sent in by : brooke of alberta, canada and nirav of pleasanton, ca play it again, sam. - 3 glasses of each of 3 different sizes and shapes ( 9 glasses total ) - 4 glasses of the same size and shape - different liquids like vinegar, water, milk, tomato juice, maple syrup, oil or apple juice - check with a grown - up before you begin. - in the zoomsci, glass xylophone, and in the online gizmo, tunes & spoons, you can experiment with the different sounds made by glasses holding different amounts of the same liquid. - now ' s your chance to experiment with other variables like the kind of liquid in the glass or the size and shape of the glass itself. - first, find out if different kinds of liquids change the sound made by tapping the glass with a spoon. - pour the same amounts of different kinds of liquids into the same kind of glass. try liquids that are thick and gooey like maple syrup as well as liquids that are runny like water. - tap the same spot on each glass. do the different liquids produce different sounds? how are the sounds different? - touch the glass after you tap it with the spoon. do the vibrations from each glass feel different? what is it about each liquid that might change the sound the glass makes? - next, find out if the shape or size of the glass makes a difference in the sound made by tapping the glass with a spoon. - pour the same amount of the same liquid into three glasses of different sizes and shapes. tap each glass with the spoon. does it make a different sound than the other glasses? how are the sounds different? - touch the glass after you tap it with the spoon. do the vibrations from each glass feel different? what is it about the shape and size of the glass that changes the sound? ready for the science scoop? when an object vibrates, it sends a disturbance through the air in the form of waves. these are called sound waves. it ' s like when you drop a pebble into water and the waves ripple out in all directions. sound waves in the air are sort of like waves in the water in the way that they move farther and farther out from the center where the disturbance was created. when you tap a glass filled with liquid, the liquid slows down the vibrations or sound waves. different liquids slow down the sound waves by different amounts. the differences in the sounds you hear are called pitch. the pitch of a sound depends on


. when you tap a glass filled with liquid, the liquid slows down the vibrations or sound waves. different liquids slow down the sound waves by different amounts. the differences in the sounds you hear are called pitch. the pitch of a sound depends on how fast the object making the sound vibrates ( how fast the sound waves move away from the object. ) a glass that vibrates slowly produces slow sound waves and a low pitch sound. a glass that produces a high pitch vibrates quickly, making sound waves move fast. see how many different pitches you can make using glasses and liquids. can you play a song with them? give it a try and send your results to zoom! shayla, age 10 wrote : it made high sounds tre, age 14 of jefferson city, mo wrote : the glasses made different sounds no matter what the variable was. if the liquids were different, but the glasses were the same, it was different. if the liquids were the same, but the glasses were different, it was still different. when everything was different, it was completely different. we used glass containers and glass cups and they were all different sizes. we used oil, vinegar, and water. the oil was the thickest and the vinegar was the thinnest. the water was in between. we tried to use all three liquids in three different glasses and put the sounds in order. it sounded like a messed up xylophone. when we put the same liquids in three different glasses then the sounds were different. we did different liquids in the same type of glass. they all made different sounds. the oil made the lowest sound and the vinegar mad the highest sound. the water was in between. it was fun! nicki, age 11 of jefferson city, mo wrote : it made different sounds depending on the glasses we used. we used vinegar, water, and used vegetable oil. the vinegar was the highest because it was the thinest, the water was in the middle and the used vegetable oil made the lowest sound. the glasses we used were 3 tiny wine glasses, 3 glass tostitos salsa containers, and 3 regular glass cups. roslyn, age 13 of jefferson city, mo wrote : well when we did it, we could almost play a song from a commercial. it was really fun. even though our xylophone wasn ' t all the way in order, it was good enough. clara, age 11 of bexley, oh wrote : i just used water but at different levels and it made sounds that were higher when


really fun. even though our xylophone wasn ' t all the way in order, it was good enough. clara, age 11 of bexley, oh wrote : i just used water but at different levels and it made sounds that were higher when i had less water in them and sounds that were lower when i had more water in them. also, i had a tall and a short glass and they were both filled up to the top and i tapped them and the taller one made a lower sound and the shorter one made a higher sound. nicole, age 13 of ny wrote : i used water, syrup, and water as my liquids. i poured them in the same type of glass and they all sound the same. madeline, age 12 of davison, mi wrote : that the glass that had the most water was the lowest sound and the least water was the higher sound. marylin of las cruces, nm wrote : it made these crazy sounds all over the place. ellie, age 11 of colorado springs wrote : it was neat it made all different types of sounds!!! lily, age 11 wrote : it was really cool because it sounded great! my little sis said that i should become a musician when i grow up. ethan, age 4 of villa park, il wrote : it was fun. i used milk, vinegar, water, and cherry juice. they made different sounds. mallory, age 10 wrote : i tried the glass xylaphone part 2 and found out that when you wet your finger and go around the top of the glass it makes a squeaky noise but i aldo found out that it doesnt work on plastic glasses. amelia, age 5 of centennial, co wrote : we tried using a wine glass with some water and some ice in it to make a sound when you rub your finger around the rim. it didn ' t make a sound. alyana, age 9 of manchester, ct wrote : i tried it when i was on spring break it was very messy, but fun. i tried it with the same amount of diffent liquids and they didn ' t sound diffent and i thougt it was cool. then i tried it with diffent amount of liquids. it was fun!!! try it!!! briseida, age 11 of houston, tx wrote : when i performed the experiment, different sounds came from each of the glasses. also, different kinds of liquids make different kinds of sounds.


who says it ’ s hard to stick to a diet? a vegan diet might be easier than you think, according to a new study study in diabetic patients shows cravings for fatty foods recede and transition to healthful diet surprisingly quick washington — adopting a vegan diet is not just healthy ; it ’ s surprisingly easy, according to a new study of people with diabetes who made the switch as part of a research study in february ’ s journal of the american dietetic association. the diet helped them lose weight, lower their blood sugar, and reduce their need for medication. many doctors are aware that a low - fat vegetarian diet can reverse heart disease and provide other benefits. however, some may mistakenly think that most patients will not make the transition. now, at least five studies published in scientific journals show that patients can and do adapt to a " strict " vegan diet that dramatically improves their health. researchers from the physicians committee for responsible medicine ( pcrm ), the george washington university, and the university of toronto found that the vegan group reported a small but significant reduction in craving for fatty foods at 22 weeks, compared with the group consuming an omnivorous diet. this finding contradicts the notion that individuals adopting vegan diets have continued cravings for excluded foods. in fact, the desire for fatty foods such as meat appeared to diminish. " a vegan diet is very healthy, but most people imagine that it ’ s hard to stick to. we found exactly the opposite. it is less constraining than a conventional diabetes diet, " says lead author neal barnard, m. d., a george washington university researcher and president of pcrm. " i would encourage anyone with diabetes to talk to their physician about trying a vegan approach. " in the 74 - week study, 99 people with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to follow either a low - fat, vegan diet or a diet based on american diabetes association ( ada ) recommendations. the vegan diet dramatically cut consumption of cholesterol, fat, and saturated fat, and increased fiber intake, compared with the diet based on ada guidelines. however, the vegan group felt less constrained than those in the ada group. participants rated the taste of the foods, how easy or hard the food was to purchase and prepare, and how satisfied they were with the diet. at 22 weeks, the food acceptability was similar for both groups, but the vegan group was slightly more satisfied with its diet, compared with the ada group. the vega


was to purchase and prepare, and how satisfied they were with the diet. at 22 weeks, the food acceptability was similar for both groups, but the vegan group was slightly more satisfied with its diet, compared with the ada group. the vegan group reported slightly more initial effort in preparing foods. however, those in the ada group reported more discomfort with restrictions imposed by their diet, compared with the vegan group. overall, the study showed that both diets have a reasonable level of acceptability, although the vegan diet elicits much more pronounced long - term nutritional changes. the vegan diet consisted of vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes. participants in this group avoided animal products and fatty foods and favored low - glycemic index foods, such as sweet potatoes, beans, and green vegetables. there were no restrictions on calories, carbohydrates, or portion sizes. ada guidelines provided recommendations on the intake of calories, carbohydrate, and saturated fat based on each participant ’ s body weight, lipid profile, and current food and eating habits. founded in 1985, the physicians committee for responsible medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.


saturn ' s potato - shaped moon prometheus is rendered in three dimensions in this close - up from cassini. this 3 - d view is a color composite picture made from two different black and white images that were taken from slightly different viewing angles. the images are combined so that the viewer ' s left and right eye, respectively and separately, see a left and right image of the black and white stereo pair when viewed through red - blue glasses. this view looks toward the leading hemisphere of prometheus ( 86 kilometers, or 53 miles across ). north on prometheus is up and rotated 47 degrees to the right. the end of prometheus on the lower right points toward saturn, and the end on the upper left points away from the planet. the images were taken in visible light with the cassini spacecraft narrow - angle camera on dec. 26, 2009. the view was obtained at a distance of approximately 57, 000 kilometers ( 35, 000 miles ) from prometheus and at a sun - prometheus - spacecraft, or phase, angle of 33 degrees. image scale is 339 meters ( 1, 112 feet ) per pixel. the cassini - huygens mission is a cooperative project of nasa, the european space agency and the italian space agency. the jet propulsion laboratory, a division of the california institute of technology in pasadena, manages the mission for nasa ' s science mission directorate, washington, d. c. the cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at jpl. the imaging operations center is based at the space science institute in boulder, colo. for more information about the cassini - huygens mission visit http : / / saturn. jpl. nasa. gov /. the cassini imaging team homepage is at http : / / ciclops. org.


