Posts made by gaynight

Straight guy realizes his best friend might be his boyfriend in cutest Reddit post ever - Gay Star News
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/straight-guy-realizes-his-best-friend-might-be-his-boyfriend-in-cutest-reddit-post-ever/#gs.ZX54LT0

28 October 2015by Joe Morgan 
Sometimes when you’re looking for love, it can be in the place where you least expect it. But sometimes it can be staring at you right in the face.
A guy who thought he was straight is starting to figure that out, realizing his best friend might actually be his boyfriend.
Reddit user ProbablyGay1 posted the following, and it is very, very cute.
This is kind of a weird one.
Ian and I were in the same English class in high school. I assumed he was out of my friend league because he was really handsome-not ripped, just genetically blessed in the facial department-and seemed really smart and cool, so nerdy me assumed that he was super popular.
Ian and I ended up seeing each other a lot. Eventually I decided that it was time to stop being afraid of Ian and try to be friends with him.
About a year after I really started hanging out with Ian, there was a revelatory moment where I realized that I was Ian’s best friend. The whole time I’d known him I’d just assumed that he had a ton of great friends that he didn’t talk about.
I had been so wrong about Ian. Yeah he was quiet, but that was only because he was kind of introverted, and he doesn’t like talking about himself. Also, “too cool” my ass-Ian’s a fucking nerd, just like me. He seen every episode of Pokemon and Digimon AND Yu-Gi-Oh. We would hang out at each other’s houses doing homework and watching cartoons after school a lot.
Flash forward to today. Ian and I attend different colleges, but we talk everyday. Puberty has been kind to me. I’m not on Ian’s level of attractiveness, but I’m pretty confident these days. Lately I’ve been wondering if Ian and I are more than just good friends at this point. Some reasons;
Ian HATES being touched. At first I noticed that he was uncomfortable when I’d touch him so I didn’t. After a while, HE started doing it. When we’re alone, he’ll move next to me and put his head on my shoulder. It’s kind of adorable. Now we’re physical all the time-not sexually, but he’ll lean against me if we’re standing together, or put his arm around my shoulder.
At first when we slept over one of us would sleep on the floor or couch or something. Now we just share beds. I’ve woken up with his arm around me before. Not gonna lie; my heart did embarrassing things the first time that happened. I woke up before him and just thought about how nice this was, and how lucky I was. He woke up a few minutes later and we looked at each other smiling, and then I said, “Gay.” And we both burst out laughing.
We go on each other’s family vacations.
Once he went on a research trip for college. When he came back he told me he identified a new type of thing (I’m being vague, his major is weirdly specific). He said he named it after me. I was kind of floored, and asked him why. He said, “Who else would I name it after?”
Neither of us have dated anyone recently. Personally, I just haven’t felt inclined. I think maybe it’s because I already feel like I have Ian. I don’t have a gender preference and my friends know this. Ian has always been vague about his orientation.
We go places alone a lot, like the beach. Once I was having a bad day and he surprised me by showing up my house and knocking on my window. He drove us to the top of a mountain, and we climbed into the back seat and just laid there together for hours.
While we’re in college, he sends me cute messages. Like “I miss you,” “Something reminded me of you,” etc. I found out from his friends that he talks about me a lot, which is a relief because I talk about him to my friends all the time. We mail each other gifts sometimes. He sends me samples of specimens from his research, like cool rocks or leaves. It sounds dumb, literally receiving rocks and leaves in the mail, but you bet your ass I have a whole shelf devoted to that shit. Honestly, Ian could probably send me a turd that he found scientifically significant and I’d treasure it.
I think about Ian a lot. He’s attractive and smart and funny and overall, probably my favorite person ever. It’s embarrassing how much I like Ian. He can make my whole day by texting me.
As you can see, there are a lot of things that can be explained as things that regular straight best friends do, and other things that . . . can’t. (What, straight bros don’t snuggle?)
I’m graduating college this year (he’s staying to get a higher degree) and I realized it’s the first time I can decide where to live, and I also realized that where I want to live is with him. But I feel like if we’re going to live together, I should finally figure out whether we’re boyfriends. Ian’s pretty reserved, so it looks like I’m going to have to be the brave one here.
tl;dr: My best friend and I have some not-so-platonic behavior. How do I ask him whether we’re boyfriends, or if he wants to be?
Other Redditors gave great advice, including from one girl who had a very similar experience.
Hi there OP, your story reminds me of the time when i hang out with my current girlfriend. (Fyi, I’m a girl too and she’s my first.) We started out exactly like how you guys did and one day we were having a sleepover and I kissed her cheeks. Then she kissed me back and then everything was a blur and then boom she dropped the question and we got together.
I would suggest finding a private time to drop the question to him if not, tell him how you feel about him. Great feelings, heart fluttering moments, tell him all that. From what you posted it definitely sounds like he feel the same.
And another that was just very jealous at all the cuteness.
Time for a weekend visit.
Hold the hugs a little longer. When you guys are just around and alone hold his hand. Play in his hair if he put his head on your shoulder. Snuggle a bit deeper and longer. Hum contentedly when he puts his arms around you.
If you cuddle in bed and all of the above weren’t rejected your face needs to find it’s way to that wonderful spot between neck and shoulder…be a brave soul and drop a kiss there and then wait. There’s nothing about that move that can be confused. Either things will amp up and you can have a discussion or he will ignore it and then you do the same.
Or you can find your warrior spirit and just take the plunge. Tell him how you feel. Reassure him he’ll always be your best friend no matter what. See what happens.
You guys are too cute and I want to punch you I’m so jealous. Good luck you adorable little bastard.

