Michael Meadon's shared items in Google Reader

Steve Connor is an angry man

2009-07-01T10:44:34Z

We’re having a meeting in a pub tonight, it’s free to get in and open to all, we’ll talk about the problems with science journalism. Apparently science journalists won’t tolerate this. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-connor-lofty-medics-should-stick-to-their-day-job-1724485.html Steve Connor: Lofty medics should stick to their day job Science Notebook: Doctors claim media coverage is “lazy, venal and silly” Independent, Tuesday, 30 [...]

Carnival of the Africans 8

2009-06-28T18:30:00Z

Welcome back to the Carnival of the Africans - a carnival of Scepticism and Science, with posts supplied by Africans. I have scoured posts that have been submitted to me and harvested the web for suitable African fruit. Enjoy the African tastes that are spread before you. Also, because the Carnival has experienced an hiatus, I thought that I would extend the time limit to the past two months, rather than only the past month. Consequently, there are a fair number of posts that fitted into the Carnival's outline.

I have decided to cut the Carnival into two parts, the first which covering purely sceptical and scientific concerns, and the second - a more narrative frame - covers science and scepticism as lived by individuals.

Part 1: Scepticism and Criticism

We kick off with a post from my own blog, Amanuensis, about a recent paper by Sam Bowles on the role of warfare (or inter-group violent conflict) in the evolution of human altruism, Bowles, his Critics, the Price equation, and Group Selection. I'd appreciate any comments or criticism.

Two posts look at the role of 'quantum mechanics' in popular culture. Rupert Neethling at Orion's Spur who tells us to take a look at a book of sceptical importance, Quantum Gods. He argues, as have others, that it easily debunks books like The Secret and others that claim some control of humans over 'quantum reality'. In a similar vein, a post at a subtle shift in emphasis provides a valuable post, if it says quantum, it must be true.

Michelle, The Skeptic Blacksheep, discusses The End of the World Part 1: Polar Shifts, so is it happening? Take a look to see. She also goes on to discuss the entertaining Gary Mannion, Psychic Surgeon. Have a laugh while reading.

Angela, the Skeptic Detective, asks,"Should I vaccinate my baby?" And concludes that any rational mother would. She shows us a video conversation between a doctor and some pregnant mothers on this topic.

James at Acinonyx Scepticus calls our attention to how Alternative Treatments will Receive Greater Scrutiny, discussing some of the relevant material as covered by the Associated Press. Bullshit Fatigue offers a brief comment, introduced by a description of frustrating Natura adverts that seem to have made their way onto South African televison, take a look at 'Magic Water, Sugar Pills, and Fairy Dust' for a general comment and some links to sceptical fun.

Owen Swart at 01 and the universe asks Is Science a Religion? He answers resoundingly, 'No!' There are several points worthy of discussion in his post and I think linking to it could stimulate the debate further and take it up a notch.

Shadowshide at Shadowshide's blog posts on some recent commentary on SA education in their post 'Thinking Begins at Home'. It brought a quotation from Emerson to mind, "[Colleges] can only highly serve us, when they aim not to drill, but to create; when they gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable halls, and, by the concentrated fires, set they hearts of their youth on flame."

George Classen brings us a post from Prometheus Unbound, Taken by a charlatan, in which he comments on problems related to Danie Krugel. He takes particular joy laughing at Krugel's comment that what he himseld does is 'science, science, science.'

Part 2: Sceptical Living
Leonie Joubert, gives us a cross-post from a piece she wrote for the South African Mail & Guardian called 'Pseudoscience: warts and all'. She recounts a childhood anecdote which resulted in her believing a strange pseudoscientific 'cure' for a wart on her knee. It's a good read.

Shadowshide also tells an interesting tale of how he ended up as 'ignostic' in his memoir piece, 'Religion: My Driver'. The author reports the crucial point in his penultimate paragraph, "So to a large degree religion was certainly one of the key drivers in my life, but the direction it drove me in was as far away from religion as possible." Though The Carnival of the Africans isn't strictly about atheism, I found this to be an interesting account of the clash between science, sceptical thinking and religion.

Bongi's Other Things Amanzi provides a description of startling events in the ICU in his article Leaking where he recounts the problems involved in dealing with patients who require substantial pain medication for horrendous burn wounds - what do you do?

The possibility of impossible cultures

2009-07-08T07:00:00Z

The possibility of impossible cultures

Nature 460, 190 (2009). doi:10.1038/460190a

Author: Marc D. Hauser

Insights from evolutionary developmental biology and the mind sciences could change our understanding of the human capacity to think and the ways in which the human mind constrains cultural expressions.

