Predicting major earthquakes months ago

Girona et al. Abnormal low-magnitude seismicity preceding large-magnitude earthquakes. Nature Communications, August 2024.

Recent study suggests that significant earthquakes could be predicted days or months in advance by detecting low-level tectonic activity using machine learning. The researchers closely investigated two major earthquakes: the 2018 Anchorage earthquake and the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence in California. Their method involved analyzing seismic data for abnormal low-magnitude activity, particularly in the months leading up to these events. They discovered that in both earthquakes, there were about 3 months of unusual seismicity, predominantly of magnitudes below 1.5, over 15% to 25% of the affected regions. Specifically, their machine learning algorithm revealed an 80% probability of a major earthquake occurring within 30 days, increasing to 85% just days before the Anchorage quake. Similar patterns were also observed before the Ridgecrest sequence.

The researchers propose that this precursor activity is caused by increased pore fluid pressure within faults, altering their mechanical properties and leading to uneven stress distribution. This study highlights the transformative role of machine learning in analyzing large seismic datasets, allowing researchers to identify patterns that might signal impending earthquakes. However, while their method shows promise, it requires further testing in real-time scenarios and should be adapted to the specific seismic history of different regions. The ethical challenges of earthquake forecasting are significant, as false alarms could lead to widespread panic and economic disruption, while missed predictions could result in catastrophic outcomes. Nonetheless, accurate forecasting holds the potential to save lives and reduce economic losses by enabling timely warnings and preparations.

Environmental and social factors impact brain aging

Moguilner et al. Brain clocks capture diversity and disparities in aging and dementia across geographically diverse populations. Nature Medicine, August 2024.

A new study reveals that brain aging varies significantly depending on social and environmental factors, particularly in older adults and those with dementia. Countries with higher inequalities, whether economic, environmental, or related to disease, tend to have populations with older brain ages. Researchers used advanced brain clocks based on deep learning to measure brain aging across a diverse sample of 5,306 participants from 15 countries. The study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) data to quantify the brain age gaps, which is the difference between the estimated biological brain age and the chronological age. The study found that individuals with dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease, exhibited the most significant brain age gaps. Women in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries showed larger brain age gaps, particularly those with Alzheimer’s, due to a combination of biological sex and gender disparities in health and social conditions. These findings emphasize the role of environmental and social factors in brain health disparities. The research underscores the importance of considering the interaction between large-scale environmental factors (exposome) and brain aging mechanisms. This new framework for brain health research could be critical for personalized medicine, helping to identify individuals at risk for neurodegenerative diseases and develop targeted interventions. Additionally, the study highlights the need for public health policies to address socioeconomic inequalities and environmental pollution to promote healthier brain aging across populations.

Meat consumption linked to higher type 2 diabetes risk

Chunxiao Li et al. Meat consumption and incident type 2 diabetes: an individual-participant federated meta-analysis of 1.97 million adults with 100,000 incident cases from 31 cohorts in 20 countries. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, September 2024.

Global meat consumption has surged in recent decades, often exceeding dietary guidelines, leading to concerns about its impact on health, particularly the risk of type 2 diabetes. Previous research has suggested a link between higher intakes of processed and unprocessed red meat and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, but results have been inconsistent. To clarify this relationship, researchers utilized data from the global InterConnect project, analyzing 31 study cohorts across 20 countries. They considered various factors, including age, gender, lifestyle behaviors, energy intake, and body mass index. The study found that consuming 50 grams of processed meat daily, equivalent to two slices of ham, is associated with a 15% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes within the next decade. Similarly, consuming 100 grams of unprocessed red meat, such as a small steak, was linked to a 10% increased risk. While habitual consumption of 100 grams of poultry daily was associated with an 8% higher risk, this association weakened under further analysis, whereas the links with processed and unprocessed red meat remained strong. This is the most comprehensive evidence to date supporting the recommendation to limit processed and unprocessed red meat consumption to reduce type 2 diabetes risk. Although the study also examined poultry consumption, the link to type 2 diabetes remains uncertain and requires further investigation. The study’s innovative use of harmonized data across diverse populations enabled a more accurate assessment of the relationship between meat consumption and diabetes, reducing potential biases. This research highlights the need for further investment in studies across under-represented regions.

Exercise keeps brain connections alive

Casaletto K et al. Late‐life physical activity relates to brain tissue synaptic integrity markers in older adults. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, January 2022.

Physical activity has myriad benefits, including enhancement of cardiovascular health, lowering blood pressure, and promoting mental health. A recent study showed that when older adults stay physically active, their brains are activated to produce more of a protein type that enhances the connections between neurons to maintain healthy cognition. The beneficial effects of physical activity on cognition have been shown in many times in laboratory animals but it has been much harder to demonstrate in people. Neurons are separated from each other by tiny clefts known as synapses. Nerve signals that travel along the nerve cells must cross these gaps for the information to reach its destination. Synaptic proteins located at the vicinity of synapses are tasked to provide the chemical mechanism whereby information is transmitted and link the neurons into cognitive networks. In this study, the late-life physical activity of 404 elderly people, who agreed to donate their brains when they died, have been tracked through annual actigraphy monitoring. Next, their postmortem brain tissue has been analyzed for the levels of key synaptic proteins. Strikingly, elderly people who remained active had higher levels of synaptic proteins that are known to facilitate the exchange of information between neurons.

Researchers also found that increased synaptic proteins were not limited to specific cognitive-related brain regions; physical activity seemed to exert a global effect on brain connectivity beyond the parts of brain that are directly involved in cognition. Maintaining the integrity of these connections between neurons may be a key protection for the age-related cognitive disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Physical activity is a readily available medicine that can boost our cognitive and mental health, free of charge and with no prescription. This study emphasizes one more time that we should continue being physically active, particularly as we age.

Oxygen production by microbes without sunlight

Kraft B et al. Oxygen and nitrogen production by an ammonia-oxidizing archaeon. Science, January 2022.

Oxygen is vital for life on Earth. Most oxygen on land and in the sea is produced

as a result of photosynthesis, a process in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria that requires sunlight. Now a research team made a surprising discovery that some deep-sea microbes are also tasked to produce oxygen but in a completely different way. By investigating these microbes which live deep in the darkness, the researchers have focused on a microbe named Nitrosopumilus maritimus, which was previously found out to be converting ammonia to produce nitrogen by using oxygen. The team decided to observe these microbe cultures in airtight containers that are kept in the dark to mimic the deep ocean conditions. They have found that these cultures first used up all the oxygen in the water, and then to everyone’s surprise, within minutes, oxygen levels started increasing again. At first glance, they seem to produce just enough oxygen for them to survive and scientists thought that these low levels may not possibly be enough to influence oxygen levels on earth. However, when this effect is considered at a global scale, it is conceivable that the oxygen produced by Nitrosopumilus maritimus can be quickly taken by other nearby organisms. This means that this microbe is ultimately contributing to overall oxygen levels in oceans, if not for the whole atmosphere. The exact mechanism of how these archaea bacteria can produce oxygen without light is not known and it has been now the focus of future research efforts. This study opens up the possibility that there may be many different deep sea species with a whole different metabolism functioning. It also emphasizes the importance of studying and protecting the deep oceans.

