Trump Poised To Shrink Two National Monuments

Cannabis Linked to Bipolar Symptoms in Young Adults

Cannabis use in youth is linked to bipolar symptoms in young adults, finds new research by the University of Warwick.

Researchers from Warwick Medical School found that adolescent cannabis use is an independent risk factor for future hypomania – periods of elated mood, over-active and excited behaviour, and reduced need for sleep that are often experienced as part of bipolar disorder, and have a significant impact on day-to-day life.

Led by Dr Steven Marwaha, a clinical academic Psychiatrist, the research analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and found that teenage cannabis use at least 2–3 times weekly is directly associated with suffering from symptoms of hypomania in later years.

There was a dose response relationship such that any use still increased the risk but less powerfully.

The Warwick research is the first to test the prospective association between adolescent cannabis use and hypomania in early adulthood, whilst controlling for important other factors that might explain this connection (e.g psychotic symptoms).

Full open access research for “Cannabis Use and Hypomania in Young People: A Prospective Analysis ” by Steven Marwaha, Catherine Winsper, Paul Bebbington, and Daniel Smith in Schizophrenia Bulleting. Published online November 28 2017 doi:10.1093/schbul/sbx158

Louis C.K. admits sexual misconduct allegations are true - BBC News

Recent Scientific Discoveries

Today in Godsmack History marks the release of the lead single and title track “Awake” from Godsmack’s second studio album. The music video made for this single was filmed at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. The video contains footage of prisoners rioting and leaving the reformatory and seeing Godsmack play in the exercise yard inside a fenced-in area. The music video was produced by the band.

In an MTV online chat, Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna said that “Awake” is Godsmack “getting some closure, on a past relationship”. Erna then said: “That’s me getting closure on a relationship. I’m just saying that now I’m awake, and I’m able to deal with everything I have to deal with. Where before I felt like I was going to lose control without this person in my life. I’m saying that I’m okay now without that person”.

“Awake” was released to radio on October 3, 2000. "Awake" achieved mainstream success. The song was on the Mainstream Rock chart for 53 weeks and peaked at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. "Awake" also was on the Alternative Songs chart for 28 weeks and peaked at number 12 on the Alternative Songs chart. "Awake" was on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart for 24 weeks and peaked at number 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in 2001. "Awake" was nominated for the Rock Single of the Year category at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards. With the popularity of “Awake”, Godsmack’s album of the same name was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in March 2002.

There are three versions of “Awake”, the first version, which is the original version, appeared on Godsmack second studio album, Awake. The second version is a radio edit which appeared on the single release of the song and music video, and the third is an acoustic version called “Asleep”, which appeared on their EP, The Other Side.

The radio edit is the same song as the album version, just shortened. The album and acoustic versions have very similar lyrics but different sound. The acoustic version runs for 3:58, making it closer to the radio edit than the full album version.

This song was featured prominently in the Nash Bridges episode “Manhunt” that first aired on November 3, 2000. It was also featured in the game Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 and The One starring Jet Li.

Since the mid-2000s, the song has been featured extensively in the U.S. Navy’s “Accelerate Your Life” commercials. The Godsmack albumAwake’’s opening track, “Sick of Life,” would also be used in the campaign.

The song also made an appearance on several compilations including the band greatest hits album, Good Times, Bad Times… Ten Years of Godsmack, WWF Tough Enough, Kerrang: Life Is Loud, and Crusty Demons: Unleash Hell.

The song features as the background track in the promos of the 2006 Bollywood film Fight Club.

Although the song was featured in the United States Navy’s “Accelerate Your Life” commercials, Erna insists that Godsmack doesn’t support any war: “By no means has this band ever supported any war for any country or that we support government decisions or why we’re sticking our nose in other people’s business at times. What we support is our troops. And the women and men that go over there — or anywhere — to fight for our country and our lives and protect our freedom and I feel that.”

“I actually sympathize with a lot of the soldiers, and the military in general, that are trained to go out and protect for us, and what they have to go through, it’s really kind of shitty in a sense that these young kids have to go over there and die, sometimes, for something that isn’t our problem. And that kind of sucks. So what I have to do is at least support them, because they don’t have the choice that we do.”

Some critics say that the band’s young audience will now be influenced to join the military because of the popular tunes. However, Erna doubts very seriously that a kid is going to join the Marines or the United States Navy because they heard Godsmack as the underlying music in the commercial.

Good News: Soil Could Be a Much Larger Carbon Sink Than We Hoped

Soil minerals just a little way underground could act as a huge carbon sink to help balance out the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, according to new research.

If we can tap into its potential to suck even more carbon pollution out of the air, it would be a massive advantage.

‘It’s Global Warming, Stupid’: Five years after Sandy, we’ve learned nothing

Superstorm Sandy was a "wakeup call" but media, GOP, and Trump keep hitting the snooze button.

Take action: climatetruth.org

Biologists create beetle with functional extra eye

On “Game of Thrones,” a three-eyed raven holds the secrets of the past, present and future in a vast fantasy kingdom. But for real-world biologists, a “three-eyed beetle” may offer a true glimpse into the future of studying evolutionary development.

Using a simple genetic tool, IU scientists have intentionally grown a fully functional extra eye in the center of the forehead of the common beetle. Unraveling the biological mechanisms behind this occurrence could help researchers understand how evolution draws upon pre-existing developmental and genetic “building blocks” to create novel complex traits, or “old” traits in novel places.

The study’s results appear in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The work also provides deeper insights into an earlier experiment that accidentally produced an extra eye as part of a study to understand how the insect head develops.

“Developmental biology is beautifully complex in part because there’s no single gene for an eye, a brain, a butterfly’s wing or a turtle’s shell,” said Armin P. Moczek, a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology. “Instead, thousands of individual genes and dozens of developmental processes come together to enable the formation of each of these traits.

Eduardo E. Zattara, Anna L. M. Macagno, Hannah A. Busey, Armin P. Moczek. Development of functional ectopic compound eyes in scarabaeid beetles by knockdown oforthodenticle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; 114 (45): 12021 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1714895114

The creation of three-eyed beetles through a new technique developed at IU provides scientists a new way to investigate the genetic mechanisms responsible for the evolutionary emergence of new physical traits.Credit: Photo by Eduardo Zattara