Saturday, 20 September 2008
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
ALCHL
Why Loud Music in Bars Increases Alcohol Consumption
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 05:09 AM CDT
When the music goes up, the beers go down.
At some point during the evening, in bars across the land, two things happens: the lights go down and the music goes up.
Lowering the lights signals the real beginning of night-time fun: with dimmed lights and alcohol beginning to work its magic the business of loosening up after the day's exertions can truly begin.
But turning the music up so loud that people are forced to shout at each other doesn't have quite the same beneficial effect on social interactions. Because everyone is shouting, the bar becomes even noisier and soon people start to give up trying to communicate and focus on their drinking, meaning more trips to the bar, and more regrets in the morning.
//////////////
Is It Wall Or Wail Or Fall Street? Banks Might Have The Answer
//////////////sciam=Was the Dinosaurs' Long Reign on Earth a Fluke?
Dinosaurs stomped all over the planet for millions of years. Now some researchers think it was more a matter of luck than vigor
By Susannah F. Locke
Email this Article Print this Article Text Size Graphic Decrease font Enlarge font
Share
Reddit Review it on NewsTrust
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ShareThis
crurotarsans dinosaurs
REMNANTS OF LOST SPECIES: The crurotarsans lived a parallel existence to dinosaurs, but did not last as long as the mighty dinos.
Image courtesy of Stephen Brusatte, Columbia University
Dinosaurs' long reign on Earth may have had more to do with lady luck than with superiority, according to a study published today in Science. The study challenges the old notion that dinosaurs out-competed their reptilian contemporaries.
It is a longstanding mystery why dinosaurs became and remained so plentiful for more than 180 million years. The traditional theory: dinosaurs suddenly replaced other land animals because of special traits that gave them an evolutionary advantage, such as being warm-blooded, nimble and able to occupy varied habitats. This new research presents a fresh mathematical analysis of previous fossil data that indicates that ancestors of modern-day crocodiles had as diverse body types as early dinos, with whom they co-existed for some 30 million years.
Although the data doesn't directly contradict the idea of dinosaur superiority, the authors say it is likely that these crocodilians were even more successful than dinosaurs, the latter of which may have survived major extinctions due to sheer luck.
"If you dissect the past, you can see that luck is a big part of everything in the grand scheme of evolution," says lead author Stephen Brusatte, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History.
The idea that dinosaurs lived at the same time as similar reptile species is nothing new. And data from the past few years has many paleontologists rethinking whether dinosaurs were really so special after all. The fossil record shows that dinos lived alongside comparable groups of reptiles for millions of years without overtaking them.
For example, the early dinosaurs were contemporaries of crurotarsans, croc ancestors, during the late Triassic period about 230 to 200 million years ago. This reptilian group ranged from quick predators to two-legged vegetarians to leisurely grazers. Then, as the Triassic turned into the Jurassic, the creatures roaming the planet changed drastically. Most crurotarsans disappeared from the fossil record. But many dinosaurs survived—and flourished, diversifying into meat-eating giants, armored warriors and winged aviators.
Brusatte and researchers from the University of Bristol in England expanded this research by analyzing the existing fossil record to show crurotarsans may have even been more successful than dinos. First, the team constructed a new family tree to separate the dinosaurs from the croc ancestors. They then assembled a database of 65 dinosaur and crurotarsan species that included over 400 skeletal features, such as whether they had beaks or shorter arms than legs.
If dinosaurs were more fit for the environment, they should have had a higher rate of evolution and more diverse body types. Instead the researchers found that the two groups evolved at similar rates and that the crurotarsans had a wider range of body types, suggesting that they had actually adapted to more lifestyles and ecological niches.
The authors argue that because dinosaurs and crurotarsans were living parallel lives together for so long, it is unlikely the dinosaurs necessarily ruled. If you could travel back to the Triassic, Brusatte says, you would have guessed that the crocodilians would have won out. "There's no way you could argue that dinosaurs were superior to them," he says. Instead, he thinks an extinction event at the beginning of the Jurassic some 205 million years ago—like runaway global warming or an asteroid crash—may have just been bad luck for the crurotarsans.
Many paleontologists consider these findings a major step in dinosaur science. "It's really refreshing," says Kristi Curry-Rogers, a dinosaur paleontologist at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn. "It definitely challenges the standard story of dinosaur evolution…. In the world of dinosaurs, we see a lot that portrays them in ways that science doesn't really follow."
But not all experts agree. "I think that the conclusions of the authors aren't warranted," says Kevin Padian, a dinosaur paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley. "Good luck isn't an evolutionary force…. Extinctions aren't random." He believes that dinosaurs are different enough from crurotarsans that they may have had a competitive edge.
Whether dinosaurs rose to fame from fitness or a roll of the dice should become clearer as paleontologists discover more fossils to fill in the sparse record of dinosaurs' early history and elucidate what caused the extinctions at the end of the Triassic. Rogers says that Brusatte's analysis will probably challenge people to support their claims of dinosaur superiority with stronger evidence. "It gives people something to shoot at that is based on data," she says, "and not just assumption."
////////////////sciam=Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of the Human Mind
Subtle refinements in brain architecture, rather than large-scale alterations, make us smarter than other animals
By Ursula Dicke and Gerard Roth
As far as we know, no dog can compose music, no dolphin can speak in rhymes, and no parrot can solve equations with two unknowns. Only humans can perform such intellectual feats, presumably because we are smarter than all other animal species—at least by our own definition of intelligence.
Of course, intelligence must emerge from the workings of the three-pound mass of wetware packed inside our skulls. Thus, researchers have tried to identify unique features of the human brain that could account for our superior intellectual abilities. But, anatomically, the human brain is very similar to that of other primates because humans and chimpanzees share an ancestor that walked the earth less than seven million years ago.
Accordingly, the human brain contains no highly conspicuous characteristics that might account for the species’ cleverness. For instance, scientists have failed to find a correlation between absolute or relative brain size and acumen among humans and other animal species. Neither have they been able to discern a parallel between wits and the size or existence of specific regions of the brain, excepting perhaps Broca’s area, which governs speech in people. The lack of an obvious structural correlate to human intellect jibes with the idea that our intelligence may not be wholly unique: studies are revealing that chimps, among various other species, possess a diversity of humanlike social and cognitive skills.
Nevertheless, researchers have found some microscopic clues to humanity’s aptitude. We have more neurons in our brain’s cerebral cortex (its outermost layer) than other mammals do. The insulation around nerves in the human brain is also thicker than that of other species, enabling the nerves to conduct signals more rapidly. Such biological subtleties, along with behavioral ones, suggest that human intelligence is best likened to an upgrade of the cognitive capacities of nonhuman primates rather than an exceptionally advanced form of cognition.
Smart Species
Because animals cannot read or speak, their aptitude is difficult to discern, much less measure. Thus, comparative psychologists have invented behavior-based tests to assess birds’ and mammals’ abilities to learn and remember, to comprehend numbers and to solve practical problems. Animals of various stripes—but especially nonhuman primates—often earn high marks on such action-oriented IQ tests. During World War I, German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler, for example, showed that chimpanzees, when confronted with fruit hanging from a high ceiling, devised an ingenious way to get it: they stacked boxes to stand on to reach the fruit. They also constructed long sticks to reach food outside their enclosure. Researchers now know that great apes have a sophisticated understanding of tool use and construction.
Psychologists have used such behavioral tests to illuminate similar cognitive feats in other mammals as well as in birds. Pigeons can discriminate between male and female faces and among paintings by different artists; they can also group pictures into categories such as trees, selecting those belonging to a category by pecking with their beaks, an action that often brings a food reward. Crows have intellectual capacities that are overturning conventional wisdom about the brain.