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays
http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/we-asked-lgbt-folks-about-not-going-home-for-the-holidays#.nrD5r9Bo
“Family is where you make it and family is who you make it with.”

Heading home for the holidays to see friends and family can be a really exciting time.

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

Facebook: video.php

But sometimes, it’s just a stressful one.

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

Facebook: video.php

If you’re closeted, or your family isn’t super accepting, the holidays can frankly be the opposite of jolly.



When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

BuzzFeed

We asked people to share their own feelings about going home for the holidays and to provide some tips for making the most out of this time of year.

We asked people to share their own feelings about going home for the holidays and to provide some tips for making the most out of this time of year.

Whether you’re headed home for the holidays or staying with friends, it’s important to remember:

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

When You Don't Feel Comfortable Going Home For The Holidays

The Crazy Reason This Teen's Yearbook Quote Was Almost Banned by His School
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a41834/maxwell-barrett-yearbook-quote/
By Tess Koman
Jun 11, 2015
9.7k

Not only did Maxwell Barrett, 18, use his senior yearbook quote as an opportunity to come out to his parents, but he also used it as a way to fight a teacher's homophobic attitude. "Of course I dress well, I didn't spend all that time in the closet for nothing," his quote (attributed to "Unknown") reads.

The senior at Raritan High School in Hazlet, New Jersey, told Cosmopolitan.com in an email that when he first submitted his quote to the yearbook committee, a teacher pulled it from the publication. "I had a sit-down with the teacher of the club and she told me she didn't like the quote and that I was trying to give myself too much 'shock value.'"

Barrett wrote that other teachers and students helped him petition the principal and vice principal because "this teacher could not just pull my quote because she is uncomfortable with gay people." Finally, he was allowed to submit his quote as is.

The feedback has been nothing but positive. He first put it up on Twitter where it got thousands of favorites. On Tumblr, it really blew up, garnering 70,000 reblogs overnight.

As for how he decided on the quote: "I either wanted to do something meaningful or something out of this world that others haven't seen before … I had yet to come out to my parents about me being gay (but of course they already knew), so I thought this would be the funniest and easiest way to do so."

Barrett is the latest delightful teen in a series of delightful teens who've chosen sassy yearbook quotes this year. May they all live long and continue to sass their elders.

WARNING

A HIV-Positive Dating App Leaked 5,000 Users' Data - BuzzFeed News#.xanBnoeEX4
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemlee/a-dating-app-for-hiv-positive-people-leaked-sensitive-data#.xanBnoeEX4

Why HIV is More Evil Than We Could Have Imagined
http://io9.gizmodo.com/5948154/why-hiv-is-more-evil-than-we-could-have-imagined

BBC - Earth - We know the city where HIV first emerged
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151119-we-know-the-city-where-hiv-first-infected-a-human

I heared there is an dating app just for HIV patients.

Secrets of water-skipping revealed
Secrets of water-skipping revealed
http://www.gizmag.com/engineers-usu-skipping-spheres/41685/

World's oldest twins born prematurely in 1912 celebrate 104th birthday | Daily Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3445494/World-s-oldest-twins-born-prematurely-1912-weighing-kilo-three-pounds-celebrate-104th-birthday-longevity-lasting-friendship.html#ixzz405bkUdSa

Women who have more sex have LESS risk of oral cancer say scientists | Daily Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3446699/Women-sex-risk-oral-cancer-say-scientists-s-not-true-men.html#ixzz40Bt0g1zm

Green Slime Can See | Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/new-research-shows-that-slime-can-see

Cyanobacteria in a pond
Christian Fischer/Wikimedia
Cyanobacteria in a pond
You don't need eyes to see–at least, not if you're a cyanobacteria.
In a paper published in eLife, researchers say that they've figured out how cyanobacteria and other single-celled bacteria can detect and move toward a source of light. It turns out that they use their entire body as an eye.
“The fact that bacteria respond to light is one of the oldest scientific observations of their behaviour,” lead researcher Conrad Mullineaux said. “Our observation that bacteria are optical objects is pretty obvious with hindsight, but we never thought of it until we saw it. And no one else noticed it before either, despite the fact that scientists have been looking at bacteria under microscopes for the last 340 years.”
Mullineaux and colleagues examined a kind of cyanobacteria called Synechocystis. Synechocystis has a round shape, and the researchers observed that as light hit on one side of the bacterium, the bacterium acted as a lens, refracting the light and focusing it in a concentrated point on the opposite side. Light receptors in the cell pick up on the concentration of light and move away from it, towards the light source, using tiny tentacles called pili.
How Cyanobacteria 'See'
eLife
How Cyanobacteria 'See'
Though the end result (being able to navigate the world by sensing light) is the same in both cyanobacteria and seeing animals (such as humans), the actual biology is very different. It kind of has to be, since a cyanobacterium is a single cell and a single human retina contains millions of cells. But, amazingly enough, both human eyes and cyanobacteria can see in a similar way.
Just like the initial images produced by a human eye, the image seen by a cyanobacteria is upside-down. Unlike them, we have a brain that flips the image back upright. We have another advantage too. All those millions of cells give us a much clearer and more defined picture than cyanobacteria could ever hope to get.
To get a sense of the cyanobacteria's capacity for movement check out this time lapse of the growth of a Synechocystis colony.

