In the fifth episode of The Deep End, Jon Nelson describes depression as a no-casserole disease, one that people are often afraid to acknowledge because of the stigma around mental health disorders. This episode lets listeners into the experience of having a disease thats often misunderstood, and why that can be so harmful for people who struggle with depression. Theres a philosophical angle here, too: Where does a persons self come from? And how does the brain fit into that answer?TRANSCRIPTLaura Sanders: This episode deals with mental illness, depression, and suicide. Please listen with care. Previously on The Deep End.Shannon ONeill: And DBS is not going to give you happiness. Its not going to just be a device that turns on happiness 24/7. Its to get you out of the hole and be on solid ground.Jon Nelson: So has the device made me happy? The device has made me disease-free. Thats all that I needed it to do. It has not taken away the typical emotions in life that Im going to have forever, and those are happiness, sadness, anger. Im gonna have those and Im going to have to learn how to live with having those.Sponsor MessageSanders: On the last episode, we heard how Jon had to make room for new emotions once his depression had lifted. On this episode, were going to talk not so much about depression, but about shame, the shame and the judgment of having a mental disorder, and all too often, the shame and the judgment of the treatment people seek. Well explore whether theres something different about changing our brains versus any other part of our bodies. This is The Deep End. Im Laura Sanders.Like many who have struggled with a mental illness, Emily Hollenbeck has plenty of stories of people not quite getting it. She told me about some of these encounters, and one was particularly bad. It was when she was going in for ECT. Thats electroconvulsive therapy, and its when doctors send big doses of electricity into the brain to cause a controlled seizure. She was about to be anesthetized and her usual anesthesiologist wasnt around that day.Emily: One day this new guy came in and Im laying on the table, like, its a very easy procedure. I really look forward to the, you know, the anesthesiologist doing his job, cause then I can just take my nap, you know, wake up later and have my little snack. But he was prepping everything, and he looks at me and goes, Oh, you have a Ph.D. in psychology. I was like Yeah, like, I dont know where this is going. Its 8 a.m. Lets go. Lets get this done. And he just like, his eyes just settled on me goes, Huh, thats ironic.Sanders: Oh my God.Emily: And there was this palpable silence in the room, and I just sort of felt like, no one said anything, and I think its probably one of those moments where everyone was just kind of shocked, like, what are you talking about? Like, why would you say that? But Im thinking like this guy is an anesthesiologist, like, of all the professionals, he should know. And of course in that moment with stigma, I mean, the problem is youre always feeling like youre the one who cant say anything. So what really sticks out about that to me is with ECT oftentimes, you know, your memory is a little blurry. Its a little fuzzy. I remember that moment. It pops up, you know, every now and then and it still, like, hits me in the chest, like, if this doctor at this really renowned hospital is saying this to me, what are other people thinking?Sanders: So there she was, utterly vulnerable and in the hands of a doctor who clearly didnt understand her disease at all. And who was about to give her drugs to make her unconscious.Emily: And I think about, you know, like for the procedure, like, oftentimes they use, you know, they have to use the heavy-hitting anesthesia because they need to knock you out. And I wanted to say something. I remember Im just literally biting my tongue and being like, Were not gonna sass the guy whos injecting the propofol.Sanders: Feeling diminished, judged, and not understood is unfortunately something that happens a lot to people with depression, and other mental illnesses too. The shame this causes can lead people to hide their struggles.Jon: The stigma keeps people silent. And the silence and you staying in your own head and you not being able to express how you feel just gets worse and worse and worse. And the entire goal, like I said, is to, to, is to have you take your own life. And the more you stay silent, the bigger opportunity you have to do that. And I despise it. And I despise the fact that it exists. It is real. The amount of times that I have had people say to me, Snap out of it. What do you, dude, you got, you got a great life. Youre succeeding professionally, you got great kids, your wifes awesome. Like, what, what do you have to be depressed about? What do you have to be depressed for?Sanders: Jon has ways of explaining it that really hit home. He calls depression a no-casserole disease. Cancer? People bring a casserole to your house. Broke a leg? Had a baby? Casserole. Depression? No casserole.Jon: Cancer is horrific. Its horrible. Its