Genus homo

DNA Turning Human Story Into a Tell-All
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/science/gains-in-dna-are-speeding-research-into-human-origins.html

A skull that rewrites the history of man
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/a-skull-that-rewrites-the-history-of-man-1783861.html#

Confirmed: All non-African people are part Neanderthal
http://io9.com/5822357/confirmed-all-non+african-people-are-part-neanderthal

Breeding with Neanderthals helped humans go global
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028174.000-breeding-with-neanderthals-helped-humans-go-global.html

Humans may have Neanderthals to thank for brains, U of C research suggests
http://chicagomaroon.com/2006/11/21/humans-may-have-neanderthals-to-thank-for-brains-u-of-c-research-suggests/

Boas, Bones, and Race
http://www.rps.psu.edu/0305/boas.html

The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001071

James Watson Tells the Inconvenient Truth: Faces the Consequences
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/10/james-watson-tells-inconvenient-truth_296.php

Liberal Creationism
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/features/2007/created_equal/liberalcreationism.html

Race differences in average IQ are largely genetic
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2005/04/26/9530.aspx

The Broken Window Effect

I found this video interesting. Maybe you will too, if not I hope you accidentally fall into an industrial wood chipper.

Flouridation of the Water Supply

More on this topic later, but for now:

• Researchers are intensifying their scrutiny of fluoride, which is added to most public water systems in the U.S. Some recent studies suggest that over consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland.
• A 2006 report by a committee of the National Research Council recommended that the federal government lower its current limit for fluoride in drinking water because of health risks to both children and adults.

Source: http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v298/n1/full/scientificamerican0108-74.html 

99% of western continental Europe has rejected, banned, or stopped fluoridation due to environmental, health, legal, or ethical concerns.
Only about 5% of the world population is fluoridated and more than 50% of these people live in North America.

Source: http://www.fluoridation.com/c-country.htm

According to Cancer Causes & Control, fluoridated water increases the risk of cancer significantly in certain age groups.

Source: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/AtHome/water-fluoridation-and-cancer-risk

Dartmouth researcher suggests that fluoridated water is dangerous to human health.

Source: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2001/mar01/flouride.html

The World Health Organization says fluoridated water does not improve oral hygiene:

Source: http://www.who.int/oral_health/media/en/orh_report03_en.pdf

The most comprehensive study ever performed on whether or not fluoridated water improves dental health concludes that people in areas with fluoridated water have essentially identical oral health to people who don't: http://www.icnr.com/articles/national-fluoride-tooth-decay-study.html

All of the information gathered from the sources I've presented here seem to have drawn one of two conclusions:
1.  Fluoridation of the water supply is detrimental
2.  Flouridation of the water supply has no conclusive benefits to oral health

Given those two conclusions, I don't see the point of fluoridating the water supply, especially in light of the research that suggests it is potentially harmful.  Even if it turns out that those studies were flawed and fluoridation isn't harmful, there's still no point in fluoridating our water.  We'll just have to wait and see what future studies find, but I, for one, would rather NOT take and chances and would like to see an end to the fluoridation of our water supply, just to stay on the safe side.

Thoughts?

Alternative Sleep Schedules

I hate sleep.  It is boring, it is lame, it is a waste of time.
I hate the fact that sleep is a necessity.  All of the time I spend sleeping could be spent on learning and improving myself.

I have been engaging in an "every other night" sleep pattern for some time.  That is, I pull an all nighter one night then sleep at a normal time the next night.  I've been able to function semi-normally with this pattern, except there are some noticeable side-effects that occur after I've been up for ~35 hours, such as twitching, irritability, jumpiness, slight hallucinations, depression, increased mucus production, and more.

I may feel moderately normal and be able to function properly, but I know it is having negative impacts on my body.  Therefore, I've decided not to continue with this sleep pattern.

However, I am still searching for ways to maximize the amount of time I'm awake without it having a negative impact on my health.  An interesting alternative to the monophasic (traditional) sleep pattern, is called the Uberman sleep schedule.  It a polyphasic sleep pattern.  That means sleeping multiple times during the day.  The goal of the Uberman sleep schedule is to maximize your REM sleep and minimize your non-REM sleep.  This is accomplished by going into REM sleep within a couple minutes and staying in REM sleep until you wake up.  REM sleep is the phase of sleep that benefits your mind.  The actual pattern of the Uberman sleep schedule is six 20-30 minute naps spread evenly throughout the day.

This doesn't happen instantly.  You have to adjust to it, which may take a few weeks.  If you are interested in the Uberman sleep schedule and the effects of it, you can read this blog which is a daily journal of someone who attempted the Uberman sleep schedule.  I plan on implementing this sleep pattern when I have a more open schedule, just to see what it's like.