70 mysterious rogue planets discovered

Miret-Roig N et al. A rich population of free-floating planets in the Upper Scorpius young stellar association. Nature Astronomy, December 2021.

Rogue planets are the freely floating cosmic objects in our solar system that roam the universe on their own without orbiting a host star. Scientists knew very little about these planets until now. A team of astronomers using data from several telescopes worldwide identified at least 70 rogue planets in the Milky Way. Since rogue planets are not illuminated by a nearby star, they used to be almost impossible to capture and image. After few million years of their formation, these planets are still hot enough to glow and become detectable by extra sensitive cameras in large telescopes. After extensive analyses of all the data they could gather revealed at least 70 rogue planets and up to 170 candidate planets that are close to a star-forming region near the Sun, located within the Scorpius and Ophiuchus constellations and 420 light-years from Earth. These findings suggest that there could be many more of these planets roaming the galaxy. Rogue planets could have been either formed from a cloud of gas and dust – the same way stars do – or they could have once been a part of a star system before getting ejected. The team hopes that by studying the large group of rogue planets, they will be able to identify their origins and how they formed and evolved. New developments in space-watching technology are very encouraging for astronomers, as they hope that by studying this large group of rogue planets, they will be able to understand their origins and ultimate fates.

When the novel coronavirus Covid-19 started to spread across the world at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, it challenged not only people but also systems. As Necip Fazil Kisakurek warned in his poem Destan, “Stop, you masses; this street is a dead end!” The Covid-19 pandemic has forced humans to change their lifestyles. Health, finance, and education systems could no longer preserve their status quo and were obliged to change to survive.

During this unprecedented situation, I tried to turn challenges into opportunities and asked myself: “What can I do during isolation for my personal and spiritual development?” Besides reading, watercolor painting, participating in spiritual and professional meetings via Zoom, learning daily Arabic words, and virtually visiting the British Museum to see the Pharaoh’s body mentioned in the Holy Quran (10:92), I took a free online course titled Fundamentals of Neuroscience – Part 1: The Electrical Properties of the Neuron from Harvard University on the edX platform [1]. With little background knowledge but lots of interest, I took this course to explore the beautiful names of God (Asma ul Husna) manifested in neuroscience. It was a self-paced, 5-week-long course with video lectures, quizzes, discussion board topics, and virtual field trips.

I really enjoyed the course. It made me think of and thank God “the most glorified” because of the amazing nervous system He bestowed upon me. It helped me to overcome my negligence and be aware of this magnificent creation. I witnessed the Divine Wisdom when a cadaver’s brain was examined in a video lecture recorded at the Harvard Medical School. As a very delicate organ, the brain was so well protected that it reminded me of one of the names of Allah (SWT)—Al-Hafız, or The Preserver, which means, “The One whose power preserves the heavens and the earth. The One who is the guardian and preserver of all the worlds. The One who protects and preserves all of creation from perishing. The One who is vigilantly guarding every detail of all that has been created. The One who remembers and preserves all that has ever been and all that is, while keeping under Divine protection the knowledge of all that shall be” [2].

The skull, which is an incredibly tough structure, encloses the brain like a chest. Then, there are three layers of meninges which protect the soft tissue of the brain from traumatic injury. The thickest and toughest layer is called the “dura mater,” which translates to “tough mother” [3]; (originally derived from medieval Latin, literally “hard mother,” which is a translation of Arabic al-‘umm al-jafiya “coarse mother”). Since it embraces the brain for protection, it reminded me of the name Al-Raheem (The All-Merciful).

Another delicate organ, the spinal cord, is protected by bony pieces called vertebrae. Along the spinal cord are a huge number of little nerve fibers. They carry information to various muscles and ultimately bring sensory information back to the brain. Both the brain and spinal cord are bathed in fluid known as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) [4]. This fluid’s duty is not only to carry nutrients to tissue and remove toxins and waste but also to protect the brain and the spinal cord [3]. It is not hard to see the manifestation of the name Al-Hafız (The Preserver) in this excellent creation. Cerebrospinal fluid is held inside layers of the meninges which surround the brain and spinal cord. In addition to the dura mater, the other two meningeal layers are called the pia mater and arachnoid mater. The dura mater, the outermost layer, is a tough connective tissue. However, heritable disorders and injuries that may happen during medical procedures such as epidural injections may lead to a hole or tear in the dura. When the spinal dura has a hole or tear, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks out. These defects can be small or large, and often result in a low volume of CSF remaining around the brain and spinal cord. Among the symptoms of a leak or tear are severe positional headache and rarely, dementia, stroke, coma, and even death [4].

If you look at the entire nervous system in context, you will see how armored everything is. The skull, vertebrae, and cerebrospinal fluid are all created as an armor to protect the brain and spinal cord. However, despite this armoring, damage does sometimes occur. Because of concussive injuries, the brain sloshes around in the head which may result in some damage or swelling [3].

When the brain’s armor is breached, there are lessons to be learned. Phineas Gage (1823–1860), an American railroad construction foreman, is a famous case of someone who survived an accident in which a large iron bar went through the left side of his face, through his eye and straight through the top of his skull taking a significant portion of his brain’s left frontal lobe with it. He was in a coma for a while until he amazingly woke up. The accident affected his personality and behavior over the remaining 12 years of his life‍ in such a way that his friends said he was “no longer Gage.”  ‌Gage influenced 19th-century discussions about the mind and brain and was perhaps the first case to suggest the brain’s role in deter­min­ing per­son­al­ity, and that damage to specific parts of the brain might cause specific mental changes [3, 6].

The virtual field trip to the Warren Anatomical Museum in Harvard Medical School’s Countway Library of Medicine was among one of the many exciting activities included in the course. In that museum, Phineas Gage’s skull is exhibited. Seeing his skull was like rabita al-mawt (contemplating death) for me. As human beings, we may suffer from ineffable pains while we live, but patience, submission to God, and consent to the tests we face are some of the essentials for turning pain into gain in the hereafter.

Phineas Gage’s incident made me contemplate another aspect of God’s flawless creation. Everything that we see on one side of the brain is replicated on the other side. So, despite damage on one side, it can still be possible to not have major deficits. Even though Gage became less capable, he was still highly functional: he travelled abroad and held a job. From the neuroscience perspective, our brains make us who we are. The frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for governing human behavior, such as speech production, problem solving, and planning, and is remarkably larger in humans when compared to other animals [3].

The brain’s physical structure is also amazing. We possess more brain folds, sulci (like valleys) and gyri (like mountains), than any other species. These folds make it possible to fit the brain into skull. It is like the way that human intestines, which can range from 7.5 to 8.5 meters (25 to 28 feet) in length [7], crumple in on themselves to be able to fit inside the abdominal cavity. This similarity encourages me to contemplate more about creation of the One and Only Deity, Who is Al-Ahad (The Unique), Al-Wahid (The One), Al-Khaliq (The Creator), Al-Baari’ (The Originator), and Al-Musawwir (The Fashioner).