Darwin's last laugh

2009-07-08T07:00:00Z

Darwin's last laugh

Nature 460, 175 (2009). doi:10.1038/460175a

Author: Frans B. M. de Waal

We must look for mental commonalities between humans and other animals to understand the minds of either, says Frans B. M. de Waal, rebutting a recent claim to the contrary.

How to stop blogging

2009-07-08T07:00:00Z

How to stop blogging

Nature 460, 152 (2009). doi:10.1038/460152a

Organizers have only two options for their meetings: open or closed.

From the blogosphere

2009-07-08T07:00:00Z

From the blogosphere

Nature 460, 149 (2009). doi:10.1038/7252149c

The Great Beyond blog recounts how the blogosphere and Internet search engines are being used to debate scientific claims. Reporter Lucas Laursen has been following the activities of several bloggers commenting on the case of UK science writer Simon Singh, who was sued by the

[News of the Week] Opinion Polls: An Inside/Outside View of U.S. Science

2009-07-10T09:52:54Z

Three surveys conducted this spring by the Pew Research Center offer some fresh insights into what both the U.S. public and scientists think about science and its impact on society.

Author: Jeffrey Mervis

Swine flu sweeps the southern hemisphere

2009-07-09T09:10:00Z

As the White House meets with state representatives to discuss preparations for the autumn flu season, the pandemic is intensifying in the other parts of the globe

Sex ratios and maternal environment: Sons and mothers

2009-07-09T11:07:54Z

Poor circumstances breed daughters

THAT mother knows best is no secret. That her reproductive organs also know best may come as more of a surprise. But that is what two evolutionary biologists, Robert Trivers and Dan Willard, hypothesised nearly four decades ago. Boys, they reasoned, will thrive reproductively when they have grown big and strong in resource-rich environments. Otherwise, they will do badly. Girls, by contrast, will do reasonably well across the board and thus have a comparative advantage over their brothers in poorer situations. Parents, meanwhile, have a genetic incentive to see their progeny do well. Give a mother abundant resources, then, and her body should favour sons. Place her in difficult conditions and she should have more daughters.

The Trivers-Willard theory has been tested with success in several species of wild animal. Showing it to be true in people, however, has proved difficult. But a paper just published in Biology Letters by Thomas Pollet of the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, and his colleagues makes a brave attempt to do so. Dr Pollet tests it by studying polygamous households. As wives are added to such a household, its resources will necessarily be split more ways. Even if they are shared equally, the first wife will have had a head-start on the others—and, life being what it is, she may retain a dominant position. ...

Introducing the Google Chrome OS

2009-07-10T09:16:42Z

Shared by Michael Meadon
Holy crap!!!!!!!

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Breaking legs for science

2009-07-08T17:06:47Z

William Saletan tells the story of a woman who didn't like being 5 foot 1 inches tall, so she went to Russia to have her legs broken and stretched for 6 months. Just one of many examples of extreme body alterations that have become more common lately:

Ban doesn't pretend her rationale was more than cosmetic. "A lot of young women feel insecure about their weight or their nose or their figure in general. Mine was my height," she told the Daily Mail. To Reuters, she added, "This is no different to having breast augmentation or nose procedures." To AFP, she underscored the social pressure behind such surgeries: "A lot of women, just through the way that society is and the pressure that we have, have insecurity and have some self-doubt."

I wonder every so often who will jump first when genetic techniques become feasible to alter human biology. And then I remember the extremes of cosmetic surgery -- people sign up willingly, spending enormous sums and taking themselves away from their everyday lives for months, sometimes techniques that have very little objective impact on appearance.

I suppose I should just sigh and be glad there are so many willing guinea pigs for new surgical techniques. But I'm apprehensive about the herky-jerky pace of progress -- fueled by anecdote-spreading networks of celebrities and idle rich people. Improvements in fertility treatments have largely occurred by this pathway, so there's a very real prospect that other genetic techniques will as well.

Parents hide toddler’s gender

2009-07-09T11:56:23Z

A couple of Swedish parents have stirred up debate in the country by refusing to reveal whether their two-and-a-half-year-old child is a boy or a girl. Pop’s parents, both 24, made a decision when their baby was born to keep Pop’s sex a secret. Aside from a select few – those who have changed the child’s diaper – nobody knows Pop’s gender; if anyone enquires, Pop’s parents simply say they don’t disclose this information.

In an interview with newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in March, the parents were quoted saying their decision was rooted in the feminist philosophy that gender is a social construction. “We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mould from the outset,” Pop’s mother said. “It’s cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead.”

The child’s parents said so long as they keep Pop’s gender a secret, he or she will be able to avoid preconceived notions of how people should be treated if male or female. Pop’s wardrobe includes everything from dresses to trousers and Pop’s hairstyle changes on a regular basis. And Pop usually decides how Pop is going to dress on a given morning.

