often increase mood and a person’s attention by stimulating one of 5 different dopamine receptors. Stimulation of the D1 receptor is extremely important for the proper functioning of a person’s working memory. Under stimulation of these types of receptors leads to the cognitive dysfunction that is often found in those with attention deficit disorder.

Enhancing D1 receptor activity may allow a person to have an improved attention span. Improper D1 receptor functioning is also correlated with what are called “negative” schizophrenic symptoms. Negative schizophrenic symptoms include lack or decline in speech, apathy, emotional blunting and poor social motivation. A person with negative schizophrenia may have enormous social difficulties. So this new pharmaceutical compound may be able to improve several specific schizophrenic symptoms. Working memory can decline as a person ages due to a reduction in D1 receptor number. So this new pharmaceutical compound may be able to improve cognitive problems that are correlated with old age.

The new drug is actually an inhibitor of a new intracellular target that can increase activity of the D1 receptor in brain cells. Preclinical data has already shown that it may treat a wide variety of disorders such as schizophrenia, ADHD, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. All of these disorders may have improved cognitive functioning after using this drug.

Increasing activation of the D1 receptor may also have a positive impact on a person’s mood. Increasing dopamine is known to enhance a person’s pleasure response via the mesolimbic system of the brain. This new drug should not induce psychoses which can be induced by a dopamine type 2 enhancer sometimes. If this drug gains FDA approval it should be very useful for a variety of brain ailments. It may be used to increase cognition, functioning and improve a person’s mood. It may also be used by regular people to improve normal cognitive functioning on the job or at school.

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Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 3:40 pm and is filed under science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.