awful. Nobody deserves it. Nobody wants it. But if you pass from cancer, youre a warrior. You gave it all you got. People are bringing casseroles over to your house. Five-K races are going in your name, right?Sanders: But with depression its different.Jon: You tell people that you have it, and people will look at you and not say anything. Can you imagine telling somebody you have cancer, and them looking at you not saying anything, right? Awkward. Weird. If you take that exact same situation for severe mental illness, your entire minds getting wrecked. Youre doing it mostly in silence. People arent, arent really involved in helping out because of that. If you, if you are open about it, theres judgment from it. And then if you pass, you take your own life, so your own life, so right there youre stigmatized. Youre stigmatized because of the word suicide. You certainly arent getting life insurance. You have the, the family, Can you believe that their dad took their life, right? Thats what the disease is. The disease laughs at you even after death.Sanders: Jon remembers a friend, a good friend, who finally got it.Jon: With most diseases, Parkinsons, cancer, you dont have to understand what they are. You just know it sucks, right? Like, that sucks you have that, right? For some reason, people need to understand what depression is for them to get it and for them to care about it. But I had a huge insight after surgery. A week later, a friend came over. Hes been very helpful throughout all this, you know, wed meet and walk when I could. We, you know, he was very, you know, hed send me the text and be supportive. And he said, How was it? I said, You have no idea. I was like, Dude, I can do normal things now. I can, you know, which most people wouldnt understand that being able to return your phone call is massive. Being able to walk outside? Massive. And so Im sitting there telling him, its a week later, Im like, Man, I havent had a suicidal thought in a week. And he looked at me, and he was like, Youve had a suicidal thought before? And it was such, like, a mind-opening experience for me, where Im like, this is an empathetic, kind, caring person, and they have no idea the hell that you go through.Sanders: Patient 001 also struggles to get the experience across to people.Patient 001: Ive always explained to people, people dont understand. Depression is not a character flaw. And what I mean by that is anytime you see people kill themselves, people that havent gone through depression, theyre like, Oh, they give up. People dont give up. Theyre in a fire. Theyre in a fire and it doesnt stop. And not only that, not only are they in a fire and it doesnt stop, its almost like youre possessed by a demon, like your brain, what its feeding you is wrong. Its just telling you, Kill yourself. Kill yourself every day, every day, every second.Sanders: There is so much about depression that people who havent had it dont understand, cant understand. But to really pile on, there are even more misconceptions about treatment for depression. Emily remembers telling someone about her upcoming ECT treatments.Emily: I remember I was at a party, and I was telling a friend of a friend, you know, Oh, Im gonna have, start ECT next week. And she goes, How could you do that to yourself? Its like, if you saw the procedure, its one of those boring things. Like, it lasts like 10 minutes and you dont feel anything. But, you know, this woman felt the need to like correct me about my, you know, medical choice.Sanders: The real-world fallout from all those snap judgments are why Im not identifying patient 001 by his name. He works in an intensely intellectual and competitive field, and with a new baby at home, he cant risk losing business over peoples mistaken assumptions. He remembers telling his family he had decided to volunteer for the DBS experiment. They were skeptical at first.Patient 001: When you go to your mom and you explain, Mom, this is what Im considering. And shes like, Are you insane? Youre going to be a guinea pig basically? Youre going to have brain surgery? It sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, right? At first, they were like, What are you doing? This is so desperate. Theres so many other things, you get yada yada yada yada yada. And then its like, Oh, youre back. You were right. You know what I mean? Yeah, so I was like, Im telling you. So thats why I didnt go to my family to sort of get their approval. I went to people that had gone through what I was going through, and its not because your familys bad. Again, thats perspective, its perspective.Sanders: Dont get me wrong. Patient 001 adores his family, but that doesnt mean they fully understood. In a way, their reaction tracks with the bad reputations of other treatments for depression, and mental disorders more generally. Since their rise to prominence in the 1990s, antidepressants have been vilified by critics. Some people say these drugs can steal emotions and change personalities. ECTs reputation is still suffering from the damage done by movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. And even talk therapy can bring shame and secrecy, though much less so today than in the past. So perhaps its not surprising that the idea of electrodes implanted in the brain raises a whole new set of assumptions, of misgivings and judgments. But this made me wonder, Why? Whats the difference between antidepressants, for instance, and DBS? Is there one? Emily has thought about this distinction a lot.Emily: I think if you talk to someone in this day and age, this would be my guess, and you said, oh, Im taking Prozac and Im, Im scared its going to change the core of me. Then we would be like, why? And thinking about that argument with DBS, I could see why that would be potentially like more interesting to someone, or potentially more plausible, but biochemically, if you look at whats happening, and you say, Oh, you know, Prozac is changing me or DBS is changing me, what does that even really mean?People are much more concerned about modifications to brain-based, you know, like brain tissue or brain activity than they would be to the kidney. And obviously that makes sense, because a lot of what we experience comes through our brains, but is that really where our self is? And why are people so sensitive about the self, especially when coming to thinking about invasive treatments versus something like Prozac?Sanders: Ive been wondering the same thing. What sets the brain apart? And why are people so uncomfortable with attempts to change it? Its a part of our body, just like the lungs and the heart and the kidneys, like Emily says. So why do we get squeamish when it comes to our brains?In my reporting, I came across some examples of surprising side effects from DBS. One interesting case study sticks with me, and it highlights how the science here is very far from clear. A Dutch man was being treated for obsessive-compulsive disorder. When his stimulation was on, he developed a brand new and intense love of Johnny Cash hits. Especially Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues, and Sunday Morning Coming Down. Before DBS, his favorites were Dutch language songs and classics by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But when his DBS was on, it was the Man in Black all the way. When his stimulation diminished or when his batteries ran down, the man subconsciously switched back to listening to his old favorites. The anecdote might sound a little bit trivial. This guys new musical taste didnt bother him. Its a very minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but that change, that switch, arguably bores straight to the core of our unease.So many of us consider our brains, and the minds they create, the bedrock of our identity. After all, its where our memories live, our thinking, our personality, our worries, our taste in music. So when a disease attacks the brain or a treatment changes the brain, we get nervous. None of us likes the thought of having a brain implant tell us what music we like, especially if were not even aware of it. The stakes are much, much higher when it comes to how we feel, to our emotions.Reporting this story, I actually heard a lot of jokes about being a cyborg, being Bluetooth enabled, bionic. People would kind of laugh as they said it, but is there anything more to these offhand comments? Does the brain implant change who you are in some fundamental way? Heres what Jon thinks.Jon: I can only tell you that it is, it is the exact opposite of that question. It purely eliminates the disease. It purely eliminates the factors and the issues that come about with the disease. Thats it. It does not, you know, sci-fi wise and movies and skits and all these shows weve seen, you know, it does nothing about that. And, you know, Ive had, whats the word? People have said before, like, Youre the bionic man, like friends of mine, right? Theyve said that and you just, yeah, yeah, totally dude.Sanders: Amanda echoes that sentiment.Amanda: Like I dont feel like its, nothing Ive done has ever changed my who I am or my personality. Im still the same person, just like, suffering more or less. I feel like it lets me be me more, cause Im not fighting with myself to be alive.Sanders: Emily says that who she is, is a choice. Her depression is the thing that took that choice away.Emily: It really altered who I was and of course its like this insidious progress. Its not just, one day you have depression full blown. But I look back and I think about moments of like, you know, one particular disaster, disastrous meeting with the committee, and I want to go back and hug myself, and Im almost upset like that I berated myself so much. But at that moment, thats what my brain was predisposed to. In that moment, in those times, what really felt salient was, I am uniquely and horribly bad. Something is uniquely, horribly wrong with me. And now I dont have that feeling. So which of those is correct? I dont know, but I know which one I like better, like. So I, I dont know, its not a satisfactory answer for your question, but I think what really gets to the