Here are some other sleep patterns:

 

Biphasic sleep seems pointless because you barely gain any time, if any.  The Everyman sleep cycle is interesting, but it seems like you wouldn't gain much time.  Dymaxion sleep is also interesting, it seems like an altered version of the Uberman sleep schedule.

The other alternative is sleep learning.  I don't know how effective sleep learning is, if I find out that sleep learning does actually work, then it might be the best option, because you get the full 8 hours of sleep.

However, if you were really adamant about utilizing every hour of your day, you could do the Uberman sleep cycle and engage in sleep learning while you nap.

That's it for now.   

First AIDS patient cured

After replacing the CD4 cells of a man with AIDS via stem cell transplant using bone marrow that is resistant to HIV, German scientists believe they may have discovered the cure for AIDS. 

However, the process that led to this breakthrough was arduous and painstaking.  It does not seem likely that doctors will develop a quick cure for quite some time.

http://www.slashgear.com/aids-cure-with-stem-cell-transplant-found-claim-german-doctors-14119371/

Honeybee killer found

I remember the mystery of the disappearing bees being pretty big news some years ago.  There was somewhat of a scare associated with it.  We need the bees because the bees pollinate many crops we eat and plants that we utilize.  If the bees ever went extinct it would cause a global crisis.

Like most events in the news, the disappearing bees phenomenon was big for some time, but then seemed to lose the interest of people until no one cared about it anymore.

Well after spending some time scouring the internet, the missing bees phenomenon was rekindled.  Why?  Because the culprit was found!  Turns out there's more than one killer killing the bees.

Maryland military scientists working with bee experts in Montana have found the culprits to be a fungus and a virus.  Teaming up, the fungus and virus kill the bees by working in the bee's digestive tracts.   Though they still aren't certain how germs kill bees they believe it has something to do with nutrition.

Looks like that global crisis won't happening after all.  Oh well, at least we have global warming to fall back on and if that doesn't pan out, we still have the eschaton to look forward to.

Original article:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/honeybee-killer-found/eureka/

Can CO2 be reverted to fuel?

In the 1990s Lin Chao of Princeton university bubbled carbon dioxide into an electrochemical cell. Using cathodes made from the element palladium and a catalyst known as pyridinium, he discovered that applying an electric current would assemble methanol from the CO2.

In 2003, amid the growing concern of CO2 pollution, Chao's successor Andrew Bocarsly set out to find a solution to the problem.  Picking up where Bocarsly left off, Emily Barton, by using an electrochemical cell that employs a semiconducting material used in photovoltaic solar cells for one of its electrodes, succeeded in tapping sunlight to transform CO2 into the basic fuel.

Basically what they are doing is what plants have been doing forever:  turning CO2 into fuel.

This could help humanity in numerous ways, it would slow down climate change, help secure our energy, lessen the federal deficit, and possibly even lower the unemployment rate.

Original article:  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=turning-carbon-dioxide-back-into-fuel

Aluminum as strong as steel

SCIENCE!

Researchers at NC state have created an aluminum alloy that is just as strong as steel. This discovery is important because using an alloy that has the same strength of steel yet weighs much less can be instrumental in manufacturing many things, from more fuel efficient cars to lighter planes.

How did they do it? NANO-STRUCTURING. Nanotech is wonderful, isn't it?

full article: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/162mkzhu/

God did not create Universe: Hawking

Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest minds alive today. You might know him as "the wheelchair guy" (the result of his ALS.) If you don't know who he is...well, you should feel bad.



Recently Hawking has been sharing his wisdom on the topic of the creation of the universe. According to Hawking:

God no longer has any place in theories on the creation of the Universe due to a series of developments in physics.

He goes on:

Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.
It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.

Does this mean he's right? Of course not. Stephen Hawking is just a man (albeit a monstrously smart one) but that doesn't mean he's omniscient, but that's not the point. The main point is that this is a neon pink bitch slap right across the faces of all the theists who assert that there has to be a god that started everything. I don't intend this post to be a theist bash by the way. If you happen to be a theist and wish to disprove Hawking then provide the evidence. Show him that the laws of science alone are not enough to account for all this or something akin to that, but don't just bawwwwwwww or rage.

Link to article: http://www.physorg.com/news202663530.html

What do you think?

Penis head

Good news for all the people who dreamed that one day they'd be able to grow sexual organs on their heads.

Female snails in Perth Australia have been found to grow  penises on their heads.  The mutation comes from exposure to the chemical TBT.  The condition is known as "imposex" and in some areas with a high rate of TBT the rate of imposex was 100%.

Just wait til TBT gets into the drinking water and humans start growing sexual organs from their heads.



http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/female-snails-grow-penises-on-heads-20100910-154ua.html