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By Emily Anthes

• Published Oct. 26, 2021Updated Oct. 27, 2021

The brain of a fruit fly is the size of a poppy seed and about as easy to overlook.

“Most people, I think, don’t even think of the fly as having a brain,” said Vivek Jayaraman, a neuroscientist at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia. “But, of course, flies lead quite rich lives.”

Flies are capable of sophisticated behaviors, including navigating diverse landscapes, tussling with rivals and serenading potential mates. And their speck-size brains are tremendously complex, containing some 100,000 neurons andtens of millions of connections, or synapses, between them.

Since 2014, a team of scientists at Janelia, in collaboration with researchers at Google, have been mapping these neurons and synapses in an effort to create a comprehensive wiring diagram, also known as a connectome, of the fruit fly brain.

The work, which is continuing, is time-consuming and expensive, even with the help of state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms. But the data they have released so far is stunning in its detail, composing an atlas of tens of thousands of gnarled neurons in many crucial areas of the fly brain.

And now, in an enormous new paper, being published on Tuesday in the journal eLife, neuroscientists are beginning to show what they can do with it.

By analyzing the connectome of just a small part of the fly brain — the central complex, which plays an important role in navigation — Dr. Jayaraman and his colleagues identified dozens of new neuron types and pinpointed neural circuits that appear to help flies make their way through the world. The work could ultimately help provide insight into how all kinds of animal brains, including our own, process a flood of sensory information and translate it into appropriate action.

It is also a proof of principle for the young field of modern connectomics, which was built on the promise that constructing detailed diagrams of the brain’s wiring would pay scientific dividends.

“It’s really extraordinary,” Dr. Clay Reid, a senior investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, said of the new paper. “I think anyone who looks at it will say connectomics is a tool that we need in neuroscience — full stop.”

Electron microscope imagery of fly neurons. Computer algorithms were used to pinpoint where individual neurons connect, then researchers checked the computer’s work and filled in missing pieces.Credit…Matt Staley, Janelia Research Campus

‘Your fly brain is cooked’

The only complete connectome in the animal kingdom belongs to the humble roundworm, C. elegans. The pioneering biologist Sydney Brenner, who would later go on to win a Nobel Prize, started the project in the 1960s. His small team spent years on it, using colored pens to trace all 302 neurons by hand.

“Brenner realized that to understand the nervous system you had to know its structure,” said Scott Emmons, a neuroscientist and geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who later used digital techniques to create new C. elegans connectomes. “And that’s true across biology. Structure is so important.”

Brenner and his colleagues published their landmark paper, which clocked in at 340 pages, in 1986.

But the field of modern connectomics did not take off until the 2000s, when advances in imaging and computing finally made it feasible to map the connections in larger brains. In recent years, research teams around the world have started assembling connectomes of zebrafish, songbirds, mice, humans and more.

When the Janelia Research Campus opened in 2006, Gerald Rubin, its founding director, set his sights on the fruit fly. “I don’t want to offend any of my worm colleagues, but I think flies are the simplest brain that actually does interesting, complex behavior,” Dr. Rubin said.

Several different teams at Janelia have embarked on fly connectome projects in the years since, but the work that led to the new paper began in 2014, with the brain of a single, five-day-old female fruit fly.

Researchers cut the fly brain into slabs and then used a technique known as focused-ion beam scanning electron microscopy to image them, layer by painstaking layer. The microscope essentially functioned like a very tiny, very precise nail file, filing away an exceedingly thin layer of the brain, snapping a picture of the exposed tissue and then repeating the process until nothing remained.

“You’re simultaneously imaging and cutting off little slices of the fly brain, so they don’t exist after you’re done,” Dr. Jayaraman said. “So if you screw something up, you’re done. Your goose is cooked — or your fly brain is cooked.”

The team then used computer vision software to stitch the millions of resulting images back together into a single, three-dimensional volume and sent it off to Google. There, researchers used advanced machine-learning algorithms to identify each individual neuron and trace its twisting branches.

Finally, the Janelia team used additional computational tools to pinpoint the synapses, and human researchers proofread the computers’ work, correcting errors and refining the wiring diagrams.

Last year, the researchers published the connectome for what they called the “hemibrain,” a large portion of the central fly brain, which includes regions and structures that are crucial for sleep, learning and navigation.

The connectome, which is accessible free online, includes about 25,000 neurons and 20 million synapses, far more than the C. elegans connectome.