heart of it is, I feel like Im untethered, and I have an ability now to focus on the things that I really do care about, and thats where my self lies.Sanders: Shannon ONeill, the psychologist who has worked with Jon and others, has a way to help people think about their identity, about their self, as they learn to live with DBS.ONeill: Do, I do have some thoughts of that, of, of identifying who the self is outside of depression. And I think that those are, those are next steps that we transition to when they have that abstract flexible thinking. One exercise I do is, its called the admirable person exercise. And it says, think about the individual that you absolutely admire in your life, not for fame, wealth, beauty, money, but who they are, as a person. And it can be anyone you want. And usually that person they identify, and the reasons why, really gets to their core values of what they appreciate and what they want to live by with meaning and purpose. And we try to move towards that of how can we have committed action in that version of yourself going forward.Sanders: This way of defining yourself strikes me as particularly meaningful. This is purposeful. This is intentional. Its defining yourself in the way that you choose. These days, Jon says, his self is lighter. Without the poison coursing through his body, Jon feels better, more energized, more present in his life. But as his daily surveys make very clear, hes still a little bit crabby.Jon: So poison was way over here, was 9 out of 10, right, before the disease. After the disease its at 0. I rate mental force field. So what mental force field is, is, Why cant I walk the dog, right? Like why cant I do this? Like, that was at 9 out of 10, 10 out of 10. Thats now out of 1 out of 10, right? Im still a dude, I still have hard times doing certain things, but like, you know, going from a 10 out of 10 to 1 out of 10 is incredible. And then the one thats pretty much remained consistent is irritability. And so irritability for me was at like a 6 or a 7 or an 8. Guess what? Its still at a 6 or a 7 or an 8. And so, like my perspective to them on that is, its not that the surgery didnt work. I guess Im just like a cranky middle-aged dude now, right? Like that just is what it is.Sanders: Barbara is one of best judges of who Jon is now. Is he someone new with DBS?Barbara: I, like, yeah, like you cant say his old self, theres, he never, like, wasnt himself through this whole process. Its always, its just, he is more comfortable and happy and relaxed and productive and present and engaged. So the things that the disease was trying to steal from him, hes getting back.Sanders: So, no, Jon with a brain implant is not a new bionic Jon. Hes just Jon. On the next and final episode, were going to look to the future for Jon and to the future for DBS.Mayberg: This is never where I expected to be. But youre here, so step up. Why wouldnt you step up? This is the experiment of a lifetime, you know? Even if you, if right this second after this call, I had to stop, I wouldnt trade it for one second. But Id sure like to see the last inning. And were all in. Im all in.Sanders: Were considering a bonus episode that addresses your question, comments and thoughts. Please send them to us at podcasts@sciencenews.org. If you or someone you know is facing a suicidal crisis or emotional distress, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. This is the Deep End. Im Laura Sanders. If you liked this podcast, tell your friends or leave us a review. It helps the show a lot. Send us your questions and comments at podcasts@sciencenews.org. The Deep End is a production of Science News. Its based on original reporting by me, Laura Sanders. This episode was produced by Helen Thompson and mixed by Ella Rowen. Our project manager is Ashley Yeager. Nancy Shute is our editor in chief. Our music is by Blue Dot Sessions. The podcast is made possible in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the John S. James L. Knight Foundation, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, with support from PRX.Episode creditsHost, reporter and writer: Laura SandersProducer: Helen ThompsonMixer: Ella RowenSound design: Ella Rowen and Helen ThompsonProject manager: Ashley YeagerShow art: Neil WebbMusic: Blue Dot Sessions,Epidemic SoundSound effects: Epidemic Sound, Mayfield Brain & SpineAdditional audio: Luke GroskinVoice of Patient 001: Nikk Ogasa

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00741-9Mtamu Kililo creates alternative construction materials to confront Kenyas housing crisis.

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00673-4Winners get a cash prize, and will have their image featured in Nature in print and online.

Providing a closer look at the stars, galaxies and nebulas on a budget, these astronomy binoculars are a great first pair to start your stargazing journey.

The common diabetes drug metformin works partly by excreting sugar from the bloodstream into the intestines, where gut bacteria then convert it into chemicals that improve the insulin response.

