JoVE Monthly Highlights: February 2018

Abstract

Here’s a look at what has been featured in the February 2018 issue of JoVE: The World’s Premier Video Journal. As wearable fitness trackers become more integrated into our daily lives, our authors in JoVE Engineering present a specs-tacular protocol describing glasses that can detect motion in the temporalis muscle while subjects read, exercise, and eat. Using this technique, researchers can get a closer look at ingestive behaviors and physical activity patterns in practical settings. From 3D printed glasses to 3D printed lungs, JoVE Bioengineering showcases a methodology to fabricate optical tissue phantoms. These tissue-mimicking optical phantoms provide a standard to evaluate and calibrate optical systems - circumventing expensive animal studies. This technique is highly adaptable and allows scientists to create phantoms of any structure that can be made with a 3D printer. Moving over to JoVE Behavior, our authors describe a novel model of contagious depression in animals. While some studies have investigated social contagion of psychiatric illnesses, the phenomenon is not fully recognized. Using this technique, our authors successfully induced depression-like symptoms in naive rats exposed to depressed rats. Finally, over in JoVE Chemistry, our authors added a splash of color to this month’s issue with a simple chemical spot test to identify an emerging class of drugs. Using only three reagents and a hotplate, our authors confirmed the presence of synthetic cathenones with a color change from light blue to yellow-orange. With further development, this technique could be utilized for law enforcement in both laboratory and field testing settings. You’ve just had a snapshot of the February 2018 issue of JoVE. Visit our website to see the full-length articles, plus many more, in JoVE: The World’s Premier Video Journal.