Behavioral ecologists, on the other hand, prefer to judge animals on their street smarts—that is, their ability to solve problems relevant to survival in their natural habitats—rather than on their test-taking talents. In this view, intelligence is a cluster of capabilities that evolved in response to particular environments. Some scientists have further proposed that mental or behavioral flexibility, the ability to come up with novel solutions to problems, is another good measure of animal intellect. Among birds, green herons occasionally throw an object in the water to lure curious fish—a trick that, ornithologists have observed, has been reinvented by groups of these animals living in distant locales. Even fish display remarkable practical intelligence, such as the use of tools, in the wild. Cichlid fish, for instance, use leaves as “baby carriages” for their egg masses.
Animals also can display humanlike social intelligence. Monkeys engage in deception, for example; dolphins have been known to care for another injured pod member (displaying empathy), and a whale or porpoise may recognize itself in the mirror. Even some fish exhibit subtle kinds of social skills. Behavioral ecologist Redouan Bshary of the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland and his colleagues described one such case in a 2006 paper. Bony fish such as the so-called cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) cooperate and remove parasites from the skin of other fish or feed on their mucus. Bshary’s team found that bystander fish spent more time next to cleaners the bystanders had observed being cooperative than to other fish. Humans, the authors note, tend to notice altruistic behavior and are more willing to help do-gooders whom they have observed doing favors for others. Similarly, cleaner wrasses observe and evaluate the behavior of other finned ocean denizens and are more willing to help fish that they have seen assisting third parties.
From such studies, scientists have constructed evolutionary hierarchies of intelligence. Primates and cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are considered the smartest mammals. Among primates, humans and apes are considered cleverer than monkeys, and monkeys more so than prosimians. Of the apes, chimpanzees and bonobos rank above gibbons, orangutans and gorillas. Dolphins and sperm whales are supposedly smarter than nonpredatory baleen whales such as blue whales. Among birds, scientists consider parrots, owls and corvids (crows and ravens) the brightest. Such a pecking order argues against the idea that intelligence evolved along a single path, culminating in human acumen. Instead intellect seems to have emerged independently in birds and mammals and also in cetaceans and primates.
Heavy Thoughts?
What about the brain might underlie these parallel paths to astuteness? One candidate is absolute brain size. Although many studies have linked brain mass with variations in human intelligence [see “High-Aptitude Minds,” by Christian Hoppe and Jelena Stojanovic], size does not always correlate with smarts in different species. For example, clever small animals such as parrots, ravens, rats and relatively diminutive apes have brains of modest proportions, whereas some large animals such as horses and cows with large brains are comparatively dim-witted. Brain bulk cannot account for human intelligence either: At eight to nine kilograms, sperm and killer whale brains far outweigh the 1.4 kilograms of neural tissue inside our heads. As heavy as five kilograms, elephant brains are also much chunkier than ours.
Relative brain size—the ratio of brain to body mass—does not provide a satisfying explanation for interspecies differences in smarts either. Humans do compare favorably with many medium and large species: our brain makes up approximately 2 percent of our body weight, whereas the blue whale’s brain, for instance, is less than one 100th of a percent of its weight. But some tiny, not terribly bright animals such as shrews and squirrels win out in this measure. In general, small animals boast relatively large brains, and large animals harbor relatively small ones. Although absolute brain mass increases with body weight, brain mass as a proportion of body mass tends to decrease with rising body weight.
Another cerebral yardstick that scientists have tried to tie to intelligence is the degree of encephalization, measured by the encephalization quotient (EQ). The EQ expresses the extent to which a species’ relative brain weight deviates from the average in its animal class, say, mammal, bird or amphibian. Here the human brain tops the list: it is seven to eight times larger than would be expected for a mammal of its weight. But EQ does not parallel intellect perfectly either: gibbons and some capuchin monkeys have higher EQs than the more intelligent chimpanzees do, and even a few prosimians—the earliest evolved primates alive today—have higher EQs than gorillas do.
Or perhaps the size of the brain’s outermost layer, the cerebral cortex—the seat of many of our cognitive capacities—is the key. But it turns out that the dimensions of the cerebral cortex depend on those of the entire brain and that the size of the cortex constitutes no better arbiter of a superior mind. The same is true for the prefrontal cortex, the hub of reason and action planning. Although some brain researchers have claimed in the past that the human prefrontal cortex is exceptionally large, recent studies have shown that it is not. The size of this structure in humans is comparable to its size in other primates and may even be relatively small as compared with its counterpart in elephants and cetaceans.
The lack of a large-scale measure of the human brain that could explain our performance may reflect the idea that human intellect may not be totally inimitable. Apes, after all, understand cause and effect, make and use tools, produce and comprehend language, and lie to and imitate others. These primates may even possess a theory of mind—the ability to understand another animal’s mental state and use it to guide their own behavior. Whales, dolphins and even some birds boast some of these mental talents as well. Thus, adult humans may simply be more intuitive and facile with tools and language than other species are, as opposed to possessing unique cognitive skills.
Networking
Fittingly, researchers have found the best correlates for intelligence by looking at a much smaller scale. Brains consist of nerve cells, or neurons, and supporting cells called glia. The more neurons, the more extensive and more productive the neuronal networks can be—and those networks determine varied brain functions, including perception, memory, planning and thinking. Large brains do not automatically have more neurons; in fact, neuronal density generally decreases with increasing brain size because of the additional glial cells and blood vessels needed to support a big brain.
Humans have 11.5 billion cortical neurons—more than any other mammal, because of the human brain’s high neuronal density. Humans have only about half a billion more cortical neurons than whales and elephants do, however—not enough to account for the significant cognitive differences between humans and these species. In addition, however, a brain’s information-processing capacity depends on how fast its nerves conduct electrical impulses. The most rapidly conducting nerves are swathed in sheaths of insulation called myelin. The thicker a nerve’s myelin sheath, the faster the neural impulses travel along that nerve. The myelinated nerves in the brains of whales and elephants are demonstrably thinner than they are in primates, suggesting that information travels faster in the human brain than it does in the brains of nonprimates.
What is more, neuronal messages must travel longer distances in the relatively large brains of elephants and whales than they do in the more compact human brain. The resulting boost in information-processing speed may at least partly explain the disparity in aptitude between humans and other big-brained creatures.
Among humans’ cerebral advantages, language may be the most obvious. Various animals can convey complex messages to other members of their species; they can communicate about objects that are not in sight and relay information about individuals and events. Chimpanzees, gorillas, dolphins and parrots can even understand and use human speech, gestures or symbols in constructions of up to about three words. But even after years of training, none of these creatures develops verbal skills more advanced than those of a three-year-old child.
In humans, grammar and vocabulary all but explode at age three. This timing corresponds with the development of Broca’s speech area in the left frontal lobe, which may be unique to humans. That is, scientists are unsure whether a direct precursor to this speech region exists in the nonhuman primate brain. The absence of an intricately wired language region in the brains of other species may explain why, of all animals, humans alone have a language that contains complex grammar. Researchers date the development of human grammar and syntax to between 80,000 and 100,000 years ago, which makes it a relatively recent evolutionary advance. It was also one that probably greatly enhanced human intellect.
Editor's Note: This story was originally printed with the title "Intelligence Evolved"
/////////////////Mother's Stress Linked To Her Child Becoming Overweight (September 15, 2008) -- A mother's stress may contribute to her young children being overweight in low income households with sufficient food, according to a new Iowa State University study published in the September issue of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. ... > full story
//////////////////////Cold And Lonely: Does Social Exclusion Literally Feel Cold? (September 15, 2008) -- There are numerous examples in our daily language of metaphors which make a connection between cold temperatures and emotions such as loneliness, despair and sadness. We are taught at a young age that metaphors ajavascript:void(0)re meant to be descriptive and are not supposed to be taken literally. However, recent studies suggest that these metaphors are more than just fancy literary devices and that there is a psychological basis for linking cold with feelings of social isolation. ... > full story
//////////////////
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 05:09 AM CDT
When the music goes up, the beers go down.