“It’s a dramatic scaling up,” said Cori Bargmann, a neuroscientist at the Rockefeller University in New York. “This is a tremendous step toward the goal of working out the connectivity of the brain.”

Welcome to orientation

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We learn how to blend our way into social media’s hottest trends for the coolest drinks courtesy of Registered Dietitian, and Emmy nominated television host, Annessa Chumbley. On April 15th, Annessa will share her newest recipes for everything from whipped iced coffees to protein-rich fruit and veggie packed smoothies to a creamy plant-based shake with a secret healthy ingredient. She will show you how to create the trendiest, most delicious drinks that have ever come out of your kitchen, made with big flavors you can pick up at your local grocery store.

You’ll learn how on-trend and innovative products are available at a value compared to national brands—meaning shoppers can save without sacrificing on quality and taste. Minimally processed Open Nature products and USDA-certified organic and always non-GMO, Organics items are exclusively sold online and in stores.

ANNESSA’S RECIPES FOR BLENDING UP SOME GOODNESS
ICED WHIPPED COFFEE — Use Open Nature® Barista Oat Milk as a creamy base to build on
SIPPABLE SMOOTHIES — Save time with nutrient-packed frozen pre-made smoothie pack
MINT CHOCOLATE SHAKE — Non-dairy + secret ingredient: Spinach never tasted so good!

1. BY NOW WE’VE ALL SEEN THE VIRAL WHIPPED COFFEE TREND ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HOW CAN WE TAKE THAT TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

2. ARE THERE ANY RECIPES YOU CAN SHARE THAT NOT ONLY LOOK GREAT, BUT TASTE GREAT AND ARE GOOD FOR YOU?

3. THE DAYS ARE GETTING WARMER. WHAT ABOUT A DRINK TO GET US THROUGH THESE WARM AFTERNOONS WE HAVE COMING UP?

4. ALL THESE FRUIT SMOOTHIES SOUND DELICIOUS! WHAT ABOUT SOMETHING SWEET THAT WE CAN ENJOY FOR DESSERT?

5. EVERYTHING LOOKS DELICIOUS, ANNESSA! WHERE CAN WE GO TO LEARN MORE?

The post Sip Your Way Through Spring: Tasty and Easy Plant-Based Beverage Options With Annessa Chumbley, Registered Dietitian appeared first on Good News!.

“A self-improvement theory that eschews instant gratification in favor of long-term comfort and accomplishment. … Quick, clear anecdotes offer bold encouragement to take the ‘hard-easy’ road to success in life.”
–Kirkus Reviews

“Art Coombs’ books are such a joy because his stories are so compelling, so moving, The love and humor found in his works will inspire you to engage more fully with the world at large.”
–TV’s Bob The Builder Voice Actor William Duffy

“Hard Easy is an upbeat, comprehensive guide to self-improvement based on the “Law of Hard Easy,” through which practitioners are challenged to choose the harder path now to enjoy an easier path in the future. …. The book makes a convincing case that choosing its suggested path will improve lives. …Beyond its motivational tales, the book’s suggestions to avoid complacency, shame, and impulsiveness are hopeful and reassuring. Other provocative insights include the idea that complacency is a form of fear, and that yielding to a crisis mentally can be addictive. Most of the book’s recommendations are convincing and achievable. … Hard Easy is an uplifting guide to self-improvement.” –Foreword Reviews

Looking to change your life, overcome a challenge, pursue a goal, and stop making bad decisions on matters of health, wealth, relationships, or lifestyle?

One of the best, freshest self-improvement books has arrived with a unique take on how one can start living the life they desire. For those looking to make a clean break in 2021, your listeners will want to hear from CEO Arthur F. Coombs III, best-selling author of the provocative and insightful, breakthrough book, Hard Easy: A Get-Real Guide for Getting the Life You Want

