24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Steps to Colonizing Space
The third technological revolution which I see coming is the expansion of life's habitat from Earth into the solar system and beyond. This revolution may take a little longer than the other two. Perhaps it may take as long as a hundred years from now. In charting a possible course for this revolution, I take as my guide Ben Finney, an anthropologist at the University of Hawaii who has made a detailed study of the Polynesian navigators and their voyages of colonization from island to island ac...Folksonomies: space colonization
Folksonomies: space colonization
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notes
notes21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
There is a mass exodus into the virtual world
The real world just doesn’t offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures,
the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by
virtual environments. Reality doesn’t motivate us as effectively. Reality isn’t
engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn’t designed from the bottom
up to make us happy.
And so, there is a growing perception in the gaming community:
Reality, compared to games, is broken.
In fact, it is more than a perception. It’s a phenom...Folksonomies: education gamification
Folksonomies: education gamification
1 notes
notes28 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Bilinguals Perform Better at Non-Verbal Tests
When communicating, bilinguals must successfully manage two conflicting
languages; one must be accessed whilst the other is suppressed, in order to avoid involuntary language switching. The cognitive demands of this task are thought to be the origin of the bilingual advantage in executive control.
A series of studies have demonstrated that bilinguals outperform their peers on
tests of non-linguistic interference. Bilingual children, middle aged adults and older adults consistently record fa...Folksonomies: cognition bilingualism
Folksonomies: cognition bilingualism
1 notes
notesEarly bilingual children perform better at sensory tasks, while children who became bilingual at adolescence perform better at conflict resolution tasks.
27 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Psychology Studies Sample WEIRD Humans
[This paper is] about another exotic group: people from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and
Democratic (WEIRD)societies. In particular, it’s about the Western, and more specifically
American, undergraduates who form the bulk of the database in the experimental branches of
psychology, cognitive science, and economics, as well as allied fields(labeled the “behavioral
sciences”).
[...]
Who are the people studied in behavioral science research? A recent analysis of the top
journa... 1 notes
notesA culture not representative of the species.
18 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Laws of Anthropology
Anthropology has reached that point of development where the careful investigation of facts shakes our firm belief in the far-reaching theories that have been built up. The complexity of each phenomenon dawns on our minds, and makes us desirous of proceeding more cautiously. Heretofore we have seen the features common to all human thought. Now we begin to see their differences. We recognize that these are no less important than their similarities, and the value of detailed studies becomes app...Folksonomies: natural history anthropology
Folksonomies: natural history anthropology
1 notes
notesAnthropologists need a firm and accurate grasp of history before they can begin to induct laws from it.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Science is a Relay Race
Indeed, there is a particular problem with finding endings in science. Where do these science stories really finish? Science is truly a relay race, with each discovery handed on to the next generation. Even as one door is closing, another door is already being thrown open. So it is with this book. The great period of Victorian science is about to begin. The new stories are passed into the hands of Michael Faraday, John Herschel, Charles Darwin …and the world of modern science begins to rush...
1 It is difficult to know where to end a story about science, because the discoveries never cease and will continue into the future.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Convergent Evolution in Mammals and Marsupials
The most famous example of different species filling similar roles
involves the marsupial mammals, now found mainly in Australia
(the Virginia opossum is a familiar exception), and placental mammals,
which predominate elsewhere in the world. The two groups show important
anatomical differences, most notably in their reproductive systems
(almost all marsupials have pouches and give birth to very undeveloped
young, while placentals have placentas that enable young to be born at
a more advanced ...Although they have very different reproductive strategies, the two groups have many parallels in species adapted to the same environments.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Convergent Evolution in Cacti and Succulents
Let’s begin with one observation that strikes anyone who travels widely.
If you go to two distant areas that have similar climate and terrain,
you find different types of life. Take deserts. Many desert plants are
succulents: they show an adaptive combination of traits that include
large fleshy stems to store water, spines to deter predators, and small or
missing leaves to reduce water loss. But different deserts have different
types of succulents. In North and South America, the succulents... 1 notes
notesThe two groups of species share many many traits, but they exist in completely different parts of the world, evolving separately, but converging to be almost interchangeable.
28 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Evidence of Global Warming in Just the Past 12 Months
Is the climate crisis real? Yes, of course it is. Pause for a moment to consider these events of just the past 12 months:
• Heat. According to NASA, 2010 was tied with 2005 as the hottest year measured since instruments were first used systematically in the 1880s. Nineteen countries set all-time high temperature records. One city in Pakistan, Mohenjo-Daro, reached 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature ever measured in an Asian city. Nine of the 10 hottest years in history h...Al Gore summarizes extreme weather events and other natural phenomena as a result of Global Warming from just the past year.
16 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Lyrics to Storm
Inner North London, top floor flatAll white walls, white carpet, white cat,Rice Paper partitionsModern art and ambitionThe host’s a physician,Lovely bloke, has his own practiceHis girlfriend’s an actressAn old mate from homeAnd they’re always great fun.So to dinner we’ve come. The 5th guest is an unknown,The hosts have just thrownUs together for a favourbecause this girl’s just arrived from AustraliaAnd has moved to North LondonAnd she’s the sister of someoneOr has some connectio...A beat poem that is hilarious in its defense of skepticism against pseudoscience.
