"A few hours? mountain climbing turns a rogue and a saint into two
roughly equal creatures. Weariness is the shortest path to equality
and fraternity ? and liberty is finally added by sleep." (Nietzsche)
/////////////////////Watching, Knowing, and Wheezing: Television and Child Health
Watching television in infancy has no apparent effect on short-term cognitive development, but it is associated with childhood asthma, according to two studies.
The first, published in Pediatrics, measured TV viewing in some 900 children from 6 months to 2 years of age. At age 3, the children underwent cognitive testing, and the researchers found TV "neither beneficial nor deleterious" to their performance.
Researchers in the second study, released online by Thorax, examined the viewing habits of some 3100 children at age 3.5 years (none of the children had wheezing then). TV viewing was used as a proxy for sedentary behavior. By follow-up at age 11.5, children who watched more than 2 hours per day were almost twice as likely as those watching 1 to 2 hours to have been diagnosed with asthma.
[Editor's note: Although Thorax has released this article from embargo, it has not posted the article on its website. Rather than delay coverage while awaiting that posting, we have provided a link to Thorax's early-release page, where the article will eventually appear.]
Pediatrics article (Free)
Thorax early-release page (Free)
///////////////Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it."
– William C. Durant
/////////////////Countenance (verb)
Pronunciation: ['kæwn-tê-nêns]
Definition: Tolerate; sanction (positively), put up with, favor.
Usage: It is odd that the verb "countenance" means "tolerate" while the noun means "expression on the face." However, at one time "to keep one's countenance" meant to remain normal or neutral in behavior, not to show any emotional response. So both terms originally referred to the control of behavior (as expressed by the face), then the verb's meaning developed into remaining neutral and from there, by a short hop, to showing toleration or favor. Even the noun "countenance" when used alone implies a positive expression on the face. There is a negative verb, discountenance "to disfavor, not tolerate."
////////////////The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
~Nicolas Chamfort~
////////////////////////IND NOT SHNING
//////////////SASIA RAPIDLY BCOMING TOMALIA
/////////////////
"I can move into calmness and peace simply by being aware of my breath."
////////////////In everyday language, people sometimes say that immoral behaviours "leave a bad taste in your mouth". But this may be more than a metaphor according to new scientific evidence from the University of Toronto that shows a link between moral disgust and more primitive forms of disgust related to poison and disease.
"Morality is often pointed to as the pinnacle of human evolution and development," says lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. "However, disgust is an ancient and rather primitive emotion which played a key evolutionary role in survival. Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought." The research is being published in Science on February 27, 2009.
In the study, the scientists examined facial movements when participants tasted unpleasant liquids and looked at photographs of disgusting objects such as dirty toilets or injuries. They compared these to their facial movements when they were subjected to unfair treatment in a laboratory game. The U of T team found that people make similar facial movements in response to both primitive forms of disgust and moral disgust.
The research employed electromyography, a technique that uses small electrodes placed on the face to detect electrical activation that occurs when the facial muscles contract. In particular, they focused on movement of the levator labii muscle, which acts to raise the upper lip and wrinkle the nose, movements that are thought to be characteristic of the facial expression of disgust.
////////////////////////////////"Confidence is a resolute state of mind by which you believe nothing is impossible." ~ Dr. John Eliot from Overachievement
///////////////////Entropy (noun)
Pronunciation: ['en-trê-pi]
Definition: (1) The measure of energy unavailable for work in a closed system, generally taken to be the degree of systemic disorder; (2) the tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to degenerate and become inert, inactive; (3) the steady deterioration of any system.
Usage: The adjective for today's word is "entropic" and the adverb, "entropically." "Entropy" is a lack of energy while "apathy" is a lack of interest—mental entropy, if you will. Today's word is used mostly by scientists, especially physicists, who assign it very specific meanings. However, its basic sense is a loss of energy which leads to dissipation, degeneration or that state itself.
////////////////It's Square Root Day!
by rvannoorden
Posted on behalf of Roberta Kwok
Pop the champagne, everyone: Today is March 3, 2009 (or 3/3/09), and that means that some math-related partying is in order.
If you're tempted to suppress your inner geek, just remember that Square Root Day only happens nine times a century. The last one was Feb. 2, 2004, and the next one won't be until April 4, 2016.
"These days are like calendar comets," says Ron Gordon, a teacher in Redwood City, California [AP]. "You wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day - and poof - they're gone."
/////////////////The world’s oldest brain
by dcressey
The oldest brain ever found was officially unveiled this week, in the journal PNAS.
Researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility were using X-rays to image the inside of an ancient fish skull fossil when they discovered what they call “a strikingly brain-shaped structure” (press release, research paper - link live soon). They suggest the 300 million year old brain of the iniopterygian fish was mineralised due to microbes.
//////////////PLACK=The world’s oldest brain
by dcressey
The oldest brain ever found was officially unveiled this week, in the journal PNAS.
Researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility were using X-rays to image the inside of an ancient fish skull fossil when they discovered what they call “a strikingly brain-shaped structure” (press release, research paper - link live soon). They suggest the 300 million year old brain of the iniopterygian fish was mineralised due to microbes.
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