Art Coombs’ Success Story
Best-selling author, dynamic speaker, and leadership guru Arthur F. Coombs III brings decades of global expertise to readers, audiences, and corporations through his visionary and innovative practices. Founder and CEO of KomBea Corporation, Art has served for more than 15 years developing and marketing tools that blend human intelligence and automation.
Art’s best-selling Don’t Just Manage—LEAD! has been hailed by some of the nation’s top executives, and his book Human Connection: How the “L” Do We Do That? provides a powerful formula for success in relationships of all kind, and has been said to captivate and inspires readers.
Before founding KomBea, Art served as EVP of Strategic Initiatives for FirstSource. As CEO and founder of Echopass Corporation, he helped build the world’s premier contact center hosting environment. Art has served as Sento Corporation’s CEO, managing director and vice president of Europe for Sykes Enterprises, and has worked for organizations such as Hewlett-Packard, VLSI Research, and RasterOps.
Art’s vast experience with people and organizations has led him to sharing transformative principles as a charismatic speaker—principles you can now access within the pages of his books. Art has been interviewed many times on TV. Coombs has been featured recently on Salt Lake City’s ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX stations. Please see: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrdYPZkpJUum8duYYFn7Siw and www.ArtCoombs.com. He resides in Utah.

“Coombs once again illuminates important and motivating concepts in Hard Easy. Now it’s our job to decide – will we accept the less painful route he offers?”
–Paul H. Jenkins, Ph.D., Psychologist, Author of Pathological Positivity

“A thought-provoking, well-written book with intriguing and lively anecdotes. It will be useful anyone ready to take the plunge and commit to making the hard choices.”
–BlueInk Review

“If your life feels stagnant, or you’re not quite sure what steps to take to push yourself toward a happier, more successful future, Hard Easy is a must read.”

#art #coombs #hard #easy #self #improvement #theory #long #term #comfort #accomplishment #quick #clear #bold #success #life #joy #stories #humor #engage #tales #upbeat #future #improve #lives #wealth #health #relationships #lifestyle #author #book #abc #nbc #fox #cbs #choices

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We seek to grow and serve a vibrant, global footwear industry, where doing business in New York is profitable and easy for our membership, and where the industry strengthens through education and unites in charity.

Our mission is to:

Serve and grow the footwear industry by making it easy and fun for buyers and sellers of shoes to do business in New York.
Drive innovation to make the buying and selling of shoes easier.
Strengthen the industry through education.
Unite the industry in charity.
Propel the industry forward.
New York City is the heart of fashion and the center of global business. That’s why we’re dedicated to growing the footwear industry by making it easy to do business in New York. The New York Shoe Expo brings together retailers, brands, designers, buyers and sellers four times a year – all right here in New York City.

Giving back is a huge part of our mission at FFANY. FFANY unites the industry in charity by rallying footwear leaders around important causes including, in particular, breast cancer research.

Growing an industry takes more than just business opportunities. At FFANY, we understand the need to strengthen the industry through education. From scholarships and workshops to e-learning courses, FFANY is paving the way for a new generation for footwear professionals.
New York, United States Rating:★ 4.0

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• Why the U.S. needs to raise the age for social security benefits
• How mandatory military and social service could cut down on student loan debt
• Why regulating too-big-to-fail banks will stop damage to jobs and small businesses
• Why “Right to Die” is important for improving healthcare costs and efficiencies

“Five Easy Theses sets out key issues of public policy easy to identify in concept but long unresolved in practice. Stone proposes sensible approaches to breaking the long-standing political deadlock. The specific measures to deal with budgetary balance, income inequality, public education, healthcare, and financial reform should provide a guide for constructive debate as we choose our next president.”
— Paul A. Volcker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1979-1987)
Current Chairman of the Volcker Alliance

At a time of political gridlock in Washington, Americans are eager to end infighting and find solutions.

FIVE EASY THESES: Commonsense Solutions to America’s Greatest Economic Challenges, is an urgent call to action to all of us and our leaders to find solutions to five of our most pressing economic and domestic public policy issues: Fiscal Balance, Inequality, Healthcare, Education, and Financial Sector Reform.

Highly praised by leading authorities in each of these five areas and from both sides of the political aisle including Paul Volcker, Edward O. Wilson, Atul Gawande, FIVE EASY THESES relies on straightforward common sense to liberate the public discourse from partisanship and focus it instead on what might really work to solve the economic problems most directly impacting our lives today.
James M. Stone, the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Plymouth Rock Group of companies, former Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner, and former Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, argues that it is time for the electorate to challenge the deadlocked status quo and pressure our political leaders in both parties to stop running away from the issues that really matter.

