This week in SciShow News,  we’re starting with the most  important news, which is the  end of the SciShow Calendar  Feud.

Two months ago,   we launched a selection of calendars. There’s a SciShow calendar   themed around the digits of pi and a moon themed SciShow Space calendar, among  others that you can still buy today.

But to add some stakes to our sales,   SciShow has been in a competition with SciShow   Space to see who sells more calendars–  And of course, SciShow Space  won! So we’re taking over  News this week. Why don’t  you leave this to the pros,  buddy! [♪ INTRO]  If you’d like a little optimistic  news this week, here are  some stories that might  get you moving and shaking.  Up first: Nine people with  severe or complete paralysis are  walking again after electrical  stimulation treatment .

The  study they participated in  was published this week in the  journal Nature and featured a surprising finding. It turns out that some important   neurons involved in regaining the ability to   walk aren’t the same as the ones used to walk before paralysis.  The participants were enrolled  in a clinical trial to test the  effectiveness and safety of epidural electrical stimulation, also known as EES.  This technology involves  surgically implanting a so-called  “paddle” right against the spinal  cord about midway up the back.  Once inserted, the paddle  delivers electrical stimulation  directly to the spine. While case studies of   one or two participants have tested this treatment before, this clinical   trial aimed to show that it can be a good option for   a broad group of people with paralysis looking to regain movement.  Six of the nine trial participants  had some feeling in their  legs, while three had no  sensation or movement in their  legs.

But following the surgery  and initial EES stimulation,  they all regained or improved the ability to walk.  While they did have a sort  of robotic exoskeleton that  helped support their body  weight, this is still pretty  incredible. The participants   then underwent five months of rehab, which involved hours-long sessions with physical  therapists four to five days a week. After five months,   most participants could rely on a walker rather than the robot exoskeleton to walk.  And four of the six participants  with partial paralysis before  the procedure improved their  lower-limb mobility to the  point where they were able to  walk even when there wasn’t  electrical stimulation taking place.

This suggests that EES was actually   building connections in the spinal cord.  So, the researchers measured  activity in the neurons of the  spinal cord to see what was  going on. But to their surprise,  the neurons in the lower lumbar  section of the spine that  are usually involved in walking showed  less activity after EES, not more.  That suggested that EES was  somehow singling out and  activating neurons that are  specifically involved in walking  after injury. To figure out   which neurons were involved, the researchers performed EES on mice with spinal injuries.  The mice also regained the  ability to walk, could also still  walk after EES was turned  off, and also showed less  activity in the lumbar spinal  cord during walking after EES.  With all that in mind, the  researchers developed an atlas of  all the cells in the lumbar  spine of the mice, measuring how  EES changed their molecular make-up.

And they found a specific   type of neuron that wasn’t involved in walking before injury,   but that was essential to walking after it.  Interestingly, these neurons  were important post-injury  regardless of whether EES  was used or not. Mice that  underwent rehab without EES often recovered some  walking ability, but they didn’t  if these particular neurons  were inactivated. While this part of the   work was just in mice, it gives us a decent guess at the neurons that are   involved in human recovery, too.  And it’s exciting to be able  to pinpoint the exact neurons  that are responsible for  something like this, since it may  help us understand what very  specific types of cells are  doing in all kinds of spinal cord injuries.

This study is also the first to show that   EES can help lots of people with incomplete   spinal cord paralysis, even if the nature and extent of their injuries vary.  This opens the door for a lot  of people with spinal cord  injuries to contemplate more  freedom of movement, with or  without assistive devices, in the future. And that calls for a dance party, don’tcha think?  In a study published this  week in the journal Current  Biology, researchers looked  into what makes us dancey.  And they found that super-low  bass frequencies can make  us dance more. To be exact, about 12% more.

Now, while music is often mysterious,   the human tendency to drop it to a good bass   line is not in question. Studies have shown that music with more   low frequency sound makes us want to move.  But it’s not something that’s  really been studied in the wild.  You know, like a crowded  dance floor at an EDM concert.  The researchers behind this study have a performance-space-slash-lab   that’s set up with cool sound equipment so that it can replicate   all kinds of concert environments.  And they obtained informed consent from 62 people attending a concert for the   Canadian techno and EDM duo Orphx there in that space to wear   special headbands that measure movement.  Over the course of the  55-minute set, the researchers  played really low bass frequencies on and off in two-and-a-half minute intervals.  Reports from the concert-goers  and a later study in the lab  suggested that these frequencies  were too low to be heard  at a conscious level. And while  the concert-goers reported  getting a nice tingly feeling  from all the bass, they didn’t  report noticing it more than at any other concert.

But even though the sound wasn’t noticeable, the  researchers noticed that  it made them dance harder.  Because during that time?  Their headbands moved about  12% more. What’s cool   is that this means low sounds make us dancier even when we don’t realize we’re hearing them.  The researchers think it’s  likely that the vestibular system  of our inner ear is picking  up on these frequencies. Which  might lend support to the theory  that our vestibular system  causes us to want to move  to music in the first place.  That’s what the researchers  think, anyway, though this  study doesn’t confirm it.  But in the meantime, the band  thought it was pretty cool!

And it’s kind of awesome   to realize all the amazing things that just a little bit of stimulation   to our nervous systems can do.  Thanks for watching this SciShow News video! Wherever you get your news,   it’s important that the facts are right. And it’s really easy   to accidentally get them wrong by doing things   like misattributing a quote to the wrong person.

That’s what happened   to Sharon Begley, a reporter whose quote   was so powerful that people thought it came from famous astronomer, Carl Sagan.  In honor of accurate reporting  and this incredible quote, we  made a poster with the quote  and its true author’s name.  You can find it at  dftba.com/scishow, where you can also  find other new decorations to  fill your home with science.  And if you’d like more things  on your wall, we have a  pinboard that you could pin  the poster to if you want. But  it’s a pretty cool design of the  solar system, so it’s also just  a great place for pin collections,  like the SciShow Space  pins of the month. Also, we have a new sticker!

Oh! Also, we have a beautiful new sticker!   And who doesn’t love stickers?  And the holidays are coming up.  Check it all out at dftba.com/scishow! And you can still buy the Space calendar.  Or our SciShow pi calendar at   ComplexlyCalendars.com! [♪ OUTRO]