At some point during the evening, in bars across the land, two things happens: the lights go down and the music goes up.
Lowering the lights signals the real beginning of night-time fun: with dimmed lights and alcohol beginning to work its magic the business of loosening up after the day's exertions can truly begin.
But turning the music up so loud that people are forced to shout at each other doesn't have quite the same beneficial effect on social interactions. Because everyone is shouting, the bar becomes even noisier and soon people start to give up trying to communicate and focus on their drinking, meaning more trips to the bar, and more regrets in the morning.
//////////////
Is It Wall Or Wail Or Fall Street? Banks Might Have The Answer
//////////////sciam=Was the Dinosaurs' Long Reign on Earth a Fluke?
Dinosaurs stomped all over the planet for millions of years. Now some researchers think it was more a matter of luck than vigor
By Susannah F. Locke
Email this Article Print this Article Text Size Graphic Decrease font Enlarge font
Share
Reddit Review it on NewsTrust
Fark
ShareThis
crurotarsans dinosaurs
REMNANTS OF LOST SPECIES: The crurotarsans lived a parallel existence to dinosaurs, but did not last as long as the mighty dinos.
Image courtesy of Stephen Brusatte, Columbia University
Dinosaurs' long reign on Earth may have had more to do with lady luck than with superiority, according to a study published today in Science. The study challenges the old notion that dinosaurs out-competed their reptilian contemporaries.
It is a longstanding mystery why dinosaurs became and remained so plentiful for more than 180 million years. The traditional theory: dinosaurs suddenly replaced other land animals because of special traits that gave them an evolutionary advantage, such as being warm-blooded, nimble and able to occupy varied habitats. This new research presents a fresh mathematical analysis of previous fossil data that indicates that ancestors of modern-day crocodiles had as diverse body types as early dinos, with whom they co-existed for some 30 million years.
Although the data doesn't directly contradict the idea of dinosaur superiority, the authors say it is likely that these crocodilians were even more successful than dinosaurs, the latter of which may have survived major extinctions due to sheer luck.
"If you dissect the past, you can see that luck is a big part of everything in the grand scheme of evolution," says lead author Stephen Brusatte, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History.
The idea that dinosaurs lived at the same time as similar reptile species is nothing new. And data from the past few years has many paleontologists rethinking whether dinosaurs were really so special after all. The fossil record shows that dinos lived alongside comparable groups of reptiles for millions of years without overtaking them.
For example, the early dinosaurs were contemporaries of crurotarsans, croc ancestors, during the late Triassic period about 230 to 200 million years ago. This reptilian group ranged from quick predators to two-legged vegetarians to leisurely grazers. Then, as the Triassic turned into the Jurassic, the creatures roaming the planet changed drastically. Most crurotarsans disappeared from the fossil record. But many dinosaurs survived—and flourished, diversifying into meat-eating giants, armored warriors and winged aviators.
Brusatte and researchers from the University of Bristol in England expanded this research by analyzing the existing fossil record to show crurotarsans may have even been more successful than dinos. First, the team constructed a new family tree to separate the dinosaurs from the croc ancestors. They then assembled a database of 65 dinosaur and crurotarsan species that included over 400 skeletal features, such as whether they had beaks or shorter arms than legs.
If dinosaurs were more fit for the environment, they should have had a higher rate of evolution and more diverse body types. Instead the researchers found that the two groups evolved at similar rates and that the crurotarsans had a wider range of body types, suggesting that they had actually adapted to more lifestyles and ecological niches.
The authors argue that because dinosaurs and crurotarsans were living parallel lives together for so long, it is unlikely the dinosaurs necessarily ruled. If you could travel back to the Triassic, Brusatte says, you would have guessed that the crocodilians would have won out. "There's no way you could argue that dinosaurs were superior to them," he says. Instead, he thinks an extinction event at the beginning of the Jurassic some 205 million years ago—like runaway global warming or an asteroid crash—may have just been bad luck for the crurotarsans.
Many paleontologists consider these findings a major step in dinosaur science. "It's really refreshing," says Kristi Curry-Rogers, a dinosaur paleontologist at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn. "It definitely challenges the standard story of dinosaur evolution…. In the world of dinosaurs, we see a lot that portrays them in ways that science doesn't really follow."
But not all experts agree. "I think that the conclusions of the authors aren't warranted," says Kevin Padian, a dinosaur paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley. "Good luck isn't an evolutionary force…. Extinctions aren't random." He believes that dinosaurs are different enough from crurotarsans that they may have had a competitive edge.
Whether dinosaurs rose to fame from fitness or a roll of the dice should become clearer as paleontologists discover more fossils to fill in the sparse record of dinosaurs' early history and elucidate what caused the extinctions at the end of the Triassic. Rogers says that Brusatte's analysis will probably challenge people to support their claims of dinosaur superiority with stronger evidence. "It gives people something to shoot at that is based on data," she says, "and not just assumption."
////////////////sciam=Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of the Human Mind
Subtle refinements in brain architecture, rather than large-scale alterations, make us smarter than other animals
By Ursula Dicke and Gerard Roth
As far as we know, no dog can compose music, no dolphin can speak in rhymes, and no parrot can solve equations with two unknowns. Only humans can perform such intellectual feats, presumably because we are smarter than all other animal species—at least by our own definition of intelligence.
Of course, intelligence must emerge from the workings of the three-pound mass of wetware packed inside our skulls. Thus, researchers have tried to identify unique features of the human brain that could account for our superior intellectual abilities. But, anatomically, the human brain is very similar to that of other primates because humans and chimpanzees share an ancestor that walked the earth less than seven million years ago.
Accordingly, the human brain contains no highly conspicuous characteristics that might account for the species’ cleverness. For instance, scientists have failed to find a correlation between absolute or relative brain size and acumen among humans and other animal species. Neither have they been able to discern a parallel between wits and the size or existence of specific regions of the brain, excepting perhaps Broca’s area, which governs speech in people. The lack of an obvious structural correlate to human intellect jibes with the idea that our intelligence may not be wholly unique: studies are revealing that chimps, among various other species, possess a diversity of humanlike social and cognitive skills.
Nevertheless, researchers have found some microscopic clues to humanity’s aptitude. We have more neurons in our brain’s cerebral cortex (its outermost layer) than other mammals do. The insulation around nerves in the human brain is also thicker than that of other species, enabling the nerves to conduct signals more rapidly. Such biological subtleties, along with behavioral ones, suggest that human intelligence is best likened to an upgrade of the cognitive capacities of nonhuman primates rather than an exceptionally advanced form of cognition.
Smart Species
Because animals cannot read or speak, their aptitude is difficult to discern, much less measure. Thus, comparative psychologists have invented behavior-based tests to assess birds’ and mammals’ abilities to learn and remember, to comprehend numbers and to solve practical problems. Animals of various stripes—but especially nonhuman primates—often earn high marks on such action-oriented IQ tests. During World War I, German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler, for example, showed that chimpanzees, when confronted with fruit hanging from a high ceiling, devised an ingenious way to get it: they stacked boxes to stand on to reach the fruit. They also constructed long sticks to reach food outside their enclosure. Researchers now know that great apes have a sophisticated understanding of tool use and construction.
Psychologists have used such behavioral tests to illuminate similar cognitive feats in other mammals as well as in birds. Pigeons can discriminate between male and female faces and among paintings by different artists; they can also group pictures into categories such as trees, selecting those belonging to a category by pecking with their beaks, an action that often brings a food reward. Crows have intellectual capacities that are overturning conventional wisdom about the brain.
