October 2011
6 posts
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Alzheimer's Might Be Transmissible in Similar Way... →
The brain damage that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, according to newly published research.
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Climate Change & Food: 'Act now to diversify crops... →
climateadaptation:
“Farm chiefs have a narrowing chance to diversify vital crops at rising threat from drought, flood and pests brought by climate change, food researchers warned on Monday.
The world’s nearly 7 billion people are massively dependent on a dozen or so crops that, thanks to modern agriculture, are intensively cultivated in a tiny number of strains, they said.
When climate...
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September 2011
6 posts
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For Christians, Dawkins and the Qur'an leave a bad... →
Many studies have shown that moral disgust is “embodied”. Contemplation of taboo deeds really does leave people physically sickened. Now Ryan Ritter and Jesse Preston have extended this literature to show that religious beliefs that contradict one’s own also leave a bad taste in the mouth, literally.
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And this man wants to be the next president. →
Under Gov. Rick Perry (R) this year, Texas slashed state funding for the volunteer fire departments that protect most of the state from wildfires like the ones that have recently destroyed more than 700 homes.
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June 2011
3 posts
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The neuroscience of batman, or how the human brain... →
Over the last few years it’s become apparent that humans, like bats, can make effective use of echolocation by emitting click sounds with the tongue and listening for the echoes that result. Now a team led by Lore Thaler at the University of Western Ontario has conducted the first ever investigation into the neural correlates of this skill.
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If ever there was a good reason to have a child.
ayer-en1965:
ijustloveyoursmile:
This little girl’s mother is from Helsinki, Finland.
While her daughter is soundly asleep, she creates a completely different world … from whatever she can find around her! That’s how both of them became really famous. What a truly fabulous imagination.
Me muerooooooo aahahah que hermosaa *-*
May 2011
8 posts
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Scientists Find Networks Can Get Schizophrenic →
Computer networks may have more human characteristics than we know. Researchers at the university of Texas found that computer networks can show a kind of virtual schizophrenia, if they can’t forget fast enough. The project was based on a virtual computer model designed to simulate the excessive release of dopamine in the human brain. The network was able to learn a natural language was...
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Florida Bill Would Prohibit Doctors From Asking... →
With a stroke of the governor’s pen, Florida is positioned to become the first state in the nation to prohibit physicians from asking patients if they have guns in their homes, a move some doctors say will interfere with health care.
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Price Tags Needed for Gulf of Mexico’s Ecology →
Of all the inadequacies revealed by the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, maybe none is as fundamental as the failure of companies, markets and government to put a price tag on natural assets.
From deep-sea fishing grounds to shallow-water nurseries to hurricane-blunting wetlands, multiple Gulf ecosystems have demonstrable utilitarian and economic value. Yet except for one think tank, nobody ...
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Talk with a dolphin via underwater translation... →
A DIVER carrying a computer that tries to recognise dolphin sounds and generate responses in real time will soon attempt to communicate with wild dolphins off the coast of Florida. If the bid is successful, it will be a big step towards two-way communication between humans and dolphins.
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Unnatural selection: Wily weeds outwit herbicides →
The weedkillers atrazine and simazine were introduced in 1958. Ten years later, a plant nursery in the US that had been regularly using the pesticides reported that they were no longer effective against a plant called common groundsel – the first confirmed case of herbicide resistance.
Half a century on, the number of known strains of resistant weeds stands at 357 and counting. “Herbicide...
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Sitting is Killing You
Via: Medical Billing And Coding
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Psychologists Put "Character" Under the... →
The second part, assuming people are willing to let go of their long-held view, is that character shouldn’t be “taught” using a simple strategy of providing rules and examples. You can’t just tell Johnny to be good, or not to steal and assume that he will know how, or even be able, to do this by willpower alone. Moral education needs to be more skill-based. That is, we would advise parents...
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SlutWalking gets rolling after cop's loose talk... →
When a police officer from Toronto went on a routine visit to Osgoode Hall Law School to advise the students on personal safety, little did he know that he would unwittingly inspire a movement that has caught fire across Canada and the US.
“You know, I think we’re beating around the bush here,” Michael Sanguinetti began, blandly enough, as he addressed the 10 students who...
