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Dreams have played an instrumental role in our cultural landscape, and although scientists have come closer to understanding the underlying mechanisms of dreaming, there is still no definitive answer as to why we dream. For almost as long as man has dreamed, however, we’ve speculated. Here are the most popular explanations:
1. Dreams are religious or spiritual messages.
The ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, among other early cultures, believed that dreams were messages from the gods. The Babylonians kept extensive records of dream interpretations dating back to 5000 BC. Good dreams were thought to be omens of good luck from the gods, while nightmares were seen as presaging negative events sent from demons. The Egyptians understood dreams to also be divine messages, and those who had frequent, vivid dreams were considered blessed by the gods.
2. Dreams are unconscious indicators of hopes and wishes.
In modern history, most people dismissed dreams as meaningless. That is, until Sigmund Freud came around. Freud was the first academic to suggest that far from being meaningless, dreams could access our deepest desires. Freud held that all dreams had both “latent” and “manifest” content. Manifest content was the superficial figures and events featured in the dream, while latent content was what these figures and events represented. Freud thus considered interpreting our dreams to be of the utmost importance in discovering ourselves. Though most of the details of Freud’s work on dreams have been discredited, the idea that dreams represent desires is still well-regarded in scientific communities.
3. Dreams are the result of activated brain circuits.
In 1977, two researchers postulated a radically different theory of dreams. Harvard University scientists, Drs. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley, suggested that the origin of dreams was not psychological, but rather physiological. While in REM sleep, the stage during which our eyes move rapidly and dreaming occurs, certain parts of our brains become activated, generating random material. As our brain struggles to make sense of these random images, dreams are formed. Called the activation-synthesis model of dreaming, it drew considerable controversy since it suggested that dreams carried no psychological significance.
4. Dreams are guided by emotions and may help in recovering from trauma.
The most current dream theory was described in this 2006 Scientific American article by psychiatry professor Ernest Hartmann, who, while not discounting the randomness of brain signals that give rise to dreams, still holds that dreams are guided by emotional states. In his research on dreams, people who have undergone trauma experience very intense and unpleasant dreams that eventually lessen over time, suggesting that dreams may help regulate mood to fight future trauma.
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Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

As a freelance web writer, I spend much of my time reading various online media sources from
the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to the Guardian and more. Whenever I’m reading
through news articles, I’m always curious to find out, what, exactly, has grabbed everyone’s
attention. Scrolling down to the “most viewed” section, I’ve found that the most popular reads
tend to be those focused on health.

While this is understandable, considering the developed world’s newfound obsession with
healthy lifestyles, I’m amazed by how all these stories are essentially the same. One common
story tells readers that consuming X will decrease your chances of getting Y deadly disease
by Z%. Or how about the “contrary to findings in previous studies, X isn’t (or is) bad for you
after all” story? Then there’s the common formulation “taking X supplement improves Y bodily
function.” You get the picture.

That’s why I was delighted to hear about the recent American publication of
Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks, written by science writer and psychiatrist
Ben Goldacre. Goldacre, who has written a weekly column for the Guardian for several years
now, also called Bad Science, knowledgeably demonstrates how we are daily bombarded by
misleading studies that sound convincing simply because they are decorated with “science-y”
language. He also teaches the average reader, who may not be as adept at evaluating scientific
studies, how to decipher which studies and claims stand up to the rigorous logic and proof
required of sound scientific inquiry.

Goldacre writes with unsurpassable wit that makes the book a quick read. You’ll be having so
much fun following the author on his crusades against misleading health claims, that you won’t
even realize you’re learning valuable information. In one example, Goldacre shows how footbath
detox treatments typically offered at salons are completely useless. He also skewers nutritionists
who try to claim ownership (and make money) from common sense advice like eating more
vegetables and exercising. Most importantly, Goldacre demonstrates how misinterpretations and
misleading statements stamped with the seal of scientific rhetoric can be downright dangerous.

In an age when general science literacy is particularly weak, Goldacre’s book is a breath of fresh
air on the popular science writing scene, and is a must-read for anyone looking to become a more
informed consumer. As the Independent noted in its review of the book: “Thousands of books
are enjoyable; many are enlightening; only a very few will ever rate as necessary to social health.
This is one of them.”

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This guest post is contributed by Kitty Holman, who writes on the topics of nursing schools.
She welcomes your comments at her email Id: kitty.holman20@gmail.com.

Happy Friday Baseball fans. With the opening day of the 2010 baseball season less than a week away (Opening game is a big one – April 4th, Sox v Yankees, 1am Irish time – be there!), this is as good a time as any to do a baseball book review. But it’s also sceintific!

