Touchpoint 1
Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.
What is it?
A professor at Columbia University is trying to figure out how the brain knows if a touch to the skin is painful or pleasurable. He believes that by understanding this process, it will lead to new treatments for chronic pain and even mental illnesses.
Potential message to students:
If you closed your eyes and your skin was touched, do you think you would know if it’s painful? How light a touch would it take before you brain no longer registered pain? How do you explain little kids who are distracted getting a shot and the doctor and don’t notice it or get upset?
Touchpoint 2
Gene-editing crops to be colourful could aid weeding, say scientists
What is it?
Weeds look a lot like crops make it harder to find and get rid of them. Scientists think they can genetically modify crops to produce a color that humans cannot see. A machine could then look for this color and know it’s not a weed.
Potential message to students:
Do you think it’s a good use of genetic engineering to help distinguish between a weed and crop plant? Do you think less weeds will lead to a healthier crop? Do you think these colors could have adverse effects on humans when eaten?
Touchpoint 3
Study shows that island bats are valuable allies for farmers
What is it?
Bats account for 20% of all mammal species. Scientists collected bat droppings to study what they eat. Turns out bats have a very diverse diet, eating over 50 different types of insects. This could be good news for farmers.
Potential message to students:
Do you think large farms could dig a huge cave in the middle of their crops, buy some bats, and try to start a colony? Do you think farmers would purposely locate crops near known bat colonies? Do you think farmers could make an “artificial” cave above ground?