liquid crystals, the state of matter that makes possible the flat screen technology now commonly used in televisions and computers, may have some new technological tricks in store. writing today ( may 3, 2012 ) in the journal nature, an international team of researchers led by university of wisconsin - madison professor of chemical and biological engineering juan j. de pablo reports the results of a computational study that shows liquid crystals, manipulated at the smallest scale, can unexpectedly induce the molecules they interact with to self - organize in ways that could lead to entirely new classes of materials with new properties. " from an applied perspective, once we get to very small scales, it becomes incredibly difficult to pattern the structure of materials. but here we show it is possible to use liquid crystals to spontaneously create nanoscale morphologies we didn ' t know existed, " says de pablo of computer simulations that portray liquid crystals self - organizing at the molecular scale in ways that could lead to remarkable new materials with scores of technological applications. as their name implies, liquid crystals exhibit the order of a solid crystal but flow like a liquid. used in combination with polarizers, optical filters and electric fields, liquid crystals underlie the pixels that make sharp pictures on thin computer or television displays. liquid crystal displays alone are a multibillion dollar industry. the technology has also been used to make ultrasensitive thermometers and has even been deployed in lasers, among other applications. the new study modeled the behavior of thousands of rod - shaped liquid crystal molecules packed into nano - sized liquid droplets. it showed that the confined molecules self organize as the droplets are cooled. " at elevated temperatures, the droplets are disordered and the liquid is isotropic, " de pablo explains. " as you cool them down, they become ordered and form a liquid crystal phase. the liquid crystallinity within the droplets, surprisingly, induces water and other molecules at the interface of the droplets, known as surfactants, to organize into ordered nanodomains. this is a behavior that was not known. " in the absence of a liquid crystal, the molecules at the interface of the droplet adopt a homogeneous distribution. in the presence of a liquid crystal, however, they form an ordered nanostructure. " you have two things going on at the same time : confinement of the liquid crystals and an interplay of their structure with the interface of the droplet, " notes de pablo. " as you lower the temperature the liquid crystal starts to become organized and imprints that order into the


at the same time : confinement of the liquid crystals and an interplay of their structure with the interface of the droplet, " notes de pablo. " as you lower the temperature the liquid crystal starts to become organized and imprints that order into the surfactant itself, causing it to self assemble. " it was well known that interfaces influence the order or morphology of liquid crystals. the new study shows the opposite to be true as well. " now you can think of forming these ordered nanophases, controlling them through droplet size or surfactant concentration, and then decorating them to build up structures and create new classes of materials, " says de pablo. as an example, de pablo suggested that surfactants coupled to dna molecules could be added to the surface of a liquid crystal droplets, which could then assemble through the hybridization of dna. such nanoscale engineering, he notes, could also form the basis for liquid crystal based detection of toxins, biological molecules, or viruses. a virus or protein binding to the droplet would change the way the surfactants and the liquid crystals within the droplet are organized, triggering an optical signal. such a technology would have important uses in biosecurity, health care and biology research settings. explore further : physicists develop revolutionary low - power polariton laser


a constant shower of subatomic particles rains down from space. a hundred years ago, this " cosmic radiation " was discovered by the austrian physicist victor franz hess. among other things, the discovery laid the foundation for a whole new field of research : high energy physics - which recently gave us, for instance, the first experimental evidence for the higgs boson. an anniversary conference looks at the past milestones of cosmic ray research and at future experiments. when hess landed his hydrogen balloon at bad saarow in the german state of brandenburg at lunchtime on 7 august 1912, he had on board a discovery with far - reaching consequences, which he surely wasn ' t fully aware of at that very time. at his seventh balloon voyage in the course of this year, equipped with three ionization measuring instruments, hess had just identified the existence of a pervasive radiation in 5300 metres altitude above the schwieloch lake in the southeast of brandenburg. only later it became evident that this so - called cosmic radiation was comprised mostly of energetic, electrically charged atomic nuclei. the discovery of cosmic rays won hess the nobel prize in physics 24 years later. " the detection of the cosmic radiation was the discovery of a century and brought us completely new insights into the cosmos, " says prof. christian stegmann, head of the desy institute at zeuthen near berlin. " furthermore it became a cornerstone of early particle physics. before the development of particle accelerators, cosmic ray research led to the discovery of many important elementary particles, among them the anti - particle of the electron - the positron - as well as the muon and the pion. " desy, the university of potsdam, and the max planck institute for the history of science in berlin jointly organise a symposium on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic rays. from 6 to 8 august 2012, scientists from all over the world will meet in bad saarow, where hess landed his balloon, to present and discuss the development of various sub - areas ranging from the historic beginnings up to ideas for new projects. along with physics nobelist prof. james cronin, one of the designers of today ' s largest cosmic ray observatory " pierre auger " in argentina, and the 14th astronomer royal prof. sir arnold wolfendale, hess ' grandsons william and arthur breisky have also registered for the conference. a memorial stone will be unveiled, participants may book balloon flights, and electroscopes that were then used all over the world to carry out ion


wolfendale, hess ' grandsons william and arthur breisky have also registered for the conference. a memorial stone will be unveiled, participants may book balloon flights, and electroscopes that were then used all over the world to carry out ionisation measurements will be on display. " the advent of a centenary is a time for both looking back at the development of the subject and forwards : ' where do we go from here? ', " says sir wolfendale. " cosmic ray research has led to new areas of research, including ' the new astronomies ' and the future for them is bright, indeed. neutrino astronomy is on the verge of starting and gamma ray astronomy has begun in earnest. " physicists expect to gain new insights into the nature of cosmic particle accelerators, which are a million times stronger than the best accelerators on earth, from gramma ray astronomy. single protons from the cosmic radiation may have as much energy as a powerfully - hit tennis ball, but due to their electric charge, the fast particles are deflected by numerous magnetic fields as they travel through the cosmos. this means that one cannot retrace their point of origin from their direction of flight when they hit the earth. therefore, a hundred years since their discovery, the mystery of the origin of cosmic rays is far from being solved. " the universe is full of natural particle accelerators, as for example in supernova explosions, in binary star systems, or in active galactic nuclei. so far, only 150 of these objects are known to us, and we have just an initial physical understanding of these fascinating systems, " says stegmann. in contrast to what the name might suggest, cosmic radiation is mostly comprised of particles, but a small fraction is indeed gamma radiation, which is not deflected on its way through space and thus points directly to its source. as physicists expect the sources of cosmic gamma radiation to be the same as for cosmic particles, they are on the hunt for cosmic particle accelerators with specialised gamma ray observatories. observatories like h. e. s. s. in namibia, named in honour of the discoverer of cosmic radiation, magic on the canary island la palma, and veritas in the united states, with desy participation, detected more than hundred high - energy cosmic gamma radiation sources by now. the planned cherenkov telescope array cta, for which desy is currently building a first prototype telescope will follow this path of discovery. " the


researchers at disney research, zurich, eth zurich, and cornell university have invented a system to digitize facial hair and skin. capturing facial skin and geometry is a fundamental technology for a variety of computer - based special effects for movies. conventional face capturing is well established and widely utilized in the entertainment industry to capture a three - dimensional model of an actor ' s face. however, up to now, no method was capable of reconstructing facial hair or even handling it appropriately. this omission is surprising as facial hair is an important component of our popular culture. the system developed by the disney research laboratory in zurich constitutes a significant technical breakthrough in the field of digitizing human faces and was presented at acm siggraph, the international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques. " our method captures individual strands of facial hair and stores them separately from the actual human face. this approach allows us to ' shave ' people with facial hair virtually with the computer. " said thabo beeler, a computer scientist at disney research, zurich, who is the main inventor of the technology. the system employs several consumer - grade photo cameras to capture a face in a fraction of a second. the method then automatically detects hairs in the captured images. these hairs are being tracked and followed in the input images, much like we follow a path on a map with our fingers. a mathematical method called multi - view stereo ( mvs ) reconstructs them in three dimensions. the trick the researchers applied is to remove the hair strands from the input images similar to an artist painting over parts of a picture. this process makes the 3d skin surface to look as if it were digitally shaved. the system was applied to a large variety of different facial hair styles, ranging from designer stubbles all the way to wild mustaches, to demonstrate its robustness. the produced results look very compelling. prof. markus gross, director of disney research, zurich, stated, " the long - term goal of our research is to make facial animation and special effects more realistic and ultimately indistinguishable from reality. this method is going to be a very important step toward this long term goal ". explore further : researchers develop fast, economical method for high - definition video compositing more information : for more information, please visit the web site at www. disneyresearch. com / research / projects / cv _ reconfacialhair _ drz. htm


new a team of researchers including scientists from the university of florida has shown insect colonies follow some of the same biological " rules " as individuals, a finding that suggests insect societies operate like a single " superorganism " in terms of their physiology and life cycle. for more than a century, biologists have marveled at the highly cooperative nature of ants, bees and other social insects that work together to determine the survival and growth of a colony. the social interactions are much like cells working together in a single body, hence the term " superorganism " — an organism comprised of many organisms, according to james gillooly, ph. d., an assistant professor in the department of biology at uf ' s college of liberal arts and sciences. now, researchers from uf, the university of oklahoma and the albert einstein college of medicine have taken the same mathematical models that predict lifespan, growth and reproduction in individual organisms and used them to predict these features in whole colonies. by analyzing data from 168 different social insect species including ants, termites, bees and wasps, the authors found that the lifespan, growth rates and rates of reproduction of whole colonies when considered as superorganisms were nearly indistinguishable from individual organisms. the findings will be published online this week in the proceedings of the national academy of sciences early edition. " this pnas paper regarding the energetic basis of colonial living in social insects is notable for its originality and also for its importance, " said edward o. wilson, a professor of biology at harvard university and co - author of the book " the super - organism, " who was not involved in the research. " the research certainly adds a new perspective to our study of how insect societies are organized and to what degree they are organized. " the study may also help scientists understand how social systems have arisen through natural selection — the process by which evolution occurs. the evolution of social systems of insects in particular, where sterile workers live only to help the queen reproduce, has long been a mystery, gillooly said. " in life, two of the major evolutionary innovations have been how cells came together to function as a single organism, and how individuals joined together to function as a society, " said gillooly, who is a member of the uf genetics institute. " relatively speaking, we understand a considerable amount about how the size of multicellular organisms affects the life cycle of individuals based on metabolic theory, but now we are showing this same theoretical framework helps predict the life cycle of whole