Behavioral ecologists, on the other hand, prefer to judge animals on their street smarts—that is, their ability to solve problems relevant to survival in their natural habitats—rather than on their test-taking talents. In this view, intelligence is a cluster of capabilities that evolved in response to particular environments. Some scientists have further proposed that mental or behavioral flexibility, the ability to come up with novel solutions to problems, is another good measure of animal intellect. Among birds, green herons occasionally throw an object in the water to lure curious fish—a trick that, ornithologists have observed, has been reinvented by groups of these animals living in distant locales. Even fish display remarkable practical intelligence, such as the use of tools, in the wild. Cichlid fish, for instance, use leaves as “baby carriages” for their egg masses.
Animals also can display humanlike social intelligence. Monkeys engage in deception, for example; dolphins have been known to care for another injured pod member (displaying empathy), and a whale or porpoise may recognize itself in the mirror. Even some fish exhibit subtle kinds of social skills. Behavioral ecologist Redouan Bshary of the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland and his colleagues described one such case in a 2006 paper. Bony fish such as the so-called cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) cooperate and remove parasites from the skin of other fish or feed on their mucus. Bshary’s team found that bystander fish spent more time next to cleaners the bystanders had observed being cooperative than to other fish. Humans, the authors note, tend to notice altruistic behavior and are more willing to help do-gooders whom they have observed doing favors for others. Similarly, cleaner wrasses observe and evaluate the behavior of other finned ocean denizens and are more willing to help fish that they have seen assisting third parties.
From such studies, scientists have constructed evolutionary hierarchies of intelligence. Primates and cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are considered the smartest mammals. Among primates, humans and apes are considered cleverer than monkeys, and monkeys more so than prosimians. Of the apes, chimpanzees and bonobos rank above gibbons, orangutans and gorillas. Dolphins and sperm whales are supposedly smarter than nonpredatory baleen whales such as blue whales. Among birds, scientists consider parrots, owls and corvids (crows and ravens) the brightest. Such a pecking order argues against the idea that intelligence evolved along a single path, culminating in human acumen. Instead intellect seems to have emerged independently in birds and mammals and also in cetaceans and primates.
Heavy Thoughts?
What about the brain might underlie these parallel paths to astuteness? One candidate is absolute brain size. Although many studies have linked brain mass with variations in human intelligence [see “High-Aptitude Minds,” by Christian Hoppe and Jelena Stojanovic], size does not always correlate with smarts in different species. For example, clever small animals such as parrots, ravens, rats and relatively diminutive apes have brains of modest proportions, whereas some large animals such as horses and cows with large brains are comparatively dim-witted. Brain bulk cannot account for human intelligence either: At eight to nine kilograms, sperm and killer whale brains far outweigh the 1.4 kilograms of neural tissue inside our heads. As heavy as five kilograms, elephant brains are also much chunkier than ours.
Relative brain size—the ratio of brain to body mass—does not provide a satisfying explanation for interspecies differences in smarts either. Humans do compare favorably with many medium and large species: our brain makes up approximately 2 percent of our body weight, whereas the blue whale’s brain, for instance, is less than one 100th of a percent of its weight. But some tiny, not terribly bright animals such as shrews and squirrels win out in this measure. In general, small animals boast relatively large brains, and large animals harbor relatively small ones. Although absolute brain mass increases with body weight, brain mass as a proportion of body mass tends to decrease with rising body weight.
Another cerebral yardstick that scientists have tried to tie to intelligence is the degree of encephalization, measured by the encephalization quotient (EQ). The EQ expresses the extent to which a species’ relative brain weight deviates from the average in its animal class, say, mammal, bird or amphibian. Here the human brain tops the list: it is seven to eight times larger than would be expected for a mammal of its weight. But EQ does not parallel intellect perfectly either: gibbons and some capuchin monkeys have higher EQs than the more intelligent chimpanzees do, and even a few prosimians—the earliest evolved primates alive today—have higher EQs than gorillas do.
Or perhaps the size of the brain’s outermost layer, the cerebral cortex—the seat of many of our cognitive capacities—is the key. But it turns out that the dimensions of the cerebral cortex depend on those of the entire brain and that the size of the cortex constitutes no better arbiter of a superior mind. The same is true for the prefrontal cortex, the hub of reason and action planning. Although some brain researchers have claimed in the past that the human prefrontal cortex is exceptionally large, recent studies have shown that it is not. The size of this structure in humans is comparable to its size in other primates and may even be relatively small as compared with its counterpart in elephants and cetaceans.
The lack of a large-scale measure of the human brain that could explain our performance may reflect the idea that human intellect may not be totally inimitable. Apes, after all, understand cause and effect, make and use tools, produce and comprehend language, and lie to and imitate others. These primates may even possess a theory of mind—the ability to understand another animal’s mental state and use it to guide their own behavior. Whales, dolphins and even some birds boast some of these mental talents as well. Thus, adult humans may simply be more intuitive and facile with tools and language than other species are, as opposed to possessing unique cognitive skills.
Networking
Fittingly, researchers have found the best correlates for intelligence by looking at a much smaller scale. Brains consist of nerve cells, or neurons, and supporting cells called glia. The more neurons, the more extensive and more productive the neuronal networks can be—and those networks determine varied brain functions, including perception, memory, planning and thinking. Large brains do not automatically have more neurons; in fact, neuronal density generally decreases with increasing brain size because of the additional glial cells and blood vessels needed to support a big brain.
Humans have 11.5 billion cortical neurons—more than any other mammal, because of the human brain’s high neuronal density. Humans have only about half a billion more cortical neurons than whales and elephants do, however—not enough to account for the significant cognitive differences between humans and these species. In addition, however, a brain’s information-processing capacity depends on how fast its nerves conduct electrical impulses. The most rapidly conducting nerves are swathed in sheaths of insulation called myelin. The thicker a nerve’s myelin sheath, the faster the neural impulses travel along that nerve. The myelinated nerves in the brains of whales and elephants are demonstrably thinner than they are in primates, suggesting that information travels faster in the human brain than it does in the brains of nonprimates.
What is more, neuronal messages must travel longer distances in the relatively large brains of elephants and whales than they do in the more compact human brain. The resulting boost in information-processing speed may at least partly explain the disparity in aptitude between humans and other big-brained creatures.
Among humans’ cerebral advantages, language may be the most obvious. Various animals can convey complex messages to other members of their species; they can communicate about objects that are not in sight and relay information about individuals and events. Chimpanzees, gorillas, dolphins and parrots can even understand and use human speech, gestures or symbols in constructions of up to about three words. But even after years of training, none of these creatures develops verbal skills more advanced than those of a three-year-old child.
In humans, grammar and vocabulary all but explode at age three. This timing corresponds with the development of Broca’s speech area in the left frontal lobe, which may be unique to humans. That is, scientists are unsure whether a direct precursor to this speech region exists in the nonhuman primate brain. The absence of an intricately wired language region in the brains of other species may explain why, of all animals, humans alone have a language that contains complex grammar. Researchers date the development of human grammar and syntax to between 80,000 and 100,000 years ago, which makes it a relatively recent evolutionary advance. It was also one that probably greatly enhanced human intellect.