Our Neanderthal DNA May Help Scientists Understand Depression And Addiction | Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/neandertal-dna-linked-to-dozen-medical-conditions

Ephert via Wikimedia Commons
Neandertal vs human skulls
A human skull, left, and a Neandertal skull, right.
Around 60,000 years ago, modern humans left Africa to begin exploring other continents. Along the way they met other early humans, such as Neanderthals, and the different species periodically bred together. Scientists have known this for a few years—there’s evidence in our DNA, of which 1.5 to 4 percent in modern Europeans is Neanderthal (it's even higher in people from other parts of the world–people from East Asia have 20 percent more Neanderthal DNA). But scientists never knew if those bits of genetic code had a lasting effect on our health. After analyzing specific parts of DNA in 28,000 people, a team led by researchers at Vanderbilt University discovered correlations between Neanderthal DNA and 12 different health conditions, including depression and disorders of the skin and blood. The researchers published their work today in the journal Science.
The researchers identified 135,000 alleles, or variations in the genetic code, that some modern humans had inherited from Neanderthals. They then correlated the presence of those variations to more than 1,500 medical conditions listed in the patients’ electronic medical records.
Neanderthal DNA was correlated with a higher incidence of depression, addiction to tobacco, skin lesions caused by the sun, a slower metabolism, too much blood clotting, and a mutation connected to Parkinson’s disease.
Clearly, these genetic variations aren’t helping us be healthier these days. But that might not have always been the case. Back when humans and Neanderthals were roaming around Europe together, faster blood clotting would have been essential to quickly close open wounds to stave off infection. A slower metabolism would have been useful when food was more scarce or lower in calories than we have now.
The findings show how much can be gleaned from a huge dataset like the one the researchers used. Of course, it wasn’t all easy—some of the medical entries didn’t fit the right format, and not all the patients had genetic information available as well. But as clinicians hammer out some of the issues with electronic medical records and genetic testing becomes more common, this type of dataset will surely improve in the future.
In upcoming studies the researchers hope to continue to identify inherited genes that provide the underpinnings for contemporary diseases. If scientists can better understand the diseases themselves, they may also be able to develop more effective treatments.
Correction 2/12/2016, 1:00 p.m.: This article previously stated that 1.5 to 4 percent of the DNA in both Europeans and Asians is Neanderthal. That is the correct percentage for Europeans, but it's actually higher in Asians. It's been corrected and we apologize for the error.

Behold, The First Artwork Depicting Two People Making Sweet Love
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/behold-the-first-artwork-depicting-two-people-making-sweet-love_us_56be2b99e4b0c3c5505133a5?utm_hp_ref=arts

、

The image below is the calcite cobble sculpture known as "Ain Sakhri lovers," because it was found in the Ain Sakhri caves near Bethlehem. The little, 102-millimeter love scene is estimated to date back to around 9000 B.C. Yes, around the same time copper was discovered, goats were domesticated, and people began making bricks from clay, one Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic softie let his emotions out into the world, crafting two lump-like bodies smushed together in, what we can only imagine, is pure ecstasy.

The artwork, The British Museum explained, was once a mere pebble, floating down a small river near Bethlehem. A forever anonymous person picked it up, using his or her hands to chisel away at the rock until a passionate embrace blurring bodily boundaries remained.

Although at first glance the artwork might look like a horny Stone Ager threw together the three-dimensional equivalent of a stick figure, further examination reveals the complexity of the form. In an interview with the BBC, Marc Quinn explained his fascination with the object, that forces the viewer to encounter the bodies embedded in the piece as he or she would encounter a new lover.

"To me, what's incredible about this sculpture is that when you move it and look at it in different ways, it changes completely," Quinn said. "And so here you have this thing – from the side, you have the long shot of the embrace, you see the two figures. From another side it's a penis, from the other side a vagina, from another side it is breasts -- it seems to be formally mimicking the act of making love as well as representing it."

The piece came from a cave southeast of Jerusalem and was discovered in a small museum in 1933 by French diplomat René Neuville, who took interest in the object immediately. Researchers later determined the object was made in a domestic cave, a dwelling reserved for people known as the Natufians, who embraced agriculture and the storage of food. Quinn hypothesizes the recent abundance of food gave the Natufians and their descendants unprecedented new leisure time, which could have contributed to their reflection, creativity, or perhaps libido.

Another potentially relevant detail is that the Natufians had recently made strides in domesticating and breeding sheep and goats. Thus, they were becoming more attune to reproduction, fertility and genitalia. The sculpture is sometimes thought to have been a fertility figure, perhaps inspired by the newly invigorated breeding rituals.