there are two different questions at work here, that you ' ve kind of mashed together. the first question is " what is the speed at which a change in the electric field propagates? " the answer to that is the speed of light. in qed terms, the electromagnetic interaction that we see as the electric field is mediated by photons, so any change in an established field ( say, due to shifting the position of the charge creating the field ) won ' t be felt by a distant object until enough time has passed for a photon from the source to make it to the observation point. the second question is " what is the speed of propagation of electric current? " this speed is slower than the speed of light, but still on about that order of magnitude - - the exact value depends a little on the arrangement of wires and so on, but you won ' t be far off if you assume that electrical signals propagate down a cable at the speed of light. this relates to electric field in that the charge moving through a circuit to light a light bulb has to be driven by some electric field, so you can reasonably ask how that field is established, and how much time it takes. qualitatively, the necessary field is established by excess charge on the surface of the wires, with the surface charge being generally positive near the positive terminal of a battery and generally negative near the negative terminal, and dropping off smoothly from one to the other so that the electric field is more or less piecewise constant ( that is, the field is the same everywhere inside a wire, and the field is the same everywhere inside a resistor, but the two field values are not the same ). when the circuit is first connected, there is a rapid redistribution of the charge on the surface of the wires which establishes the surface charge gradients that drive the steady - state current that will eventually do whatever it is you want it to do. the time required to establish the gradients and settle in to the steady - state condition is very fast, most likely on the order of nanoseconds for a normal circuit. there ' s a good discussion of the business of how, exactly, charges get moved around to drive a current in the textbook that we use for our introductory classes, matter and interactions, by chabay and sherwood. it doesn ' t go into enough detail to let you calculate the relevant times directly, but it lays out the basic science pretty well. ( it ' s a textbook for a first - year introductory physics class


baltimore county fire chief john j. hohman in my 35 years in the fire service, i ’ ve seen how advances in technology, equipment and building codes have saved lives. one of the most important advances is one of the most humble : the small, inexpensive carbon monoxide detector. here in baltimore county, the fire department responds to a growing number of calls involving carbon monoxide ( co ) gas – and that is a good thing. why? because the calls are generated by co detectors that are alerting residents to a potentially deadly problem before it becomes deadly. in recent years and following a number of co tragedies, baltimore county enacted legislation requiring co detectors in all rental housing and in some owner - occupied residences. during november, fire crews responded to 50 co calls – none of them involving serious injury. i can ’ t overestimate how dangerous co – which kills by robbing oxygen from the blood – is. carbon monoxide is produced during the burning of fossil fuels – oil, gas, coal, propane, wood. if your home includes an appliance that runs off of one of these fuels, co is an issue for you. the causes of co buildup are varied, everything from malfunctioning gas stoves to a blocked fireplace flue. co calls tend to increase during periods of extreme heat or cold, when houses are closed up tightly and appliances are running. landlords and homeowners who have invested in energy saving enhancements – new windows, for example – should know that one downside to such energy efficiency is that it limits the air flow that helps dilute co when a leak occurs. in such homes, the deadly gas has nothing to do but build up – and because of its unique characteristics victims can be overcome without ever knowing what happened. you can ’ t see or smell co, and the early symptoms – headache, nausea, aches – are so commonplace that people have no idea they ’ re being poisoned. people ask, “ what is the acceptable level of carbon monoxide? ” the answer is that co is not acceptable, certainly not over a long period of time. at low levels, it will make you sicker and sicker the longer you ’ re exposed to it. at high levels, it can kill within hours. this is why the co detector is so important. it tells you the gas is there. the detector sounds an alarm when the gas reaches 35 parts per million. this is a level low enough not to make you sick – at least not at first – but


is why the co detector is so important. it tells you the gas is there. the detector sounds an alarm when the gas reaches 35 parts per million. this is a level low enough not to make you sick – at least not at first – but high enough to tell you something ’ s wrong. your alarm doesn ’ t do you any good if you rob the batteries or ignore it when it goes off. if it sounds, call 911 and get out of the house. here ’ s what you can expect, once fire crews arrive : - firefighters will use special gas meters to measure the level of co. - crews will attempt to identify the source of the co. - crews will ventilate the house, mitigating the hazard by diluting the gas with fresh air. - firefighters will not attempt to repair heating units, water heaters, fireplaces and other fuel - burning appliances. such repairs are the property owner ’ s responsibility. - firefighters will shut down and advise the residents not to use any appliance they believe is causing the problem. - if you live in a rental property and the level of co is 50 parts per million or more, firefighters will contact the office of permits, approvals and inspections. the building inspector will visit the site at a later date to certify that the problem has been repaired by a licensed expert. along with installation of detectors, basic home maintenance – cleaning your chimney and fireplace regularly, checking gas - fueled appliance connections on a regular basis – is essential to preventing problems with co. if you rent your home or apartment, ask your landlord if the building uses fossil fuel - burning appliances and make sure the property owner has complied with the law requiring co alarms. if the answer is no, contact the office of permits, approvals and inspections at 410 - 887 - 6060. carbon monoxide alarms are inexpensive, easy to install, readily available and effective. there is no reason why any of us should fall prey to this particular hazard any longer.


conversations - use this space to communicate about this project only logged in users are allowed to comment. register / log in november 23, 2010 | 8 : 17 am | farewell and best wishes as this research project is now in the final stages of wrapping - up, we wish to thank everyone who participated in this inquiry ; the students, mentors, teachers and others behind the scenes. we appreciate all of your efforts and contributions to this online learning community. scientific exploration is a process of discovery that can be fun! there are many unanswered questions about plants just waiting for new scientists to consider, investigate, and share. please come back and visit the plantingscience research gallery archive anytime to view this project in the future. you can search the archive by key word, team name, topic, or school name. good bye for now. the plantingscience team november 19, 2010 | 8 : 07 am | 3 things confusing : - the time allotted was too short - the refraction of the light made it difficult to see which disks were in fact, floating... - the disks didn ' t seem to really want to float at all 3 ways to improve : - add more time to our experiment - have an environment with a smaller diameter for the experiment ( as in test tube as opposed to beaker ) - have all materials ( i. e. crushed ice ) prepared before you start the procedure 2 things we learned about experimentation : - if everyone cooperates and puts in effort then the experiment could be done more efficiently - you should never start something you can ' t finish 2 things we learned about photosynthesis : - excessive heat prevents photosynthesis - a chilled environment lets photosynthesis occur more rapidly 1 thing we ' liked ' : 1 thing we disliked : - preparing thirty small diameter spinach disks everyday november 15, 2010 | 8 : 05 am | ran out of time sorry, last response we left was brief due to time limit. we came to a conclusion on which research question we would extrapolate and explore. we posted it above in the research information. i guess we ' ll try to make this thing exciting? so what are your ideas? kayla, brittany, and blake november 10, 2010 | 1 : 47 pm | dr. kevin folta what is your hypothesis? how to test it? i was a vegetarian for 16 years!! until this march. let me know your ideas. the project should have tremendous purpose and lots of direction. let ' s do a great project that is truly exciting. i


hypothesis? how to test it? i was a vegetarian for 16 years!! until this march. let me know your ideas. the project should have tremendous purpose and lots of direction. let ' s do a great project that is truly exciting. i ' d like to hear your ideas first before i start giving mine! november 10, 2010 | 8 : 08 am | re : hi everybody 1. are you a vegetarian? 2. we are 3 students taking bio honors. 3. this project doesn ' t have much purpose. 4. we have 3 testable research questions to discuss with you. november 8, 2010 | 9 : 19 am | dr. kevin folta i ' m glad to be part of the team. i hope that you ' ll keep in touch with me frequently via this forum. i ' m a scientist in plant biology and am really excited to be assisting you. plant science is extremely important. the experiments you are doing today are similar to those being done all over the world to help meet major challenges to the future of food. even the most simple basic experiments could give new information that could feed millions of people in the future. get excited - you are participating in something very important! november 5, 2010 | 11 : 53 am | dr. claire hemingway we are delighted to welcome you to this community of plant researchers. your team has the opportunity to be mentored by a scientist to help you plan and think through your own project investigating photosynthesis. the mentor ' s role is to encourage and guide you through the scientific process of discovery. your role is to share what your team is doing in class. the more you share your ideas and research information online, the more your mentor can help. your scientist mentor for this project will be dr. kevin folta from university of florida. please introduce yourself and post some possible research topic ideas to get a conversation rolling. these resources are available to help you get started : thinking like a scientist / working like a scientist guide to using a spreadsheet best wishes as you start this scientific journey. we are all pleased to share this experience with you. the plantingscience team


environmentally preferable purchasing what is environmental purchasing? although different organizations ( government, nonprofit, or industry ) may define environmental purchasing in somewhat different ways, it generally refers to buying products and services with reduced effects on human health and the environment. also called “ affirmative procurement, ” “ environmentally preferable purchasing, ” and “ green purchasing, ” this approach means integrating environmental factors into procurement policies, usually using the following tools and / or methods : - pollution prevention : from the start of a process or procedure, reducing or eliminating toxicity, air, and water emissions. - life - cycle perspective : looking beyond purchase price. consider costs and environmental impacts over the lifetime of a product or service ( manufacturing, packaging, transport, energy consumption, maintenance, disposal ). - natural resource protection : giving preference to sustainable, reusable content, and recycled materials over virgin materials, as well as to conserving water and energy. what are the benefits of environmental purchasing for companies? just as pollution prevention actions often lead to dollar savings, many companies have reduced costs through environmental purchasing. companies highlighted in the united states environmental protection agency ( epa ) report, “ private sector pioneers : how companies are incorporating environmentally preferable purchasing, ” ( june 1999, epa742 - r - 99 - 001 ) have achieved savings that include : - reduced material costs for manufacturers - reduced repair and replacement costs when using more durable and repairable equipment - reduced disposal costs by generating less waste - improved product design and performance of the product ( s ) - increased employee safety and health at the facility as noted in the epa report, many companies adopted environmental purchasing policies for traditional business reasons that include : - recognizing market preferences, and serving customers who have a stated interest in “ environmentally friendly ” products and practices - distinguishing a company and its products from competitors - avoiding hidden costs and pursuing cost savings - increasing operating efficiency - joining an industry or international market trend although these reasons result in intangible benefits, there are specific examples of measurable reduced costs associated with environmentally preferable products. these include a lower purchase price ( e. g. remanufactured products ), reduced operational costs ( e. g. energy efficiency ), reduced disposal costs ( e. g. more durable products ) and reduced hazardous management costs ( e. g. less toxic products ). in addition, purchasing environmentally preferable products may reduce an organization ’ s potential future liability, improve the work environment and minimize risks to workers. epp rapid response service many cities, counties, states and the federal government are in the process