During this course, I had a chance to learn more about our nervous system and the neurons (nerve cells) which use electrical signaling to communicate and allow our nervous system to function. How can such tiny and unconscious neurons (we have about 86 billion of them in our brains [8] work in harmony without the knowledge of physics, mathematics, chemistry, and electricity to make us talk, walk, think, feel, etc.? It is because they are obedient soldiers of The All-Knowing, The All-Wise, and the One to Whom all praise is due.

References

1. edX: a massive open online course provider founded by Harvard and MIT. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EdX#cite_note-3
2. AsmaulHusna, http://www.asmaulhusna.in/?99BeautifulDevineNamesofAllah&AsmaulHusna&name=AL-HAFIZ,
3. edX Harvard University, https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:HarvardX+MCB80.1x+2T2020/course/
4. Spinal CSF Leak Foundation, https://spinalcsfleak.org/about-spinal-csf-leaks/overview/
5. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, 25^th Flashes, 7^th Remedy, http://www.erisale.com/?bookId=203&locale=en&pageNo=265#content.en.203.270
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
7. Length of a Human Intestine, The Physics Factbook, https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/AnneMarieThomasino.shtml
8. Kendra Cherry, How Many Neurons Are in the Brain, https://www.verywellmind.com/

How does loneliness affect your brain?

Spreng et al. The default network of the human brain is associated with perceived social isolation. Nature Communications. December 2020.

A recent study found fundamental structural and functional differences in the brains of lonely people. Researchers examined the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, genetics, and psychological self-assessments of over 40,000 middle-aged and older adults in the UK Biobank medical database. They then compared the MRI data of participants who reported often feeling lonely with those who did not. There were several major differences in the brains of lonely people which were primarily found in what is called the “default brain network,” a group of brain regions that are involved in inner thoughts such as remembering, future planning, imagining, and thinking about others. Detailed analyses of these regions showed that surprisingly, the default networks of lonely people were more strongly wired together and their grey matter volume in regions of the default network was greater. Moreover, bundles of nerve fibers called fornix that connects the hippocampus to the default network were better preserved in the brains of lonely people. These findings suggest that since lonely people are more likely to use imagination, memories of the past, or envisioning the future to overcome their social isolation they strengthen memory-based functions of their default networks through internally-directed thoughts and imagining social experiences. Loneliness has been increasingly turned into a major health problem, as other studies showed that older people who experience loneliness have a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia. As COVID-19 related social distancing continues, isolation and loneliness could affect our society even more dramatically. Understanding how loneliness manifests itself in the brain at the structural and functional level, and how these paradoxical findings translate into late-onset brain pathologies, would be critical to prevent both neurological diseases and related social problems.

Human-made mass is about to exceed total global living biomass

Elhacham et al. Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass. Nature. December 2020.

Humanity is rapidly approaching a new milestone in the history of our planet. The amount of manmade objects on Earth will soon outweigh all living biomass. A new study finds that each person alive today produces approximately the amount of manmade mass equivalent to their bodyweight every week. Our daily life objects such as roads, houses, cars, and clothes now weigh in at around 1.1 trillion metric tons, which is equal to the combined dry weight of all plants, animals and microorganisms on the planet. The production and accumulation of manmade objects, also known as anthropogenic mass, has accelerated since the early 1900s. The world’s plastics alone now weigh twice as much as the planet’s marine and terrestrial animals.

About 50% of the current anthropogenic mass is concrete. Bricks, asphalt, metals, plastic, and other materials make up about 19% of the total. Three major problems will arise from the outproduction of antropogenic mass. First, manufacturing consumes resources which will not be available for future generations unless objects are recycled or new raw materials are discovered. Second, even if we can achieve 100% recycling, pollution is generated and energy is used during manufacturing, so resources are still consumed. Third, many of the manufactured items will eventually be discarded which will cause serious disposal issues in the future. This is particularly alarming for the future. Nature is not infinite like so many of us would like to believe. If the current trend continues, anthropogenic mass will grow to three times the world’s biomass by 2040. In the next 20 years, we will generate as much waste as from the last 110 years together. These huge waste flows could lead to massive environmental catastrophes. This study demonstrates the brutal scale and impact of human activities on our planet. Humans are modifying the planet to such an extent that we might have already started a new geologic epoch likely called the Anthropocene.

Drug repurposing by artificial intelligence

Liu et al. A deep learning framework for drug repurposing via emulating clinical trials on real-world patient data, Nature Machine Intelligence. January 2021.

Researchers have developed a machine-learning method that analyzes very large datasets to discover which existing medications could work for diseases for which they were not prescribed. This process is called “drug repurposing,” a popular strategy to find new purposes for existing drugs that offers a rapid transition from research to clinical care. Drug repurposing can lower the risk associated with safety testing of new medications and dramatically reduce the time and money required to get a drug into the marketplace for clinical use. However, discovering new uses for existing medications still requires time-consuming and expensive randomized controlled trials to prove that a drug that is effective for one disorder will also be useful to treat another disorder. To overcome this challenge, a team designed a computational framework that works in two steps. First, it searches enormous patient care-related datasets with high-powered computation to arrive at repurposed drug candidates for a given disease. Second, it calculates and estimates effects of those existing medications on a defined set of clinical outcomes. As a proof-of-principle, researchers decided to focus on repurposing of drugs to prevent heart failure and strokes in patients with coronary artery disease. The edge of the machine learning approach is that it can analyze and compare thousands of human differences within a large population that could influence how a drug will work in the body. These confounding factors such as age, gender, race, and disease severity function as parameters in the deep learning computer algorithm on which the framework is based. This information is streamed from “real-world evidence,” which consists of longitudinal observational data about millions of patients captured by various sorts of electronic medical records. The team used insurance data for more than 1.2 million heart-disease patients. The algorithm analyzed each patient’s drug prescriptions and diagnostic tests for every visit and models input for drugs based on their active ingredients. The model yielded a total of 9 drugs with potential therapeutic benefits, three of which are currently in use and six new candidates for drug repurposing. Interestingly, two diabetes medications, metformin and escitalopram, have been found to lower the risk of heart failure and stroke in the model patient population. This study shows how artificial intelligence can speed up hypothesis generation and clinical trial processes. While this study focused on heart failure and stroke, the framework is flexible and could be applied to most complex diseases.

In his Twentieth Word, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, a 20^th century Islamic scholar and teacher, uses an interesting phrase, where he argues that the miracles of the prophets represent the highest points that scientific developments would ever attain and as such, they are set as goals which humanity should seek to accomplish. In interpreting the verse about the miracles of Jesus, upon whom be peace, in which it is said that Jesus would raise people from the dead by God’s leave, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi indicates that there is a cure to every disease which can be found through research. He also employs an interesting phrase in this section: “It is even possible to give a temporary tinge of life to death” [1]. While some suggest that with this intriguing sentence Nursi points to recent developments in medicine such as those involving organ transplantation or the use of ventilators, it appears that this phrase implies going one stage further.