The odd little artwork serves as a portal into another time and place, one that's nearly impossible to imagine. And yet, even 11,000 years ago, sex looks about the same. The figures are entwined so much their bodies dissolve, limbs seeming to wrap around each other ad infinitum. Their individual genders are indecipherable but, from different angles, different parts manifest themselves. It's a wonderfully dynamic image that, despite looking like a malformed walnut, is also radically ahead of its time.

Boy gives all 900 girls in his high school some flowers for Valentine's Day - CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-makes-sure-every-girl-in-his-school-gets-flower-on-valentines-day/
http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/02/13/9fda26f7-139e-4e77-bb8b-
At the young age of 14, Hayden Godfrey learned something new in school: No girl should feel alone on Valentine's Day.

As the middle schooler witnessed students pass out $1 red, white and pink carnations to the same group of girls year after year, he watched the disappointed faces of the dozens who were left out.

"I don't like this," he told his mom after school. "I feel really bad that things are this way."

That's when Godfrey decided to take matters into his own hands.

screen-shot-2016-02-13-at-3-00-20-pm.png
Carnations arrive at Sky View High School in Utah on Feb. 11, 2016. HAYDEN GODFREY/FACEBOOK
The next year, he anonymously sent flowers to the girls he didn't think would get anything.
"He remembers watching the girls who he sent them to and how surprised they were," his mother, Erin Godfrey, told CBS News.

The following Valentine's Day, he bought a bunch of roses and passed them out to girls in the hall who weren't carrying anything.

When Godfrey was a high school sophomore he decided to start saving money so, one day, he could buy a flower for every girl in the school.

As soon as Godfrey turned 16 he got a job at McDonald's, working in his small hometown – Smithfield, Utah.

For the past 18 months, the now 17-year-old has worked three jobs to save money to accomplish his goal.

By the time he got a girlfriend, his mom thought he'd back off.

But he didn't.

"He said, 'I'm still going to do this. This isn't about love; it's not about the commercial side of Valentine's -- it's about bringing joy to everybody,'" his mother recalled him saying.

Three jobs, two years in school and a few paychecks later, Godfrey purchased 900 carnations for $450.

On Thursday, he recruited his school drama club to help him pass out flowers to nearly 900 girls in Utah's Sky View High School.

screen-shot-2016-02-13-at-3-01-25-pm.png
Hayden Godfrey prepares to give every girl in school a carnation. HAYDEN GODFREY/FACEBOOK
"Today I passed out 900 carnations, one to every girl at SVHS and it was totally worth it," Godfrey wrote on Facebook afterward. "I don't think anything can compare to seeing every girl in your life holding a flower as they walk through the halls."

His mother said she was proud, but not surprised at her son's sweet gesture.

"Hayden has been an old soul since he was born," she said. "He's super, super sensitive to feelings."

The teen believed a carnation would be the perfect Valentine's Day flower for his girl friends: "It's a friendship flower -- a better symbol than a rose."

Though Godfrey doesn't have any future Valentine's Day plans, his mother doesn't think the ambitious boy's loving journey ends here.

"Every year has been quite the production," she said. "I can't imagine that he's just going to stop celebrating; it'll go on for a lifetime."

Women write better code, study suggests - BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35559439

Computer code written by women has a higher approval rating than that written by men - but only if their gender is not identifiable, new research suggests.
The US researchers analysed nearly 1.4 million users of the open source program-sharing service Github.
They found that pull requests - or suggested code changes - made on the service by women were more likely to be accepted than those by men.
The paper is awaiting peer review.
This means the results have yet to be critically appraised by other experts.
The researchers, from the computer science departments at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and North Carolina State University, looked at around four million people who logged on to Github on a single day - 1 April 2015.
Github is an enormous developer community which does not request gender information from its 12 million users.
However the team was able to identify whether roughly 1.4m were male or female - either because it was clear from the users' profiles or because their email addresses could be matched with the Google + social network.
The researchers accepted that this was a privacy risk but said they did not intend to publish the raw data.
fingers on keyboardsImage copyrightGetty Images
Image caption
The researchers found women fared better if their gender was not clear
The team found that 78.6% of pull requests made by women were accepted compared with 74.6% of those by men.
The researchers considered various factors, such as whether women were more likely to be responding to known issues, whether their contributions were shorter in length and so easier to appraise, and which programming language they were using, but they could not find a correlation.
However among users who were not well known within the community, those whose profiles made clear that they were women had a much lower acceptance rate than those whose gender was not obvious.
'Bias nonetheless'
"For outsiders, we see evidence for gender bias: women's acceptance rates are 71.8% when they use gender neutral profiles, but drop to 62.5% when their gender is identifiable . There is a similar drop for men, but the effect is not as strong," the paper noted.
"Women have a higher acceptance rate of pull requests overall, but when they're outsiders and their gender is identifiable, they have a lower acceptance rate than men.
"Our results suggest that although women on Github may be more competent overall, bias against them exists nonetheless," the researchers concluded.
Isis Anchalee holding up a sign which says Image copyrightIsis Anchalee
Image caption
Developer Isis Anchalee started a social media campaign last year when people questioned her career
Despite various high profile initiatives, tech firms continue to face challenges in terms of the diversity of their staff, in terms of both gender and ethnicity, particularly in more technical careers.
Just 16% of Facebook's tech staff and 18% of Google's are women according to figures released in 2015.
However the researchers' findings are still encouraging, computer scientist Dr Sue Black OBE told the BBC.
"I think we are going to see a resurgence of interest from women in not only coding but all sorts of tech-related careers over the next few years," she said.
"Knowing that women are great at coding gives strength to the case that it's better for everyone to have more women working in tech.
"It was a woman - Ada Lovelace - who came up with the idea of software in the first place, we owe it to her to make sure that we encourage and support women into the software industry," Dr Black added.

