從《哈利波特》看腦神經學 ； Oxford：neuroscience research helping to create more effective antidepressants

University of Oxford

"I think I've got the best job in the world - it's very satisfying to hope that your work will make a difference to the treatment of such a disabling condition."

Watch this inspiring video to see our work in neuroscience research helping to create more effective antidepressants.

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從《哈利波特》看腦神經學

《哈利波特》大概是全球最暢銷的文學作品之一，究竟是什麼原因使它如此抓住讀者的心？許多人將之歸功於生動的寫作技巧，或是書中有趣的魔法。最近柏林自由大學針對人們在閱讀小說時產生的感覺進行腦神經學的研究，試圖分析某些故事特別引人入勝的原因，即以《哈利波特》做了實驗。

研究人員找來受試者，分別給他們閱讀《哈利波特》系列的兩個段落，分別是第一集中反派佛地魔在森林中首次出現的場景，與最後一集中哈利悠閒地坐在家裡看報紙的場景，他們發現第一個段落顯然讓讀者更能夠進入故事，並且情緒被影響的也更多。

 

研究團隊稱這種透過閱讀所引起的情緒為「fiction feeling」，並聲稱包含某種程度的恐懼、緊張的情節較易使讀者產生 fiction feeling。藉由腦部掃瞄，他們也觀察到這樣的閱讀經驗與腦神經的活動之間有很高的聯繫，因此他們發展出一套假說，認為情結可怕的文學描述使人參與感更高，是因為其中包含情感方面的腦神經系統運作。

 

這項研究結果也許是一個好的開端，但學界也對此假說提出質疑。The Neurocritic 網站形容這是一個「令人印象深刻」的研究，不過他們認為研究人員沒有為這個假說提出有力的證據。柏林自由大學的研究團隊在進行腦部掃描時，確實只觀察到所謂fiction feeling 與大腦中「扣帶皮層」的關聯，不過同與情緒作用相關的「島葉」卻沒有顯示支持實驗結果的變化。

 

更進一步，The Neurocritic 提出一個研究過程的問題，人們在閱讀時要開始產生身歷其境的感覺至少要持續閱讀幾十分鐘，而此研究只針對受試者讀了四行文字之後所產生的腦神經變化做依據，這樣的數據似乎不太可靠。

 

另外，這個研究的結果也許只能適用於實驗所使用的讀物材料：《哈利波特》系列。研究結果只能證明：「在閱讀《哈利波特》系列時，讀者會因較緊張的段落而刺激腦神經系統運作進而產生身歷其境的感覺」，而不能證明團隊一開始提出的假說。

 

不管怎麼樣，這個實驗終究還是開啟了閱讀時的情緒反應與腦神經運作之間的相關性研究，相信會鼓勵日後更多的類似研究，不過以目前來說，大家還是傾向相信那些暢銷作品的秘密不是科學，而是「魔法」。

 

 

文字：于念平

新聞出處：來源

圖片：來源

A silicone chip that mimics living human organs

得設計獎的科學模擬研究之設計 ( won the Design of the Year award from the Design Museum in London)：

BBC World Service

A living, breathing....microchip? Scientists at Harvard University's have created a silicone chip that mimics a human organ. Their lung-on-a-chip contracts and relaxes as the lungs would as air is passed over the cells. The devices could provide an alternative to animal testing for drug development. Listen to one of the scientists describe how they work:

A silicone chip that mimics living human organs

Silicon chips that mimic living human organs have won the Design of the Year award

BBC.IN

The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever

The revolution will be decentralized.

The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever

These 6 shifts will transform markets over the next 25 years

BLOOMBERG.COM

University of Oxford：用病人聲音品質遠距診斷等等

University of Oxford

How could speech disorders be treated over the phone?

Our researchers are working on a system to analyse speech and detect when patients need to come in for treatment.

Watch the video to see this amazing work in action.

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New hi-tech bionic hand designed in Britain

 New hi-tech bionic hand  designed in Britain

BBC News

New hi-tech bionic hand created using Formula 1 and military technology has been designed in Britain with the hope of transforming lives across the world
http://bbc.in/1CfoDto

• 重播影片
• 觀看更多

387,837 次觀看

Technology to Prevent Drunken Driving Could Soon Come in New Cars

可偵測皮下酒精成份汽車，5年後上市。 (我10年前就聽說tOYOTA等公司的研究)

WHEELS

Technology to Prevent Drunken Driving Could Soon Come in New Cars

By AARON M. KESSLER

Touch pads that detect alcohol in blood vessels beneath the skin and sensors that analyze normal breaths could be in vehicles by the end of the decade.