This book is not just for policy wonks but for anyone worried about their rising healthcare costs, the future of their Social Security and Medicare, the effectiveness of education to prepare their children, and how their prosperity might be affected by income inequality and recklessness in the financial sector.
In FIVE EASY THESES, Stone presents a researched analysis of each sector, offering the context needed to understand what got us to where we are, and proposes the potential solutions that will lead us on the right path. These include:

Fiscal Balance
Stone identifies the worst loopholes and sources of waste in today’s tax policy. The federal government should stop making commitments it has no plans to fund. This problem is most severe with respect to our Social Security promises to the next generation of elders. Congress should cease to offer expensive tax breaks that serve no useful policy purpose. The most wastefully extravagant of these tax expenditures is the deduction available to corporations and individuals for payment of interest on their debts. The Social Security system can be secured by ceasing to automatically expand benefits as life expectancies rise. The corporate and personal interest deduction should be flat-out repealed.

Income Inequality
The greatest threat to traditional American values today is the drift toward an aristocracy of wealth. It is harmful that the fruits of our recent economic growth have virtually all been taken by top 0.1% of the population. To remedy this, and restore the economic strength of the middle class while maintaining a safety net for those in need, we must take steps that may sound as radical as the income tax sounded a hundred years ago but are just as necessary. We must begin to tax unrealized gains resulting from investment asset appreciation, and we must stop cold the leakage from inheritance taxes brought about through trust loopholes and excessive exemptions.

Education
Our system of grade school education and our private-public balance of higher education are in need of major repair. The grade school curriculum is poorly serving those who will not be earning a four-year college degree. The costs of college are undermining the benefits of higher education to all but the wealthiest students. Our nation ranks no better than mediocre by international measures of educational attainment. A universal national service program would offer a powerful set of solutions to the educational shortcomings, while providing other social and economic benefits as an extra dividend. The book lays out an 8-point plan and a bold post-secondary program to make education more effective and affordable for both college-bound and work-bound young people.

Healthcare
The United States spends about 18 percent of its GNP on healthcare, while the rest of the developed world averages a little more than half that. Yet, our people experience worse health outcomes than those in other nations. The extra spending exceeds a trillion dollars a year, a vast amount you could put to many better uses. Only within the framework of a single-payer, single-negotiator, single-regulator system can we provide rationality, sensible incentives, and cost-effective administration. The gain to the public of a trillion dollars a year would be the largest available boost to the economy within reach today, and proper incentives would improve America’s health outcomes

Financial Sector Reform
With first-hand experience as a financial regulator, Stone shows how an out-of-control gargantuan banking, derivatives and hedge fund sector can be curbed to make finance serve, rather than dominate, America’s real commercial sector. The emergence of unmanageably large and complex banks whose failures would bring all of us down, the creation of hedge funds whose security and business practices remain beyond regulatory purview, and the rise of derivatives traded with nearly unlimited leverage, all contribute to the financial sector’s enrichment at the rest of the economy’s expense. The overall scale of the financial sector is out of proportion to its economic value. The current situation is at least as hazardous as before the crash. Banks should be downsized. Hedge funds should cease to exist outside of the successful and safe regulatory structure applied to mutual funds. And derivatives trading should be backed up by reserves that would reduce its volume to a tiny fraction of today’s unimaginable numbers.

While these theses are by no means “easy”, together they have the potential to break through political paralysis and transform the future prospects of America’s next generation. FIVE EASY THESES is the book that is needed now to inspire people on both sides of the political aisle to demand the solutions and leadership that it will take to set our country on the right path.

About the Author:
James (Jim) Stone is the founder, Chairman and CEO of the Plymouth Rock group of companies. He began his career by teaching economics, after earning a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard. He served as Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner from 1975 to 1979 and then as Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for four years. On his return from Washington, he founded Plymouth Rock.

He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Globe, and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Global Post, a web-based international news service. Jim is a member of the Board of Directors of two non-profit organizations, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Management Sciences for Health, for which he serves as Chairman of the Board. Jim has served as an advisor to governments in three developing countries, and he has authored a book and numerous articles on insurance and finance. Jim is married, the father of two children, and lives in Boston.

FIVE EASY THESES
Commonsense Solutions to America’s Greatest Economic Challenges
By James M. Stone

The post FIVE EASY THESES: Commonsense Solutions to America’s Greatest Economic Challenges, by James M. Stone. appeared first on Good News!.

Picture this – it’s Wednesday evening, you are rushing home from work and then it dawns on you. You have no idea what to make for dinner. Sound familiar? It’s become a more common problem, as Americans’ busy schedules often stand in the way of preparing home-cooked meals. With so many daily pressures, and never enough time how can you make a great dinner without sacrificing quality and taste?

