March 29, 2017

Scientists predict reading ability from DNA alone

In the battle between nature v nurture, nature is winning by a long shot.

"The study, published today in Scientific Studies of Reading, shows that a genetic score comprising around 20,000 of DNA variants explains five per cent of the differences between children's reading performance. Students with the highest and lowest genetic scores differed by a whole two years in their reading performance.

These findings highlight the potential of using genetic scores to predict strengths and weaknesses in children's learning abilities. According to the study authors, these scores could one day be used to identify and tackle reading difficulties early, rather than waiting until children develop these problems at school."


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-scientists-ability-dna.html#jCp

March 29, 2017

sexing dinosaurs...worse than baby chicks

A paleontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature is countering decades of studies that assert that some dinosaurs can be identified as male or female based on the shapes and sizes of their bones.

Dr. Jordan Mallon, a dinosaur specialist at the museum, argues instead that the fossil evidence for these distinctions is inconclusive and, as a result, it might be time to "rewrite the textbooks." His report, published today in the online journal Paleobiology, focusses on the biological principle of sexual dimorphism, where males and females of a species can be distinguished based on physical characteristics other than sexual organs.

"I'm not saying that dinosaurs were not dimorphic, but I am saying that there's no existing fossil evidence to suggest that they were. The jury is still out," says Mallon.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-male-female-scientists-evidence-sex.html#jCp

March 29, 2017

Wanna lose weight...be a fruitfly

"Our study indicates fat tissue sends a molecular signal to the fly brain to regulate feeding behavior," said Jones. "Further studies will be needed to determine if a similar system acts in mammals, and if so, whether it can be safely manipulated to help achieve weight loss, or gain, in people."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-full.html#jCp

March 28, 2017

Why we have sex

"Asexual reproduction, such as laying unfertilised eggs or budding off a piece of yourself, is a much simpler way of reproducing," says Dr da Silva, Senior Lecturer in the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences. "It doesn't require finding a mate, and the time and energy involved in that, nor the intricate and complicated genetics that come into play with sexual reproduction. It's hard to understand why sex evolved at all."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-evolving-lovesick-survival-sex.html#jCp

March 28, 2017

wealth inequality: it's physical and flowing

"Bejan's Constructal Law addresses the fundamental principle of physics that underlies the evolution of flow systems as they change in design over time to increase flow access. It reveals that "branching tree-shaped" flow patterns govern the structure of the entire universe—most clearly evident within rivers, neural networks, lightning bolts, electrical circuitry and trees."
"The Constructal Law extends the power of physics over all of the phenomena of evolutionary design and organization, from geophysics to biology, technology, and social organization," Bejan said.
"As wealth in the world becomes increasingly unbalanced, Bejan's hope is that his work proposes the possibility of empowering people more uniformly to reduce the glaring disparity of wealth often on display within cities or rural areas."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-physics-wealth-inequality.html#jCp

March 28, 2017

Food safety info

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-03-cookbooks-readers-bad-advice-food.html

"This is important because cooking meat, poultry, seafood and eggs to a safe internal temperature kills off pathogens that cause foodborne illness," Levine says. "These temperatures were established based on extensive research, targeting the most likely pathogens found in each food."

"In other words, very few recipes provided relevant food-safety information, and 34 of those 123 recipes gave readers information that wasn't safe," Chapman says. "Put another way, only 89 out of 1,497 recipes gave readers reliable information that they could use to reduce their risk of foodborne illness."

March 27, 2017

Cheeto shit is nothing new...Roman history

Just got this from back east.

March 23, 2017

Please help our beleagured Congress

Everybody loves to bash Congress without thought of their difficult lives as poorly paid, overworked, and stressed out public servants. Instead, we should be offering them the services so generously provided to other economically deprived citizens in the US.

1. Housing in DC is unaffordably expensive and it is incumbent upon us to to help Congresspersons avoid the embarrassment of continually giving themselves raises. Each member should be provided apartments in local housing projects. Should all available housing be taken, then we must allow them the privilege of staying in homeless shelters. They should be getting to work early anyway.

2. Congresspersons never earn enough to pull themselves up by their own jockstraps and should be paid an adequate wage. Since recipients of minimum wage are said to live opulent lives, Congresspersons deserve no less than the lowest minimum wage in the country.

3. We all know how difficult big city traffic is, especially in bad weather. Our dedicated Congresspersons must be provided free bus passes. That would give them opportunity to meet daily with constituents, be part of climate change solutions and save money. Without problems associated with drivers and cars, they will enjoy hauling groceries, sick children, or their asses to work on stinking buses.

4. Congressperson's hard work requires schmoozing over meals which might just stretch their budgets a bit. Let's give them food stamps. but since food is a luxury equivalent to buying an iPhone, we might ban unnecessary purchases like toilet paper and tampons.

Any other ideas on how to help our elected representatives do their jobs?

March 20, 2017

signing in gets me a warning about insecure connection...

Something new from Firefox. Should I be worried? Should I do something?

https://support.mozilla.org/t5/Protect-your-privacy/Insecure-password-warning-in-Firefox/ta-p/27861

March 20, 2017

For the other two Vera Lynn admirers

I didn't even know she was still alive. Amazing.
http://pictorial.jezebel.com/beloved-wartime-singer-vera-lynn-turns-100-1793438239

To fully fathom the meaning of Vera Lynn to the British, you have to picture a British soldier, in the depths of Britain’s despair at the outset of World War II, hunkered down somewhere in North Africa, wondering how, if ever, it would end and whether, if ever, he’d get home.

“We were very lucky,” said one such soldier, William Pitcher, in a 1996 oral history. “All the war, even the worst of times, we had a good short wave radio system. In fact, I can remember it was desert, we’d, in the nighttime, on Saturday nights when Vera Lynn come on we’d get the radio off the truck and we’d cover ourselves up with tarp and turn it on. And we’d listen to Vera sing to the troops on a Friday night, on the radio.”

“We’ll Meet Again” is particularly tearjerking when you consider its wartime context: “We’ll meet again, Don’t know where, don’t know when, But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.”