The Holy Qur’an relates several miraculous events regarding raising the dead in the present, worldly life. In Chapter Baqara (2:67-73), the Holy Qur’an tells us of the incident upon which the chapter was named: Prophet Moses, upon whom be peace, and his people were told by God to slaughter a cow and strike a dead person with part of the slaughtered cow, afterwards the dead man was resurrected and told them who had killed him. Thus, the Qur’an reasserts that God Almighty has the power to resurrect people. Reflecting on this verse, Fethullah Gülen maintains that in addition to the miraculous nature of striking the dead body with a piece of the cow, the mention of this incident may imply that humanity is guided toward a scientific or technological goal [2]. In medicine, biological drugs used to treat certain diseases are produced from certain animals. Also, certain medications, such as insulin, can be produced making use of the ability of bacteria to produce genetically coded proteins. Perhaps, biological drugs to be obtained with the help of other living organisms may contribute to being able to give a temporary tinge of life to death. In this regard, researchers are particularly interested in stem cells and their potentials. In this method, it may be possible to use a person’s stem cells to produce organs, tissues, and replace malfunctioning organs with new ones without the risk of rejection. We have so far heard no positive results in these directions, but it was demonstrated that stem cells taken from a person and transplanted into an embryo of another living being started to grow [3]. God knows best, but this method may be part of the truth behind the act of striking the man’s corpse with a part of a cow in reference to the verse in question.

Chapter Baqarah gives two more examples concerning resurrection in worldly life. A man passed by a town that had fallen into utter ruin and asked himself in bewilderment, “How will God restore life to this town that is now dead?” God made him remain dead for a hundred years and then raised him to life, and asked him, “How long did you remain in this state?” He said: “I remained so for a day or part of a day.” God said, “No, you have rather remained thus for a hundred years. But look at your food and drink: it has not spoiled; and look at your donkey!” The verse tells us that only bones were left of the donkey (2:259).

The next verse is about Prophet Abraham, upon whom be peace, who prayed God to give him certainty in the heart about resurrection. He had to kill four birds and then put them on different hills which resulted in them being restored to life and flying back to him (2:260). While it may not be related to resurrection fully, the story of Ashab al-Kahf (“People of the Cave” or “Seven Sleepers”) is certainly intriguing and carries a similar theme. God made seven men fall sleep in a cave for roughly 300 years and then restored them to life temporarily, however they had believed that they had fallen asleep for only a very brief period. They were probably considerably skilled and well-educated young people with high positions in society, however falling asleep for three centuries caused them to lose their positions and possibly disappoint those who had invested in them at that time. Yet God Almighty’s wise purpose requires otherwise by making those people send a message to future generations, i.e., us, and giving them praiseworthy remembrance after their death. The same sura also describes the travels of Prophet Moses, upon whom be peace, accompanied by Yusha’ ibn Nun, during which the cooked fish they were carrying with them for supper was resurrected and swam into the sea (18:61-64). In a tradition of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, it is recorded that he talked to a dead girl by God’s leave upon her parent’s request, but the girl refused to come back to this world as she had found something better there [the Hereafter] [4]. 

The prevention of aging, alongside the wish to attain immortality, has long been one of the greatest aspirations of human beings. Several scientists and philosophers of the previous century argued that this might become possible in the 21st century. Chapter Baqarah refers to a prototypical society with greed for life, noting that people of that society wish “if only [they] might be spared for a thousand years” (2:96). Perhaps, the ultimate goal of today’s medical research is to try to ensure human beings live forever in this world. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, warns that this is a vain thought, although we should seek healing by all possible means: “O servants of God, search for remedy for your diseases. Indeed, God has created no incurable disease except one: old age (or, death, in another narration)” [5]. Nobel laureate Alexis Carrel maintained that human cells are immortal under favorable conditions but Leonard Hayflick, later, demonstrated that cell divisions are limited due to DNA damage and shortening of telomeres [6, 7]. According to the Hayflick limit, the maximum lifetime a person can get even if he or she lives under the best conditions is 125 years. Telomeres are the structures located at the end of the chromosomes that protect DNA, and during cell regeneration, the length of telomeres decreases with each cell division and the number of divisions declines after a critical limit. Scientists dream of slowing down the aging process by reactivating these telomeres, but they have not made much progress despite some positive results in experiments with rats.

Big technological corporations have recently been making considerable investments in order to find ways to further increase human lifespan. Venkatraman Ramakrishan, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2009, said, “Californian billionaires are having such a good time at the party of life that they don’t want it to stop” [8]. The investments and efforts in this field do not seem very promising because the human body is not suitable for immortality. Instead, scientists are pursuing the idea of merging human brains with machines, which would require uploading a human brain to a computer. In today’s world where research on artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing, a human being’s habits and memory are supposed to be transferred to a computer. Elon Musk, the founder of Neurolink, a company that seeks to restore memory using gadgets planted into the human brain, once said that digital intelligence and biological intelligence would converge over time with increased interaction between the two. This sounds promising for the treatment of certain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. There is, however, another lead in this research according to Josh Bocanegra: “When the time comes and all the necessary advancements are in place, we’ll be able to freeze your brain, create a new artificial body, repair any damage to your brain, and transfer it into your new body” [9]. This may be an artificial body developed using stem cells with possible aid from diverse robotic devices. Ray Kurzweil, who works on Google’s machine learning project, argues that the use of tiny robotics that connect a human brain to computers may be possible by 2029, which will in turn extend human lives considerably. Another futurist, Ian Pearson predicts that in 2050, humans will achieve virtual immortality and a person’s personality transferred to a computer will be able to communicate with people in the future [9]. A recent New York Times article suggests that brain implants could change humanity [10].

Ultimately, it is hard to predict the extent of scientific and technological developments. The idea of eliminating death reminds us of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s saying that it is impossible for the lake of Barla (the town he lived in at the time) to be destroyed for the time being, but people can imagine such destruction and this imagination does not change the reality. Yet even the very imagination of eliminating death may serve as a false hope for people who rationalize everything and try to forget about the idea of death, and in this way, they stick to worldly pleasures more fervently. At this point, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, shows us the correct manner of thinking: “Remember death frequently as it dulls out pleasures” [11].

In the Qur’an, the most important verses concerning raising the dead are about the miracles of Jesus, upon whom be peace. It is emphasized that he would breathe into something fashioned out of clay in the shape of a bird, and it would become a bird by God’s leave, and that he would revive the dead and heal ill people (3:49). As a matter of fact, Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus and Jesus speaking when he was a baby are also medical miracles. It is interesting to note that today, just as in the time Jesus, materialistic thought dominates the scientific and medical research, which are mostly construed solely with a materialist perspective. Almost all discoveries are used as evidence for disbelief, and they reinforce the self-conceit of those who make them. Bediuzzaman predicts that as Christianity will be purified from superstitions in the End Times, and that science will have the upper hand in rule and power. If such a purification will occur, then one tends to think it is not going to be only in political and administrative fields. Possibly, the change of scientific, or more specifically, medical perspective may constitute a major stage in the purification process that could save modern medicine and science from materialism and become instruments of discovering the truth. Who knows? God Almighty may make a vulnerable and weak baby speak to send a message to a purely materialistic community as a manifestation of His divine power.