This Dog Is Smart, But Please Stop Claiming He Can Read
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dog-can-read-fernie-uk_us_56bf4ac2e4b0b40245c6db32?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Dogs are wonderful, compassionate and incredibly smart creatures – but probably can’t read printed English words.

You might think they could, though, after reading multiple headlines in the British media this week celebrating Fernie, an educational assistance dog who helps out in the classroom at Winford Primary School in the city of Bristol, southwest England.

First front page #journo #story #frontpagenews #bristolpost #cleverdog #reading #dogshelpingkids #dogthatcanread
A photo posted by Holly Thatcher (@hollythatchx) on Feb 12, 2016 at 6:07am PST
The claim is based on the dog’s apparent ability to respond to commands written on flash cards, as demonstrated in this video:

But the claim that Fernie is actually reading seems more than a little far-fetched. Andrea Kilkenny, professional dog trainer and owner of New Jersey pet training company Our Gang Pet Services, said the video provides good clues to what’s really going on.

“It looks to me like the dog is being cued with subtle body movements,” she told The Huffington Post in an email. “He is not reading the words on the cards. The owner has created very subtle body cues to signal to the dog which behavior to perform. Note, for example, when he holds the ‘down’ cue card, the handler leans slightly forward -- this is the signal the dog is cueing off of. When he holds up the 'Roll Over' cue card up, he leans forward slightly and then leans/nods to his left and the dog rolls over in response.“

Rosie Barclay, a clinical animal behaviorist of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, gave a similar assessment to The Telegraph.

Winford Primary school did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost about the dog. But even though Fernie might not be perusing War and Peace anytime soon, Kilkenny was impressed with the pup, her trainer, and the way that the pooch's presence helps out kids in the classroom.

“Nice training on the part of the owner, and he's found a way to pair with flash cards for the children's benefit,” she said.

The chocolate lab is part of a national program called Dogs Helping Kids. Responding to the flash cards is only small part of his duties.

“We find he has a very positive effect on children's learning,” Nik Gardner, headmaster and Fernie’s trainer, told the Telegraph. "For example, after he sits with pupils to listen to them read - which the children love, because they don't feel 'judged' - they get to do some training with him and reward him with a treat.”

Fernie is also more than happy to cuddle with kids who might get nervous or anxious during the day.

What a good boy!

Scientists identify the brain cells that represent feelings of isolation - ScienceAlert
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-identify-the-brain-cells-that-represent-feelings-of-isolation

This is what loneliness really looks like.
We're social animals, people. Over the course of thousands of years of evolution, we've found it easier to survive by sticking together, which makes it more likely we'll find vital resources like food and shelter. Without companionship for long periods, we don't feel well emotionally – perhaps because it's more dangerous for us to be alone.

Now, for the first time, scientists in the US have identified the brain region that represents these feeling of loneliness. In a study of mice, neuroscientists pinpointed a cluster of cells near the back of the brain, in an area called the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). According to the researchers, this neural circuit is what motivates social animals to seek out the company of others after periods of isolation.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time anyone has pinned down a loneliness-like state to a cellular substrate," said neuroscientist Kay Tye from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "Now we have a starting point for really starting to study this."

The findings, reported in Cell, are important because, while much research has looked at how the brain seeks out and responds to social interaction, we know comparatively little about how isolation and loneliness themselves motivate our social behaviour.

"There are many studies from human psychology describing how we have this need for social connection, which is particularly strong in people who feel lonely," said one of the researchers, Gillian Matthews. "But our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying that state is pretty slim at the moment."

The researchers first noticed DRN changes in mice brains in separate experiments involving drug testing, which required the animals to be isolated. They found that following a period of isolation, there was a strengthening of connections in the DRN. Subsequent tests showed that DRN neurons were not very active when the animals were housed together, but their activity surged after mice were reunited with one another.

When the team suppressed the DRN neurons using light, they found that isolated animals did not show the same level of rebound in sociability when reunited with their compatriots.

"That suggested these neurons are important for the isolation-induced rebound in sociability," said Tye. "When people are isolated for a long time and then they're reunited with other people, they're very excited, there's a surge of social interaction. We think that this adaptive and evolutionarily conserved trait is what we are modelling in mice, and these neurons could play a role in that increased motivation to socialise."

Interestingly, the more dominant an animal is in terms of group social hierarchy, the more responsive it seems to be to changes in DRN activity. In other words, socially dominant mice may be more susceptible to loneliness stemming from isolation.

