Electrophysiological pattern of dream experience

Dreaming is a common human experience investigated from multiple perspectives over the centuries. Recently, this phenomenon has stimulated scientific interest, becoming a peculiar context to study memory processes and consciousne

Precision tunable resonant microwave cavity

A tunable microwave cavity containing ionizable metallic vapor or gases and an apparatus for precisely positioning a microwave coupling tip in the cavity and for precisely adjusting at least one dimension of the cavity are disclosed. With this combined structure, resonance may be achieved with various types of ionizable gases. A coaxial probe extends into a microwave cavity through a tube. One end of the tube is retained in a spherical joint attached in the cavity wall. This allows the coaxial probe to be pivotally rotated. The coaxial probe is slideable within the tube thus allowing the probe to be extended toward or retracted from the center of the cavity

Spotlight on dream recall. The ages of dreams

Brain and sleep maturation covary across different stages of life. At the same time, dream generation and dream recall are intrinsically dependent on the development of neural systems. The aim of this paper is to review the existing studies about dreaming in infancy, adulthood, and the elderly stage of life, assessing whether dream mentation may reflect changes of the underlying cerebral activity and cognitive processes. It should be mentioned that some evidence from childhood investigations, albeit still weak and contrasting, revealed a certain correlation between cognitive skills and specific features of dream reports. In this respect, infantile amnesia, confabulatory reports, dream-reality discerning, and limitation in language production and emotional comprehension should be considered as important confounding factors. Differently, growing evidence in adults suggests that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the encoding and retrieval of episodic memories may remain the same across different states of consciousness. More directly, some studies on adults point to shared neural mechanisms between waking cognition and corresponding dream features. A general decline in the dream recall frequency is commonly reported in the elderly, and it is explained in terms of a diminished interest in dreaming and in its emotional salience. Although empirical evidence is not yet available, an alternative hypothesis associates this reduction to an age-related cognitive decline. The state of the art of the existing knowledge is partially due to the variety of methods used to investigate dream experience. Very few studies in elderly and no investigations in childhood have been performed to understand whether dream recall is related to specific electrophysiological pattern at different ages. Most of all, the lack of longitudinal psychophysiological studies seems to be the main issue. As a main message, we suggest that future longitudinal studies should collect dream reports upon awakening from different sleep states and include neurobiological measures with cognitive performance

La delusione per una mobilità negata

Negli anni sessanta sembrava che i viaggi da parte di non esperti sulla luna potessero essere inseriti nei programmi di mobilità delle singole persone. In realtà questa ipotesi si è man mano allontanata e importanti sono i trattti internazionali che regolano lo sfruttamento delle risorse del nostro satellit

Mostri, giganti ed eroi. I fossili e le storie della storia del mondo

Ancient Greece was the first civilisation that discovered fossils and perceived and explained them with its creative think. The present essay is an investigation on the way in which Hellenes read the documentation of the past of Nature and Heart with the instrument of Myth. Frazer (on the basis of the studies by Lyell) guessed that fossils had a function in Greek cults and identified in Typhon myth a telluric matrix, but also the consequence of the discovery of extinct mammals bones. In the same way, we can establish that legends regarding Titans, Cyclops, Gryphon, Cadmus, Jason and sea-monsters awaked by Poseidon and Apollo, were born in connection with the astonishment of Greek man in front of the relics of Mammuthus meridionalis, Protoceratops and Samotherium. Similarly, the myths of Satyrs, Sphinxes and the Marsyas’s skin were produced by a mental and cultural process inspired by the figures and remains of apes and monkeys. Such Greek poetical and philosophical creativity (“corpolentissima”, as said by Vico), was involved with the unconscious recognition of structural homology. Structural homology will become a fundamental instrument for Darwinian evolutionism. Later, it will be Freud’s duty to arrange the evolution (of psyche) with mythological representations

Dream and Representation

The article analyses the relationship between dreams and stories and the underlying existential significance of both. Man is not the only animal who dreams, but he is the only living being who can communicate to his fellow creatures what he dreams and invents, through words and images

The role of amino acids in the nitrogen cycle of peatlands

Future release of carbon from peatlands in response to climate change may be impacted by nitrogen limitation. The current study considers the role of amino acids as a nitrogen source in peatlands. The total free amino acid (TFAA) concentration for peats ranged from 0-2.3 µM, and leucine was the primary contributor. The dominance of sedge or ericaceous shrub plant types did not significantly impact the TFAA pool. Ammonium concentrations were much greater than TFAA and nitrate concentrations. TFAA concentrations were greatest in spring and least in fall. The springtime maxima and summer decrease in concentrations were simulated in a modeling study; however, the model over predicted concentrations. The model was shown to be sensitive to microbial process rates which is likely contributing to model uncertainty. Amino acids may still be considered an important nitrogen source even at low concentrations, and further research on peatland amino acid cycling is needed