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April 2011
19 posts
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Self-Restraint Leads Us to Prefer Aggression →
Past studies have shown that exerting self-control may increase irritability and anger. But the new research found that the increased aggression brought on by self-restraint has a much broader effect.
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Back to the Wild to Build Better,... →
A genetic archaeologist of sorts, Cary Fowler works to save the wild species threatened by crop domestication.
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Wherein I struggle with the white savior complex...
I have been working on a DrPH - doctor of public health, the applied version of a doctorate (parallel to a MD instead of a PhD) - in global health practice. I’m a year and a half into it, but as I have a background in psychology, not public health, it’s going to take me longer to get through all the prerequisites. It hasn’t been working out well. I haven’t been able to...
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Dufflebag Medicine →
This was required reading in one of my classes and entirely changed my view of global health. Any person who wants to travel and “do good” with something like handing out vitamins in a low-income community should read this.
Link opens a pdf.
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Texas in Africa: People Who Need People →
If we are to move away from the savior mode into an empowerment paradigm when it comes to assistance to Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, what needs to happen?
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Humanitarian Aid and Education: An Autoethnography... →
The first of several posts on the problems of well-intentioned humanitarian aid and global health…this is a long but articulate description of someone who went through what I am currently undergoing - a realization of the pervasiveness of the White Savior complex among those in global health, understanding the harm that causes, and trying to figure out what the next step is.
I’m...
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People with Tourette Syndrome Show Strong... →
Brain training in the news!
Tourette syndrome. You might think that someone who exhibits the physical and verbal tics of Tourette has less control of hismind than do non-Tourette people.
Well, here’s a surprise. Studies show that children with Tourette actually have greater cognitive control than do their peers. The researchers think that the enhanced control is the effect of spending so much...
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Bananas Could Make Cars Leaner, Greener →
Brazilian scientists have developed a way of using fibers from bananas, pineapples and other plants to create plastic that is stronger and lighter than the petroleum-based stuff. So-called nanocellulose fibers rival Kevlar in strength but are renewable, and the researchers believe they could be widely used within a couple of years.
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Millions of Spiders in Pakistan Encase Entire... →
The unprecedented flooding in Pakistan in the latter half of 2010 disrupted the lives of 20 million people, but it also affected the country’s arachnid population.
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Trickle Down: Is Access to Clean Water a Human... →
In 2010 the U.N. agreed to a resolution declaring the human right to
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Our Big Pig Problem →
For more than 50 years microbiologists have warned against using antibiotics to fatten up farm animals. The practice, they argue, threatens human health by turning farms into breeding grounds of drug-resistant bacteria. Farmers responded that restricting antibiotics in livestock would devastate the industry and significantly raise costs to consumers. We now have empirical data that should...
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Live worm during political TV debates could be a... →
It seems like sports pundits and political commentators are engaged in a private competition to see who can make the most use of the latest graphical wizardry. Whilst the former ‘draw’ in white pen over video stills of matches, a recent political toy is to present a live ‘worm’ during election debates, depicting the fluctuating average emotional ratings recorded by a...
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First North Pole Ozone Hole Forming? →
”Beautiful” clouds and cold temps are destroying protective Arctic ozone—and people as far south as New York could get burned, experts say.
March 2011
3 posts
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Watchbetterworlds:
BBC UK has a story on this, but its headline misses the main point here. People have made 3D images of cells for many years now. The thing that really is a breakthrough here is that the cells are ALIVE, and the resolution is very good.
What you’re seeing in this video is a live, moving, HeLa cell, with all of its cell-surface projections.
Images and more videos are available on...
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February 2011
19 posts
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How to make oatmeal......wrong →
McDonald’s and oatmeal:
Incredibly, the McDonald’s product contains more sugar than a Snickers bar and only 10 fewer calories than a McDonald’s cheeseburger or Egg McMuffin. (Even without the brown sugar it has more calories than a McDonald’s hamburger.)
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Ambidextrous people easier to influence... →
People who are relatively ambivalent about which hand they use may also have moods that are more susceptible to suggestion.
So says Ruth Propper at Montclair State University, New Jersey, and colleagues, who discovered that “inconsistent-handers” – those who favour neither their right nor left hand – are more easily persuaded to feel a certain way than consistent right-handers.
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