Sex Dolls That Talk Back and so on...

Sex Dolls That Talk Back

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

In just two years, the creator of RealDoll says he will sell a robotic version with convincing artificial intelligence, blinking eyes and a mouth that moves.

More in this series:
Episode 1: Cheaper Robots, Fewer Workers
Episode 2: Navy Robots Test the Limits of Autonomy
Episode 3: Prosthetic Limbs, Controlled by Thought
Episode 4: A Talking Teddy Bear Practicing in the Pediatric Hospital

Diesel Hybrid Trains: Japan's World-Leading Technology

NHK WORLD 新增了 2 張新相片。

Japan's diesel hybrid trains use the very latest lithium-ion batteries. Compared to conventional diesel railcars, diesel hybrid trains reduce fuel consumption, carbon emissions and noise pollution. Join us for a ride on the eco-friendly "Resort View Furusato" as it winds its way through the beautiful Japanese Alps. Then meet the volunteer group that maintains its own line on a farm, experience changing a sleeper and see their museum condition narrow-gauge steam engine in action.

Japan Railway Journal
Diesel Hybrid Trains: Japan's World-Leading Technology
June 12 Fri. 0:30 / 6:30 / 12:30 / 18:30(JST)
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/japanrailway/

參考翻譯

Bernard Palissy 帕利西 (c. 1510 – c. 1590) 快樂的大笨蛋 (張文亮)

Bernard Palissy, self-portrait in faience

Bernard Palissy (c. 1510 – c. 1590) was a French Huguenot potter, hydraulics engineer and craftsman, famous for having struggled for sixteen years to imitate Chinese porcelain. In the 19th-century, Palissy's pottery became the inspiration for Mintons Ltd's Victorian majolica, which was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 under the name "Palissy ware".

Palissy is known for his contributions to the natural sciences, and is famous for discovering principles of geology, hydrology and fossil formation.^[1] A Protestant, Palissy was imprisoned for his belief during the tumultuous French Wars of Religion and sentenced to death. He died of poor treatment in the Bastille in 1590.^[2][3]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Biography
  • 1.1 Early life
  • 1.2 Interest in ceramics
  • 1.3 Rustic pottery
  • 1.4 Work in Paris
  • 1.5 Lectures on natural science
  • 1.6 Imprisonment and death
• 2 Fame
• 3 Notes
• 4 References
• 5 External links

If things conceived in the mind could be executed, [alchemists] would do great things... [We must] confess that practice is the source of theory... By experiment I prove in several places that the theory of several philosophers is false, even of the most renowned and the most ancient.

—Bernard Palissy, (quoted by Henry Morley in 1780)^[3]

Imprisonment and death[edit]

The close of Palissy's life was quite in keeping with his active and stormy youth. Despite the protection of the nobles and the court, the fanatical outburst of 1588 associated with the War of the Three Henrys led to his being thrown into the Bastille. According to D'Aubigné and fellow Protestants, Henry III offered Palissy his freedom if he would recant, though Palissy refused.^[2] Condemned to death when nearly eighty years of age, he died in a Bastille dungeon in 1590. Friend, chronicler and fellow prisoner Pierre de L'Estoilelater recounted Palissy's fate:

In this same year 1590, master Bernard Palissy died in the dungeons of the Bastille, a prisoner for his religion, aged 80 years, and killed by misery, need and poor treatment. With him were three other women detained as prisoners also for their religion, themselves strangled by hunger or vermin... The very good woman who brought me the news had returned from the Bastille, where she had inquired about Palissy's condition. There she found Palissy had died, and was told that if she wanted to see him, she could find him on the ramparts with the dogs, where he had been placed since he was a dog himself.

—Pierre L'Estoile^[2]

Palissy's life and work are described in A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book. Palissy serves as an inspiration to the potter Benedict Fludd and his apprentice Philip Warren.^[8]

張文亮

快樂的大笨蛋

　　人類為什麼會用有系統的方法，去探究大自然的奧秘呢？有一個基本的原因，科學探究的動機，是來自人類對深度知識的渴慕。發掘到這深度知識的人，常會分享給周圍的人和道。有趣的是，這些發現者去報告時，經常被周遭的人譏笑，以致於這些發現者要在五十年、一百年，甚至更久，才能得到世人的掌聲。

　　法國的大科學家帕利西（Bernoard Palissy, 1509-1590），在活著的時候被稱為「大笨蛋」（great dolt），但是今天在大學的「水土保持學系」，帕利西被稱為「水土保持學之父」（father of soil and water conservation）；大學裏的「農藝學系」，帕利西是「近代農藝學的先鋒」（pioneer of modern agronomy）；大學裏土木工程裏重要的「水文學」，帕利西是「水文學之父」（father of hydrology）。怎麼這些學術冠冕會戴在一個「大笨蛋」的頭上呢？

