Scientists Discover Compound In Baby Diapers Can Enlarge Brain Cells 75
An anonymous reader writes with news of a breakthrough in brain imaging thanks to a compound found in diapers. "A team of researchers has discovered that a compound used in baby diapers to absorb the liquids can help enlarge the size of the brain cells for a better imaging. The scientists work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and were experimenting with new ways that could help them enlarge the brain cells for a better resolution photos. They discovered by accident that sodium polyacrylate, a compound in baby diapers can enlarge brain cells and can be used in their research. The scientists termed the new technique of enlarging the brain cells 'expansion microscopy.' This new technique will help the scientists increase the brain cells tissue samples and see it in a better image resolution."
Jennie McCarty gets right on that - (Score:5, Funny)
By putting baby diapers on her and her children's head to make them smarter.
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I was too stoopid to learn to use the toilet, so I wore diapers for a much long time. This kemicals must be what made me growed up to be so intellygent.
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How drunk or high was the person when they said: "Hey, let's see what happens when we put that stuff on brain cells."
If you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin... (Score:1, Flamebait)
http://www.rebellesociety.com/... [rebellesociety.com]
http://www.wildcrafted.com.au/... [wildcrafted.com.au]
http://www.optimumhealthnatura... [optimumhea...urally.net]
"Putting chemicals on your skin is actually far worse than ingesting them. During the process of eating, the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help break these chemicals down and flush them out of your body. But when you slather these chemical concoctions onto your skin, they are deposited directly in your internal organs and body fat. And unlike things ingested orally, there is no "gate keeping" liver there
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"Putting chemicals on your skin is actually far worse than ingesting them.
Which chemicals? This statement could be true for some, and patently false for others. Ditto for all the stuff you said about the liver. (IANAD but I've taken biochem, so, come at me if you like)
That Dr. Hyman article is BS.... I can't believe how hard that fucking vaccine myth is to stamp out. THE RESEARCH WAS FRAUDULENT! (and abusive!)
Concerning autism
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Bigger brain cells -> bigger brain -> bigger smarts. So everyone should obviously PUT the diapers on their babies!
Wikipedia on "Absorption (skin)" (Score:1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... [wikipedia.org]
"Skin absorption is a route by which substances can enter the body through the skin. Along with inhalation, ingestion and injection, dermal absorption is a route of exposure for toxic substances and route of administration for medication. Absorption of substances through the skin depends on a number of factors, the most important of which are concentration, duration of contact, *solubility of medication*, and physical condition of the skin and part of the body exposed.
Not related to any risk from wearing diapers! (Score:1)
Very misleading for people to conclude from this headline that diapers somehow pose a risk of "brain swelling" for babies! I found a New York Times article about the process the researchers used. It requires a sequence of steps that begins with a tissue sample. The scientists "infuse" the tissue with the chemical **building blocks** of the polymer (not the polymer), making sure they evenly permeate the sample. The polymer forms inside the tissue (destructively chopping it up in the process at the chemical l
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You may well be right in this case. Probably you are. I don't know much about this specific issue. But I have heard or read from history similar reassurances saying about other things (cocaine in Coca Cola, lead in gasoline, trans fats, smoking, PCBs, MTBE, mercury, etc.) which we have now reconsidered as human health risks. Fracking was supposedly harmless; now it turns out it can cause earthquakes and pollute the groundwater...
At the end of the excellent 1980s video series "The World of Chemisty" (in the
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I don't have a problem with a general attitude of being cautious with chemicals. I do as well. In addition to your list, there are also countless examples of feared things that were ultimately and definitively found NOT to be dangerous at all. One must use *both* prudent caution and reasonable cynicism in evaluating risks.
What one cannot do is read a headline which is talking about a procedure used to prepare a microscope slide in a lab and jump to the conclusion that there is a danger to wearing diapers co
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I hope people also notice the "brain cells" has nothing to do with this news. It just so happened the researchers were studying brain cells when they developed this technique to blow up cells. It could work equally well on any cell from bamboo stalks to chicken sperm.
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p>I hope you see why even applying the polymer precursors to the moist environment of your groin would not cause your brain to swell. Perhaps you could be concerned it might increase your risk of dry skin and diaper rash! Oh the horror.
Ooops, I meant to say: "Perhaps you could be concerned the *polymer in diapers* might increase your risk of dry skin and diaper rash! Oh the horror." I wasn't referring to the precursors used in this discovery in that sentence. I still wouldn't put those on my skin for no good reason!
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Nonsense, malarkey, and hocus pocus. That's 5 links to articles, all of which make assertions that are not tested or are too vague to be easily testable.
"Putting chemicals on your skin is actually far worse than ingesting them.
Which chemicals? This statement could be true for some, and patently false for others. Ditto for all the stuff you said about the liver. (IANAD but I've taken biochem, so, come at me if you like)
That Dr. Hyman article is BS.... I can't believe how hard that fucking vaccine myth is to stamp out. THE RESEARCH WAS FRAUDULENT! (and abusive!)
