Mind Soup

Scientists at Stanford University are inching closer to a cure for noise induced hearing loss. Stereocilia, or the tiny hairs inside our ears, are an integral part of the hearing system. But overexposure to noise - such as experienced in music concerts or blasting tunes from an iPod - can permanently damage them, degrading a person's hearing over time. Researchers at Stanford, however, have hit a breakthrough in growing hair-like cells that function just like those in our ears. This could mean solutions for damaged hearing. Gizmag writes,  "[W]e’re born with 30,000 [stereocilia] per ear, but once they die off or get damaged, they’re gone for good. Stefan Heller, a professor of otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) at Stanford University, wants to change that. To that end, he recently succeeded in creating mouse hair cells in a petri dish. Could an end to deafness be far behind?" How Hairs In Our Ears Help Us Hear From the National Institute of Deafness and other Comm...

Almost all of the following images were captured using a scanning electronic microscope. Incredible details of 1 to 5nm (nanometer) in size can be detected 1. Red Blood Cells They look like little cinnamon candies here, but they're actually the most common type of blood cell in the human body - red blood cells (RBCs). These biconcave-shaped cells have the tall task of carrying oxygen to our entire body; in women there are about 4 to 5 million RBCs per micro liter (cubic millimeter) of blood and about 5 to 6 million in men. People who live at higher altitudes have even more RBCs because of the low oxygen levels in their environment. 2. Split End of Human Hair Regular trimmings to your hair and good conditioner should help to prevent this unsightly picture of a split end of a human hair. 3. Purkinje Neurons Of the 100 billion neurons in your brain. Purkinje (pronounced purr-kin-jee) neurons are some of the largest. Among other things, these cells are the masters of mot...

HIS ear hair is 25cm long and still growing but Indian grocer Radhakant Baijpai has no intention of trimming it. “I am sure that no one in the world has ear-hair longer than mine and my hair is almost double the length of the first record I set in 2003. Officially recognised by Guinness in 2003 as having the longest ear hair in the world, Radhakant has carefully coifed his ear-folicles from 13.2cm to their current ear-itching length. Considered by Radhakant, 58, to be symbol of luck and prosperity, his incredible ear-hair has been growing since he was 18 and more importantly has never been cut. Maintained by a specially prepared blend of herbal shampoo, Radhakant has so far resisted the pleas of his long suffering wife to cut it off. Radhakant, from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, said: “She has always been asking me to cut my ear-hair, but since the official record was confirmed by Guinness, she has allowed me to keep it because it is a source ...