References

1. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, 20th Word, First Station, Words.
2. Fethullah Gülen, Kurandan İdrake Yansıyanlar.
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/science/chimera-stemcells-organs.html
4. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, 19th Letter, Letters.
5. Bukhari, Tib 1; Abu Dawud, Tib 1; Tirmidhi, Tib 2.
6. Carrel A, Ebeling AH. Age and multiplication of fibroblasts. J Exp Med 1921.
7. Hayflick L. The limited in vitro lifetime of human diploid cell strains. Exp Cell Res 1965.
8. https://www.livemint.com
9. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/307675
10. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/opinion/sunday/brain-machine-artificial-intelligence.html
11. Tirmidhi Hadith No. 2307.

How Octopuses Are Able to Taste by Touching

Giesen et al.Molecular Basis of Chemotactile Sensation in Octopus. Cell, October 2020.

Octopuses have often captured human interest with the ability to use their eight suction-cup covered tentacles for touch and taste. Scientists have wondered for decades how their appendages work but very few have studied what happens on a molecular level. In a new report, researchers got a glimpse into how the nervous system in an octopus’ tentacles manage these functions. They identified a novel family of sensors in the first layer of cells inside the suction cups that have adapted to react and detect molecules that do not dissolve well in water. The chemotactile receptors on these sensory cells use those molecules to help the animal figure out what it is touching and whether or not that object is prey. This allows an octopus to distinguish between a rock versus a tasty crab. The underlying mechanism is that there are two types of sensory cells in the suckers that line their tentacles: mechanosensory cells for touch and chemosensory cells for taste.  Both taste- and touch-oriented cells are critical for helping octopuses to decide when to hunt and when to retreat. It is well known that particles on land easily travel through the air before they might be sniffed by a bear or a wolf’s nostrils. However, the process of smelling or tasting is much less clear in cephalopods that live in the ocean. Some chemicals can travel far from their underwater source and thus make it possible for some creatures to catch a smell of their prey from afar. But for chemicals that don’t move through the ocean easily, a touch-taste strategy can be useful for marine animals, including octopuses. While people tend to perceive five basic tastes – sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami (meaty) – octopuses experience the world of taste differently. Instead, scientists found the most success by stimulating octopuses to respond to what are called terpenoid molecules, a secretion that is often released by marine invertebrates that functions as a defense or warning signal. They smell these molecules and can, in a way, smell fear in their prey.

Natural Forest Regrowth May Be the Best Method to Combat Climate Change

Cook-Patton et al. Mapping carbon accumulation potential from global natural forest regrowth. Nature, September 2020.

Reforestation has been considered the leading strategy in the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change with previous studies highlighting the role it can play in capturing and storing atmospheric carbon. There are many ways to incorporate trees into our landscapes, however one of the cheapest and easiest options is to allow forests to regrow on their own if conditions can permit them to. Now, a new study has mapped the potential carbon accumulation in naturally regrown forests over the next 30 years. Researchers from 18 countries brought together more than 13,000 georeferenced measurements of carbon accumulation to generate a wall-to-wall, one-kilometer-resolution map spanning 43 countries that highlights areas with the greatest carbon returns if trees were allowed to reforest naturally. The team demonstrated that natural forest regrowth can capture up to 23 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO²) emissions from the atmosphere every year. This is on top of the carbon sequestration already provided by existing forests, which absorb around 30 percent of annual CO² emissions. The biggest advantage of natural restoration of forests is that it often requires nothing more than human inaction. Nature is constantly at work doing its duty to restore forests often unseen on the edges of fields, on abandoned pastures, and wherever forests lie degraded or former forest land is abandoned. Moreover, natural forest regrowth may promote the re-establishment of local tree species that are best equipped to survive in a given location and support the many organisms that eat them or dwell amongst their branches and roots.

However, natural regrowth may not always be the answer. For example, at sites that are highly degraded, or seed sources are far away, actively planting trees can help to start or speed recovery while helping to establish the right species mix for current and future conditions. While planting trees can sometimes be necessary it should usually be the last option since it is one of the most expensive and often least successful methods of combating climate change. It is estimated that humanity should collectively plant about a trillion trees over the next three decades to effectively fight climate change, which averages out to about a thousand new trees planted in the ground every second and assumes that every tree survives and grows in a healthy manner. Once the cost of nurseries, soil preparation, seeding, and thinning are accounted for, it would easily cost hundreds of billions of dollars. If natural forest growth is cheaper and better then why not work to protect the existing trees and let forests to grow on their own?

Li et al. Innate connectivity patterns drive the development of the visual word form area. Scientific Reports, October 2020

A new study suggests that humans are born with a part of the brain that is prewired to be receptive to seeing words and letters. Researchers analyzed brain fMRI scans of 40 newborns and found that the “visual word form area” (VWFA) was already connected to the language network of the brain, which is akin to the scans of 40 adults. These findings are quite surprising considering some researchers had hypothesized that the pre-reading VWFA starts out like any other part of the visual cortex that are sensitive to seeing faces, scenes, or other objects and only becomes selective to words and letters as children learn to read or at least as they learn language. However, a new study shows that even at birth, the VWFA is more functionally connected to the language network of the brain than it is to other areas. It is likely that experience with spoken and written language will strengthen connections with specific aspects of the language circuit and further differentiate this region’s function from its neighbors as a person gains literacy. The main goal of this study is to learn how the brain becomes a “reading brain” and to help understand the differences in reading behavior, which could become useful in the study of dyslexia and other developmental disorders.

Our brains consist of many different types of cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and neurons. These are the cells that people are indirectly referring to when you hear someone say that hitting your head can cause permanent damage even though the initial impact was a minor one. They are the primary cells that are responsible for signaling functions, and one can see this in their shape because they resemble an electric cord. The dendrites receive signals, process them in cell bodies, and send an output signal via the axons and synaptic terminals (Figure 1). These cells cannot multiply, and our heads never get larger, so it begs the following question: how do we continue to learn and store information? The answer is long-term potentiation (LTP).