Editor's Note: This story was originally printed with the title "Intelligence Evolved"
/////////////////Mother's Stress Linked To Her Child Becoming Overweight (September 15, 2008) -- A mother's stress may contribute to her young children being overweight in low income households with sufficient food, according to a new Iowa State University study published in the September issue of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. ... > full story
//////////////////////Cold And Lonely: Does Social Exclusion Literally Feel Cold? (September 15, 2008) -- There are numerous examples in our daily language of metaphors which make a connection between cold temperatures and emotions such as loneliness, despair and sadness. We are taught at a young age that metaphors ajavascript:void(0)re meant to be descriptive and are not supposed to be taken literally. However, recent studies suggest that these metaphors are more than just fancy literary devices and that there is a psychological basis for linking cold with feelings of social isolation. ... > full story
//////////////////
MONEY PLAYS
///////////GOING NOWHERE SLOWLY
///////////"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger."#
/////////////////
Jump to: navigation, search
Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes spelled mamihlapinatapei) is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate.[1] It describes a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start. This could perhaps be translated more succinctly as "eye-contact implying 'after you...'". A more literal approximation is "ending up mutually at a loss as to what to do about each other".
The word consists of prefix ma(m)- reflexive/passive (second m before roots beginning with a vowel), root ihlapi (hl pronounced as /ɬ/, though in Yahgan it has also been described as similar to sl) which means to be at a loss as to what to do next, followed by stative suffix -n- and achievement suffix -at(a), and finally dual -apai, which in composition with ma(m)- has a reciprocal sense.
It is also the title of a song by the American singer-songwriter Ronny Cox.[2]
/////////////////////Sweet drink, gardening and protein diet key to longer life’ PDF Print E-mail
User Rating: / 7
PoorBest
London: It’s a question that has dogged some of the finest minds for generations -- why do some people live longer than others? Well, a new study seems to have found a possible answer-- exercise and the right diet.
Researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University have found that the secret to a longer and healthier life lies in a glass of sugary drink, light exercise, say gardening, and a protein-rich diet everyday.
According to them, a combination of a sugary drink, some gentle exercise and a protein-rich meal helps people lose weight, build muscle and improve balance and flexibility. “We give advice that if you are going to be gardening, have a glass of orange juice beforehand.”
“Straight afterwards, have a steak or some milk because this is the time when the body is ready and raring to take up protein”, the ‘Daily Mail’ quoted lead researcher Dr Gladys Pearson as saying.
The researchers found the recipe for longer and healthier life after a three-month-long experiment involving around 80 pensioners.
The men and women aged between 65 and 92 did weights at the gym, tai chi, stood on one leg with their eyes closed to improve balance and went for short walks.
Some were told to exercise more strenuously than others and some took Lucozade (a sweet beverage) before exercising and a protein supplement drink after finishing.
After three months, all were healthier. However, the biggest difference was seen among those who had done the least strenuous exercise and had taken Lucozade and the protein drink.
These men and women had lost more weight and built more muscle and were more flexible than any of the others, including those who had done more strenuous exercise while supplementing their diet.
-PTI
//////////////////
///////////"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger."#
/////////////////
Jump to: navigation, search
Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes spelled mamihlapinatapei) is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate.[1] It describes a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start. This could perhaps be translated more succinctly as "eye-contact implying 'after you...'". A more literal approximation is "ending up mutually at a loss as to what to do about each other".
The word consists of prefix ma(m)- reflexive/passive (second m before roots beginning with a vowel), root ihlapi (hl pronounced as /ɬ/, though in Yahgan it has also been described as similar to sl) which means to be at a loss as to what to do next, followed by stative suffix -n- and achievement suffix -at(a), and finally dual -apai, which in composition with ma(m)- has a reciprocal sense.
It is also the title of a song by the American singer-songwriter Ronny Cox.[2]
/////////////////////Sweet drink, gardening and protein diet key to longer life’ PDF Print E-mail
User Rating: / 7
PoorBest
London: It’s a question that has dogged some of the finest minds for generations -- why do some people live longer than others? Well, a new study seems to have found a possible answer-- exercise and the right diet.
Researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University have found that the secret to a longer and healthier life lies in a glass of sugary drink, light exercise, say gardening, and a protein-rich diet everyday.
According to them, a combination of a sugary drink, some gentle exercise and a protein-rich meal helps people lose weight, build muscle and improve balance and flexibility. “We give advice that if you are going to be gardening, have a glass of orange juice beforehand.”
“Straight afterwards, have a steak or some milk because this is the time when the body is ready and raring to take up protein”, the ‘Daily Mail’ quoted lead researcher Dr Gladys Pearson as saying.
The researchers found the recipe for longer and healthier life after a three-month-long experiment involving around 80 pensioners.
The men and women aged between 65 and 92 did weights at the gym, tai chi, stood on one leg with their eyes closed to improve balance and went for short walks.
Some were told to exercise more strenuously than others and some took Lucozade (a sweet beverage) before exercising and a protein supplement drink after finishing.
After three months, all were healthier. However, the biggest difference was seen among those who had done the least strenuous exercise and had taken Lucozade and the protein drink.
These men and women had lost more weight and built more muscle and were more flexible than any of the others, including those who had done more strenuous exercise while supplementing their diet.
-PTI
//////////////////
ECAPOM
Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:
* A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
* An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
* A loss of interest in judging other people.
* A loss of interest in judging self.
* A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
* A loss of interest in conflict.
* A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
* Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
* Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
* Frequent attacks of smiling.
* An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
* An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
////////////////
* A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
* An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
* A loss of interest in judging other people.
* A loss of interest in judging self.
* A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
* A loss of interest in conflict.
* A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
* Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
* Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
* Frequent attacks of smiling.
* An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
* An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
////////////////
MENTOR OR TOR MENTOR
//////////////BEEN THERE BOUGHT THAT
//////////////
42 phrases a lexophile would love
1. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
2. Police were called to a day care, where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
3. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.
4. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.
5. To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
6. When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.
7. The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
8. A thief who stole a calendar… got twelve months.
9. A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.
10. Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.
11. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U. C. L. A.
12. The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it.
13. The professor discovered that his theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.
14. The dead batteries were given out free of charge.
15. If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.
16. A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.
17. A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired.
18. A will is a dead giveaway.
19. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
20. A backward poet writes inverse.
21. In a democracy it’s your vote that counts; in feudalism, it’s your Count that votes.
22. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
23. If you don’t pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
24. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
25. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I’ll show you A-flat miner.
26. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
27. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
28. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France , and resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
29. You are stuck with your debt if you can’t budge it.
30. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
31. He broke into song because he couldn’t find the key.
32. A calendar’s days are numbered.
33. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
34. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
35. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
36. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
37. When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
38. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
39. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
40. Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
41. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
42. A lot of money is tainted: ‘Taint yours, and ‘taint mine.
///////////////////
//////////////
42 phrases a lexophile would love
1. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
2. Police were called to a day care, where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
3. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.
4. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.
5. To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
6. When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.
7. The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
8. A thief who stole a calendar… got twelve months.
9. A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.
10. Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.
11. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U. C. L. A.
12. The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it.
13. The professor discovered that his theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.
14. The dead batteries were given out free of charge.
15. If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.
16. A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.
17. A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired.
18. A will is a dead giveaway.
19. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
20. A backward poet writes inverse.
21. In a democracy it’s your vote that counts; in feudalism, it’s your Count that votes.
22. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
23. If you don’t pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
24. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
25. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I’ll show you A-flat miner.
26. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
27. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
28. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France , and resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
29. You are stuck with your debt if you can’t budge it.
30. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
31. He broke into song because he couldn’t find the key.
32. A calendar’s days are numbered.
33. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
34. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
35. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
36. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
37. When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
38. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
39. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
40. Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
41. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
42. A lot of money is tainted: ‘Taint yours, and ‘taint mine.
///////////////////
NAM+EU=1BN/5.7 BN LV IN THRLD WORLD
////////////80 % SFFR IN 3RD WRLD
//////////////LIMTUK=LF IS MR THN VK
///////////// Ashes
Posted by: "Thomas Schenk" schen016@umn.edu thomasschenk55116
Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:53 pm (PDT)
A few days ago Ace wrote: "...if you burn wood, it becomes ash, it scatters when the wind picks it up and takes it away and while we may not be able to see it any longer, it certainly does not become nothingness. "
Hmmm. We burn a piece of wood, there is light, heat, smoke, ash. The wood was once part of a tree, an oak perhaps. The oak was made of sunlight, carbon dioxide, minerals -- is there a difference between a collection of sunlight, carbon dioxide and minerals and an oak? Is not the difference the very oakiness of the oak. When the tree is burned, the oakiness is gone. There is no oakiness in the ashes, smoke, light, heat of an oak.