Available for an interview, Bravo’s Top Chef fan favorite Fabio Viviani can educate your listeners on how to create an authentic, restaurant quality dining experiences at home. After winning the hearts of TV viewers with his charisma on Top Chef, Fabio knows what it takes to make a restaurant-quality meal on the fly. He can talk with your listeners about what he learned on the program, as well as, exciting new dinner options for the fall inspired by his Italian heritage.

 Bravo’s Top Chef Fan Favorite Fabio Viviani 

Fabio is the Owner and Executive Chef of Café Firenze Italian Restaurant and Martini Bar, one of the most recognized restaurants in Ventura County, California. Born and raised in Florence, Italy, Fabio has traveled extensively across Europe and is proficient in the methods of classic Italian and Mediterranean cooking. He incorporates Italian influences in his dishes and believes that cooking is a craft. Fabio was a fan favorite on season five of Bravo’s popular Top Chef series.

Topics Fabio can discuss:
• What are some of your kitchen secrets?
• How can you cook up a quick, restaurant-quality meal at home?
• How do these soups incorporate traditional Italian flavors?

This interview is produced for: Bertolli

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Michael Fischman Shares Easy Techniques That Relieve Stress, Promote Healing and Increase Happiness Tried By More Than 25 Million People, and Used To Increase Productivity And Work-Life Balance At Companies from IBM To NASA.

What: Stress Relief, Relaxation Techniques, and a Look at the New Book: STUMBLING INTO INFINITY: An Ordinary Man In The Sphere of Enlightenment

Who: Michael Fischman, U.S. President of the Art of Living Foundation
Stress causes untold illnesses, billions of dollars in work absenteeism, and generally takes the joy out of our lives. How can we learn to reduce stress, improve our health, and increase our happiness?

Michael Fischman takes that question personally, and has made it his lifes work to help people learn to relax, de-stress, and enjoy greater clarity of mind. As the U.S. President of the Art of Living Foundation, Fischman travels across the country and around the world, teaching people techniques for reducing stress and improving their lives in every way imaginable. His new book, STUMBLING INTO INFINITY: An Ordinary Man In The Sphere of Enlightenment (Morgan James, October 2010), tells the story of how he learned to seek serenity, and gives readers a never before seen look into a road of meditation and peace of mind.

No matter what your age, gender, profession, health, state of mind, or level of stress, Michael will share tips on stress relief, and in an interview will also discuss.

What stress is, and quick fixes to relieve stress at a moments notice

The four forms of Prahna, the subtle life force energy that controls our lives

Easy ways to increase our energy flow and reduce anxiety

How simple breathing can be used as a tool to calm the mind

Real scientific studies that show the health benefits of meditation and breathing techniques

How the foods we eat affect the way we think and feel

Why corporations from IBM to NASA have used Michaels APEX program to increase productivity and create a better work-life balance
michael fischman

His new book, the story of how he became President of Art of Living, and how others can get involved and learn these techniques The founder of the Art of Living foundation, Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and a little bit about his background as a humanitarian and spiritual leader.

Fischman will share how he first got involved and helped to found the Art of Living Foundation, and how everyone can benefit from their philosophy, relaxation techniques, and service to others.

Whether you work in a fast paced environment, are a student, a mother, have health issues, or simply want to learn how to relax, Michael Fischman can give you the golden keys to a stress free life that will open the door to your potential and happiness.

About The Author

Michael Fischman is a leader in the field of personal development. He is a founding member and current president of the U.S. Art of Living Foundation, a global non-profit educational and humanitarian organization, and is also the CEO of the APEX course, the corporate training division of the International Association for Human Values. A former advertising executive with Ogilvy & Mather, and an inspiring speaker, Fischman travels across the U.S. and around the world leading personal-development seminars that bring greater peace, awareness, and fulfillment to daily life. He current lives in Boca Raton Florida. For more information, visit www.Stumblingintoinfinity.com or www.artofliving.org.

About The Art of Living Foundation

The Art of Living Foundation is one of the worlds largest volunteer-based non-governmental organizations. Offering both educational and humanitarian programs, it holds consultative status with the U.N. and has reached people in more than 150 countries. Programs are offered for youth, business, government, prisons, people with HIV or AIDS, trauma and disaster relief, and more. Founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, its programs of personal development and stress relief have reached more than twenty-five million people.

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