The fear of heights experienced by acrophobics is no small matter; tall buildings, airplane rides, bridges, even stepladders may present a paralyzing challenge. A new therapeutic approach, however, can help to lessen the anxiety experienced by acrophobics.
Ralph Lamsen, of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, uses virtual reality to desensitize acrophobes to their fear. The virtual world experienced through the helmet, glove, and handgrip presents a series of challenges relevant to the phobic situation. For example, clients are presented with a plank they must cross, an experience that usually produces elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Clients are encouraged to progress at a comfortable pace, staying at the edge of the plank until read ...
Phobia Technology Virtual Reality Treatment Mental Health
Research
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"I'd better check......one more time.....just let me make sure.....I'd better go back...." In isolation these comments might come from anyone wondering whether the headlights are turned off on the car. But as the mantra of people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) these thoughts plague their daily lives. Whether its washing one's hands 25 times a day (above, scene taken from The Aviator (2004)) or checking to make sure the stove burner is off every hour on the hour, OCD can severely hobble one's peace of mind.
More rightly, it may be a piece of brain that produces these intrusive thoughts. UCLA's Jeffrey Schwartz and his colleagues used PET scans to study the brains of obsessive-compulsive patients. They found that the orbita ...
OCD Mental Health Compulsion Psychology
Discoveries
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Did you know that the Moon's rotation is locked to its orbit around Earth by a bulge of material under the Moon's surface? This material is denser than the rest of the Moon's surface material, and Earth's gravity pulls on it especially strongly. The side of the Moon containing the bulge always faces Earth. We call it the near side and we call the other side, which we never see from Earth, the far side. People often mistakenly use the term "dark side" when referring to the far side of the Moon, forgetting that the far side is fully illuminated by the Sun whenever we see a new moon from Earth.
If we were to look from high above the Earth-Moon system, we would see the Moon rotate once per month with respect to the stars. This is its sidereal ro ...
astronomy moon earth
Interesting Facts
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Imagine a disease whose presence is marked by a feeling of something crawling along your skin, stinging every part of your body as if there is insect or parasite infestation that doesn't go away. Not only that, but your skin is plagued with the presence of multicolored filaments that lie under, are embedded in, or project from skin.
Morgellons disease (pronounced with either a hard or soft "g") is a highly misunderstood skin condition that was first reported in the USA in 2002, although may have a longer history depending on where you look. The characteristic filaments described earlier are microscopic, visually resembling textile fibers, and are white, black, or a more vibrant color, such as red or blue (left image). In addition to fiber p ...
disease parasite fibers bacteria
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Most vegetables do best in soil that is very high in organic matter. To increase the amount of organic matter in your soil, just add compost or manure. Before planting, apply well-decomposed compost at the rate of 40 to 60 pounds per 100 square feet of garden space. Don’t use compost or manure as a replacement for fertilizer. A healthy vegetable garden needs both.
In addition to the compost recommended above, manure can be used instead of dry fertilizer. Manures vary widely in nutrient concentration and salt content, so take care to not apply too much. Compared with chemically formulated fertilizers, manures are a less precise method of fertilization because sources of manures vary greatly in nutrient and soluble salt content. A safe applica ...
Gardening Insect Control Tomatoes Peppers Harvesting