individual differences | methods | statistics | clinical | educational | industrial | professional items | world psychology | it was a subject - oriented adjective that was used to label the harmful, injurious, unpleasant, or undesirable reactions ( or responses ) that a subject manifested ( thus, " nocebo reactions " ( or " nocebo responses " ) as a result administering an inert dummy drug, where these responses had not been chemically generated, and were entirely due to the subject ' s pessimistic belief and expectation that the inert drug would produce harmful, injurious, unpleasant, or undesirable consequences. in these cases, there is no " real " drug involved, but the actual harmful, injurious, unpleasant or undesirable biochemical, physiological, behavioural, emotional, and / or cognitive consequences of the administration of the inert drug are very real. one severe example of nocebo effect is someone who dies of fright after being bitten by a non - poisonous snake. the term " nocebo " edit the term nocebo ( " i shall harm " ) was chosen by walter kennedy, in 1961, to denote the counterpart of one of the more recent applications of the term " placebo " ( = " i shall please " ) ; namely, that of a placebo being a drug that produced a beneficial, healthy, pleasant, or desirable consequence in a subject, as a direct result of that subject ' s beliefs and expectations. today, in the same way that the term placebo ( or " placebo drug " ) is often used wrongly in an agent - oriented way to denote an active drug that produces an entirely predictable, and intentionally sought after outcome that is experienced as pleasant or desirable ( e. g., analgesia ), the term nocebo ( or nocebo drug ) is often used wrongly to denote its counterpart, an active drug that produces an entirely predictable, and intentionally sought outcome that is experienced as unpleasant or undesirable ( e. g., nausea ). houston may have been the first to have spoken of a doctor ' s deliberate application of harmful " placebo " procedures, as distinct from the other, harmless sort of " placebo " procedures a doctor might apply and whose " usefulness was in direct proportion to the faith that the doctor had and the faith that he was able to inspire in his patients ". houston ( 1938, p. 1418 ) wrote : -... [ and


doctor might apply and whose " usefulness was in direct proportion to the faith that the doctor had and the faith that he was able to inspire in his patients ". houston ( 1938, p. 1418 ) wrote : -... [ and while the efficacy of the placebo procedure ] is believed in by the doctor, [ the placebo procedure itself ] is no longer harmless but harmful, sometimes very dangerous. it would seem peculiarly contradictory to speak of the painful and dangerous placebo, yet men are so constituted that they feel the need in dire extremity of resorting to dread measures. nervous patients in particular, feel that a certain standing and sanction is bestowed upon their maladies when violent therapeutic measures are used. " houston spoke of three significantly different categories of placebo ( pp. 1417 - 1418 ) : - the drug that the physician knows to be inert, but which the subject believes to be potent. - the drug which is believed to be potent by both subject and physician, but which later investigation proves to have been totally inert. - the drug which is believed to be potent by both subject and physician, but is actually harmful and dangerous, rather than being inert and harmless. the term " nocebo response " originally only meant an unpredictable unintentional belief - generated injurious response to an inert procedure. but there is an emerging practice of labelling drugs that produce unpleasant consequences as " nocebo drugs " means that the term " nocebo response " may be being used to label an intentional, entirely pharmacologically - generated and quite predictably injurious outcome that has ensued from the administration of an active ( nocebo ) drug. anthropologists use the term " nocebo ritual " to describe a procedure, or treatment, or ritual that has been performed ( or a herbal remedy or medication that has been administered ) with malicious intent, by contrast with a placebo procedure or treatment or ritual that is performed with a benevolent intent. the nocebo effectedit because the original meaning of " nocebo " specifically referred to a subject ' s response to an inert drug, the term nocebo effect can really only refer to the consequences of the application of a " harm - producing " " nocebo drug " ( however, the concept of a " harm - producing " " nocebo drug " is a much later concept than either that of a " nocebo response " or of a " nocebo


- producing " " nocebo drug " ( however, the concept of a " harm - producing " " nocebo drug " is a much later concept than either that of a " nocebo response " or of a " nocebo reaction " ). the nocebo responseedit according to current pharmacological knowledge and the current understanding of cause and effect, a placebo contains no chemical ( or any other agent ) that could possibly cause any of the observed worsening in the subject ' s symptoms. thus, any change for the worse must be due to some subject - internal factor. the worsening of the subject ' s symptoms is a direct consequence of their exposure to the placebo, but those symptoms have not been chemically generated by the placebo. because this generation of symptoms entails a complex of " subject - internal " activities, in the strictest sense, we can never speak in terms of simulator - centred " nocebo effects ", but only in terms of subject - centred " nocebo responses ". although some attribute nocebo responses ( or placebo responses ) to a subject ' s gullibility, there is no evidence that an individual who manifests a nocebo / placebo response to one treatment will manifest a nocebo / placebo response to any other treatment ; i. e., there is no fixed nocebo / placebo - responding trait or propensity. - mcglashan, evans & orne ( 1969, p. 319 ) found no evidence of what they termed a " placebo personality ". also, in a carefully designed study, lasagna, mosteller, von felsinger & beecher ( 1954 ), found that there was no way that any observer could determine, by testing or by interview, which subject would manifest a placebo reaction and which would not. why a nocebo response? edit he had observed that another, entirely different and unrelated, and far more recent meaning of the term placebo was emerging into far more common usage in the technical literature ( see homonym ) ; namely that a " placebo response " ( or " placebo reaction " ) was a " pleasant " response to a real or sham / dummy treatment ( this new and entirely different usage was based on the latin meaning of the word placebo, " i shall please " ). kennedy chose the latin word nocebo ( " i shall harm " ) because it was the opposite of the latin word placebo


new and entirely different usage was based on the latin meaning of the word placebo, " i shall please " ). kennedy chose the latin word nocebo ( " i shall harm " ) because it was the opposite of the latin word placebo ( " i shall please " ), and used it to denote the counterpart of the placebo response : namely, an " unpleasant " response to the application of real or sham treatment. kennedy very strongly emphasized that his specific usage of the term nocebo did not refer to " the iatrogenic action of drugs " : in other words, according to kennedy, there was no such thing as a " nocebo effect ", there was only a " nocebo response ". he insisted that a nocebo reaction was subject - centred, and he was emphatic that the term nocebo reaction specifically referred to " a quality inherent in the patient rather than in the remedy ". even more significantly, kennedy also stated that whilst " nocebo reactions do occur [ they should never be confused ] with true pharmaceutical effects, such as the ringing in the ears caused by quinine ". this is strong, clear and very persuasive evidence that kennedy was precisely speaking of an outcome that had been totally generated by a subject ' s negative expectation of a drug or ritual ' s administration ; which was the exact counterpart of a placebo response that would have been generated by a subject ' s positive expectation. and, finally, and most definitely, kennedy was not speaking of an active drug ' s unwanted, but pharmacologically predictable negative side - effects ( something for which the term nocebo is being increasingly used in current literature ). ambiguity of medical usageedit in an important recent paper, stewart - williams and podd argue that using the contrasting terms " placebo " and " nocebo " to label inert agents that produce pleasant, health - improving or desirable outcomes, or unpleasant, health - diminishing, or undesirable outcomes ( respectively ), is extremely counterproductive. a second problem is that precisely the same effect, such as immunosuppression, may be quite desirable for a subject with an autoimmune disorder, but be quite undesirable for most other subjects. thus, in the first case, the effect would be a placebo, and in the second, a nocebo. a third problem is that the prescriber does not know whether the relevant subjects consider the effects that they


most other subjects. thus, in the first case, the effect would be a placebo, and in the second, a nocebo. a third problem is that the prescriber does not know whether the relevant subjects consider the effects that they experience to be subjectively desirable or undesirable until some time after the drugs have actually been administered. a fourth problem is that, in cases such as this, precisely the same phenomena are being generated in all of the subjects, and these are being generated by precisely the same drug, which is acting in all of the subjects through precisely the same mechanism. yet, just because the phenomena in question have been subjectively considered to be desirable to one group, but not the other, the phenomena are now being labelled in two mutually exclusive ways ( i. e., placebo and nocebo ) ; and this is giving the false impression that the drug in question has produced two entirely different phenomena. these sorts of argument produce a strong case that — despite the fact that, in some of its applications, the term " placebo " is used to denote something that pleases ( compared with it denoting an inert sumulator ) — the desirability ( placeboic nature ) or undesirability ( noceboic nature ) of the phenomena that have been manifested by a subject, after a drug has been administered, should never be part of the definition of what constitutes either " a placebo " or " a placebo response ". ambiguity of anthropological usageedit some people maintain that belief kills ( e. g., " voodoo death " : cannon ( 1942 ) describes a number of " voodoo deaths " from a variety of different cultures ) and belief heals ( e. g., faith healing ). a " self - willed " death ( due to voodoo hex, evil eye, pointing the bone procedure, etc. ) is an extreme form of a culture - specific syndrome or sociogenic illness, that produces a particular form of psychosomatic or psychophysiological disorder, which results in a psychogenic death. - there are many recorded instances of self - willed psychogenic death. for example, the death of ananias, as recorded in acts 5 : 1 - 6 ; see ananias and sapphira. - rubel ( 1964 ) spoke of " culture bound " syndromes, which were those " from which members of a particular group claim to suffer and for which their culture provides an etiology, diagnosis, preventive measures, and


