///////////////TEHOLAD-JLR CRSS
//////////////////SIB EQUIV CO FOR DTR
//////////////////ECO NICHE FIT-THINGS LIVE WHERE THEY FIT IN
////////////////////RCM=PAYBACK WTH FOOD
/////////////////////FRM SCI BLOG=Are Animals Autistic Savants:
Do animals have privileged access to lower level sensory information before it is packaged into concepts, as Temple Grandin has argued for autistic savants? Giorgio Vallortigara and colleagues critique this perspective, and Grandin responds.
see also.
Do animals have privileged access to lower level sensory information before it is packaged into concepts, as Temple Grandin has argued for autistic savants? Giorgio Vallortigara and colleagues critique this perspective, and Grandin responds.
see also.
////////////////////OML=ON MR LSS-SINKOS-NAF
////////////////////FRM FRONTAL CORTEX=A Neural Correlate for Social Class
Posted: 19 Feb 2008 08:59 AM CST
Exciting news! I'm the new curator of the Scientific American expert blog seminar Mind Matters. (Thanks, David!) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the site, it features commentary by real scientists on recent scientific papers. This week's blog is by Mauricio Delgado, a neuroscientist at Rutgers, discussing a paper that found a neural correlate for social class.
In recent years, neuroscientific investigations of social class have really expanded, for several reasons. First of all, scientists are increasingly able to detect the fine-grained anatomical differences caused by differences in social status. (The amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and neurogenesis pathways are all likely targets.) Most studies pinpoint the stress of poverty as the driving factor behind these anatomical changes. The second reason is that society in general is becoming more aware of growing social inequality. Here, for instance, is the beginning of Paul Krugman's latest column:
"Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain." That was the opening of an article in Saturday's Financial Times, summarizing research presented last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
As the article explained, neuroscientists have found that "many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development." The effect is to impair language development and memory -- and hence the ability to escape poverty -- for the rest of the child's life.
Posted: 19 Feb 2008 08:59 AM CST
Exciting news! I'm the new curator of the Scientific American expert blog seminar Mind Matters. (Thanks, David!) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the site, it features commentary by real scientists on recent scientific papers. This week's blog is by Mauricio Delgado, a neuroscientist at Rutgers, discussing a paper that found a neural correlate for social class.
In recent years, neuroscientific investigations of social class have really expanded, for several reasons. First of all, scientists are increasingly able to detect the fine-grained anatomical differences caused by differences in social status. (The amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and neurogenesis pathways are all likely targets.) Most studies pinpoint the stress of poverty as the driving factor behind these anatomical changes. The second reason is that society in general is becoming more aware of growing social inequality. Here, for instance, is the beginning of Paul Krugman's latest column:
"Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain." That was the opening of an article in Saturday's Financial Times, summarizing research presented last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
As the article explained, neuroscientists have found that "many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development." The effect is to impair language development and memory -- and hence the ability to escape poverty -- for the rest of the child's life.
////////////////////Too Much Fast Food And Too Little Exercise Harm The Liver (February 18, 2008) -- Too much fast food and too little exercise can harm the liver, reveals a small study in the journal Gut. The findings are based on 18 slim, healthy people (12 men and six women) who took a "fast food challenge" for four weeks, and a comparison group, matched for age and sex, who ate a normal diet. The fast good group restricted their levels of physical activity to not more than 5000 daily steps and ate at least two fast food meals, preferably in well known outlets, every day. ... > full story
///////////////////////FRM SCI DAILY='Genetic Corridors' Are Next Step To Saving Tigers (February 18, 2008) -- The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Foundation announced plans to establish a 5,000 mile-long "genetic corridor" from Bhutan to Burma that would allow tiger populations to roam freely across landscapes. Rabinowitz said corridors did not have to be pristine parkland but could in fact include agricultural areas, ranches, and other multi-use landscapes -- just as long as tigers could use them to travel between wilderness areas. ... > full story
/////////////////////Metabolic Syndrome Linked To Cold Tolerance (February 17, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities such as obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes. More than 100 years ago, scientists noted that humans inhabiting colder regions were bulkier and had relatively shorter arms and legs. In the 1950s, researchers found correlations between colder climates and increased body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat, based on height and weight. Now, in a new study scientists have found a strong correlation between climate and several of the genetic variations that appear to influence the risk of metabolic syndrome, consistent with the idea that these variants played a crucial role in adaptations to the cold. ... > full story
//////////////////////Sleep Apnea Doubles Car Crash Risk, Study Shows (February 20, 2008) -- People with sleep apnea -- a breathing disorder that disrupts sleep -- are at double the risk of being in a car crash, a new study finds. The study also found that patients with sleep apnea are three to five times more likely to be in a serious car crash involving personal injury. ... > full story
/////////////////////Nature Of Consciousness: How Activity Of Single Neurons In Human Brain Reflect Conscious Perception (February 19, 2008) -- Scientists have made a significant step into the understanding of conscious perception, by showing how single neurons in the human brain reacted to certain images. This line of research could lay the foundation for developing a neural prostheses which could read commands directly from the brain and transmit them to bionic devices such as a robotic arm that a patient with limited mobility could control directly from the brain. ... > full story
/////////////////////EVENING AND NIGHT CRAVINGS
//////////////////////........if you are a secure tenant with rent below the mortgage level, you have nothing to lose by waiting. It's clear the massive property rises have 'paused' at the very least, and you have nothing to lose at all by waiting another 12 months or so,
//////////////////...........FRM MSE=negative equity in short is basically where the amount of mortgage you owe, is greater than the value of the property.for example, you buy a 100k property with a 90k mortgage, this gives you 10k of 'equity'a year later, you've paid off 5k on the mortgage, but the house value has dropped to 80kthis means you now have a house worth 80k with a mortgage of 85k and thus 5k of 'negative equity'
///////////////..........“What you are to do tomorrow, do today.What you are to do today, do now.None knows when death will overtake you.”
/////////////////SAMDHAN=CONST PRACTICE OF HOLDING MIND ON GON
///////////////////Increased Life Expectancy May Mean Lower FertilityOne of the benefits of postindustrial life is that it is largely free of the fear of early mortality. However, a curious side-effect of this confidence seems to be a dramatic reduction in birthrates. Writing in the journal Science, Professor Ruth Mace (UCL Anthropology) draws a clear correlation between increased life expectancy and lower fertility in cities.http://www.curingdeath.com/research/Increased_Life_Expectancy_May_Mean_Lower_Fertility.asp
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