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EXCLUSIVE: Ashes of Creation Developer Intrepid Lays Off 13 Devs For No Apparent ReasonStarbreeze, Skeleton Key, Striking Distance, PlayStation it seems that after more than two years of non-stop layoffs across the gaming industry, development studios, both large and small, have adopted a new approach of keeping job cuts under wraps for as long as possible.Joining this list is Intrepid Studios, the creators of the upcoming sandbox MMORPG Ashes of Creation, which recently conducted a round of job cuts which, interestingly enough, they refused to acknowledge as "layoffs" but did so in a secretive manner, without any public statement, leaving the community with more questions than answers.For this report, we have gathered both publicly available yet deeply buried information about the company's "non-layoffs," as well as insights from Intrepid employees who, for obvious reasons, chose to remain anonymous.Regarding the former, the eliminations took place sometime in late February and were first mentioned of all places on the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) San Diego Discord channel, with Intrepid's developers confirming that some of their teammates had indeed been let go.Soon after, the studio's Director of Communications, Margaret Krohn, joined the conversation to state that they "did not have layoffs" but rather "parted ways with a few developers because they were not good fits for our project," burying the issue in semantics."A layoff is when you are letting folks go because of economical reasons, and that is not the case for us," Krohn explained, noting that despite the "non-layoffs," Ashes of Creation's development continues as planned, with Intrepid continuing to work on the game and hiring new staff moving forward.Amused and bemused by Krohn's statement, I reached out to a few of the studio's workers to get clarity on what has actually happened at Intrepid.According to what they told me, as well as messages shared on Discord by Intrepid employees, the studio terminated 13 employees, affecting all departments without any specific target.As for why this baker's dozen was fired, it was apparently described to those affected as an "at-will termination," with no reason provided whatsoever, and HRs reportedly going so far as to state that they didn't need to have a reason.From what we've heard, some of the developers impacted by the layoffs had been with the team for a long time and made significant contributions to Ashes of Creation's production, leaving one to wonder what the real reason might have been.According to our sources, despite the cuts, AoC remains largely unaffected, with the same roadmap, timeline, pipeline, and tasks still in place the only difference being that there are now fewer people to handle them.Given that no reason was provided for the layoffs, while everything else remains the same, it's reasonable to speculate that Intrepid may have aimed to cut costs by replacing high-salary veterans with cheaper interns, however, this remains purely an assumption and, at present, cannot be confirmed.So, where does this leave us? If you're a gamer simply awaiting AoC's launch, the situation probably won't impact you much.Both the management, represented by Krohn, and the actual developers insist that the job cuts won't disrupt the pipeline, and given that 13 people out of the studio's 195-strong workforce account for just around 6%, this seems likely to be the case.However, if you're a game developer, or even one of the affected by the layoffs in recent years, this situation marks an unfortunate continuation of not only the layoffs trend and the growing secrecy surrounding them, but also a new level of management behavior masking firings with semantics to save face and proudly claim that they "didn't have layoffs."Fired, laid-off, terminated, eliminated, cut, let go, dismissed, sacked, axed, made redundant however you choose to spin it, the outcome remains the same: people have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and claiming that you didn't have layoffs but merely "parted ways with a few developers" comes across as disingenuous, to put it mildly.

Take a look at the cinema hall area lit up by Unreal Engine 5's MegaLights in RMF's Ragdoll Physics Experiments.Learn more: https://80.lv/articles/experience-cinema-hall-powered-by-unreal-engine-5-5-s-megalights/

Pounce LightThe beloved cozy game Tiny Glade received a new update, which introduces adjustable height of terrain and buildings, enhanced visuals, and more.Some of the changes refer to the games building features. Thus, the maximum terrain height can now be two times bigger, which allows for creating grander and more epic builds. Also, you can now adjust the appearance of terrain chunks by right-clicking on them and change their height and falloff.The buildings also received new features. As the terrain can go higher now, the structures, on the contrary, can become lower. Roofed buildings can now be almost tent-like, as the previous minimum height requirement needed to accommodate wooden gates has been removed. Apart from this, circular structures can now be rotated.Pounce LightThe technical part of the updates concerns the balance between visual performance and graphics quality. The developers added the games own image upscaling, Tiny Glade Super Resolution, or TGSR. With the optimized settings on Steam Deck, Tiny Glade will now feature a better correlation of performance, image clarity, and power use, as it can result in about 50% less GPU power use while maintaining good image quality.The update also includes minor changes and bug fixes, such as adjustable chimney smoke, a new option to hide the glade border, which now looks like a dashed line instead of a solid line, a reworked music system, and more.Check out how players recreated famous locations, including Rivendell, Hogwarts, and more, within the games world:Read the details here anddont forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Tiny Glade Received Update with Adjustable Terrain & Tent-Like Houses appeared first on CG SHARES.

This is a graphic novel idea I am currently pitching.In a utopian future where everything is perfect, our worst enemies come from within our own selves. Somewhere Personal deals with the theme of self-development and mastery.