sapphira. - rubel ( 1964 ) spoke of " culture bound " syndromes, which were those " from which members of a particular group claim to suffer and for which their culture provides an etiology, diagnosis, preventive measures, and regimens of healing ” ( p. 268 ). it is important to distinguish these " self - willed deaths " from other " self - imposed " sorts of death, such as : - the " self - inflicted deaths " of suicide, voluntary euthanasia, or the refusal of life - extending treatment ; - the " heroic " " self - inflicted death " of a soldier who throws himself on a hand grenade to save his mates, or that of the antarctic explorer captain lawrence oates ( “ i am just going outside and may be some time ” ) ; or - the " religious self - inflicted death " ' of the self - immolating suttee, or the mors voluntaria religiosa ( = " voluntary religious death " ) of the aged person, who religious elders have permitted to voluntarily, peacefully, and slowly die by fasting. certain anthropologists, such as robert hahn and arthur kleinman have extended the placebo / nocebo distinction into this realm in order to allow a distinction to be made between rituals, like faith healing, that are performed in order to heal, cure, or bring benefit ( placebo rituals ) and others, like " pointing the bone ", that are performed in order to kill, injure or bring harm ( nocebo rituals ). as the meaning of the two inter - related and opposing terms has extended, we now find anthropologists speaking, in various contexts, of nocebo or placebo ( harmful or helpful ) rituals : - - that might entail nocebo or placebo ( unpleasant or pleasant ) procedures, - about which subjects might have nocebo or placebo ( harmful or beneficial ) beliefs, - that are delivered by operators that might have nocebo or placebo ( pathogenic, disease - generating or salutogenic, health - promoting ) expectations, - that are delivered to subjects that might have nocebo or placebo ( negative, fearful, despairing or positive, hopeful, confident ) expectations about the ritual, - which are delivered by operators who might have nocebo or placebo ( malevolent or benevolent ) intentions, in the hope that the rituals will generate nocebo or placebo ( lethal, injurious, harmful or restorative,


are delivered by operators who might have nocebo or placebo ( malevolent or benevolent ) intentions, in the hope that the rituals will generate nocebo or placebo ( lethal, injurious, harmful or restorative, curative, healthy ) outcomes ; and, that all of this depends upon the operator ' s overall beliefs in the harmful nature of the nocebo ritual or the beneficial nature of the placebo ritual. yet, it may become even more terminologically complex ; for, as hahn and kleinman indicate, there can also be cases where there are paradoxical nocebo outcomes from placebo rituals ( e. g. the tgn1412 drug trial ), as well as paradoxical placebo outcomes from nocebo rituals ( see also unintended consequences ). writing from his extensive experience of treating cancer ( including more than 1, 000 melanoma cases ) at sydney hospital, milton ( 1973 ) warned of the impact of the delivery of a prognosis, and how many of his patients, upon receiving their prognosis, simply turned their face to the wall and died an extremely premature death : "... there is a small group of patients in whom the realisation of impending death is a blow so terrible that they are quite unable to adjust to it, and they die rapidly before the malignancy seems to have developed enough to cause death. this problem of self - willed death is in some ways analogous to the death produced in primitive peoples by witchcraft ( “ pointing the bone ” ). " ( p. 1435 ) - ↑ miller ( 2003 ) - ↑ mcglashan, evans & orne ( 1969 ) ; stam ( 1984 ) ; stam & spanos ( 1987 ). - ↑ 3. 0 3. 1 3. 2 kennedy ( 1961 ), p. 204 - ↑ stewart - williams & podd ( 2004 ), p. 326 - ↑ zusne & jones ( 1989 ), p. 57 ; roheim ( 1925 ). - barber, t. x., " death by suggestion : a critical note ", psychosomatic medicine, vol. 23, no. 2, ( march - april 1961 ), pp. 153 - 155. - barker, j. c., scared to death : an examination of fear, its cause and effects, frederick muller, ( london ), 1968. - barrett, g. v. & franke, r. h., " " psychogenic " death


j. c., scared to death : an examination of fear, its cause and effects, frederick muller, ( london ), 1968. - barrett, g. v. & franke, r. h., " " psychogenic " death : a reappraisal ", science, vol. 167, no. 3916, ( 16 january 1970 ), pp. 304 - 306. - barsky, a. j., saintfort, r., rogers, m. p. & borus, j. f., " nonspecific medication side effects and the nocebo phenomenon ", journal of the american medical association, vol. 287, no. 5, ( 6 february 2002 ), pp. 622 - 627. - cannon, w. b., " “ voodoo ” death ", american anthropologist, vol. 44, no. 2, ( april - june 1942 ), pp. 169 - 181. - charcot, j. m., " the faith - cure ", the new review, vol. viii, ( january 1893 ), pp. 18 - 31. - cohen, s. i., " psychosomatic death : voodoo death in a modern perspective ", integrative psychiatry, vol. 3, no. 1, ( march 1985 ), pp. 46 - 51. - dein, s., " psychogenic death : individual effects of sorcery and taboo violation ", mental health, religion and culture, vol. 6, no. 3, ( november 2003 ), pp. 195 - 202. - di blasi, z., harkness, e., edzard, e., georgiou, a. & kleijnen, j., " influence of context effects on health outcomes : a systematic review ", the lancet, vol. 357, no. 9258, ( 10 march 2001 ), pp. 757 - 762. - goddard, h. h., " the effects of mind on body as evidenced by faith cures ", american journal of psychology, vol. 10, no. 3, ( april 1899 ), pp. 431 - 502. - hahn, r. a., " the nocebo phenomenon : concept, evidence, and implications for public health ", preventive medicine, vol. 26, no. 5, ( september 1997 ), pp. 607 - 611. - hahn, r. a. & klein


nocebo phenomenon : concept, evidence, and implications for public health ", preventive medicine, vol. 26, no. 5, ( september 1997 ), pp. 607 - 611. - hahn, r. a. & kleinman, a, " belief as pathogen, belief as medicine : " voodoo death " and the " placebo phenomenon " in anthropological perspective ", medical anthropology quarterly, vol. 14, no. 4, ( august 1983 ), pp. 3, 16 - 19. - harrington, e. r., the nocebo effect : a meta - analysis of the effect of suggestion on reports of physical symptoms, ( ph. d. dissertation ), temple university, 1998. - houston, w. r., " the doctor himself as a therapeutic agent ", annals of internal medicine, vol. 11, no. 8, ( february 1938 ), pp. 1416 - 1425. - kennedy, w p., " the nocebo reaction ", medical world, vol. 95, ( september 1961 ), pp. 203 - 205. - kirsch, i., " response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior ", american psychologist, vol. 40, no. 11, ( november 1985 ), pp. 1189 - 1202. - kirsch, i., " response expectancy theory and application : a decennial review ", applied and preventive psychology, vol. 6, no. 2, ( spring 1997 ), pp. 69 - 79. - lasagna, l., mosteller, f., von felsinger, j. m. & beecher, h. k., " a study of the placebo response ", american journal of medicine, vol. 16, no. 6, ( june 1954 ), pp. 770 - 779. - lorenz, j., hauck, m., paura, r. c., nakamura, y., zimmermann, r., bromm, b. & engela, a. k., " cortical correlates of false expectations during pain intensity judgments — a possible manifestation of placebo / nocebo cognitions ", brain, behavior, and immunity, vol. 19, no. 4, ( july 2005 ), pp. 283 - 295. - mcglashan, t. h., evans, f. j. & orne, m. t., "


, and immunity, vol. 19, no. 4, ( july 2005 ), pp. 283 - 295. - mcglashan, t. h., evans, f. j. & orne, m. t., " the nature of hypnotic analgesia and placebo response to experimental pain ", psychosomatic medicine, vol. 31, no. 3, ( may - june 1969 ), pp. 227 - 246. - merton, r. k., " the unanticipated consequences of purposive social action ", american sociological review, vol. 1, no. 6, ( december 1936 ), pp. 894 - 904. - miller, f. g., " william james, faith, and the placebo effect ", perspectives in biology and medicine, vol. 48, no. 2, ( spring 2005 ), pp. 273 - 281. - miller, f. g., " sham surgery : an ethical analysis ", the american journal of bioethics, vol. 3, no. 4, ( fall 2003 ), pp. 41 - 48. - milton, g. w., " self - willed death or the bone - pointing syndrome ", the lancet, ( 23 june, 1973 ), pp. 1435 – 1436. - perlman, l, " nonspecific, unintended, and serendipitous effects in psychotherapy ", professional psychology : research and practice, vol. 32, no. 3, ( june 2001 ), pp. 283 – 288. - phillips, d. p., liu, g. c., kwok, k., jarvinen, j. r., zhang, w. & abramson, i. s., " the hound of the baskervilles effect : natural experiment on the influence of psychological stress on timing of death ", british medical journal, vol. 324, no. 7327, ( 22 - 29 december 2001 ), pp. 1443 - 1446. - pyysiainen, i., " mind and miracles ", zygon, vol. 37, no. 3, ( september 2002 ), pp. 729 - 740. - rief, w., avorn, j. & barsky, arthur j., " medication - attributed adverse effects in placebo groups : implications for assessment of adverse effects ", archives of internal medicine, vol. 166, no