Moneyball is one of the best selling sports books of all time. It is subtitled “The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” and it chronicles the paradigm shift to a then newly touted science technique called “sabermetrics”, which was brought in to the game in 2002, and began the transition of baseball from the historical way of scouting players to the new technique which involved statistics, statistics and you guessed it more statistics. It was the brain child of the newly installed manager of the (at the time) unsuccessful Oakland Athletics (locally known as the A’s – how do they come up with them), which rethought the basis on which a selector scouted for potential players. Traditionally a value was put on traits such as foot speed, defence and strength but this new system identified success based on stats for results  - such as the ability to get on base.

The story revolves around Billy Beane, a former player who has taken over the A’s, a team with little to no money compared to the powerhouses of LA, Boston and New York. It specifically focuses on the 2002 draft, the process of acquiring new players, and examines how Billy and his team are using these new techniques as opposed to the old school baseball scouting methods. For a game steeped so long in tradition, it was a bold and brave move to employ such an outside the box technique, and it is set against the entertain backdrop of Billy and his team (of statistical misfits), it makes for a fascinating page-turner.

I listened to the audio book recently (after having read the book a couple of years ago), and there are some genuinely laugh out loud moments. You will also find yourself Googling Kevin Youkilis, a fat slow third baseman, who earned himself the title of “the Greek God of Walks.” I especially love the part where Scott Hatteberg, a rookie in his first major league match steps up to bat and ended up geting whats known as easy double (essentially walks to 2^nd base). However, his childhood idol Don Mattingly was the first baseman for the Yankees that day and was not long from retirement. So to the shock of everyone in the stadium, Hatty stops on the first base bag instead, just so he can grab a few moments with the great man. You will find yourself trying to find pictures of “The Creature” a guy drafted without ever being seen, just because he seemed like a bargain. You will try to search for the events of Sept 4th, 2002 in Oakland on Youtube. You will try to find pictures of Chad Bradford scraping his knuckles as he pitches. And all your searches will add a little entertainment to your day!

It’s considered one of the best sports books of all time, and is oft cited by business leaders who are searching for alternatives ways around old problems. Highly recommended and you don’t need to be a baseball nut to appreciate. Far from it, although there is a risk you will become one!

To read more on baseball, check out Ireland’s best sports blog, dedicated to American sports.

Also coming soon to a cinema near you in 2011, Moneyball the movie – link.

-Brian (bhc at lifescience.ie)

Battery life decreases during in the cold.
Some studies suggest 20-40% reduction, although in modern batteries this is only temporary. This is due the the atoms (or ions in the case of batteries) randomly moving at a slower pace. We must thus impart them with more energy to make them move. A representation is trying to get something over a hill. We need to impart force to get them is, and after the crest of the hill they can “travel” the rest themselves. Thus the crest represents a threshold which must be crossed be movement is imparted. The cold weather essentially increases the steepness of the slope on the “hill.”

Salt lowers the melting point of water.
Link. Also, seemingly grit has little to no effort on it’s own, it’s simply used to bulk up the salt being spread and it serves as a physical sidekick to help mash the salt into the ice. This is because the rock salt is practically useless if it’s just sitting on top of the ice.

View from the top of the world’s tallest tower (Burj Dubai) – Youtube link

And to finsih: How long is a piece of string?

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)

This week we’re in Christmas mood and looking at the Science of the carious aspects of Christmas and Santa Claus. We will attempt to answer the following:
-How can Santa get down the chimney?
-How is Rudolf’s nose red?
-The logistics behind the day itself.
-How can reindeer fly?

Right, plenty of work ahead so let’s get cracking!
-How can Santa get down the chimney?
OK, we know he’s not a small man, so let’s focus on his possible flexibility. Scientifically called hypermobility, this is a function which allows people to move the3ir joints in irregular ways. Factors which Santa must therefore possess are shallow ball & socket joints, supple ligaments, toned muscles (maybe underneath the insulating fat?) and ironically enough, a bad sense of joint movement.
Given his girth, we need to examine whether Santa can squeeze his girth down the chimney itself, given his relative girth. An average chimney size seems to be 14″/16″ diameter. We’ll give him some wiggle room and say 16″. Calculating the circumference (2 x pi x radius) give 50.24 inches. Let’s assume Santa is 6’3″ (he looks like a tall guy) and 300lbs (seems about right…). This would bring his waist size to about 44″s. So technically it IS possible for him to fit down a large chimney!

-How is Rudolf’s nose red?
Simple. Flourescent proteins! Red fluorescent proteins have been isolated from coral organisms, we would therefore have to assume that some sort of freak genetic mutation has morphed the epidermal proteins on Rudolf’s nose.