But while Pop’s parents say they have received supportive feedback from many of their peers, not everyone agrees that their chosen course of action will have a positive outcome. “Ignoring children’s natures simply doesn’t work,” says Susan Pinker, a psychologist and newspaper columnist from Toronto, Canada, who wrote the book The Sexual Paradox, which focuses on sex differences in the workplace. “Child-rearing should not be about providing an opportunity to prove an ideological point, but about responding to each child’s needs as an individual,” Pinker tells The Local.

The Local

07/06/09 PHD comic: 'Is your research Impossible?'

2009-07-07T18:55:34Z

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham		www.phdcomics.com

title: "Is your research Impossible?" - originally published 7/6/2009 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

TEDTalks : Joachim de Posada says, Don't eat the marshmallow yet - Joachim de Posada (2009)

2009-05-25T06:00:00Z

In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow.

TEDTalks : Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle - Yann Arthus-Bertrand (2009)

2009-06-03T06:00:00Z

In this image-filled talk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand displays his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat -- stunning aerial photographs in his series "The Earth From Above," personal interviews from around the globe featured in his web project "6 billion Others," and his soon-to-be-released movie, "Home," which documents human impact on the environment through breathtaking video.

TEDTalks : Robert Full: Learning from the gecko's tail - Robert Full (2009)

2009-06-11T06:00:00Z

Biologist Robert Full studies the amazing gecko, with its supersticky feet and tenacious climbing skill. But high-speed footage reveals that the gecko's tail harbors perhaps the most surprising talents of all.

Fear really does have a smell

2009-07-06T03:00:00Z

People often talk with some drama about the smell of fear, and yet who among us could describe what the odour is like? This vagueness seems to support the idea that fear as a smell is metaphorical - a way raconteurs through the ages have conveyed the tendency for fear to spread rapidly and invisibly from one person to the next. A new study, however, suggests there is, after all, a literal truth to the idea of fear being communicated through our sense of smell.

Alexander Prehn-Kristensen and colleagues bottled the smell of fear by placing cotton pads under the arms of students waiting to give an assessed oral presentation. For comparison the researchers also collected fear-free sweat from the armpits of students performing cycling exercises.

Next the researchers scanned the brains of 28 students while the two sources of odour were delivered to their noses using an adapted oxygen mask. Half the time, the students couldn't even perceive an odour. They were also unable to distinguish between the two odour sources, rating them as equally pleasant. Crucially, however, the participants' brain responses to the two odours did differ significantly.

The smell of sweat taken from students anxiously awaiting an oral exam led to proportionately greater activation in the participants across a swathe of brain areas known to be involved in empathy, emotion, representing other people's mental states and distinguishing the self from other. These included the insula, the precuneus, the cingulate gyrus, the fusiform cortex and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.

This finding, of the smell of fear triggering an emotional brain response in the absence of any conscious awareness, could help explain why we're sometimes moved by a whiff of fear in the air, without registering any accompanying sensory experience. "It is concluded that the human brain automatically guides physiological adjustments to chemosensory anxiety signals, without being dependent on conscious mediation," the researchers said.
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Prehn-Kristensen, A., Wiesner, C., Bergmann, T., Wolff, S., Jansen, O., Mehdorn, H., Ferstl, R., & Pause, B. (2009). Induction of Empathy by the Smell of Anxiety. PLoS ONE, 4 (6) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005987

New Fossil Primate Challenges "Missing Link" Ida

2009-07-07T18:16:06Z

Researchers propose that it was Asian, not European or African, primates that gave rise to monkeys, apes, and humans

Brain's response muted when we see other races in pain

2009-07-01T13:20:00Z

The response of the brain is less pronounced when we see strangers in pain who are a different race to our own

Michael Meadon's shared items in Google Reader

Blogroll Update

Steve Connor is an angry man

Carnival of the Africans 8

The possibility of impossible cultures

Darwin's last laugh

How to stop blogging

From the blogosphere

[News of the Week] Opinion Polls: An Inside/Outside View of U.S. Science

Swine flu sweeps the southern hemisphere

Sex ratios and maternal environment: Sons and mothers

Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Breaking legs for science

Parents hide toddler’s gender

07/06/09 PHD comic: 'Is your research Impossible?'

TEDTalks : Joachim de Posada says, Don't eat the marshmallow yet - Joachim de Posada (2009)

TEDTalks : Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle - Yann Arthus-Bertrand (2009)

TEDTalks : Robert Full: Learning from the gecko's tail - Robert Full (2009)

Fear really does have a smell

New Fossil Primate Challenges "Missing Link" Ida

Brain's response muted when we see other races in pain