. - rief, w., avorn, j. & barsky, arthur j., " medication - attributed adverse effects in placebo groups : implications for assessment of adverse effects ", archives of internal medicine, vol. 166, no. 2 ), ( 23 january 2006 ), pp. 155 - 160. - richter, c. p., " on the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man ", psychosomatic medicine, vol. xix, no. 3, ( may - june 1957 ), pp. 191 – 198. - roheim, g., " the pointing bone ", the journal of the royal anthropological institute of great britain and ireland, vol. 55, ( january - june 1925 ), pp. 90 - 114. - rubel, a. j., " the epidemiology of a folk illness : susto in hispanic america ", ethnology, vol. 3, no. 3, ( july 1964 ), pp. 268 - 283. - shapiro, a. k., " a contribution to a history of the placebo effect ", behavioral science, vol. 5, no. 2 ( april 1960 ) pp. 109 - 135. - shapiro, a. k., " semantics of the placebo ", psychiatric quarterly, vol. 42, no. 4, ( december 1968 ), pp. 653 – 695. - south, r., " a sermon delivered at christ - church, oxon., before the university, octob. 14. 1688 : prov. xii. 22 lying lips are abomination to the lord ", pp. 519 - 657 in south, r., twelve sermons preached upon several occasions ( second edition ), volume i, printed by s. d. for thomas bennet, ( london ), 1697. - spiegel, h., " nocebo : the power of suggestibility ", preventive medicine, vol. 26, no. 5, ( 1 september 1997 ), pp. 616 - 621. - staats, p., hekmatb, h. & staats, a., " suggestion / placebo effects on pain : negative as well as positive ", journal of pain and symptom management, vol. 15, no. 4, ( april 1998 ), pp. 235 - 243. - stam, h. j., hypnotic analgesia and the placebo effect : controlling


", journal of pain and symptom management, vol. 15, no. 4, ( april 1998 ), pp. 235 - 243. - stam, h. j., hypnotic analgesia and the placebo effect : controlling ischemic pain, ( ph. d. dissertation ), carleton university, ( ottawa, canada ), 1984. - stam, h. j. & spanos, n., " hypnotic analgesia, placebo analgesia, and ischemic pain : the effects of contextual variables ", journal of abnormal psychology, vol. 96, no. 4, ( november 1987 ), pp. 313 – 320. - stewart - williams, s. & podd, j., " the placebo effect : dissolving the expectancy versus conditioning debate ", psychological bulletin, vol. 130, no. 2, ( march 2004 ), pp. 324 - 340. - wilson, i., the bleeding mind : an investigation into the mysterious phenomenon of stigmata, paladin, ( london ), 1991. - zusne, l. & jones, w. h., anomalistic psychology : a study of magical thinking ( second edition ), lawrence erlbaum associates, ( new york ), 1989. - nocebo and nocebo effect - the nocebo response - the nocebo effect : placebo ' s evil twin - what modifies a healing responsenl : nocebo - effectsv : noceboeffekt | this page uses creative commons licensed content from wikipedia ( view authors ). |


the interaction of invasive bacterial pathogens of the gut such as yersinia with the host causes a potent inflammatory response and tissue damage, leading to significant human morbidity and mortality ( 16 ). several lines of evidence suggest that even during the acute response to infection tempering the inflammatory response can be beneficial to the host. for example, previous work indicates that il - 6− / − mice have a hyperinflammatory response to y. enterocolitica infection that results in a more rapid death of the animals and tissue pathologies that reflect exacerbated inflammatory changes ( 26 ). these studies also demonstrated an il - 6 - dependent defect in tgf - β secretion from stimulated splenocytes that correlated with an older observation that mice treated with recombinant tgf - β were more resistant to y. enterocolitica ). tgf - β is a potent anti - inflammatory cytokine ( 36 ) ; in fact, it wasn ' t possible to use tgf - β− / − mice for these studies because the animals die 2 to 3 weeks after birth from systemic inflammation ( 43 ). altogether, these data suggest that cytokine - mediated regulation of the extent of inflammation during an invasive bacterial infection is a crucial aspect of the host response. cytokine - mediated immune regulation is often carried out by cd4 + helper t cells ( th ), which polarize the immune system to appropriately respond to pathogen challenge. there is strong experimental evidence supporting a central role for t cells in clearing y. enterocolitica infection, especially ifn - γ - producing th - 1 cells. however, in the last 10 years, a number of newly discovered cd4 + t - cell subsets ( t - reg and th - 17 ) have emerged as key players in the pathogenesis of diseases ranging from infectious disease to autoimmune disease ( 37 ). t - reg cells are critical to the maintenance of immune tolerance and prevention of unwanted inflammatory responses at mucosal surfaces such as the gut, and, not surprisingly, t - regs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of chronic infectious diseases ( 32 ). several studies have also implicated t - regs in the modulation of memory responses following an acute infection, but little information on the direct role of t - regs during the host response to an acute bacterial infection is available. recently, rudensky and coworkers reported that t - regs maintain th - 17 homeostasis in the gut utilizing a stat


little information on the direct role of t - regs during the host response to an acute bacterial infection is available. recently, rudensky and coworkers reported that t - regs maintain th - 17 homeostasis in the gut utilizing a stat - 3 - dependent mechanism that was distinct from that used by tgf - β ( 21 ). these studies also highlighted the interaction of different classes of t cells to maintain tolerance of the gut. it would not be unreasonable to predict that similar control mechanisms are in place to control inflammation generated in response to acute bacterial infections of the gut. here we report a role for t - regs during the host response to acute invasive infection of the gastrointestinal tract by y. enterocolitica. by 3 days postinfection there is a rapid expansion of cd4 + t cells and a 2 - to 3 - fold increase in tgf - β + t cells yet there is no increase in cd8 + tgf - β - producing t cells or macrophages producing tgf - β. t - reg cells are critical for controlling dissemination to extraintestinal sites of infection based on the more rapid liver colonization and the subsequent rapid death of mice treated with anti - tgf - β or anti - cd25 antibodies. active tgf - β transcription in the peyer ' s patches, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen following infection is dependent on the presence of cd4 + cells, suggesting that t cells are the major source of this cytokine during infection ( fig. ). the importance of cd4 + t cells is well established as an immune control mechanism during yersinia infection, but, to our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating a protective role for a cd4 + t - cell subset other than th - 1 for yersinia the protective role of t - regs is presumably secondary to that provided by th - 1 or th - 17 t cells given that all of the control animals in these experiments developed disease and in many cases succumbed to infection. here, we provide evidence for the generation of cd4 + th - 17 cells following y. enterocolitica infection that is consistent with the presence of il - 6, il - 1, and tgf - β in infected tissues. however, in a situation where an animal is deficient in tgf - β or cd25 function, bacteria disseminate to the liver and lung more rapidly and the majority of animals succumb to disease several days before the control animals.


. however, in a situation where an animal is deficient in tgf - β or cd25 function, bacteria disseminate to the liver and lung more rapidly and the majority of animals succumb to disease several days before the control animals. interestingly, we show that animals treated with antibodies that block tgf - β or cd25 function have a diminished th - 17 response following y. enterocolitica infection. these data are consistent with a t - reg response during acute infection impacting the appropriate th - 17 effector t - cell response. however these data should be interpreted with some caution as th - 17 cells express il - 2r and it is possible that anti - cd25 treatment might impact il - 17 production by blocking il - 2r on these cells. these data do demonstrate a clear th - 17 response during y. enterocolitica infection, further expanding the known cd4 + effector responses elicited during this infection. while cd25 can be expressed on other cd4 + effector t cells once they are activated, the kinetics of liver and lung colonization in the mice treated with anti - cd25 antibodies suggest a target t cell expressing high levels of cd25 at days 0 to 3 postinfection during a primary immune response, which is most consistent with t - regs. interestingly, another potent anti - inflammatory cytokine produced by t - regs is il - 10, which has a controversial role in the pathogenesis of y. enterocolitica infection, with some studies suggesting that deficiency in il - 10 leads to resistance and others demonstrating that il - 10 deficiency has no impact on yersinia ). the different phenotypes observed with il - 10 versus tgf - β deficiency may be reflective of distinct roles during the host response or a difference due to genetic versus antibody - mediated deficiency. altogether, these data would suggest that t - regs, through the action of tgf - β, help to limit bacterial dissemination to the liver and lung by an unknown mechanism. a number of recent studies have suggested that the dissemination of yersinia from the gut to other organs is more complex than previously appreciated, finding that peyer ' s patches are not absolutely required for infection through the gut and that pools of bacteria in the gut can seed the deeper tissues ( 9 ). given these revelations, it is not unreasonable to predict that the host has evolved a means to temper inflammation during an acute bacterial infection as a means to diminish tissue damage and limit dissemination of the


the gut can seed the deeper tissues ( 9 ). given these revelations, it is not unreasonable to predict that the host has evolved a means to temper inflammation during an acute bacterial infection as a means to diminish tissue damage and limit dissemination of the infection. in the case of invasive bacterial pathogens of the gut, natural t - regulatory cells appear to figure prominently in this role. studies with ovalbumin ( ova ) - restricted mice suggest that a fraction of the increases in t - regs after y. enterocolitica infection are independent of clonal expansion and may be a response to pathogen - associated antigens recognized through the toll - like receptors expressed on these cells ( 46 ). likewise, these same data would suggest that the expansion of t - regs in the yersinia - infected c57bl / 6 mice is predominantly due to antigen - dependent expansion of these cells. currently it is not clear if these cells expand due to a pathogen - associated antigen or in response to a self antigen released as a result of the severe tissue damage caused by these infections. altogether, these studies reveal a previously unrecognized role for t - regs in the acute phase of the host response to invasive bacterial pathogens of the gut. although t - regs are unlikely to be directly involved in antimicrobial activities in a manner analogous to th - 1 cells, they likely control inflammation, thus limiting tissue damage and direct access to the circulation, thereby indirectly impacting the dissemination of bacteria. the robust colonization of the livers by day 5 postinfection in mice treated with anti - tgf - β or anti - cd25 antibodies suggests that these mice develop bacteremia more rapidly than control animals. additionally, during acute infections, t - regs may play an important role in regulating immune homeostasis, limiting the extent of inflammation and / or assisting in the return to basal status once infection has been resolved. these data supply further evidence for mechanisms of immune control of acute inflammation during invasive bacterial infection.