-The logistics behind the day itself.
As Christmas is only celebrated by a number of religions, and in places like Denmark they celebrate Christmas on the 24th Dec, Santa has more than 24hrs to play with. He has at least 31 hours due to the timezones, if we say he can Denmark and some other countries out of the way on the 24th in the evening, let’s say he has 42 hours in total. Figures:
~390m millions children in total
3.5 kids per household = 93.5m houses (assumes >1 good kid in each)
681 houses / second. Pretty unlikely……

-How can reindeer fly?
Given there are 30,000 undiscovered species in our world, it is possible that flying reindeer do exist. The vacuum force theory is also in existence here.
Speed is an issue, the reindeer would have to move so fast they would burn up almost instantaneously. To combat this Santa uses a protective ion-shield created with a very large magnetic field.

Some good links:
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com/santaclaus.htm

http://www.physorg.com/news2487.html

If you have any further questions do let us know – we’ll try our best to discover the truth!

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)

Some very exciting news via NewScientist that the first particle of dark matter has been discovered. We’ll know on the 18th Dec – when a paper will be published in Nature, whether or not it’s the one speculated will have to wait………..

A couple of favourites from college and friends working in Science (apologies in advance!)

2 Hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. 1 stops and says:
“Oh no, I’ve lost my electron!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m positive.”

A bacterium walks into a bar, and heads towards the barman.
Barman: “Oi, no bacteria allowed in here.”
Bacterium: “It’s OK, I’m Staph!”

A guy walks up to a barman in London.
“Can I have a pint of adenosine triphosphate?”
Barman: “Sure, that’ll be 80p”

Bear walks into a bar and asks for a beer
Barman says “we don’t serve bears, get out”
Bear gets angry, says gimme a beer!
Barman still refuses
Bear says “if you don’t serve me I’m gonna eat that woman in the corner”
Barman still refuses
So the bear eats the woman and returns to the bar
“now gimme a beer!”
Barman says “we don’t serve drug addicts, get out”
Bear goes what are you talking about
That was the bar b1tch you ate

(hattip to xkcd (pic) and @tomlau)

Interesting to see the LHC is back up and running in Switzerland. There was furore last time it was started, unfortunately it was put out of use for a number of months due to an accident. Having just smashed to particles together for the first time yesterday, there seems to be less opinion around the place. We’ll put it down tot he economy and the public sector strike!

Some juicy tidbits on the LHC official site for those who are looking for more knowledge on the issue:

Official site

Cooldown status of the various sections. This is amazingly, it gives you an idea of how cool they need the magnets to be, and how long it will take them to reach as close as possible to zero degrees Kelvin. This quote from the RTE site tells us when they expect this to be: “Earlier, physicist Steve Myers said it could take until 2011 for beams of protons to hit top velocity in the €6bn experiment, which involves scientists from dozens of countries.”

Another ~18 months for the magnets to cool down between 1.5 – 2 degrees!!!

Timeline of events so far

We’ll be keeping an eye on developing events here on ScienceBlog as they progress

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)

Interesting article coming from a number of sources who say the Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has flown to Serbia to visit a housewife who claims to have magical healing powers by way of utilising fluid from a placenta to massage.

Sources include the Irish Independent, The Daily Mail and other online sources. Funnily enough, Indo states that the fluid is human of origin, whereas the other sources state its horse placental fluid. You’d have to believe it was the latter and that someone in the Indo is “slightly” mistaken.  RvP’s injury has come from a tackle from Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in a recent Holland v Italy match. As the fluid is only used superfluously, you would think that the actual type of fluid (placental vs. say Fastum massage gel) wouldn’t make much of a difference, as the ankle region doesn’t have the most absorbent of skin, and anything absorbed surely wouldn’t get into the ligamental area in any great concentration. Not much is known of the “witchdoctor” in Belgrade, but two of RvP’s former teammates have made miraculous recoveries, with Danko Lazovic making a recover in one week from a hamstrong injury which was expected in five weeks. Orlando Engelaar had a simialr recovery.

With RvP not expected back until Christmas, it will be itnerested to see if we see him pull on the Arsenal shirt sooner than this. Arsenal fans will certainly be hoping so.

-Brian (brian dot c at lifescience dot ie)

Teleflex Medical design and deliver specialised instruments and devices to touch nearly every organ in the human body. With 1 well established Original Equipment Manufacture plant in Limerick (TFX OEM) and a newly announced plant being created in Athlone, this is a relatively low profile player in the Irish medical device sector which looks set to grow. The recent jobs announcement involved the company setting up their European HQ in Athlone, with the creation of 150 highly skilled positions in the next 5 years (announced in 2007). This site now seems to be gathering momentum.
Their Limerick site as founded in 1983, and specialises in the contract manufacture of a number of various medical device products. With many patented and innovative materials, they would seem to be able to offer products that other companies stuggle to match. More information can be found here.

Brian – (brian dot c at lifescience dot ie)