Ticklin' the keys

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today: A look at how stimulation of the longest nerve in your body might counter cognitive decline; Artemis II sends back spectacular new photos from the far side of the moon; and Maxell brings back the cassette player! 🤩 

Let’s get into it!

The vagus nerve is an anatomical marvel that probably doesn’t get as much love as it should. Think of it like a closed circuit communications network that connects all the most important players, with traffic going back and forth between HQ and all its outposts.

This analogy represents how the brain communicates with vital organs, with neurons firing back and forth to allow the brain to regulate all kinds of activity, from breathing to sleeping, and digesting to…evacuating.

According to Elizabeth Riley, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and psychology lecturer at Cornell University, vagus nerve stimulation might be an effective way to help regulate neural activity in the locus coeruleus—a region of the brain associated with sleep, alertness, focus, learning, and immune function.

It’s also the region where tau tangles begin to form as early as in a person’s 30s, and can start to manifest as memory issues in middle age. Tau tangles form in most people’s locus coeruleus, but for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s, the problem almost always starts in this region of the brain.

Too much activity in this area can lead to panic and even symptoms reminiscent of PTSD. Not enough activity can lead to depression, loss of cognitive function, and impaired sleep quality due to underproduction of norepinephrine.

This field of research is fairly nascent, but Riley says studies continue popping up showing participants at various ages have experienced restorative relief in memory and cognition after various regimens of vagus nerve stimulation therapy. 🤔

In the coming days and weeks, images transmitted from the Orion spacecraft—known to the Artemis II crew as the Integrity—will continue to flow from deep space back to NASA, who will in turn publish them for the whole world to see.

But the other day, as the capsule pierced the threshold of Apollo 13’s record-setting distance marker, the Artemis II crew captured hundreds of images and videos of the moon, unprecedented both in their closeness and clarity.

Among those images transmitted instantly was one that NASA astronaut and mission commander Reid Wiseman took on his iPhone, as the capsule approached its 40-minute flyby of Earth’s closest neighbor.

The image, perfectly suspended in the darkness of the capsule, shows but a glimpse of what the four Artemis II crew members were able to witness with their own two eyes.

“How do you actually take a good moon picture with iPhone?” asked Redditor “xLofty” in a post from 2023. 

Well, Mr. xLofty, it appears you have your answer: fly within 4,100 miles of it, press your phone against the window, tell it to say “cheese,” and take your place in history.

Vinyl has been on a meteoric rise, in a music renaissance that’s revived record store and record player sales everywhere over the last decade. Its new-age success has prompted many to wonder: are cassette players next?

Ask and you shall receive: Maxell has officially brought back the cassette player, updated with modern technology in mind, including Bluetooth and USB-C charging capabilities.

It’s yet to be seen if there’s a functional reason beyond nostalgic curiosity to bring back the medium of choice for music lovers driving their Firebirds to the movies on a Saturday, night at the height of the cassette’s popularity.

Vinyl purists will tell you nothing sounds better than a big ten inch record. It’s hard to make the same case for a cassette, but that’s not stopping millions from testing them out anyways.

Maxell’s Wireless Cassette Player was first released in Japan mid-way through last year, and has just launched in North America. Though it’s wireless, it also contains a headphone jack for wired headphones (another feature enjoying a renaissance, largely thanks to Stranger Things), and the ability to rewind and fast-forward the tape just like you used to back in the day.

Nick Simmons and Evan Stanley got together early last year, seemingly just to mess around with some cover songs that went viral, partly due to who their fathers are, and partly due to how wildly awesome their vocal harmonies sound.

The duo are, of course, the sons of Kiss legends Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, two of the greatest and most important rockstars in the genre’s history. And now their offspring are carrying the torch of the Kiss army, though in a way that has little-to-nothing to do with Kiss.

After releasing their debut single Body Down late last year, and their second single, Dancing While the World is Ending, in March, the duo known as Stanley Simmons is dipping their toes in the water of live performance, announcing four shows in California this May.

"A year ago Stanley Simmons wasn't even the beginning of a thought in either of our heads," they said in December while releasing Body Down. "Now it's pretty much all of them."

It’s unclear if they have plans to add any other dates, nor have they announced when the LP they’ve been working on will come out. But if you’re a fan of second-generation rock ‘n roll, these fellas may just be worth keeping an eye on.

Animal attraction

We’ve got a fun one for you today, Staker! We’re quizzin’ you on all those beloved critters from TV and movies, in today’s trivia.

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift card.

Winner will be notified on Wednesday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder! *