weedbrain

22/11/2025

Yelling at a toddler does more than hurt their feelings; it can shape the developing brain in ways that make emotional and cognitive challenges more likely later on.

When a young child is yelled at, key brain regions like the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala can be affected. These areas control emotional regulation, learning, memory, and the body’s stress response. Because yelling pushes a child’s sympathetic nervous system into survival mode, the brain shifts into survival mode as well, creating neural pathways that stay on high alert for danger.

Over time, repeated exposure to this kind of stress can lead to measurable structural changes, including reduced volume in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, and disrupted function in the hippocampus.

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for impulse control, decision-making, and managing emotions. The hippocampus plays a central role in forming and storing memories, while the amygdala acts as the brain’s emotional alarm system, especially when it comes to fear and anxiety.

When yelling repeatedly activates the stress response, these regions are flooded with stress hormones, which can interfere with healthy development. During childhood the brain is pruning and shaping connections at a rapid pace, and a consistently stressful environment can cause the brain to build more pathways for fear and hypervigilance while pruning away connections needed for calm thinking and emotional balance.

These changes can have lasting effects. A child may struggle to regulate their emotions or control impulses if the prefrontal cortex hasn’t developed fully. A stressed or impaired hippocampus can make learning and memory formation harder. An overactive amygdala can make a child more anxious, more reactive, and more likely to interpret situations as threatening.

Over the long term, research shows that harsh parenting practices like frequent yelling are linked to increased risks of anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges later in life, even when no physical abuse is present.

18/11/2025

What actually causes human death? This graphic puts it all into perspective.

By mapping out the relative size of each cause of death, the infographic helps viewers grasp the scale of preventable deaths and public health priorities.

It serves as a powerful reminder that while some threats, like accidents or infectious diseases, grab headlines, chronic conditions quietly remain some of the leading killers year after year.

The data underscores the importance of long-term investment in preventive care, early detection, and healthier living habits to combat these persistent causes of death.

SOURCE: NHS

05/11/2025

This find indicates that Earth was seeded with life’s ingredients from beyond.

A 2-billion-year-old asteroid sample is reviving one of the most provocative ideas in science: that life on Earth may have come from space.

New findings from NASA and Japan’s space agency reveal that Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid older than any life on Earth, contains chemical precursors to DNA and RNA—along with 14 of the 20 amino acids used by all living organisms.

These building blocks of life weren’t formed on Earth, but preserved in the ancient rock since the dawn of the solar system, offering compelling evidence for the theory of panspermia.

Panspermia suggests that Earth didn’t create life from scratch but was seeded by organic molecules delivered via comets or meteorites. Unlike science fiction versions of the idea, it doesn’t require alien microbes—just stable molecules capable of surviving the journey and jumpstarting life-friendly chemistry upon arrival. Until recently, it was unclear whether such molecules could survive the harsh conditions of space and impact. But Bennu's pristine samples, brought back by the OSIRIS-REx mission, show it's not only possible—they may be far more common than we thought. If life’s raw materials exist on Bennu, they could be scattered across the cosmos.

Source: NASA "NASA’s Bennu Samples Reveal Complex Origins, Dramatic Transformation" 2025

29/10/2025

The universe is far grander and more mind-boggling than most of us realise. Our Milky Way, the galaxy we call home, is just a tiny red dot when seen in the context of the Laniakea Supercluster, a colossal cosmic structure that contains roughly 100,000 galaxies.

Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian, is a massive web of galaxies bound together by gravity, stretching over 500 million light-years across. Within this giant structure, galaxies like the Milky Way are part of clusters, filaments, and voids, forming a vast network that maps the large-scale structure of the universe. Seeing our galaxy as a mere speck within this immense cosmic web is both humbling and awe-inspiring.

Astronomers studying the supercluster have revealed just how interconnected galaxies truly are. Each galaxy, including our own, is influenced by the gravitational pull of its neighbours, moving along invisible pathways that trace the universe’s intricate architecture. The Milky Way’s location within Laniakea shows that even our cosmic neighbourhood is part of a much larger story, one that spans hundreds of millions of light-years.

This perspective shifts how we view our place in the cosmos. The Milky Way, with all its stars, planets, and mysteries, is only a small piece of a universe far larger than we can truly imagine. It’s a reminder of the incredible scale of space and the endless discoveries waiting beyond our galactic doorstep.

Thinking of our galaxy as a tiny red dot in a massive cosmic web is a thrilling glimpse into the grandeur of the universe and the extraordinary beauty of the cosmic structures that surround us.

12/09/2025

⚠️Scientists say daily showers are literally bad for you — and the planet

Experts are challenging the long-held belief that daily showers are essential for hygiene.

Research from dermatologists suggests that frequent washing—especially with hot water and antibacterial soaps—strips the skin of its natural oils and beneficial microbes, leaving it prone to dryness, irritation, and infection.