So if the oakiness doesn't come from sunlight, carbon dioxide and minerals, where does it come from? Does it not come from "the idea" of oak contained in the acorn? The "idea" being the genetic information of oak, the genetic knowledge of how to organize matter into oak, information about how to survive and prosper "learned" over the course of a billion or so years.
And where does the oakiness of the oak go when it burns? Nothingness would seem to be the correct answer. And where does the humanness of a human go when he or she dies? Will you find a trace of humanness in the ashes of a human? Not even with the best microscope! We too go to nothing.
But the "idea" of the oak goes on in the other oaks of the world; the "idea" of the human goes on in the other humans of the world. Until extinction, the natural idea is literally re-incarnated, re-materialized, as each individual.
Thomas
/////////////// Re: Ashes
Posted by: "jkhall53210" jkhall53210@yahoo.com jkhall53210
Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:34 pm (PDT)
On a grander scale, I'm thinking of the segment in Planet Earth that
goes into the whole ecosystems that develop in the absence of light
but in response to heat coming through cracks deep in the ocean
floor. These too become extinct when the crack closes and the heat
is gone, but appear in different forms where other cracks open. This
is the "idea" of life itself being re-incarnated. What sort of acorn
or egg contains the DNA/idea of life itself? From whence does it re-
materialize?
I am of course perfectly capable of translating when people use
unsatisfactory terms like God - which connotes a personality - and
Spirit - which connotes something breathy rather aimlessly floating
around. If it weren't for the Star Wars film series I would be okay
with the term Force - which connotes some sort of direction.
I keep coming back to the conclusion that there is a direction, not a
purpose or meaning, but a direction, and we are privileged to join,
ever so briefly, the strange journey of matter/energy as it
elaborates and disassembles over and over, in ever new but rarely
totally unfamiliar ways.
Judy
///////////////////Um, just to point out that, at least among naturalistic pantheists, it
is generally more accurate to say that we REVERE (respect) the
Universe, but we don't WORSHIP it (as it is not a supernatural being).
Dave
//////////////Dear Thomas,
Do you think that there was/is a purpose for reproduction?
Some times, it is sad to feel your hard work, struggle to survive here in
this world is in vain. You might suggest living the given life happy as ever
- but how many can?
Regards
Antony Perera
////////////////.....The Impact of Constipation on Growth in Children.
Articles
Pediatric Research. 64(3):308-311, September 2008.
CHAO, HSUN-CHIN; CHEN, SHIH-YEN; CHEN, CHIEN-CHANG; CHANG, KUEI-WEN; KONG, MAN-SHAN; LAI, MING-WEI; CHIU, CHENG-HSUN
Abstract:
The observation on the impact of constipation on nutritional and growth status in healthy children was never reported. During a 4-y period, we evaluated the consequence of constipation on growth in children. The enrolled children were aged between 1 and 15 y with constipation. Medical response of constipation to treatment was evaluated by the scoring of constipation symptoms. The correlation of therapeutic effect of constipation with growth status at 12 wk and 24 wk was statistically evaluated. About 2426 children (1284 boys, 1142 girls) with a mean age of 7.31 +/- 3.65 (range 1.1-14.9) y were enrolled. After 12-wk treatment, significant increase of z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-age, and body mass index-for-age were all found in patients with good medical responses (1377 cases) than in those with poor medical responses (1049 cases). The 1049 patients with poor medical response received advanced medications; significant increase of z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-age, and body mass index were also found in these patients. A marked increase of appetite was significantly correlated with better gain on height and weight after treatment. We conclude that chronic constipation may retard growth status in children, and a long-term medication for constipation in children appears beneficial to their growth status.
////////////////Moderate Quantities Of Dirt Make More Rain (September 17, 2008) -- Drought or deluge? Scientists have now discovered how aerosols affect the when, where and how much of rainfall. ... > full story
////////////////........Help For Shopaholics: New Test Determines Who's At Risk For Compulsive Buying
ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2008) — Shopaholics are the butt of many jokes, but obsessive or compulsive shopping can ruin lives.
See also:
Mind & Brain
* Consumer Behavior
* Addiction
* Stress
* Anxiety
* Psychiatry
* Alcoholism
Reference
* Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
* Neurosis
* Personality disorder
* Substance abuse
Compulsive shopping can lead to financial problems, family conflicts, stress, depression, and loss of self-esteem. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, there may be more people engaged in compulsive buying than previously thought.
Authors Nancy M. Ridgway, Monika Kukar-Kinney (both University of Richmond), and Kent B. Monroe (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Richmond) developed a new scale for measuring compulsive buying. The scale consists of just nine questions, and the authors believe it does a better job than previous measures of identifying the number of people who engage in compulsive shopping.
"The scale is designed to identify consumers who have a strong urge to buy, regularly spend a lot of money, and have difficulty resisting the impulse to buy," they explain. Previous measures depend in large part on the consequences of shopping, such as financial difficulties and family strain over money matters. But the authors explain that compulsive shoppers with higher incomes may experience fewer financial consequences yet still have compulsive tendencies.
In the course of three separate studies, the researchers found that compulsive buying was linked to materialism, reduced self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and stress. Compulsive shoppers had positive feelings associated with buying, and they also tended to hide purchases, return items, have more family arguments, and possessed more maxed-out credit cards. The researchers found that approximately 8.9 percent of the population they studied were compulsive shoppers, compared with 5 percent who were identified with the current clinical screener.
"Given the results of these studies, it is important for public policy officials to recognize that there may be a larger group of consumers suffering from problems resulting from compulsive buying than previously thought. Consumers need to be educated to recognize if compulsive buying is a problem in their lives so that they may seek help," the authors conclude.
///////////////////
//////////////LIMTUK=LF IS MR THN VK
///////////// Ashes
Posted by: "Thomas Schenk" schen016@umn.edu thomasschenk55116
Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:53 pm (PDT)
A few days ago Ace wrote: "...if you burn wood, it becomes ash, it scatters when the wind picks it up and takes it away and while we may not be able to see it any longer, it certainly does not become nothingness. "
Hmmm. We burn a piece of wood, there is light, heat, smoke, ash. The wood was once part of a tree, an oak perhaps. The oak was made of sunlight, carbon dioxide, minerals -- is there a difference between a collection of sunlight, carbon dioxide and minerals and an oak? Is not the difference the very oakiness of the oak. When the tree is burned, the oakiness is gone. There is no oakiness in the ashes, smoke, light, heat of an oak.
So if the oakiness doesn't come from sunlight, carbon dioxide and minerals, where does it come from? Does it not come from "the idea" of oak contained in the acorn? The "idea" being the genetic information of oak, the genetic knowledge of how to organize matter into oak, information about how to survive and prosper "learned" over the course of a billion or so years.
And where does the oakiness of the oak go when it burns? Nothingness would seem to be the correct answer. And where does the humanness of a human go when he or she dies? Will you find a trace of humanness in the ashes of a human? Not even with the best microscope! We too go to nothing.
But the "idea" of the oak goes on in the other oaks of the world; the "idea" of the human goes on in the other humans of the world. Until extinction, the natural idea is literally re-incarnated, re-materialized, as each individual.
