According to a story on Wired, the human brain is capable of producing morphine, given the right stimuli.

Scientists have debated this for a while; earlier studies finding trace amounts of morphine in human and animal tissue were attributed by many to the consumption of foods containing the chemical or to other factors. Now, some folks at Germany’s Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg have actual proof that the brain produces its own morphine.

So why is this exciting? Well, for one thing, it means that administering morphine to someone for medical purposes may get a whole lot easier and safer. Instead of morphine, the patient could be administered a “morphine precursor” which would prompt the body to dope itself. Even more fundamental, it means we have a new way to look at how morphine affects the brain in the first place.

This study has many other applications. It may open doors to the reasons that zombies eat brains, enabling us to develop better weapons to detroy them and other walking dead. It doubtless will spur advances in addiction treatment, suggesting that some people who are especially susceptible to morphine addiction may just have a natural morphine deficiency.

In a nutshell, this paper looks like it will change the way we see pain treatment, addiction and the undead forever.

via BoingBoing
crossposted to MemeThief

According to a story on Wired, the human brain is capable of producing morphine, given the right stimuli.

Scientists have debated this for a while; earlier studies finding trace amounts of morphine in human and animal tissue were attributed by many to the consumption of foods containing the chemical or to other factors. Now, some folks at Germany’s Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg have proof that the brain produces its own morphine.

So why is this exciting? Well, for one thing, it means that administering morphine to someone for medical purposes may get a whole lot easier and safer. Instead of morphine, the patient could be administered a “morphine precursor” which would prompt the body to dope itself. Even more fundamental, it means we have a new way to look at how morphine affects the brain in the first place.

This study has many other applications. It may open doors to the reasons that zombies eat brains, enabling us to develop better weapons to destroy them and other walking dead. It doubtless will spur advances in addiction treatment, suggesting that some people who are especially susceptible to morphine addiction may just have a natural morphine deficiency.

In a nutshell, this paper looks like it will change the way we see pain treatment, addiction and the undead forever.

Hot on the heels of the shocking news about Tatu, here’s some lesbian Russian waffles.

This is a very clever and accurate open letter from the Computer Industry to Content Producers and owners. It is worth reading for anyone who has ever downloaded a song (whether you paid for it or not), listened to a CD (whether you paid for it or not), played a computer game (whether you paid for it or not) or grumbled about having to sit through the latest shitty blockbuster movie (whether you had to pay ten bucks for it or not). Follow the link or read the rest of this post for the text of the thing.

via BoingBoing

(Read more …)

The world was shocked to learn today that the Russian girl duo Tatu, long believed to be genuine lesbians and not the sort of girls who make out with each other just to be popular with boys were never gay to begin with. Already on every internet discussion board everywhere is evidence of the chaos this news has stirred up.

(Read more …)

Hee hee! This is awesome!

via Boingboing

Xeni Jardin in zero-G

Xeni Jardin went on her Zero-G flight, as has been anticipated for a long time.

Holy shit. I am so fucking jealous. I wanna do that! Shit. Shit.

Congrats, Xeni!

this pic from Flickr

This is awesome. I was walking down the street, saw this, and was suddenly really thankful I had a camera. If you’re from out-of-province you may not find this quite so amusing.

this pic from Flickr

Okay, sort of a TMI alert: if you like ballet, and don’t want horrific images concerning it going through your head, DO NOT follow this link. You’ve been warned.

via Boing Boing