"The social experience of every animal is not the same in a group," said Tye. "If you're the dominant mouse, maybe you love your social environment. And if you're the subordinate mouse, and you're being beat up every day, maybe it's not so fun. Maybe you feel socially excluded already."

According to Alcino Silva, a neurobiologist and psychiatrist from the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved with the research, the findings represent a new cornerstone for future studies of loneliness, and they could help us understand a range of social impairments – including social anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.

Of course, until scientists can identify similar effects in DRN neurons in human brains, we won't know for sure that these findings apply beyond mice – but it's a promising area for future research.

"There is something poetic and fascinating about the idea that modern neuroscience tools have allowed us to reach to the very depths of the human soul," said Silva, "and that in this search we have discovered that even the most human of emotions, loneliness, is shared in some recognisable form with even one of our distant mammalian relatives – the mouse."

US highway authorities concede that artificial intelligence can legally 'drive' a car - ScienceAlert
http://www.sciencealert.com/us-highway-authorities-concede-that-artificial-intelligence-can-legally-drive-a-car

In a major step forward for self-driving cars and the industry seeking to manufacture them, US highway authorities have informed Google that its autonomous vehicle systems could qualify as a "driver" in the eyes of the law.

A letter addressed to the company from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last week suggests that if self-driving vehicles (SDVs) can satisfy a number of safety standards, the fact that artificial intelligence (AI) is controlling the car – in the absence of any human controls – would not be a barrier to the car legally driving on US roads.

"We agree with Google its SDV will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years," writes chief counsel for the NHTSA, Paul A. Hemmersbaugh. "If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable to identify the 'driver' as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving. In this instance, an item of motor vehicle equipment, the [SDS Self-Driving System], is actually driving the vehicle."

While the letter offers only a qualified acknowledgment that AI systems could legally take over the steering wheel since nobody else in the car can do that job – some of Google's prototype vehicles, for instance, don't have steering wheels, gas pedals, or brakes for humans to operate – it's still being considered a major boost for self-driving transport.

"The intricate maze of legal questions surrounding autonomous vehicles is as big a hurdle to their arrival as the remaining technological challenges," automotive industry analyst Karl Brauer told Jordan Golson at The Verge. "However, if NHTSA is prepared to name artificial intelligence as a viable alternative to human-controlled vehicles, it could substantially streamline the process of putting autonomous vehicles on the road."

Advocates of self-driving vehicles point out that statistically, they're much less deadly than human drivers on the roads, but safety concerns mean they're still in all likelihood several years away from ferrying us around.

Aside from the efficiency of their AI-based systems, there's also the question of security, with today's Internet-connected vehicles already giving significant cause for concern when it comes to hacking.

Consumer ambivalence is another factor to consider, with polling showing human drivers aren't exactly wild about handing over control to machines. There's also the uneasy question of how people feel about AI systems that in some instances might be compelled to kill their drivers in order to save others.

Which are all ways of saying, as much as we love the idea of self-driving vehicles, this partial greenlight from the NHTSA is just one small victory on the road to them becoming a reality.

If carbon levels keep rising unabated, Earth's oceans could eventually evaporate - ScienceAlert
http://www.sciencealert.com/if-carbon-levels-keep-rising-unabated-earth-s-oceans-could-eventually-evaporate
PETER DOCKRILL 12 FEB 2016
Scientists predict that one day, with the Sun slowly evolving into a red giant, the intense heat and light it produces will make life on our planet impossible. This won't occur for millions of years, but when it does, extreme temperatures could theoretically also make the oceans evaporate, creating an irreversible 'moist greenhouse' effect.

But could the same process occur due to other causes unrelated to solar luminosity? Yes, according to a new study, whose authors say that the rise in atmospheric carbon that we're seeing today could, if left unabated, eventually create the same kind of conditions. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat – which is why global warming is happening – and if the carbon levels reached a certain point, bye-bye oceans.

To simulate what might happen if the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere kept increasing, the researchers ran computer modelling on an even wetter environment: a conceptual ocean planet, covered entirely in water (whereas Earth's surface is just 71 percent water). Could enough carbon in the air, trapping enough heat, eventually lead all the liquid water on this hypothetical planet to turn into steam and eventually pass out of the planet's atmosphere?

"Basically, yes, a very high CO2 saturation could lead to a state in which water would evaporate and eventually be lost," climatologist Max Popp from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany told Brian Merchant at Motherboard. "The process in which water would be lost to space would however take place over a period of millions to hundreds of millions of years (depending on several factors). Even though this is a long time from a human perspective, on geological time-scales this can be considered relatively quick."

The study, published in Nature Communications, found that on the hypothetical water planet, once CO2 levels reach 1,520 parts per million (PPM), average surface temperatures would increase to about 57 degrees Celsius (134.6 degrees Fahrenheit). At this point, the climate would begin to destabilise, resulting in evaporating water eventually being lost to space.

According to the researchers, the same thing could happen here on Earth, although our planet's climate is more complex due to land and ice masses. Our carbon levels are currently about 400 PPM, but they'd need to be much, much higher before our oceans started disappearing.