Thomas
/////////////// Re: Ashes
Posted by: "jkhall53210" jkhall53210@yahoo.com jkhall53210
Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:34 pm (PDT)
On a grander scale, I'm thinking of the segment in Planet Earth that
goes into the whole ecosystems that develop in the absence of light
but in response to heat coming through cracks deep in the ocean
floor. These too become extinct when the crack closes and the heat
is gone, but appear in different forms where other cracks open. This
is the "idea" of life itself being re-incarnated. What sort of acorn
or egg contains the DNA/idea of life itself? From whence does it re-
materialize?
I am of course perfectly capable of translating when people use
unsatisfactory terms like God - which connotes a personality - and
Spirit - which connotes something breathy rather aimlessly floating
around. If it weren't for the Star Wars film series I would be okay
with the term Force - which connotes some sort of direction.
I keep coming back to the conclusion that there is a direction, not a
purpose or meaning, but a direction, and we are privileged to join,
ever so briefly, the strange journey of matter/energy as it
elaborates and disassembles over and over, in ever new but rarely
totally unfamiliar ways.
Judy
///////////////////Um, just to point out that, at least among naturalistic pantheists, it
is generally more accurate to say that we REVERE (respect) the
Universe, but we don't WORSHIP it (as it is not a supernatural being).
Dave
//////////////Dear Thomas,
Do you think that there was/is a purpose for reproduction?
Some times, it is sad to feel your hard work, struggle to survive here in
this world is in vain. You might suggest living the given life happy as ever
- but how many can?
Regards
Antony Perera
////////////////.....The Impact of Constipation on Growth in Children.
Articles
Pediatric Research. 64(3):308-311, September 2008.
CHAO, HSUN-CHIN; CHEN, SHIH-YEN; CHEN, CHIEN-CHANG; CHANG, KUEI-WEN; KONG, MAN-SHAN; LAI, MING-WEI; CHIU, CHENG-HSUN
Abstract:
The observation on the impact of constipation on nutritional and growth status in healthy children was never reported. During a 4-y period, we evaluated the consequence of constipation on growth in children. The enrolled children were aged between 1 and 15 y with constipation. Medical response of constipation to treatment was evaluated by the scoring of constipation symptoms. The correlation of therapeutic effect of constipation with growth status at 12 wk and 24 wk was statistically evaluated. About 2426 children (1284 boys, 1142 girls) with a mean age of 7.31 +/- 3.65 (range 1.1-14.9) y were enrolled. After 12-wk treatment, significant increase of z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-age, and body mass index-for-age were all found in patients with good medical responses (1377 cases) than in those with poor medical responses (1049 cases). The 1049 patients with poor medical response received advanced medications; significant increase of z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-age, and body mass index were also found in these patients. A marked increase of appetite was significantly correlated with better gain on height and weight after treatment. We conclude that chronic constipation may retard growth status in children, and a long-term medication for constipation in children appears beneficial to their growth status.
////////////////Moderate Quantities Of Dirt Make More Rain (September 17, 2008) -- Drought or deluge? Scientists have now discovered how aerosols affect the when, where and how much of rainfall. ... > full story
////////////////........Help For Shopaholics: New Test Determines Who's At Risk For Compulsive Buying
ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2008) — Shopaholics are the butt of many jokes, but obsessive or compulsive shopping can ruin lives.
See also:
Mind & Brain
* Consumer Behavior
* Addiction
* Stress
* Anxiety
* Psychiatry
* Alcoholism
Reference
* Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
* Neurosis
* Personality disorder
* Substance abuse
Compulsive shopping can lead to financial problems, family conflicts, stress, depression, and loss of self-esteem. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, there may be more people engaged in compulsive buying than previously thought.
Authors Nancy M. Ridgway, Monika Kukar-Kinney (both University of Richmond), and Kent B. Monroe (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Richmond) developed a new scale for measuring compulsive buying. The scale consists of just nine questions, and the authors believe it does a better job than previous measures of identifying the number of people who engage in compulsive shopping.
"The scale is designed to identify consumers who have a strong urge to buy, regularly spend a lot of money, and have difficulty resisting the impulse to buy," they explain. Previous measures depend in large part on the consequences of shopping, such as financial difficulties and family strain over money matters. But the authors explain that compulsive shoppers with higher incomes may experience fewer financial consequences yet still have compulsive tendencies.
In the course of three separate studies, the researchers found that compulsive buying was linked to materialism, reduced self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and stress. Compulsive shoppers had positive feelings associated with buying, and they also tended to hide purchases, return items, have more family arguments, and possessed more maxed-out credit cards. The researchers found that approximately 8.9 percent of the population they studied were compulsive shoppers, compared with 5 percent who were identified with the current clinical screener.
"Given the results of these studies, it is important for public policy officials to recognize that there may be a larger group of consumers suffering from problems resulting from compulsive buying than previously thought. Consumers need to be educated to recognize if compulsive buying is a problem in their lives so that they may seek help," the authors conclude.
///////////////////
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
CDS 170908-JLR CRSS CLOUD
////////////Smallest man meets leggiest woman
7 hours ago
The world's smallest man met the woman with the longest legs in the world - but his thoughts were elsewhere.
He Pingping, who is just 74.61cm tall (2ft 5.37in), posed on steps in London's Trafalgar Square with Russian Svetlana Pankratova, whose legs have been measured at 132cm (4ft 3.9in) - almost twice his height.
He Pingping, 20, who was born with primordial dwarfism, was thinking as ever of his girlfriend back in Inner Mongolia.
///////////////////////////////Chapter II: Sankhya Yoga
(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)
II.69. That which is night to all beings, in that the self-
controlled man is awake; when all beings are awake, that is night
for the Muni (sage) who sees.
COMMENTARY: That which is real for the worldly-minded is illusion
for the sage, and VICE VERSA. The sage lives in the Self. This
is DAY for him. He is unconscious of the worldly phenomena. They
are NIGHT for him, as it were. The ordinary man is unconscious of
his real nature. Life in the spirit is night for him. He is
experiencing the objects of sensual enjoyment. this is day for
him. The Self is a non-entity for him! For a sage this world is
a non-entity.
The worldly minded people are in utter darkness as they have
no knowledge of the Self. What is darkness for them is all light
for the sage. The Self, Atman or Brahman is night for the worldly-
minded persons. But the sage is fully awake. He is directly
cognising the supreme Reality, the Light of lights. He is full of
illumination and Atma-Jnana or knowledge of the Self.
////////////////////
Before dinosaurs, pigs ruled the Earth
* Font Size: Decrease Increase
* Print Page: Print
Jonathan Leake | September 15, 2008
FIRST there was the Permian era; then came the Triassic period. Now palaeontologists have discovered an intriguing interlude, the porcine age, when pig-like creatures ruled the earth.
The animals, known as lystrosaurs, were among the only survivors of the greatest mass extinction event the world has seen, when, around 251m years ago, 95 per cent of all living species were wiped out by a series of volcanic eruptions.
The eruptions eliminated every large predator, so for a million years or more the lystrosaurs had the planet — and all its succulent plant life — almost entirely to themselves.
“They fed and spread. We think there were billions of them,” said Paul Wignall, professor of palaeo-environment at Leeds University. “Their fossils are everywhere.”
The lystrosaurs evolved towards the end of the Permian period, around 260m years ago, long before the time of modern mammals and reptiles and even of the dinosaurs. They belonged to a group called the cynodonts. Reconstructions from fossils suggest they were similar in size and stature to modern pigs, complete with snouts and small tusks for rooting around in vegetation.
This was a period in Earth’s history when complex life had established itself on land and sea, with new species evolving rapidly into every available niche. Early lystrosaurs, with their sprawling gait, ungainly bodies and bulbous heads, would have been easy meat for the abundant predators and so seem to have evolved as underground beasts. Fossils show they dug burrows, which in turn implies they may have been nocturnal and have had the ability to hibernate.