Concerning autism and vitamin D, correlation and causation....
If I seem shrill about this, well, my brother is autistic, and I am extremely BS-averse.
"That which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."
-Christopher Hitchens
Oh I like this person. Short, sharp and surgical.
zzzing
Used diapers? (Score:2)
Stop, just stop (Score:5, Insightful)
Quit making these dumbass comparisons between everyday products and something scientific unless there's really something to be concerned about. Crap like this leads to people like Foodbabe telling us that the same ingredients in water are also used to degrade iron. It's true, but the fact it's true doesn't mean that water will cause us to rust.
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Water has always been the main reason people die.
Think of the children!
Re:Stop, just stop (Score:4, Insightful)
Water has always been the main reason people die.
Dihydrogen monoxide has been maligned numerous times over the years, but the real culprit is Oxygen; DHMO is just one of the many corrupt forms that Oxygen can take.
it's interesting to note a compound's everyday use (Score:3)
the fact that someone uneducated will think uneducated things based on noting a compound's everyday use simply means that uneducated people need to educate themselves
in fact, even if we censored such notable common uses as you ask us to, uneducated people will still think stupid, dangerous, and fearful things. so what you ask us to do doesn't even provide the protection you think it does
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The problem isn't the uneducated, it's the ignorant. And especially the willfully ignorant.
The uneducated can educate themselves. The ignorant cannot, and the willfully ignorant resist attempts at education.
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...Or every news site regurgitating the sound bite that "the same chemical in yoga mats is in Subway sandwiches [foodbabe.com]" (which is actually in most bread, and it's hard to find bread without it). What the heck, this is also from foodbabe? Ugh, I just went to her website and I feel gross.
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Quit making these dumbass comparisons between everyday products and something scientific unless there's really something to be concerned about.
Quit flipping out over a headline without reading the summary. This is "X in Y discovered to do Z" in a scientifically useful way.
The brain cells they're talking about are dead ones in samples, not live ones in a baby's brain.
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Di Hydrogen Monoxide is in EVERY pesticide and Chemical solution out there. IT MUST BE BANNED!
People die from Over exposure to it constantly!
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I hear it's involved in the production of nuclear weapons. How terrible is it? Hitler was addicted to the stuff.
new meaning for the term.. (Score:5, Funny)
Shit for brains.
shit for brains (Score:1)
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The chemical is useful for its ability to hold water. I guess they're just trying to relate the fact that this is a newly-discovered use for a chemical that is already widely used for other purposes, and the availability to apply this commonplace substance to a hard problem was "hiding right under our nose".
It's an inspiring tale that should be encouraging to would-be inventors that there are still new innovative uses waiting to be discovered for simple everyday things.
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How does one get diaper mixed in with their brain cells by accident?
One of the team members forgot to wash their hands after changing their kiddo's diaper.
Inadvertently, they might have spread Hand-Foot-Mouth to the entire team...
It's basically a water absorption compound (Score:3)
This compound is used in many areas where holding water is important. It's used in transport of seedlings to provide a water reservoir and keep them moist. It's used in diapers. It's used in many creative areas to absorb and hold water.
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It also makes really cool fake snow.
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Being close contact with diapers, how this chemical might be effecting babies ?
The chemical is basically a harmless salt not too different from sodium chloride (Unless you were to start eating quantities of it), and there is not a large amount of it in a diaper, so obviously the chemical is specifically used for its beneficial affects.
Use of the chemical improves sanitary conditions and comfort for babies wearing diapers, since it reduces undesirable moisture and wetness in contact with their skin: t
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I'm pretty sure that diapers are one of the things that definitely don't effect babies.
Diapers may not cause babies, but the mere existence of diapers (and other modern conveniences) are certainly factors that increases the desirability of effecting said baby...
Tissue samples. not live brain (Score:4, Insightful)
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exactly, it is only being used to swell up a block of tissue that is going to be used for confocal microscopy. So they are just using the properties of sodium polyacrylate to swell the tissue block and hopefully retain the micro-architecture in order to see smaller details.
bullshit (Score:1)
Spread the word on Slate and Salon now! (Score:2)
Get all the hipsters eating baby poop to enhance their intelligence. No GMOs or gluten!
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They already eat hummus, should be an easy transition.
Obviouse joke in 3..2..1.. (Score:2)
Soooo....sh*t for brains?
Is this also found in adult diapers? (Score:2)
Asking for a friend.
Is this an actual news post... (Score:1)
It's obvious to me that... (Score:1)
Wrong End Hats (Score:2)
Let me explain how it works, shit-for-brains...
Ooo... Bad.
Acrylamide monomer (Score:2)
Maybe unrelated, but acrylamide monomer is known to be highly toxic to the nervous system.
See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm... [nih.gov]
"Accident" (Score:2)
> They discovered by accident that sodium polyacrylate
Looks like somebody took his/her work home, or took the baby to work and let it waddle around freely....