Snippets from Science

• Why we sleep is a neuroscience mystery. Evidence suggests that sleep is associated with learning and memory, and that things we learn during the day are “consolidated” when we sleep. How does this happen? New synaptic junctions (the specialized contacts that enable neurons to communicate with one another) are formed during periods of wakefulness. They create new signaling pathways or strengthen old ones. Wakefulness is a period of maximum energy utilization by the brain, as millions of neurons “talk” back and forth to allow us to do what we do and feel what we feel. Researchers at UW-Madison theorize that sleep is required to give these over-stimulated synapses a rest. In their experimental animals, the scientists found that the number of synaptic contacts diminished during sleep. This may be associated with trimming away contacts no longer critical after a period of overstimulation. (Cirelli, Tononi, and Gilestro, in Science Magazine, April 2009)

• Compulsive shoplifting is an addiction that brings on a rush “similar to a cocaine or heroin high,” writes Jon Grant in a 2009 article in Biological Psychiatry. Naltrexone, a drug known to block heroin binding receptors on brain neurons, is used to treat heroin addicts. The author used naltrexone in a placebo-controlled study of 25 kleptomaniacs from 17 to 65 years of age. “Two-thirds of those on naltrexone had complete remission of their symptoms.” The drug, which suppresses the temporary euphoria induced by heroin, presumably suppressed the high brought on by shoplifting.

• One of the strangest fish in the ocean is the giant sunfish Mola mola, largest of the bony fishes. Weighing in at almost 5,000 lbs. and reaching 14 ft. in length, it is the size of a small pick-up truck. Some say Mola looks like it was designed by a mad scientist. It is flattened side-to-side and has unusually long upper and lower fins. It has the appearance of being mostly head. A benign fish, it eats primarily jellyfish, although the teeth in its small mouth are fused into a parrot-like beak, so it can also eat crustaceans and squid. Even though they are huge, Molas can leap up to 10 feet above the ocean surface when trying to free themselves of skin parasites. Are they edible? Yes, but they are not easy to catch. To see one in action, go to http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals.

• The total value of pollination services rendered by all insects globally has been estimated to annually exceed $100 billion. In the U.S., bees alone contribute several billion dollars of value by pollinating food crops.