Gizmorama - September 17, 2014

Good Morning,

It's true - your brain is very active during sleep. Actually, it so active that we can perform complex processes like classifying words. That brain just never stops working.

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

P.S. Did you miss an issue? You can read every issue from the Gophercentral library of newsletters on our exhaustive archives page. Thousands of issues, all of your favorite publications in chronological order. You can read AND comment. Just click GopherArchives

***
*-- Human brain capable of classifying words while asleep --*
PARIS (UPI) - The brain is active during sleep -- that much was already obvious. We dream in our sleep, talk in our sleep, even swat away tickling feathers in our sleep. But now a new study shows the brain can even perform seemingly complex processes -- like classifying a word as real or nonsense -- while asleep.

Researchers at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris recently teamed up with scientists at the University of Cambridge to study the processing capacity of sleeping brains. The researchers used a simple word test, having participants use a hand signal device to categorize the given word as being either an animal or an object.

By attaching each participant to an EEG and recording neural impulses, researchers were able to tell when the word game had become automatic. Once the word-categorization process had become automatized by the brain, researchers had the participants perform the same test -- only using different words -- in a reclined chair in a dark room. They found that the participants performance did not decline has each one drifted off to sleep.

"We show that the sleeping brain can be far more 'active' in sleep than one would think," explained Sid Kouider of Ecole Normale Supérieure. "Far from falling [into] a limbo when we fall asleep, parts of our brain can routinely process what is going on in our surroundings and apply a relevant scheme of response. This explains some everyday life experiences such as our sensitivity to our name in our sleep, or to the specific sound of our alarm clock, compared to equally loud but less relevant sounds."

Kouider says he believes processing capacity of a sleeping brain is limited by the complexity of the given task, so long as the task can be automated. Researchers hope to do further testing to find out what their discovery might say about the ability to learn while sleeping. Though Kouider acknowledges interrupting sleep in any way, even if we're not aware of the interruption, could potentially have health ramifications.

"Research focusing on how to take advantage of our sleeping time must consider what is the associated cost, if any, and whether it is worth it," Kouider said.

The research of Kouider and his colleagues was published in the journal Current Biology this week.


*---- Solar flares speeding toward Earth's atmosphere -----*
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Solar radiation is hurtling toward Earth, and scientists say it's likely to hit the Earth's atmosphere starting today and continue through the weekend. While humans will be perfectly safe from the radiation, the barrage of solar storms could disrupt satellite communications and even knock out power.

The sun regularly shoots out solar flares and bursts of radiation known as coronal mass ejections. The sun featured a series of flares and ejections on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and now the mass of emitted radiation is making its way here, to Earth.

NASA confirms one of the two flares was an X1.6 class solar flare -- a flare of the most intense variety. In a press release on Thursday, NASA said two coronal mass ejections had emerged from same region of the sun that produced two flares the day prior.

Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, and solar flares are similar and often occur together -- both are eruptions of radiation from the sun. But whereas a flare is a more contained leap of radiation, CMEs are typically larger and involve a more significant separation of solar material from the sun's corona.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said some of the radiation had already begun hitting the Earth's upper atmosphere on Friday, and that additional solar storms would continue to arrive overnight and into Saturday.

"A G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm Watch is still in effect for September 13th due to the combined influence of this CME and the one projected to arrive late on the 12th," officials warned in the forecast.

Though scientists work hard to keep tabs on the strength and speed of solar storms, predicting the effects of the cosmic radiation remains difficult.

"This is a pretty strong solar storm, and we just won't know until it gets here," meteorologist Chad Myers told CNN.

But while the storm may be worrisome for astronauts and the operators of electrical grids, it's welcome news for those hoping to catch a glimpse of the so-called Northern Lights. Solar storms create beautiful auroras in the night sky for those watching from near the poles.

Missed an Issue? Visit the Gizmorama Archives