"So a rough estimate of the CO2 concentrations required to push Earth into a Moist Greenhouse, would be three to four times 1,520 PPM, so of the order of 4,500 to 6,000 PPM," Popp told Motherboard. "Our results are of relevance for the far future of Earth in the order of millions of years, but they are not of relevance for current and near-future climate."

Given the grand timescale of the evaporation, the researchers' findings might not seem particularly relevant to the global discussion on climate change. But they could have far greater significance to humankind's ambitions to one day live on other planets, in terms of helping to determine the long-term habitability of candidate worlds.

"There are several missions looking at other stars for planets and hundreds of planets have already been discovered," said Popp. "In order to learn whether any of these planets may be suitable for life, it is important to understand which of these planets could maintain liquid water at the surface for an extended period of time."

In that vein, NASA is helping getting people get ready for the idea of interplanetary travel with an awesome new collection of retro-futuristic space tourism posters. Not all these worlds would prove truly viable for human habitation, but that doesn't mean we can't dream about visiting them.

What Happened When Straight Men Touched Another Penis For The First Time
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/straight-men-touch-penis-first-time_us_56b8bd7ce4b01d80b247122f?utm_hp_ref=queer-voices
What happens when men who identify as straight are given the opportunity to touch another man's penis for the first time? YouTube stars Bria Kam and Chrissy Chambers, aka Bria&Chrissy, wanted to find out, so they recruited a few lucky heterosexual gentlemen to have an up close and personal experience with Alex, a man "who happens to have a penis."

The video is the latest in a series from the self-described "singing duo/lesbian couple" who have also brought us clips like "Lesbians Touch A Penis For The First Time" and "Gay Men Touch Vagina For The First Time."

To learn more about the inspiration for this video, as well as what Bria&Chrissy want viewers to take away from this experience and what they'd say to someone who thinks the clip is silly or frivolous, we chatted with the duo earlier this week.

The Huffington Post: Where did the idea for the video come from?
Bria&Chrissy: Following the success of the first two videos of the series, it inspired us to continue to push the envelope. The reactions have varied from video to video, and many of the comments show the extremely varying ways we look at men and women as it relates to sexuality. And they’re pretty fun to watch!

How hard was it to find straight-identified men who would agree to be in the video? Where did you find them?
It was very difficult to find straight guys who were comfortable participating. We asked about 40 guys, friends, acquaintances – Craigslist! We asked everyone. We had hoped for four men in the video but only found three that were willing to participate.

What statement are you trying to make about how our society views different body parts, masculinity and sexuality?
The statement comes from the reaction of the viewers. Our first video where lesbians touch a penis was laughed at. It was funny and cute and there was a fun curiosity that got to be explored. When we had gay men touch a vagina, the girl was ridiculed as a slut in comments and a lot of other comments were sexual in nature. There was no difference in these videos except that there was a gender reversal. This new video will absolutely garner many different reactions.

DRAGOS PUTUREANU
Bria Kam (left) and Chrissy Chambers (right) of BriaAndChrissy
What do you say to people who claim this video – and other videos in this series -- are silly, frivolous or unimportant?
Of course it’s silly! They’re very silly and funny videos. There’s a great level of innocence to them, which is wonderful. But frivolous and unimportant, on that we have to disagree. This series has managed to show huge disparities between the way we treat men and women and has also illustrated numerous misconceptions we all have on a multitude of issues, from genitalia to gender roles to sexual orientation. They are another part of a larger conversation pertaining to gender and sexuality. There’s a much bigger picture here. These videos are fun, and silly, and isn’t that the best way to educate -- to introduce an idea, create various examples and inspire a dialogue?

One of these straight-identifying men said that his face had to be blurred out or he could lose his job for being in the video. What do you think this says about our culture and its approach to sexuality and masculinity?
There are a lot of social pressures on straight men to avoid acting in a way that could be perceived as "gay" and that could label them that way for life, and it’s a very honest fear. There’s a very intense need to maintain one’s masculinity, publicly and privately. This man would be fired for participating and being identified in the video because the image it sends about him is too controversial. That’s crazy! But it enforces this idea that anything outside of the masculine norm is just bad. There should be no shame in curiosity, education, and being yourself. So if you’re straight, and you touch a penis, so what? If you touch a penis and you like it? Again, so what? The fear society inspires by saying that men must have a perfectly unmarred heterosexually-masculine image prevents people from even beginning to understand not only our differences, but many of our similarities.

What do you hope that people take away from this video?
We hope they take a minute to watch and listen and think about how it makes them feel. Uncomfortable? Offended? Did they think it was hilarious or pointless? Why? We want people to enjoy them and laugh and see things from another perspective, but as a series, we hope it challenges the collective perspective of the viewers about gender and sexuality and makes them ask themselves what truly is the difference between any of these videos?

This Japanese Restaurant Serves the World's Most Outrageous Dishes | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities
http://www.odditycentral.com/foods/this-japanese-restaurant-serves-the-worlds-most-outrageous-dishes.html
By Sumitra on February 4th, 2016 Category: Foods
Even if you’re into weird foods and like trying new and exciting things, you’ll still probably find the menu at this Japanese restaurant too hardcore. With dishes like cooked crocodile feet, grilled piranha and battered, deep-fried whole salamander, this place makes frog legs seem like baby food.