LTP is when synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation. Neuronal activation is an electrical signal called an action potential that emerges due to a change in ion locations resulting in electrical potential that generates a nerve impulse (Figure 2). When the same neurons keep getting activated, again and again, a shortcut is created. We have two crucial receptors that play a role in this mechanism: AMPA and NMDA. AMPA is activated first because a Mg2+ ion blocks NMDA. As AMPA gets activated, the neuron becomes depolarized (due to the previously mentioned electrical changes). Now, the neuron is more positive overall, which will push the Mg2+ ion out of the channel, which is called the Law of Attraction in physics (i.e., opposites attract). With the Mg2+ ion removed, calcium ions can move freely through the NMDA receptor, and this influx of calcium initiates cellular mechanisms that cause more AMPA channels to be produced and placed on the synapse of the neuron, making the pathway activated quicker and quicker (Figure 3). These pathways become a default, and this is called long-term potentiation. The opposite of long-term potentiation is long-term depression, a decrease in synaptic strength, so if “you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Long-term potentiation is thought to be a way in which the brain changes in response to experience, and thus may be an underlying mechanism for learning, retaining memory, and even overall physical health. With long-term potentiation our default pathways are formed; so if we train ourselves to be anxious and stressed individuals, then we will be at an increased risk for developing hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and almost any other physical illness. We often forget that stress itself is a risk factor along with other lifestyle choices such as diet and regular physical activity. An interesting article, “The Science of Happiness: Why Complaining is Literally Killing You,” delves into this point of view:

“When your brain is firing off these synapses of anger, you’re weakening your immune system; you’re raising your blood pressure, increasing your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and a plethora of other negative ailments… This is why it is so important to spend time with people who lift you up. Want to be happy? Surround yourself with happy people who rewire your brain towards love.” (http://www.curiousapes.com/the-science-of-happiness-why-complaining-is-literally-killing-you/)

Long-term potentiation is also the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is a form of psychotherapy treatment that is goal-oriented and takes a practical approach to problem-solving. Cognitive-behavioral therapy recognizes the underlying mechanism of long-term potentiation: neurons that fire together wire together and puts it to good use by trying to change default patterns of thinking and behavior. By changing these default patterns, the result changes how we feel. For example, a common practice in cognitive-behavioral therapy is to keep a daily gratitude journal. The therapist may ask their client to write three things they are grateful for each morning and each night, whether it be something as simple as having water to drink or a significant life event. Forcing yourself to make these connections continuously, and being in a default repetitive state of gratitude, has been scientifically proven to decrease rates of depression and other mental illnesses.

Another perspective we can approach LTP from is from the lens of faith and prayer since prayer has an element of repetition in it. In his book, Fethullah Gülen: A Life of Hizmet, Jon Pahl states that “Peacebuilders pray, and prayer is a nonviolent practice. Even more: prayer has power. The power of prayer is neither political nor miraculous. Personally, prayer builds confidence. The repetition of prayer comforts a troubled mind with the solace of the familiar. Culturally, prayer builds trust. Communing with God and others can make any challenge seem surmountable. Socially, prayer builds movements.”

Yes, if we could rewire our brains towards love and peace with each prayer, we could find comfort and peace, and build bridges with those around us. In 2019 alone, the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen Hodjaefendi, mentioned the word “neurons” in his weekly sermons nine times, a fascinating statistic for a scholar who is neither a neuroscientist nor psychiatrist. Some excerpts from these sermons include:

“[when recited and listened to a couple times during the day and in the Tarawih Prayer] the Qur’an will establish itself better in our minds; our neurons will open their doors like the doors of a castle to the Qur’an and say ‘enter.’ Therefore, who knows how many times a day, a reunion will be established with the Qur’an.” (Ramadan: The Month of Mercy, Hope and Abundance on May 10, 2019)

“Bediuzzaman says: ‘Even if we had four hands instead of two, they would not be sufficient to do things we need to do.’ … In this case, we must send orders to the millions of neurons in our brain at the same to dedicate them all to the same task. … God opens you a window to exit. (Means for Serenity and Talk of the Beloved on April 4, 2019)

“[‘The entire universe is a great book of God; the meaning of each letter is nothing but God.’] Just as you … use all of your neurons to see the endless possibility of bounties, lined along like a gallery as if He is to say, ‘see and think as you walk this gallery.’ (Sorrow, the Spiritual Heart and Tongue on March 29, 2019)

To return to the biological aspect of neurons, one key component that is also valuable to synthesize all the information we have just covered, and that is the concept of “mirror neurons.” When we observe another person these mirror neurons start to fire and a kind of virtual reality simulation is formed in our minds, contributing to the construction of a theory of our intentions. For example, when someone smiles, you want to smile back; when someone gets a paper cut, you feel their pain; or when someone cries, you cannot help but cry as well. These are all phenomena explained by mirror neurons. Mirror neurons explain empathy on a biological level and are present even in animals.

From a multi-disciplined approach, including biological, psychosocial, and spiritual perspectives, one lesson becomes clear: we have the free will and responsibility to carve our default pathways. To make sure these default pathways are filled with love, peace, serenity, alongside discipline, patience, and resilience is paramount to our personal and collective health. By defining our own neural pathways, we will also be building our community’s networks since neurons mirror each other.

The Coronavirus Pandemic has shaken much of the world to its core and caused many disruptions. Economies have been crippled, millions have been laid off, quarantine has forced us to stay at home for an extended period of time, and thousands have died. Control over our lives and society, it seems, has been lost for most of us.

Perhaps it is possible to, ironically, use what takes control away from us as a means to regain it. One should ponder this coronavirus disaster, why it has come to us, what we can learn from it, and how we can prevent it from happening again. This way, we can regain control through reflection, faith, and science in order to learn from our past mistakes to help ensure that such a crisis does not happen again. Otherwise, we could continue to lose control of our societies.

Our brains have a finite amount of resources but must be taken care of in order to ensure that our bodies can perform all of our necessary daily functions. We can strengthen our brains through long-term potentiation (LTP), which essentially means using it regularly in order to keep it fresh, strong, and up to date. It also explains how our brains change and adapt to different situations and scenarios we encounter, thus serve as a means for us to learn from our hardships and develop new strategies for survival and growth. How can we maintain control of our minds and bodies if we do not learn from our mistakes and continue to grow?

We can continue to find control and peace in anything that speaks to us on a personal or spiritual level. This can range from simple scraps of paper to eloquent forms of art, such as Ebru. Our authors delve into a wide range of topics that they are passionate about. Their arts and crafts, whether a canvas for art or a sheet of paper for writing, is their field where they are in complete control. Surely, we can maintain control in these hobbies or actions even when it seems that everything else around us is falling apart.

“The Orientalists” piece in this issue is providing an alternative perspective on some of the travelers to the East. The perception of the East in the Western mind has been much shaped by the extensive chronicles of these travelers who endured long and strenuous journeys across North Africa and all the way to India. Lawrence Brazier shares with us a panorama of some of the leading Orientalists many of whom, according to him, “were travelers who found the East, indeed, ‘other’ than what they experienced at home. Their quest was a personal enthusiasm for the Orient.”

How excessive cell phone usage can cripple a child’s mental development

The scene of a quiet child tapping away at a phone or tablet with glee is an image that, by now, most people are familiar with. It may seem cute at first, however a sinister reality lurks beneath this scenario. Overwhelming research now shows that excessive cell phone usage in infants and adolescents can slow down, or even permanently alter, various parts of their extremely sensitive and still growing brains. Social skills, cognitive abilities, and emotional awareness can all be affected. This technology is often incredibly addicting because of its constant bombardment of lights, colors, and rewarding sounds that can thus inhibit a child’s ability to focus, learn how to properly socialize with other humans, and develop an interest in other activities. We as a society should be more aware of the effects that our phones have on our children so that we do not end up altering the biology of an entire generation. It should be our utmost goal as a society that we stay technologically literate so that we make our technology supplement our lives and work for us as opposed to being dependent on it to survive.

How much time is too much time?