of the 594 children randomised, 571 started the study, receiving either milk containing lactobacillus gg ( n = 282 ) or control milk ( n = 289 ) ( figure ). fifty eight children did not complete the follow up period. progress of participants during seven month study table details characteristics of the children before treatment. the block randomisation resulted in a similar distribution of children in the age groups under 3 years and 3 years and over : 51 ( 18 % ) and 231 ( 82 % ) in the lactobacillus group and 55 ( 19 % ) and 234 ( 81 % ) in the control group. detailed analysis of age distribution, however, showed that there were differences between the groups. also, there were more children in the control group who had had five or more respiratory infections during the preceding 12 months. age and preceding infections both have an effect on the incidence of infections and as they were strongly correlated we adjusted only for age in comparisons of treatment. characteristics before treatment of children allocated to probiotic milk ( lactobacillus gg ) and control groups. figures are means ( ranges ) or numbers ( percentage ) of children intention to treat analysis symptoms of illness as reported by parents — there were no significant differences between the groups in the number of days with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms ( table ). however, in the lactobacillus group there were fewer days of absence because of illness — a lactobacillus : control ratio of 0. 85 ( 95 % confidence interval 0. 73 to 0. 98 ) — and thus a reduction of 15 %. the time without respiratory symptoms was significantly longer in the lactobacillus group compared with the control group ( 5 ( 4. 1 to 5. 9 ) v 4 ( 3. 5 to 4. 6 ) weeks, p = 0. 03, fig ). time without diarrhoea was not significantly different ( 25 ( 24 to 26 ) v 24 ( 23 to 25 ) weeks, respectively, p = 0. 20, fig ). table 2 details of symptoms, absence, and symptom score during seven month treatment period. unadjusted and age adjusted results based on intention to treat population, with children who completed intervention. figures are geometric means ( 95 % confidence ( more... ) proportion of children without infection during seven month study ( respiratory symptoms and diarrhoea ) upper and lower respiratory tract infections diagnosed by doctor — the number of children with respiratory infections ( otitis media,


( 95 % confidence ( more... ) proportion of children without infection during seven month study ( respiratory symptoms and diarrhoea ) upper and lower respiratory tract infections diagnosed by doctor — the number of children with respiratory infections ( otitis media, sinusitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia ) was significantly lower in the lactobacillus group ( relative reduction 17 %, table ). there were also fewer children in the lactobacillus group who were prescribed antibiotics for respiratory infections ( relative reduction 19 %, table ). table 3 number ( percentage ) of children having at least one respiratory tract infection, as diagnosed by doctor, or at least one course of antibiotics prescribed by doctor. unadjusted and age adjusted results based on intention to treat population with children ( more... ) age adjusted results — adjustment for age reduced the difference between the groups in the number of days of absence ( table ). after age adjustment the odds ratio for the lactobacillus group was 0. 89 ( 0. 77 to 1. 02 ). the time without respiratory symptoms was not significantly different between the groups ( data not shown ), but for the lactobacillus group the estimated odds ratio was 0. 86 ( 0. 70 to 1. 06, p = 0. 16 ), indicating reduced risk. time without diarrhoea was also not significantly different between the groups, but the odds ratio for the lactobacillus group was 0. 87 ( 0. 64 to 1. 28, p = 0. 36 ). the numbers of children with respiratory tract infections diagnosed by a doctor and being given antibiotic treatments for these were not significantly different between the groups ( table ). however, the age adjusted odds ratios for the lactobacillus group were 0. 75 ( 0. 52 to 1. 09, p = 0. 13 ) for all respiratory infections and 0. 72 ( 0. 50 to 1. 03, p = 0. 08 ) for antibiotic treatment for respiratory infection. after age adjustment there was a negative but non - significant correlation between the amount of milk consumed and the total number of days of illness ( r = −0. 12 ; p = 0. 07 ) and days with respiratory symptoms ( r = −0. 11 ; p = 0. 09 ). the negative correlation between the amount of lactobacillus milk consumed and days with gastrointestinal symptoms was significant ( r = −0. 17 ; p = 0. 007


−0. 11 ; p = 0. 09 ). the negative correlation between the amount of lactobacillus milk consumed and days with gastrointestinal symptoms was significant ( r = −0. 17 ; p = 0. 007 ). mean daily milk consumption was 260 ml in both groups ( range 110 - 520 ml in the lactobacillus and 100 - 600 ml in the control group ). this quantity of milk contained 1 - 2x108 cfu of lactobacillus gg. compliance was also measured by the faecal recovery of lactobacillus. initially 12 % of children in the lactobacillus group and 4 % in the control group carried lactobacillus gg - type bacteria ( p = 0. 29 ). recovery figures were 97 % v 9 % ( p < 0. 0001 ), respectively, in the middle of the study and 91 % v 15 % ( p < 0. 0001 ) at the end. the median faecal lactobacillus gg count in the lactobacillus group was 5 - 8x104 cfu / g. the responses to the questionnaire at the end of the study were similar in both groups. neither lactobacillus nor the control milk affected stool frequency or consistency. there was no difference between the groups in abdominal pain or allergic symptoms and no apparent side effects.


an encyclopedia of claims, frauds, and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural introduction | " r " reading | curse of the pharaoh | end - of - the - world prophecies index | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | y | z zener, dr. karl ( 1903 - 1963 ) in the early 1930s, a swiss psychologist named zener, a partner of dr. joseph banks rhine, designed a set of cards bearing five symbols which he felt were sufficiently different from one another that they would be ideal for conducting certain tests, among them extrasensory perception ( esp ) tests. these symbols are : circle, plus sign, wavy lines, square, and star. the five symbols developed by dr. karl zener for use in tests of extrasensory perception. these are normally used in a deck of twenty - five cards, five of each symbol. for decades, zener cards have been employed in parapsychological laboratories in the search for the ever - elusive powers called telepathy and clairvoyance. so far, in spite of millions of bits of data gathered through that extensive exploration, experiments with zener cards have failed to yield convincing, replicable results. after a few years of association with dr. rhine, zener began efforts to have him removed from the campus of duke university, fearing the burden that the university would have to bear for being connected with parapsychology. click here to order a copy of the original hardcover edition of this encyclopedia. copyright ( c ) 1995 - 2007 james randi. created and maintained with the dictionary compilation software tshwanelex.


chile is a country located on the southwestern coast of south america. it is best known in the anglosphere for being the site of a military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990 under general augusto pinochet. pinochet dictatorship in 1970, the marxist salvador allende was elected president of chile. after his government was implicated in some civil rights abuses, the chilean legislature passed, on august 22, 1973, a resolution stating that democracy in chile was about to break down, and inviting the army to throw allende out. general augusto pinochet, with the backing of the united states, promptly took the opportunity, throwing the country into 17 years of military dictatorship with civil and human rights abuses far more grievous than those of his predecessor, as his regime forcibly " disappeared " and tortured many thousands of political dissidents. pinochet held two referenda on whether the military dictatorship should continue. the first, in 1980, overhauled the constitution but kept him on as dictator. there were many anomalies, for example, there wasn ' t an electoral registry, the number of voters was way to high ( over 93 % if the active population ), and in many areas, there were more voters than inhabitants. the second, in 1988, asked whether he should continue as dictator ; he was defeated. he then reintroduced elections, being replaced in 1990 by the democratically elected patricio aylwin.


the tell me why series, based on the books by arkady leokum, gives informative and easy - to - understand answers to the many types of questions that children ask about everyday subjects. this program answers questions children ask about computers, such as : what can you do with a computer? what is a " motherboard? " what piece of computer equipment enables you to see the information that is inside a computer? what do input devices allow you to do? how does one computer communicate with another computer? what is the difference between a " bit " and a " byte "? what is the difference between hardware and software? what is a computer file? subjects covered include : abend, bandwidth, bit, booting up, cable, modem, cd - rom, data, dsl, fiber optics, floppy disc, hard disc, icon, keyboard, laptop, computer, modem, operating system, ram, scanner, silicon, software, virus, wan. this dvd also answers questions children ask about the internet such as : how do i connect to the internet? what is an internet server? is the world wide web part of the internet? what is html? do i need a browser to visit the web? what does a hyperlink do? how do i find information on the internet? what does it mean to " download? " what is email? can i use the internet to talk on the telephone? subjects covered include : modem, protocol, tcp / ip, server, web page, domain name, url, html, browser, netscape navigator, internet explorer, search engine, ftp, dsl. grades 1 - 6. 60 minutes on dvd. customer reviews for tell me why : computers & the internet dvd this product has not yet been reviewed. click here to continue to the product details page.


it ’ s a common misconception that diets and weight - loss programs are the only ways to get healthy. however, helen lawler, nutritionist for the floyd county health department, believes that that is not the case. “ instead of dieting, have a lifestyle change. pick the most nutritious options and start small. pick two small goals to accomplish in your eating habits, and once you successfully accomplish them you, over time, will eat better. ” instead of being deprived from the beloved, tasty, food options that are bad choices, nutritionist for redmond regional medical center tiffany gokey, says “ eat smaller portions and make healthier choices. the food decisions people make can help them or hurt them. eat foods with antioxidants such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, beans and drink green tea. ” lawler says, “ i am a realist and believe people won ’ t ever cut out something they love to eat completely. by all means, treat yourself to sweets or salty foods, but only once a week. ” eating healthy should start in childhood, and according to lawler it should start with parents teaching children about portion control. she says, “ limit high - calorie, low - nutrient, pre - packaged foods as much as possible. i ’ m realistic, and i know people love sweets, but junk food intake should be kept at a minimum. ” gokey says, “ when you come home from the grocery store, divide everything in correct portion sizes. you have to train your mind and your eye to get used to what a correct portion size is. ” eating healthy can seem like an impossible task and incredibly boring to some because of terms like “ cutting out ” and “ staying away from ” the options that taste good but are unhealthy. however lawler believes eating healthy can still be fun. she says, “ food science is a fabulous thing, and we have come a long way. across the board for everyone, try to get a variety of foods, if possible one from every food group. also, people shouldn ’ t be scared of carbohydrates. instead of eating a low carbohydrate diet, try to mix carbohydrates with protein. “ it changes the digestive process and creates longevity in your system. ” although, eating healthy can be hard, it is incredibly beneficial in the long run. ultimately healthy eating habits and portion control when eating can help prevent common conditions such as diabetes,