Located in Yokohama’s Noge district, Chinju-ya (rare meat monger) Restaurant is certainly not for the faint-hearted. In the six years he has been running the place, chef Fukuoka has taken pride in serving customers the rarest and most unusual meats from across the world. using his international connections, he can apparently get his hands on anything from axolotls and isopods to black scorpions and even camel meat. Their twitter feed ‘@Noge_chinjuya’ is frequently updated with their latest and greatest imports.

Chinju-ya-restaurant5

Photo: Tabelog

Their Christmas special, for instance, was ‘reindeer steak’, and before that they had ‘minced meat of badger’ served in a ‘dry curry’. Other dishes offered in the past include whole cockroach platter, soft boiled boar foot, whole piranhas, and bear meat stewed with chicken eggs. The menu varies per season and per availability of the meat, so if , for example, you get a craving for fried crocodile meat, you should call Chinju-ya to see if they have it before buying a plane ticket to Yokohama.

Chinju-ya-restaurant

Photos: @Noge_chinjuya/Twitter

And if you thought dessert provides some respite from all the weirdness and grossness, you were mistaken.  The apptly named ‘contaminated pudding’ – an otherwise tasty-looking treat infested with worms – is just one of the bizarre desserts you can try.

Chinju-ya-restaurant3

Photo: @Noge_chinjuya

The drinks menu is more of the same, with the star here being the snake sake served from a big bottle with an actual venomous snake immersed in the popular Japanese spirit.

Chinju-ya-restaurant6

Photo: Japanistas

As horrible as a place like Chinju-ya may seem to the squeamish, the unique restaurant is a actually very popular with locals and tourists alike, despite the spicy prices of the dishes. A roasted frog, for example, will set you back about $90, while a deep-fried salamander costs $190. Patrons seem to think the experience of feasting on these rare meats is more than worth it, though.

Chinju-ya-restaurant4

Photo: Hatenablog

Men spend more money after being romantically rejected – women do the opposite
http://www.psypost.org/2016/02/men-spend-more-money-after-being-romantically-rejected-women-do-the-opposite-40948
BY THE CONVERSATION ON FEBRUARY 15, 2016

Money might not buy you love, but according to some studies in psychology and consumer behaviour, how you spend it could reveal a thing or two about your romantic intentions. These studies demonstrate that just thinking about meeting a new partner can actually impact our shopping decisions in surprising ways – affecting men and women differently.

These studies are largely based on “costly signalling theory” – a model borrowed from evolutionary biology which suggests that conspicuous displays that are difficult to acquire, such as the elaborate and colourful nests of bowerbirds, serve a vital function in signalling one’s desirable traits.

In humans, the signals displayed by men and women tend to differ, due to the different traits that are thought to be attractive to the opposite sex based on evolutionary pressures. According to costly signalling theory, men should seek to display their wealth and resources to women, while women should advertise their helpfulness and kindness to men.

Emotional shopping

But how does this relate to spending? One study investigated this question by showing half of the participants pictures of attractive people of the opposite sex or having them reading a scenario about meeting an attractive person for a romantic walk on the beach. The other half read a neutral scenario unrelated to attraction. The results showed that men who had romance on their minds were more likely to report that they would spend money on conspicuous luxury goods, for example a new car, a new watch, a new cell phone or a nice holiday.

Women, on the other hand, did not increase their desire for luxury goods when thinking about meeting a new partner. However, such thoughts did increase their desire to be altruistic and helpful (this was determined by a question to both women and men about how much volunteer work they were willing to do if they had free time).

Another set of studies found that men were particularly interested in making luxury purchases after reading a scenario about a fleeting romance, rather than a potential long-term relationship. This was especially the case in men who were already more interested in short-term relationships than in long-term partnerships. Interestingly, women reported being more attracted to such conspicuously consuming men if they were looking for a short-term relationship, but not for the long term.

But what about women? One study found that women who were thinking about female romantic rivals trying to poach their mate were more likely to purchase luxury goods. This effect was not found when they did not imagine attractive rivals being around. However, the study did not examine to what extent men’s consumption can be linked to being scared about losing a partner.

Surprisingly, this study also found that women who possessed luxury goods were seen by other women as having a more devoted romantic partner.

Another study looked at how women’s spending habits would change during an economic recession. From a list of items, women chose more objects associated with grooming when thinking about a recession, as compared to no recession. However, non-grooming items such as headphones were more likely to be chosen when not thinking about a recession. Women also reported being more eager to attract a mate with resources (such as money) when thinking about a recession.

But how do we spend when we’re less optimistic about our romantic chances? A study by me and my colleagues has shown that men are willing to pay more for a conspicuous luxury car after thinking about a romantic rejection. This could be due to their desire to attract a new partner, after having had their self-esteem harmed. However, women show the opposite pattern: they are willing to pay more for a luxury car after thinking about a romantic success, likely because they view the car as a sign of relationship commitment with their partner.

The Conversation

By Eric Levy, University Lecturer in Marketing (Assistant Professor), University of Cambridge

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.