In that period all the continents were joined together in one huge land mass now called Pangaea. Geological records suggest the world was then much warmer, with forests covering Australia, then lying over the south pole, and no icecaps.
About 251m years ago everything changed. “A massive volcanic eruption began in the northern part of Pangaea in what is now Siberia,” said Wignall, speaking at a conference last week. “Over thousands of years about 5,000,000km3 of basalt erupted onto the Earth’s surface and billions of tons of CO2 poured into the air.”
The initial result of each eruption was rapid cooling as the volcanic haze blotted out the sun. Then, over the following decades, the world warmed sharply because of the CO2. The eruptions came in pulses over thousands of years, so this pattern of warming and cooling was repeated several times.
“We can only speculate on how lystrosaurus survived while the rest died, but perhaps its ability to burrow and hibernate protected it from the worst periods,” Wignall said.
A number of species did survive, including other cynodonts. These would later give rise to the mammals and eventually humans. Back then, however, they were just tiny shrew-like creatures. A second group of survivors were diapsids, the group that would later give rise to the dinosaurs, reptiles and birds. They, too, were tiny.
Wignall said: “The remarkable thing about the lystrosaurs was their size. Nothing else that big seems to have got through the destruction, and that is why they were able to dominate the earth for so long afterwards.”
One mystery is why the lystrosaurs did eventually disappear. But Wignall believes their fate and that of other Permian species holds clear lessons for modern humans: “The amounts of CO2 we are emitting are roughly equivalent to those poured into the atmosphere during the Permian eruptions. Our climate is changing like theirs did.”
The Times
////////////////////////
20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point A Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Sexual Favors"
7. Finish All Your Sentences With "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
8. Don't Use Any Punctuation
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10. Ask People What Sex They Are. Laugh Hysterically After They Answer.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party because You're Not In The Mood.
16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Hard.
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won! I Won!"
18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking Lot, Yelling
"Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."
And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......
20. Copy this and Send an E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile..
It's Called Therapy...
//////////////////Statistical and applied probabilistic knowledge is the core of knowledge; statistics is what tells you if something is true, false, or merely anecdotal; it is the "logic of science";
///////////////Chapter II: Sankhya Yoga
(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)
II.68. Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, his knowledge is steady
whose senses are completely restrained from sense-objects.
COMMENTARY: When the senses are completely controlled, the mind
cannot wander wildly in the sensual grooves. It becomes steady
like the lamp in a windless place. The Yogi is now established in
the Self and his knowledge is steady.
7 hours ago
The world's smallest man met the woman with the longest legs in the world - but his thoughts were elsewhere.
He Pingping, who is just 74.61cm tall (2ft 5.37in), posed on steps in London's Trafalgar Square with Russian Svetlana Pankratova, whose legs have been measured at 132cm (4ft 3.9in) - almost twice his height.
He Pingping, 20, who was born with primordial dwarfism, was thinking as ever of his girlfriend back in Inner Mongolia.
///////////////////////////////Chapter II: Sankhya Yoga
(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)
II.69. That which is night to all beings, in that the self-
controlled man is awake; when all beings are awake, that is night
for the Muni (sage) who sees.
COMMENTARY: That which is real for the worldly-minded is illusion
for the sage, and VICE VERSA. The sage lives in the Self. This
is DAY for him. He is unconscious of the worldly phenomena. They
are NIGHT for him, as it were. The ordinary man is unconscious of
his real nature. Life in the spirit is night for him. He is
experiencing the objects of sensual enjoyment. this is day for
him. The Self is a non-entity for him! For a sage this world is
a non-entity.
The worldly minded people are in utter darkness as they have
no knowledge of the Self. What is darkness for them is all light
for the sage. The Self, Atman or Brahman is night for the worldly-
minded persons. But the sage is fully awake. He is directly
cognising the supreme Reality, the Light of lights. He is full of
illumination and Atma-Jnana or knowledge of the Self.
////////////////////
Before dinosaurs, pigs ruled the Earth
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Jonathan Leake | September 15, 2008
FIRST there was the Permian era; then came the Triassic period. Now palaeontologists have discovered an intriguing interlude, the porcine age, when pig-like creatures ruled the earth.
The animals, known as lystrosaurs, were among the only survivors of the greatest mass extinction event the world has seen, when, around 251m years ago, 95 per cent of all living species were wiped out by a series of volcanic eruptions.
The eruptions eliminated every large predator, so for a million years or more the lystrosaurs had the planet — and all its succulent plant life — almost entirely to themselves.
“They fed and spread. We think there were billions of them,” said Paul Wignall, professor of palaeo-environment at Leeds University. “Their fossils are everywhere.”
The lystrosaurs evolved towards the end of the Permian period, around 260m years ago, long before the time of modern mammals and reptiles and even of the dinosaurs. They belonged to a group called the cynodonts. Reconstructions from fossils suggest they were similar in size and stature to modern pigs, complete with snouts and small tusks for rooting around in vegetation.
This was a period in Earth’s history when complex life had established itself on land and sea, with new species evolving rapidly into every available niche. Early lystrosaurs, with their sprawling gait, ungainly bodies and bulbous heads, would have been easy meat for the abundant predators and so seem to have evolved as underground beasts. Fossils show they dug burrows, which in turn implies they may have been nocturnal and have had the ability to hibernate.
In that period all the continents were joined together in one huge land mass now called Pangaea. Geological records suggest the world was then much warmer, with forests covering Australia, then lying over the south pole, and no icecaps.
About 251m years ago everything changed. “A massive volcanic eruption began in the northern part of Pangaea in what is now Siberia,” said Wignall, speaking at a conference last week. “Over thousands of years about 5,000,000km3 of basalt erupted onto the Earth’s surface and billions of tons of CO2 poured into the air.”
The initial result of each eruption was rapid cooling as the volcanic haze blotted out the sun. Then, over the following decades, the world warmed sharply because of the CO2. The eruptions came in pulses over thousands of years, so this pattern of warming and cooling was repeated several times.
“We can only speculate on how lystrosaurus survived while the rest died, but perhaps its ability to burrow and hibernate protected it from the worst periods,” Wignall said.
A number of species did survive, including other cynodonts. These would later give rise to the mammals and eventually humans. Back then, however, they were just tiny shrew-like creatures. A second group of survivors were diapsids, the group that would later give rise to the dinosaurs, reptiles and birds. They, too, were tiny.
Wignall said: “The remarkable thing about the lystrosaurs was their size. Nothing else that big seems to have got through the destruction, and that is why they were able to dominate the earth for so long afterwards.”
One mystery is why the lystrosaurs did eventually disappear. But Wignall believes their fate and that of other Permian species holds clear lessons for modern humans: “The amounts of CO2 we are emitting are roughly equivalent to those poured into the atmosphere during the Permian eruptions. Our climate is changing like theirs did.”
The Times
////////////////////////
20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point A Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Sexual Favors"
7. Finish All Your Sentences With "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
8. Don't Use Any Punctuation
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10. Ask People What Sex They Are. Laugh Hysterically After They Answer.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party because You're Not In The Mood.
16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Hard.
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won! I Won!"
18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking Lot, Yelling
"Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."
And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......
20. Copy this and Send an E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile..
It's Called Therapy...
//////////////////Statistical and applied probabilistic knowledge is the core of knowledge; statistics is what tells you if something is true, false, or merely anecdotal; it is the "logic of science";
///////////////Chapter II: Sankhya Yoga
(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)
II.68. Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, his knowledge is steady
whose senses are completely restrained from sense-objects.
COMMENTARY: When the senses are completely controlled, the mind
cannot wander wildly in the sensual grooves. It becomes steady
like the lamp in a windless place. The Yogi is now established in
the Self and his knowledge is steady.
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