What do You know About Pluto? NASA missions may re-elevate Pluto and Ceres

What can you really say about the unexplored planet in our Universe?

Of the approximately 10,000 internationally registered members of the IAU in 2006, only 237 voted in favour of the resolution redefining Pluto as a "Dwarf planet" while 157 voted against; the other 9,500 members were not
present at the closing session of the IAU General Assembly in Prague at which the vote to demote Pluto was taken.

Unlike the larger planets Ceres, like Pluto, according to the IAU definition, "Has not cleared the neighbourhood
around its orbit." The asteroid belt is, apparently, Ceres' neighbourhood while the Kuiper Belt is Pluto's neighbourhood - though no definition of a planet's
neighborhood exists, and no agreed upon understanding of what "Clearing the neighbourhood" [means] yet exists.

More than a century before Pluto was discovered, Ceres was plutoed.

Pluto ' s short planetary reign When Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, many astronomers were certain that a large planet orbited the Sun beyond Neptune.

So what is Pluto? Pluto is the last unexplored planet in our Solar System.
In a few months, a few intrepid humans will pull back the curtain on Pluto and say "Hello, Pluto, we're here." And Pluto will begin to share her secrets with us.

When she does, as with Ceres, our familiarity with Pluto will help us recognise that Pluto is, was, and has
always been a planet, albeit a small one.

Read more here.

How Marijuana Affects and Weakens Your Muscles

Researchers have figured out how marijuana use affects the nerve cells that control our muscles, and say it could explain why it's had positive effects on people with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

A team led by Bernardo Moreno from the
NeuroDegeneration and NeuroRepair Group of the University of Cadiz in Spain wanted to figure out why side-effects of marijuana use sometimes include difficulty speaking and forming words, difficulty breathing, and - despite the intense need for munchies - difficulty swallowing food.

Many previous studies have focussed on psychotropic effects of the drug, such as anxiety, depression, cognition, learning, and memory, but until now, little has been done to figure out the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the impairment of motor skills in some users.

To investigate, the team used synthetic analogues of the psychoactive compounds of marijuana and observed their effects on the motor neurons - or nerve cells - that control our muscle movement.

Using lab mice, they focussed on the nerve cells that control the tongue, because it's responsible for speaking, breathing and swallowing.

Publishing in the journal Neuropharmacology, the team reports that the psychoactive compounds in marijuana actually inhibit the transmission of information between these neurons via the synapses.

"The motor neuron - that is, the one that gives the order to the muscle to contract - sees its activity reduced which, as a consequence, would weaken the strength of the muscle contraction," Moreno said in a press release.

While the mechanism behind making it harder for us to speak and swallow might not sound like a helpful one, the team thinks it's at play when people with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis report beneficial affects from using marijuana.

"In pathological processes associated with muscular hyperactivity phenomena, the reduction in motor neuron activity induced by cannabis could lead to a symptomatological improvement," says Moreno.

Interestingly, just last year, a separate study also looked into how marijuana affected the connectivity of the brain, and found that when it comes to long-term use, it appears to shrink a certain part of the brain in heavy users, but their brains will actively compensate for this by increasing connectivity - especially if the user started young.

What an Underneath Iceberg Look Like

What do you see when an iceberg is overturned? This is the very first image I have seen.

It looks extraterrestrial. Credits to Alex Cornell, a US photographer who took his time to take and share a snapshot of this from Antarctica.

Most people says about 90% of an iceberg is within the water and we can only see a tip. How true is this? What proof? Do you really believe it?

Well, answering those questions are now as easy as a pie.

See images...
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No doubt, its beautiful.