Smart phones have positive benefits for children when used in small amounts, however there are dangerous consequences if their usage is excessive and left unchecked. For the sake of clarity, “excessive phone usage” will refer to the American Academy of Pediatric’s (AAP) 2018 suggested screen time limits.

“Avoid digital media for toddlers younger than 18 to 24 months other than video chatting. For children 18 to 24 months, watch digital media with them because they learn from watching and talking with you. Limit screen use for preschool children, ages 2 to 5, to just 1 hour a day of high-quality programming” [1].

Cell phones can permanently stunt a child’s neural development

Scientists have identified the first three years of a child’s life to be their “critical years,” a time when their brains are undergoing the most development and are the most sensitive to new information. It is imperative that children constantly interact with their parents via face to face communication, problem solving, and play in order to begin experiencing life while establishing the literal building blocks that will enable them to perceive and interact with the world around them for the rest of their lives. Children’s minds are akin to soft clay that can be easily molded, and both positive and negative experiences can have lasting effects on them. Excessive screen time can cause permanent damage to the brain and can inhibit “the ability to focus, to concentrate, to lend attention, to sense other people’s attitudes and communicate with them, (and) to build a large vocabulary….”

The short term, immediate gratification responses that phones constantly give usually train our brains to become addicted to always expecting quick responses from tasks that we engage in. This can make completing longer tasks that require more focus such as reading, paying attention in class, doing homework, or holding a conversation more difficult and can have lasting ramifications on a child’s performance in school and in social settings [2].

Excessive usage can make children socially awkward and anxious

As most teens and adults learn the hard way, the best way to grow socially is by directly engaging in the social behaviors that we often dread the most. Making new friends, talking to the opposite gender, and public speaking all become easier the more a person partakes in the activity despite how nerve-wracking they may initially be. This is especially true for children, who are socially clean slates that learn how to socialize by interacting with other children, their parents, and through play. Cell phone usage promotes a sedentary lifestyle, and a child can rarely grow socially by being sedentary. Playing with other kids teaches cooperation, empathy, and compassion. These are very human traits that cell phones cannot teach a child. Failing to develop strong social skills can lead to social anxiety, which has a host of its own problems, since a child may be ill-prepared to deal with social scenarios such as these ones.

The AAP recommends interacting with your child by asking them questions and encouraging a response while they use phones instead of just leaving them to their own devices. This way, they are interacting with their parents, as is necessary for their growth, and having the phone supplement their learning in the way that it is supposed to.

Prolonged usage can easily lead to addiction and dependence

Our brains have a built-in reward system that awards us when we achieve something of value. The chemical most commonly associated with this system, and most well-known by society, is dopamine. Normally, our brains receive dopamine in reasonable and completely safe doses as we go about our day whenever we feel we should be rewarded for something. This can include finishing an assignment, sending a difficult email to an even more difficult colleague, or when eating sweets. It makes us feel good and relaxed but can be addicting in large amounts. Cell phones can cause an overproduction of dopamine that has been compared, though to a lesser extent, to the excessive amount of dopamine produced as a result of abusing hard drugs, such as cocaine. Have you ever caught yourself reaching for your phone, without even thinking about it, as soon you hear a text message notification go off? That’s dopamine at work. It’s the rush that we get when something satisfactory happens, and it is all too easy to trigger with phones. Dopamine can easily become addictive, and the brain can become dependent on receiving a certain amount of dopamine every once in a while if it receives too much too quickly. This may be one reason why we may sometimes glance at our phones even if we know there is nothing new to look at.

In children whose brains are still developing, this dependence on dopamine can be catastrophic towards their growth. Their brains are much more susceptible to dopamine addictions than teens or adults are, though this is not to imply that older populations are safe. This is why a child may seem impossibly glued to a phone and will throw a tantrum once they are told to put it down. A proven method to help rid addictions, including cell phone addictions, is to replace the addictive behavior with a similar, healthier, but equally satisfying behavior. Phones can be replaced with Legos, or other interactive toys, in order to teach a child that there are ways to have fun besides phones. Going cold on an addiction rarely works as it does not sate the brain’s hunger for dopamine.

It is entirely possible for us to regain control

Fortunately, there are plenty of solutions that families can utilize in order to make sure that phones do not dominate their lives. Professional organizations such as the AAP and Mayo Clinic stress the importance of unstructured playtime for the minds of young children. In general, psychologists have realized that unstructured play is actually vital for the growth of children’s brains since it encourages creativity, imagination, and problem solving. Their brains are encountering problems, and thus creating solutions that lead to growth and understanding, while they play. Cell phones, on the other hand, tend to do the work for them instead and do not allow the brain to learn. This is especially true for videos that tell children everything that they need to know and do not give them time to problem-solve on their own.

The AAP encourages parents to establish a Family Media Plan that clearly outlines when and where family members can use their technology. Parents may consider forbidding technology at certain places, such as the dinner table, or doing activities, such as weekly board game nights, without technology either in order to remove the barriers that technology so often puts between us. A strong family is one where all family members have firm trust, understanding, and respect in between one another. Less face-to-face interaction, and an obsession with screens from both parents and children, can very much damage these bonds. You can make a Digital Media Plan for your family at www.HealthyChildren.org/MediaUsePlan.

Technology is awesome when used properly and in reasonable amounts!

Virtually every person can name at least one technological medium that brings them joy and can bring them closer to the people that they care about. For some, this may be gathering around the couch and watching a movie or TV show. Others may prefer interactive video games that can bring the family together and can promote bonding in ways similar to board games. The internet also possesses an infinite treasure trove of resources that can greatly enhance education and our general quality of life. This technology mainly becomes problematic once we fail to monitor it properly and allow it to spiral out of control. But in moderation and under control, these innovations are a series of mind-blowing inventions that dazzle the mind and can very much aid our personal and family goals.

There are organizations out there that are constantly raising awareness and promoting online safety

In recent years, parents have realized how destructive cell phones can be to their families and have decided to do something about it. “Wait Until 8^th” is a grassroots movement that encourages parents across the country to take a pledge that they will not give their children a smart device until they are at least 8 years old. It was started by Brooke Shannon and a few other parents in Austin, Texas, and works to empower parents and communities about the dangers of cell phones for kids. You can learn more about the pledge at www.waituntil8th.org.

There is also a wealth of resources for parents that are concerned about their children’s online safety. The National Cyber Security Alliance, Project Safe Childhood, and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children all help spread awareness about internet safety and the consequences of careless internet surfing. It should be a goal of every parent to stay technologically literate and up to date about which websites their children are visiting and the apps that they use.

Make technology work for you, as opposed to working for it

Our world is changing faster than we can adapt to it, and smart phones are no exception. New technology always presents new challenges, especially when it can take so long to thoroughly research the effects that this technology can have on our minds and bodies. It is important to always stay technologically literate so that we may provide the best quality of life that we can for our families. Technology, above all else, is a double-edged sword.

References

1. “Children and Media Tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics.” org, 1 May 2018, www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/news-features-and-safety-tips/Pages/Children-and-Media-Tips.aspx.
2. “What Screen Time Can Really Do to Kids’ Brains.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/behind-online-behavior/201604/what-screen-time-can-really-do-kids-brains.