This over-cleansing also disrupts the delicate balance of microorganisms that help train and support the immune system, potentially making it less resilient over time. Compounding the issue, many municipal water supplies contain chlorine, heavy metals, and other chemicals that can further irritate the skin barrier.

Experts now recommend a gentler approach: showering every few days, focusing on key areas like the armpits and groin, while relying on mild, fragrance-free cleansers.

Not only can this shift preserve skin health and strengthen immunity, but it also reduces environmental impact by conserving water and limiting chemical exposure from personal care products. Breaking the daily shower habit may feel unusual at first, but the payoff could be healthier skin and a lighter ecological footprint.

Source: Shmerling, R. H. (Harvard Health Publishing). “Showering daily -- is it necessary?”

15/06/2025

Look at that tiny circle in the galaxy that’s where every star you’ve ever seen in the night sky lives. Seriously. All the constellations, shooting stars, and planets visible to the naked eye exist in just this one thin slice of the Milky Way.

Our galaxy is estimated to hold over 100 billion stars, but the ones we can spot from Earth without a telescope make up only a tiny fraction. We’re tucked into one spiral arm of this massive structure, orbiting around a core we can’t even see directly.

It’s wild to think about how small our visible universe really is. Next time you look up at the stars, remember you’re seeing just a few grains of light in a cosmic ocean 🌌🔭

29/05/2025

This is TON 618, the largest black hole ever discovered. With a mass around 66 billion times that of our Sun, this supermassive blackhole is a true cosmic monster. Its event horizon stretches across 390 billion kilometers in diameter (1,300 astronomical units). This implies that TON 618 is so vast that it could swallow our entire Solar System more than 30 times at a glance. For scale, Neptune orbits the Sun at just 60 AU. TON 618 dwarfs this effortlessly. But the jaw-dropping scale doesn’t stop there. The black hole's accretion disk, where matter spirals in at near-light speeds, extends roughly 320,000 light-years. That’s over three times the diameter of our entire Milky Way galaxy. When compared to TON 618, our Solar System is just a speck of dust floating beside a cosmic mountain. It’s not just bigger than most celestial bodies, it’s monstrously larger than almost anything else we’ve ever seen in the universe. What do you think about this cosmic monster?

11/05/2025

It’s easy to forget just how small we are. Earth is just 1 of an estimated 3.2 trillion planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Our Sun? Just 1 of roughly 200 billion stars in that same galaxy. And the Milky Way is only 1 of about 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe.

Let that sink in: our planet, everything we know and love, is a tiny speck in a cosmic ocean that stretches across 93 billion light-years. And even that is just what we can observe. Beyond it? Possibly infinite galaxies, stars, planets—and maybe even life.

This perspective doesn’t diminish our importance. Instead, it reminds us how rare and precious Earth is. Out of trillions of planets, this one sustains life. This one is home.

So the next time things feel overwhelming, remember—we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. Something vast, mysterious, and still mostly unexplored.

10/05/2025

Astronomers have discovered the largest structure in the universe the BOSS Great Wall. Spanning over 1 billion light-years and made up of 830 galaxies across four superclusters, it’s 10,000 times the mass of the Milky Way. This massive web of galaxies reveals new clues about how matter spread after the Big Bang.

09/05/2025

09/05/2025

How big is the Milky Way Galaxy?

To answer this question, we are going a space trip with a spaceship moving at 100 percent of light speed across the Milky Way Galaxy to find out its actual size. The Milky Way Galaxy is huge, stretching 100,000 light-years across.

Hence, it will take us 100,000 years to travel from one edge of the Milky Way Galaxy to another. Our home galaxy is packed with 100-400 billion twinkling stars, and probably just as many planets spinning around them, ranging from 800 billion up to 3.2 trillion.

At the center, a giant supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* sits, as heavy as 4 million suns, swallowing anything nearby. Smaller black holes hide in the galaxy’s twisty arms. Even though it’s so wide, the Milky Way is super thin, only 1,000 light-years thick—like a cosmic pancake! So if we should travel through it's thickness, it will take us only 1,000 light years to escape our home galaxy.

Now that we have learned about the actual size of the Milky Way, it will also be interesting to learn about our place in the Universe. Our Milky Way is just one spiral galaxy, out of over 2 trillion galaxies that make up the observable Universe.

And even if we decide to get fly across it with our spaceship, we will never get to the end of Universe as our cosmos is expanding faster than the speed of light. I hope you enjoyed our space trip across the Milky Way? If yes, tell me the next galactic world you think we should explore next.

Image Credit: NASA

08/05/2025

A breathtaking view of thousands of distant galaxies captured in a patch of sky known as the Lockman Hole, photographed by the Herschel Space Observatory.

This deep-sky image reveals the incredible richness of the universe far beyond our own galaxy.

Image credit: ESA / SPIRE / HerMES