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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 14d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 16d

“SB: Your brain is in your hands. What you do repeatedly is going to influence your outcomes. You shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. Your brain is plastic, and you can do things you didn’t think you could do. It’s important to maintain your cognitive ability with new challenges […]”

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 16d

Is your brain in your hands? 🧠

I interviewed Silvia Bunge, a renowned researcher at UC Berkeley, about how cognition can be shaped by individual differences and socioeconomic status.

🔗🧪 www.neuronhub.org/Is-your-brai...

I hope you enjoy the read!

Is your brain in your hands?

🇪🇸 🇬🇧 | There is a great cliché that says that we are all the same. And another one that says that each person is unique. But what does biology say about this?

www.neuronhub.org

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 17d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 19d

This process is called nucleation, the start of a phase change like liquid turning to vapor. It lowers the energy needed to form bubbles at surfaces. Nucleation happens all around us, from boiling water to dew forming on leaves or frost on windows, making phase changes faster and easier.

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 19d

The reason energy is lower is that forming a bubble in open water means creating a full liquid-gas surface (hard with surface tension). In a cavity, part of the bubble touches the solid, so less new liquid-gas surface forms. This means surface tension acts less and bubble formation is easier.

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 19d

When you boil water, bubbles first form at tiny imperfections on the pot’s surface. These spots trap air pockets that lower the energy needed for vapor to form. This triggers boiling, helping bubbles appear fast instead of waiting for rare, random events inside pure water.

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 25d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 27d

How are these electric fields created? ⚡🧪

Muscle cells have a resting voltage from ion differences inside/outside. When nerves fire, ion channels open causing action potentials. Many fibers’ action potentials sum, creating tiny electric fields muscles emit into water (detected by electroreceptors).

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 27d

The platypus’s bill has 40000 electroreceptors and 60000 mechanoreceptors. It senses tiny electric fields and water movements from prey. Sweeping its bill side to side, the platypus finds hidden food underwater, hunting well even in the dark or cloudy water. ⚡🌊

#SciComm 🧪

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 29d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 29d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 29d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 29d

Why panda’s thumbs are not thumbs? 🐼👍

It’s actually a wrist bone, not a true digit: a nice example of evolutionary tinkering (nature repurposing parts for new jobs). It evolved for gripping bamboo, and both giant and red pandas did this independently (convergent evolution).

#SciComm 🧪

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · 29d

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 8

biological age ≠ years lived 🧬⌚

It’s measured with biomarkers like organ function, blood pressure, inflammation & DNA/epigenetic marks. Stress, pollution or disease can make you older than your chronological age, while healthy lifestyles may slow ageing.

#SciComm 🧪

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 8

Can heatwaves make you age faster? 🌡️🧪

A 15-year study of 24922 people in Taiwan found long-term extreme-heat exposure accelerated biological ageing, comparable to smoking or drinking. Vulnerable groups like rural workers are hit hardest.

🔗 doi-org.proxy.insermbiblio.inist.fr/10.1038/d415...

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 6

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Impressive

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 6

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 5

breaking news: ant-i normal reproduction! 🐜

The species Messor ibericus seems to produce both its own offspring and those of Messor structor (from another species). With no fathers detected, hybrid workers still appear.

Where’s the species line?

🔗🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature

In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

www.nature.com

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 5

Unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS) lets one brain half go into slow waves (high-amplitude, low-frequency) while the other stays awake. Activation/inhibition balance & acetylcholine release keep one side alert, helping some birds & marine mammals rest safely mid-flight or underwater.

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 5

Some birds like swallows and marine mammals such as dolphins and seals can sleep with half their brain awake. 😴

This lets them fly or breathe while resting. They switch sides to rest both hemispheres equally, staying alert but well-rested. The awake brain half controls the open eye.

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 5

Do fish sleep? 🐟

Yes, but without eyelids to close. They enter restful states with reduced movement, slower metabolism, and altered brain activity (similar to slow-wave and REM phases). Sleep duration varies, often 3-6 hours, usually at night if diurnal.

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Juan Garcia-Ruiz @juangarciaruiz.bsky.social · Sep 1

Do all living things have a brain? 🧠

Not all. Some animals lack nervous systems (like sponges), while others (like jellyfish) have simple ones with no brain.

Brains evolved over 500M years for coordination and complex behaviors. Vertebrates & cephalopods evolved brains independently.

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