　　帕利西本來是一個陶匠，他在年輕時就以製陶出名，但是他有一天看到從中國運來的純白陶瓷，他才知道人外有人，天外有天。以後他以十六年的時間精心研究純白陶瓷的製造法。這期間，他只要聽說歐洲大陸有那個製陶高手，他就去學習。在這過程中，帕利西的製陶愈來愈有名，他也將一些聖經事蹟製作成陶瓷的裝飾。因為聖經事蹟裏面有花草樹木，為求準確，他就以實驗去研究植物形態，花朵與葉子。聖經事蹟裏面有雲，有溪流、有森林、帕利西就去研究這些自然現象。

他沒有想到，他是科學史上第一個去研究這些自然景物的人，我們今天有很多耳熟能詳的知識，例如「雲是空氣中的水氣凝結成的」，「雲在空氣中飄動是風的吹動」，「滿月的時候，河水水位會最高」，「距離地面愈高，空氣的溫度也愈低」，「下雨以後水有些會先入滲到土壤裏，再慢慢流到河川」，「土壤不是均勻的，而是有好幾層堆在一起」，「為了保持土壤不會被沖刷，需要保護森林」，「整個地球上的水份一直是在循環流動的」等，這些論點都是帕利西首先提出來的。帕利西於一五七五年至一五八０年在巴黎開班講「自然科學」，並在一五八０年出版「論述極美之物」（Discours Admirables）。

　　你能想像嗎？一個燒陶瓷的人去講科學，而且他講的內容，與過去科學家講的不同，因此他贏得「大笨蛋」的外號。但是帕利西繼續講，並且以陶瓷製作碗盤與城堡牆上的陶瓷裝飾表達聖經事蹟。

　　一五六二年，他以傳福音被關兩年。一五七五年又被捕，且有殺身之危，但是他的製陶技術太有名的，如果殺了他，法國最好的琺瑯質製造技術就會失傳。一五八八年他又被捕，並被關在法國最惡名昭彰的巴斯底監獄，他仍不改其信仰，二年後他死於獄中。

the fuss about graphene; Graphene’s lightbulb moment 石墨烯 graphene, an atom-thick form of carbon

Graphene is the thinnest solid ever known, indeed the thinnest possible: it is a sheet of linked carbon atoms just one atom thick. It is a great conductor of electricity and nearly transparent to visible light, but is impermeable to gases and liquids. It has so many surprising properties it has earned its discoverers a Nobel prize. The Economist explains the fuss about graphene http://econ.st/1JEX1pf

Graphene is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in the form of a hexagonal lattice. It is the thinnest and lightest substance known, as well as being the strongest (more than 100 times stronger than high-strength steel). Now the first commercially viable consumer product based on the material has been produced: a lightbulbhttp://econ.st/1dwiKlU

Graphene’s lightbulb moment

PHYSICISTS Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselev have been rightly feted for their isolation, in 2003, of graphene—sheets of pure carbon a single atom thick—whose...

ECON.ST

石墨烯

石墨烯由碳原子形成的原子尺寸蜂巢晶格結構。

石墨烯（Graphene）是一種由碳原子以sp²雜化軌道組成六角型呈蜂巢晶格的平面薄膜，只有一個碳原子厚度的二維材料^[1]。石墨烯一直被認為是假設性的結構，無法單獨穩定存在^[1]，直至2004年，英國曼徹斯特大學物理學家安德烈·海姆和康斯坦丁·諾沃肖洛夫，成功地在實驗中從石墨中分離出石墨烯，而證實它可以單獨存在，兩人也因「在二維石墨烯材料的開創性實驗」為由，共同獲得2010年諾貝爾物理學獎^[2]。

石墨烯目前是世上最薄卻也是最堅硬的奈米材料^[3]，它幾乎是完全透明的，只吸收2.3%的光"^[4]；導熱系數高達5300 W/m·K，高於碳奈米管和金剛石，常溫下其電子遷移率超過15000 cm²/V·s，又比奈米碳管或矽晶體（monocrystalline silicon）高，而電阻率只約10^-6 Ω·cm，比銅或銀更低，為目前世上電阻率最小的材料^[5][1]。因為它的電阻率極低，電子跑的速度極快，因此被期待可用來發展出更薄、導電速度更快的新一代電子元件或電晶體。由於石墨烯實質上是一種透明、良好的導體，也適合用來製造透明觸控螢幕、光板、甚至是太陽能電池。