Sometimes, your back itches slightly and scratching it at that perfect spot fills you with an odd sense of happiness. Other times, you notice a biting itch on your arm and a chickpea-like redness shows up there. Oh, those mosquitoes! It is rarely likely to catch a mosquito in the act, and sometimes it even feels as if their bites just appear out of thin air. As you scratch the blister to soothe the itchiness, your eyes scan the room to locate its infamous proboscis. You see it on a wall, plump with the blood it sucked from you. You cannot help thinking: Why do their bites always leave so much itching? Or even, what is the purpose of itching at all?

Itching is an unpleasant feeling we perceive by our skin and mucous membranes, and an occasionally uncomfortable and sometimes very excruciating feeling.

Itching, just like pain, is a sensation intrinsic to our body to protect itself [1].  It is the way our skin “talks” to us. Indeed animals, even fish, itch too. When itched, our skin instinctively and in its own tongue tells us, “There is something that bothers me and I want you to push it away from me immediately!” If it was not for itching, we would not notice a spider walking on our arm. We would not be disturbed by lice and scabies mites or even fungi that settled on our skin, and we would not try to protect ourselves from these pests either.

An ordinary scabies patient has an average number of about 15-20 adult scabies mites on their skin. In the case of Norwegian or crusted scabies, which is most commonly observed among the elderly, the bedridden, people with seriously weakened immune systems, or those who are unable to itch themselves sufficiently, there are thousands of parasites under the thick crusts of the skin [2]. Itching accelerates the blood circulation on the itched parts, and tissues virtually prepare to fight infection by the rushing blood cells and substances [3]. Yet, millions of people also suffer from chronic itching and scratch their itches much more than usual. To understand this, we need to set on a journey from our skin to our brain.

Human skin consists of three layers: epidermis, dermis and subcutis (also known as hypodermis). The dermis layer in the middle makes glove-like protrusions upward into the epidermis. At the top of these protrusions are mechanoreceptors and nerve endings that allow our skin to sense stimulus (such as temperature, sharpness, pressure, vibration, pain, or itching) [3]. With these receptors, our skin functions as one of our five sensory organs and more like an “alarm system” of our body against changing conditions outside. This alarm system has been created so perfectly that each component knows exactly what stimulus to detect.

Previously, it was thought that pain and itching were sensed by the same receptors (nociceptors) and that mild stimuli were responsible for itching while strong stimuli were responsible for pain [4]. Yet, a contradiction existed because while pain triggered an avoidance reflex, itching activated the scratching reflex. In recent years, it was discovered that the receptors (pruriceptors) that perceive the itching sensation on the skin are the free boundary terminations of C-fibers with myelin-free, slow conduction velocity extending in the form of tree branches toward the upper layer of the skin. Furthermore, it was found that the skin cells themselves behave like itch receptors [3, 4]. When we receive a stimulus that induces itching, such as a mosquito bite which leaves anticoagulant substances on our skin, the mast cells in the skin tissue spring to defense against those alien substances. This ensues the secretion of the bodily defense system called mediators, substances that are produced and stored by mast cells as precursor for emergency conditions. Histamine is the most known of these substances and is the most important mediator in itching conditions [5]. Histamine binds to receptors found for itself in myelin-free C fibers that are tasked for detecting itching on the skin. If we consider histamine as a key, the lock that it fits into is on the nerve that senses itching. Thus, the itching nerve is stimulated by histamine.

The nerves receiving this stimulus connect to the spinal cord at their respective levels and transfer the message to another nerve. Each of these transfer processes is mediated neurotransmitters. The last message transmitted to the brain through these nerves is assessed by the brain and labeled as “itching” [6]. The brain determines the coordinates of the itching location and orders the scratching action to the related muscle system. A new journey that conveys messages from the brain to the arm muscles ends with scratching. Considering the swift rubbing action when we feel an ant walking on our face and scratch to push it away, we may value how fast and perfect our brain and transmission system work.

It is also rather odd how soothing itching can be despite its initially uncomfortable feeling, almost as if our body is rewarding us for saving it from a threat. There are several reasons for this contradiction. Scratching causes a low-intensity pain on the skin. Pain and itch are positioned on the skin alternately. The transmission of the sensation of pain is prioritized while the transmission of itching is prevented [7]. Consequently, our brain senses the pain and, in response, secretes the hormone called serotonin to soothe the body. Although this makes us feel relaxed for a short time, the brain continues to transmit virtual sense of itching by connecting to the receptors that are located on the spinal cord along the same nerve path with the receptors for serotonin [8]. This condition, which may be termed as a vicious cycle of itching-scratching, unsurprisingly infuriates patients. Scratching the same area on the skin continuously causes the production of new mediators and oversensitivity of itching nerves, which can thus turn itching into a chronic distress. Chronic itching can often result as a complication from skin diseases such as scabies, lice, eczema, fungal diseases, or drug allergies. It can also result from a systemic disease such as chronic renal failure, cholestatic liver diseases, thyroid problems, iron deficiency anemia, blood diseases and, rarely, cancers [7]. Itching in systemic diseases can be triggered by mediators on the skin but also by neurotransmitters in the intermediate pathway. This kind of itching cannot be controlled by drugs called antihistamines which block the histamine pathway. Sometimes the brain will receive false itching alarms due to post-shingles contraindications or nerve damage in the vertebrae. Such episodes of itching need to be addressed to prevent adverse outcomes. At times, the reason an itch can occur can even be psychological when there seems to be no need for an itch. According to research, scratching activates the brain’s reward center which triggers the addiction mechanism. Patients in that case are thrilled as they itch constantly [9].

As doors in this mysterious journey of science are opened one after another, we discover that nothing has been created without a purpose, including apparently discomforting sensations such as itching, which, it turns out, is how our skin communicates with us!

References

1. Arıcan O. Kasintinin patofizyolojisi, klinigi ve tedavisi Turkderm 2005;39(2):88-97
2. Jonston G, Sladden M. 2005 Scabies: diagnosis and treatment BMJ;17;331(7517):619-22
3. Guyton AC, Hall JE. Tıbbi Fizyoloji 10. Baski 2001.p815-42
4. Schmelz M. Itch and pain. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2010;34(2):171-6
5. Arck P, Raus R. From the Brain-skin connection. Neuroimmunomodulation 2006;13(5-6)347-56
6. Metz M, Stander S. Chronic pruritus pathogenesis clinical aspects and treatment. J Eur Acad Dermatol Veneral 2010;24(11)1249-60
7. Metz M, Grundman S, Stander S. Pruritus: an overview of current concepts. Vet Dermatol 2011;22(2):121-31
8. Chen ZF et all. Descending control of itching transmission by Serotonergic System via 5-HT1A-facilitated GRP-GRPR signaling. Neuron Vol.84(4) Nov.19-2014

9. Chan YH et all. Brain’s Reward Circuits Mediate Itch Relief. A functional MRI Study of Active Scratching. Dec. 2013