Roughly a third of all Americans experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. These ailments include general anxiety disorder, severe phobias, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. They’re often treated with mental health therapy or medications.

For instance, benzodiazepines are a class of anti-anxiety drugs that are generally effective and well-tolerated; however, they come with problematic drawbacks. They can be addictive, interact dangerously with certain other drugs, and often trigger wide-ranging side effects such as drowsiness, confusion, headache, nausea, and tremors.

These drugs work by enhancing the activity of receptors that respond to an inhibitory neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA reduces the excitability of neurons throughout the nervous system, essentially slowing down most bodily processes. This global deceleration also triggers the benzodiazepines’ calming effect. Familiar brand names of the drug include Valium, Xanax, Ativan, and Klonopin.

The NINDS team wondered if there was a better, more precise way to treat anxiety — one that wouldn’t trigger body-wide side effects. So, they stressed out mice until the animals developed clear signs of chronic anxiety when compared to their healthy, unstressed companions. For example, they were less willing to explore new areas, engaged in more repetitive behaviors, and avoided social interactions.

It was almost as if the researchers found an off-switch for anxiety in the mouse brain.

The researchers then searched for differences between the brains of anxious and unstressed mice. They noticed that levels of two neurotransmitter proteins, Neuroligin2 and GABA, were markedly decreased in the anxious mice. Already aware of GABA’s ability to lessen anxiety, they focused on Neuroligin2. With further probing, the researchers determined that chronic stress enhances the activity of a protein called Src kinase, triggering a cascade of effects called a signaling pathway that results in less circulating Neuroligin2. They wondered, Would suppressing Src kinase’s activity help alleviate the rodents’ anxiety?

To find out, Pandey, Lu, and their colleagues injected the anxious mice with an Src-inhibiting therapeutic called PP2 once daily for seven days. The effects were astounding. With less Src activity, its corresponding signaling pathway slowed to a standstill, resulting in higher Neuroligin2. Outwardly, the animals’ anxious behaviors disappeared. Moreover, there were no noticeable adverse effects. It was almost as if the researchers found an off-switch for anxiety in the mouse brain….’ (Big Think)

‘A fisher in Cambodia has caught what scientists say is the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray.

Captured on June 13, the stingray measured almost four metres (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly less than 300kg (660lbs), according to a statement on Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-US research project….’ (Al Jazeera)

‘The “Last Week Tonight” host said donald trump’s running mate “continues to underwhelm” before tossing to a clip of what he described as the “worst possible answer” to a “pretty easy question.”

“You have been criticized as being a little too serious, a little angry sometimes. What makes you smile? What makes you happy?” asked Fox 2 Detroit’s Charlie Langton on Wednesday.

“Well, I smile at a lot of things including bogus questions from the media, man,” replied Vance as he proceeded to laugh.

He continued, “I mean, look, I think if you watch, if you watch a full speech that I give, I actually, I’m having a good time out here and I’m enjoying this. But, look, sometimes you got to take the good with the bad. And right now, I am angry about what Kamala Harris has done to this country and done to the American southern border.”

Oliver had a question of his own for Vance after seeing the clip.
“Is he alright?” Oliver asked….’ (HuffPost Entertainment)

‘In just 4 minutes, you can see all the majesty of Everest…’ (The Manual)

From Everest Base Camp (17598′) to the summit (29032′). Making the unimaginable imaginable apparently with an off-the-shelf DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone.

‘The office of JD Vance, Donald Trump’s pick for Vice President, has declined to deny that an old photo shows Vance in women’s clothing….’ (Queerty)

More on JD Vance:

Trump’s Millennial VP Pick Left a Facebook Pic Up of Himself Passed Out Drunk in College (Futurism.com) 

‘Stephen Hawking famously said sending messages from Earth into deep space could get human civilization destroyed: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

Hawking’s words have often been used to discourage the practice of METI, which is Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence. But how many “malicious” alien civilizations are there? And what are the chances any message we sent into our own galaxy would be received by an evil alien civilization? There is precious little research on this topic, and very few scientists have even posited a guess.

A new thought experiment attempts to at least venture a guess in hopes that other scientists will begin to take METI more seriously, and will try to determine how dangerous it actually is to try to contact alien civilizations.

According to this paper, which the author admits has “some limitations,” there are roughly four “malicious extraterrestrial civilizations” in the Milky Way, and we could likely send out 18,000 interstellar messages to different exoplanets in our galaxy and the probability of ensuring our own destruction would still be about the same as Earth being hit by a “global catastrophe asteroid.”…’ (VICE)

‘A list of ideas, in no particular order and from different fields, that help explain how the world works…’

(Morgan Housel)

Makes You Think

‘A few lines I came across recently that got me thinking…’

(Morgan Housel)

Morgan Housel is a partner at Collaborative Fund (“Our mission is to identify and support companies that live at the intersection of for-profit & for-good.”) and author of the book The Psychology of Money.

‘With trump venting that Kamala Harris’s success shows he’s being cheated, a prominent Never Trumper explains why we need to start thinking now about another coup attempt….’ (The N)ew Republic)