石墨烯另一個特性，是能夠在常溫下觀察到量子霍爾效應。

目錄

  [隱藏] 

• 1 簡介
• 2 發現歷史
• 3 製備方法
  • 3.1 撕膠帶法/輕微摩擦法
  • 3.2 碳化矽表面外延生長
  • 3.3 金屬表面生長
  • 3.4 氧化減薄石墨片法
  • 3.5 肼還原法
  • 3.6 乙氧鈉裂解
  • 3.7 切割碳奈米管法
  • 3.8 石墨的聲波處理法
• 4 重要性質
  • 4.1 原子結構
  • 4.2 電子性質
    • 4.2.1 電子傳輸
  • 4.3 光學性質
    • 4.3.1 飽和吸收
    • 4.3.2 非線性克爾效應
  • 4.4 自旋傳輸
  • 4.5 異常量子霍爾效應
  • 4.6 石墨烯氧化物
  • 4.7 化學改性
  • 4.8 熱性能
  • 4.9 機械性能
• 5 潛在的應用
  • 5.1 單分子氣體偵測
  • 5.2 石墨烯奈米帶
  • 5.3 集成電路
  • 5.4 石墨烯電晶體
  • 5.5 透明導電電極
  • 5.6 導熱材料/熱介面材料
  • 5.7 場發射源及其真空電子器件
  • 5.8 超級電容器
  • 5.9 海水淡化
  • 5.10 太陽能電池
  • 5.11 石墨烯生物器件
  • 5.12 抗菌物質
  • 5.13 石墨烯感光元件
• 6 參看
• 7 參考文獻

IBM Preps Graphene For High-Frequency Chips

A material called graphene has been making lots of headlines in science journals, and is sometimes even discussed as a potential successor to silicon in computer chips. IBM doesn't buy that prediction, but is still betting big on the substance.

RESEARCH | 05.10.2010

Nobel Prize for physics goes to Russian duo for 'groundbreaking work'

Graphene could be used to create improved transparent touch screens

Two scientists at the University of Manchester share the prize of over one million euros for their extraordinary work on experimenting with graphene, the thinnest and strongest material known.

The 2010 Nobel Prize for physics has been awarded to two European scientists, Andre Geim of the Netherlands and Russian-British national Konstantin Novoselov, for their pioneering work on graphene, an atom-thick form of carbon which is expected to play a large role in electronics.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize to the pair for their "groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene," according to a statement released on Tuesday. Graphene is both the thinnest and strongest material known: almost completely transparent yet so dense that not even the smallest gas atom can pass through it.

Geim, 51, and Novoselov, 36, who are both Russian-born and based at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, were able to isolate graphene for the first time by extracting it from a piece of graphite like that found in ordinary pencils.

The Nobel committee said experiments with graphene could lead to the development of new material and the manufacture of innovative electronics, and that one possible application of the winners' work could be in researching new ways to trace dangerous gases.

"Since it is practically transparent and a good conductor, graphene is suitable for producing transparent touch screens, light panels and maybe even solar cells," the academy said in a statement.

Andre Geim (left) and Konstantin Novoselov both work at the University of Manchester

Geim says 'no change' in schedule after award

Novoselov is one of the youngest Nobel Laureates for physics ever. In 1973, Brian David Josephson, a British scientist, shared the prize at the age of 33.

Geim told press he who had been answering emails when he was informed of the win. He said one of his first thoughts was: "Oh dear – I will not win many other prizes."

According to the Nobel Prize's official Twitter account, Geim did not expect to win the award this year, and added: "He plans to go back to work today, no changes in today's schedule!"

Previously, Geim was awarded an Ig Nobel award – an American humorous science prize – in 2000 for having conducted research into diamagnetic levitation, which resulted in levitating a frog.

The Nobel Prize includes 10 million Swedish kronor (just over 1 million euros, or $1.5 million), to be shared between the two winners.

The first Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Wilhelm Roentgen for his discovery of X-rays in 1901. John Bardeen was the only Nobel Laureate who was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics twice, in 1956 and 1972.

Author: Sophie Tarr (AP/ Reuters)
Editor: Cyrus Farivar

1. Graphene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   - [ 翻譯此頁 ]
   Graphene is a one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. Graphene is most easily ...
   

   Description - Occurrence and production - Properties

   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene - 頁庫存檔 - 類似內容

2. 石墨烯- 維基百科，自由的百科全書

   跳到 氧化石墨烯(graphene oxide)‎: ). 通過對石墨烯進行氧化及化工處理，然後使他們漂浮在水中，石墨烯會剝落並形成有強力鍵的單層。這些被稱為氧化石墨烯的 ...