Resolution: 2016

Converting a Closet Into a Book Nook

Inspirational Quotes: Be Yourself

Christian Vieler: The Moment Before Dogs Try to Catch Their Treats

Tricia Hammonds: Drawing of Flora

Tricia Hammonds

In the News: Scientists Make a Finding in Understanding the Role ofGABA Pathways in Some Autism Symptoms

Researchers have connected autistic behavior to problems in GABA pathways, an important inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

By Julia Lurie 

Last week brought some news in the autism research world: scientists have found a direct link between autistic behavior and a neurotransmitter, GABA, a kind of brain chemical that communicates information from one nerve cell to another. 

In a study published in the journal Current Biology, scientists at Harvard and MIT found that some symptoms of autism appear to stem from problems processing gamma-Aminobutyric acid, or GABA. 

An inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA stops brain cells from acting in response to information they receive from the senses.

"Autism is often described as a disorder in which all the sensory input comes flooding in at once, so the idea that an inhibitory neurotransmitter was important fit with the clinical observations," said Caroline Robertson, the lead researcher, in a statement. While many of us can simply tune out everyday sights or sounds -- say, the sight of a grate on the sidewalk or the noise of a car driving by -- those with autism are inundated with a deluge of sensory information that can turn everyday environments into distressing experiences.

In addition, Robertson added, about 25 percent of autistic people also have epilepsy -- a result of "runaway excitation in the brain."

In the study, participants started with a visual test: Looking through binoculars, they would see two different images in both eyes -- say, a house on the left side and a car on the right side. Most people can focus on one image while diminishing focus on the other, and then switch, oscillating back and forth between the car and the house. In essence, inhibitory neurotransmitters enable the brain to process digestible pieces of information rather than try to take in everything at once.

But people with autism have a difficult time with this visual task -- the oscillation between images is slower, and the focus on one image is less directed. Within both groups, though, there's variation in how well people can perform the task. When the participants took part in a neuroimaging test that measured the amount of GABA, an unsurprising trend appeared for people without autism: The better people are at visual processing, the more GABA they have. For people with autism, though, there was no such trend: Those who were better at visual processing had no higher or lower levels of GABA than those who weren't, suggesting a problem with the way that GABA is used or processed.

"It's not that there's no GABA in the brain," said Robertson, "It's that there's some step along that pathway that's broken."

The finding is especially notable because GABA inhibits all kinds of sensory stimulation -- not just visual. In theory, a drug that targets bettering the GABA pathway could reduce sensory symptoms of autism.

Still, Robertson warns that this research isn't a "magic bullet" -- especially since scientists still know so little about autism and what causes it. "There are many other molecules in the brain, and many of them may be associated with autism in some form," she said. "We were looking at the GABA story, but we're not done screening the autistic brain for other possible pathways that may play a role."

Scott Campbell: "The Hug Machine"

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell

Who have you hugged today? Open your arms to this delightfully tender, goofy, and sweet tale. 

Watch out world, here he comes -- "The Hug Machine."

Whether you are big, or small, or square, or long, or spikey, or soft, no one can resist his unbelievable hugs. Hug Accomplished. 

This endearing story encourages a warm, caring, and buoyantly affectionate approach to life. Everyone deserves a hug.

William Merritt Chase: "Girl With a Book" (1902)

William Merritt Chase

William Merritt Chase was born in Indiana in 1849, the oldest of six children of a modestly successful shoe merchant and his wife. In 1872, after studies in Indianapolis and at New York's National Academy of Design, Chase was asked by a group of Saint Louis businessmen if he would like to study in Europe with their support. He is said to have replied: "My God, I'd rather go to Europe than go to heaven." Chase decided to work in Munich rather than Paris—the magnet for most aspiring late nineteenth-century American artists—because he thought the German city would be less distracting. Although he enrolled in the Munich Academy, he was more interested in the flashy brushwork and dramatic chiaroscuro espoused by Wilhelm Leibl, Gustave Courbet's German friend and stylistic alter ego. Chase was also attracted to the painterly realism of old masters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Hals.

Other contemporary artists inspired Chase to update his subjects and style. Of particular importance was Édouard Manet. In 1881, Chase (along with J. Alden Weir) helped the New York collector Erwin Davis to purchase Manet's Boy with a Sword (1862) and Young Lady (1866). In 1883, Chase helped to organize an exhibition to raise funds to construct a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty -- the loans included three works by Manet. City scenes by Giuseppe de Nittis may also have influenced Chase in the mid-1880s.

Although Chase was a successful Impressionist, he never abandoned references to tradition, especially in his portraits and still lifes. Positioning himself as a society portraitist, he often painted images of his students as "samples," showed them widely, and gave them to leading institutions, as in the case of Lady in Black (1888), which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum in 1891. Portraits of fashionable women became his stock-in-trade and he commanded $2,000 for a full-length portrait during the 1890s. His large-scale paintings of fish, executed with his somber Munich-inspired palette, sold for $1,000 or $2,000 each. These helped pay the bills, but Chase worried that he would be known to future generations only as "a painter of fish, a painter of fish."

Chase, who died in New York in 1916, was a gifted witness to his era, gathering impressions of late nineteenth-century city life and country leisure abroad and at home, and weaving together many modern and old master impulses to create a distinctive account of his time and place.

Excerpted from a bio by H. Barbara Weinberg, Department of American Paintings and Sculpture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Behavioral Economics Quotes

Walter Workman: "The Cowboy Portfolio" Photograph Collection

Walter Workman

Walter Workman

Walter Workman

Walter Workman

Walter Workman is an American photographer and photojournalist, based out of Texas. Known for his location photography, he has photographed everything from haute couture fashion in Coco Chanel’s apartment in Paris, raging wildfires in the Idaho wilderness, and extreme sports for Sports Illustrated to dramatic cattle drives in Arizona.

After attending the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Workman lived and worked in New York, Paris,  Athens, Aspen, Sun Valley, and Jackson, Wyoming, before returning to his home state of Texas.

Since returning to Texas, Workman has been documenting cowboys throughout the West, from Mexico to Canada. His work has appeared in many magazines and advertising campaigns around the world. Currently, he is producing a photo book of his cowboy images and producing a documentary film -- interviewing many of the old-time cowboys he has met on his travels these past few years. You can find some of his photo essays on cowboys and feature stories in Western Horseman, America’s Horse, and American Cowboy.