“ it changes the digestive process and creates longevity in your system. ” although, eating healthy can be hard, it is incredibly beneficial in the long run. ultimately healthy eating habits and portion control when eating can help prevent common conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. so start practicing healthy food habits now, and start small. for example, when trying to satisfy a snack craving, instead of eating a bag of chips eat vegetables such as baby carrots or broccoli accompanied with some tasty salad dressing, and that ’ s a good start. try these : 2 - 4 large mangoes, cubed 1 pint blueberries, washed 1 pint raspberries, firm, washed blue banana smoothie 8 ounces milk ( use your favorite such as skim, 1 percent, 2 percent, almond, soy, etc. ) ½ cup frozen banana slices, ½ cup frozen blueberries potato kale soup 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups chopped yellow onion ( about 1 large onion ) 1½ cups chopped carrots ( about 3 carrots ) 1½ cups chopped celery ( about 3 stalks ) 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds sea salt & pepper, to taste 1 can ( 15 ounce ) white beans, rinsed & drained 6 cups cubed ( about 1 - inch pieces ) potatoes 4 cups chopped kale ( about 1 bunch ) 4 cups low - sodium vegetable broth 4 cups water toppings : 6 ounces low - fat greek yogurt ½ cup chopped fresh chives recipes for bon appetit y ’ all photos prepared by meals on heels ’ kathy patrick. photos by autumn jones.


dragons and dragon lore, by ernest ingersoll,, at sacred - texts. com the dragon ' s precious pearl a most curious, interesting, and at the same time obscure feature of this whole baffling subject is that of the so - called pearl which accompanies the dragon in pictures and legends from the earliest times, and is common to the religious traditions of the whole east - - india, china and japan. necklaces of pearls are a regular part of the regalia of naga - queens in their submarine palaces ; and we read often in the old vedic books of a magical jewel of good luck, ' which was in custody of the naga - maidens but was lost by them through terror of their monstrous enemy, the bird garuda. there are traces of it in early taoism, but it is best preserved in buddhism as the jewel in the lotus, the mani of the mystic, ecstatic, formula om mani padme hum - - the " jewel that grants all desires, " the ' divine pearl ' of the buddhists throughout the orient. koreans commonly believe that the yellow ( chief ) dragon carries on his forehead ( as also in japan ) a pear - shaped pearl having supernatural properties and healing power. in china alone, however, is this mystical accessory of the dragon made a significant part of pictures and decorative designs. some say that originally every proper dragon carried a pearl under his chin ; others that it was a special mark of imperial rank. a sixth - century writer asserts that such pearls are " spit out of dragons like snake - pearls out of snakes, " and have enormous value. this extraordinary gem is represented as a spherical object, or ball, half as big, or quite as large, as the head of the dragon with which it is associated, for it is never depicted quite by itself. the gem is white or bluish with a reddish or golden halo, and usually has an antler - shaped ' flame ' rising from its surface. almost invariably there hangs downward from the centre of the sphere a dark - coloured, comma - like appendage, frequently branched, wavering below the periphery. a biologist might easily at first glance conclude that the whole affair represented the entry of a spermatozoon into an ovum ; and the chinese commonly interpret the ball with its comma - mark as a symbol of yang and yin, male and female elements, combined in the earth - - which seems pretty close to the biologist ' s view. such is the dragon - pearl. in purely decorative work


interpret the ball with its comma - mark as a symbol of yang and yin, male and female elements, combined in the earth - - which seems pretty close to the biologist ' s view. such is the dragon - pearl. in purely decorative work, where the figure of a dragon is writhing in clouds or adapting its lithe body under an artist ' s hand to the shape or purpose of a piece of porcelain, a bronze article, or a silken garment, the pearl may be drawn close to the dragon, or wherever convenient. when, however, it is desirable to express the significance of this sacred adjunct of dragonhood, it is treated with strict attention to reverence and tradition. then are pictured celestial dragons ascending and descending through the upper air, tearing a path, perhaps, through swirling mists and shadows, " in pursuit of effulgent jewels or orbs that appear to be whirling in space, and that were supposed to be of magic efficiency, granting every wish. " a passion for gems is a well - known characteristic of these beings, and that it has ' always ' been so is shown by a fable recorded by joly. t ' an t ' ai mieh ming, a disciple of confucius, was attacked, at the instigation of the god of the yellow river, by two dragons seeking to rob him of a valuable gem ; but t ' an t ' ai slew the dragons and then, to show his contempt for worldly goods, threw the treasure into the river. twice it leaped back into his boat, but at last he broke it in pieces and scattered the fragments. can these be the two dragons so often depicted facing one another in the air, and apparently rushing, as if in eager play, toward a pearl floating like an iridescent bubble between them? nothing in the decorative art of china has occasioned more guessing and controversy than this. an eighteenth century vase described by chait is " decorated with nine dragons ( a mystic number ) whirling through scrolled clouds enveloping parts of their serpentine bodies in pursuit of jewels of omnipotence, which appear in the midst of clouds as revolving disks emitting branched rays of effulgence. " ball points out that in books issued under imperial auspices " two dragons encircle the title, striving... for a pearl. " japanese designers like to form the handles of bells, whether big temple - bells or tiny ones, of two dragons affrontes, with the tam


auspices " two dragons encircle the title, striving... for a pearl. " japanese designers like to form the handles of bells, whether big temple - bells or tiny ones, of two dragons affrontes, with the tama between them. one japanese carving represents a snake - like dragon coiled tightly around a ball, marked with spiral lines, illustrating devotion to the tama. " a great ball of gilded glass, " writes visser, " is said to hang from the centre of the roof of the great hall of the buddhist temple fa ( h ) - yu - sze, or temple of the reign of law, while eight dragons, curved around the ' hanging pillars, ' eagerly stretch their claws towards the ' pearl of perfection. '... dragons trying to seize a fiery ' pearl, ' which is hanging in a gate, are represented twice in the same temple.... we may be sure that the chinese buddhists, identifying the dragon with the naga, also identified the ball with their cintamani or ' precious pearl which grants all desires. ' " in these and many similar examples we, as outsiders, may grasp little of the significance or symbolism in this conspicuous ' ball ' or ' pearl, ' but we may approach an understanding of it through dr. de groot ' s investigation of chinese religion. ' he describes the ceremonial dress of the wuist priests as having a " broad border of blue silk around the neck stitched with two ascending dragons which are belching out a ball probably representing thunder. " de groot explains further that " the ball between two dragons is often delineated as a spiral, " and adds that ' in an ancient charm... a spiral denotes the rolling of thunder from which issues a flash of lightning. " in japanese prints a dragon is frequently accompanied by a huge spiral indicating a thunderstorm caused by him. are the antler - shaped appendages rising above the ' ball ' intended to represent lightning - flames? dr. visser discusses this hypothesis at length, pointing out that the whole attitude of the two dragons in such art - productions displays great eagerness to catch and swallow the gleaming sphere. this attitude and avidity become clear, visser thinks, when one sees a chinese picture like that in blacker ' s chats on oriental china, of two dragons rushing at a fiery spiral ball above the legend : " two dragons facing the moon. " sometimes two dragons confront each other, each having a flaming pearl floating just in front of


that in blacker ' s chats on oriental china, of two dragons rushing at a fiery spiral ball above the legend : " two dragons facing the moon. " sometimes two dragons confront each other, each having a flaming pearl floating just in front of their faces. there is nothing absurd about this suggestion of swallowing the moon. celestial dragons are, in reality, personifications of clouds ; and among the most primitive and widespread impressions respecting lunar eclipses is the notion that a monster is devouring the moon. dark and writhing clouds advancing as if alive, and finally extinguishing its light, might easily suggest a similar thought ; and it was a matter of early experience that after these hungry cloud - dragons had completed their feast, fertilizing rain usually blessed the thirsty fields and pastures, so that the dragons got the credit. hence artists liked to represent these public benefactors playfully contending for the opportunity to devour the ' queen of night ' and so produce a crop - saving fall of showers for which they ( the dragons ) would enjoy grateful appreciation. incidentally, artists note that a pair of their graceful figures make a well - balanced composition. the moon and water are closely connected in all mythologies ; hence the moon is closely linked with fertilizing agencies in general. faith in the moon ' s influence on the weather lingers strongly in the mind of rural communities even in these progressive united states of america ; and it is easy to believe that the dragon - thanking agriculturists and shepherds of china felt assured that the rain - giving will and power of their celestial friends were refreshed by frequently absorbing this bright and stimulating object in the sky. that these reflections are not ' all moonshine ' is shown by evidence in the writings of the old philosophers of the east, who assure us that the actual mundane pearl taken from the oyster in whose shell it is formed beneath the salt waters is the " concrete essence of the moon " distilled through the system of the mollusk - - an emanation from the moon - goddess herself. " the pearls found in the oyster, " as one student interprets it, " were supposed to be little moons, drops of the moon - substance ( or dew ) which fell from the sky into the gaping oyster. hence pearls acquired the reputation of shining by night, like to the moon from which they were believed to have come. " all this tends to demonstrate that the theory that the moon is the mani, the ' pearl of great price, ' the divine essence of