30 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
The Violent Past of Otzi and Kennewick Man
In 1991 two hikers stumbled upon a corpse poking out of a melting glacier in the Tyrolean Alps. Thinking that it was the victim of a skiing accident, rescue workers jackhammered the body out of the ice, damaging his thigh and his backpack in the process. Only when an archaeologist spotted a Neolithic copper ax did people realize that the man was five thousand years old.2
Ötzi the Iceman, as he is now called, became a celebrity. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine and has been the subj... 1 
notes
notes04 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
An Algorithm for Predicting Longevity
For the test, participants exercised on a treadmill at increasing speed and incline. While they were exercising, the researches measured peak heart rate (%MPHR) and their ability to withstand physical exertion. On that latter point, they measured metabolic equivalents, or METs, which gauges how much energy the body expends during exercise. The more intense the exercise, the higher the METs (e.g. slow walking = ~2 METs, whereas running = ~8 METs).
[...]
FIT Treadmill Score = %MPHR 12(M...
1 You can get your MPHR for your age here. I found a chart of METS here for various exercises.
| Activity | METS | Activity | METS |
| Aerobic Dancing | 6.0 | Running 12 min/mile | 8.5 |
| Backpacking | 7.0 | Racquetball | 8.0 |
| Badminton | 7.0 | Rugby | 8.3 |
| Basketball | 6.0 | Skating ice/roller | 7.0 |
| Bicycling - 24mph | 5.0 | Skiing cross country | 8.0 |
| Calisthenics | 4.5 | Soccer | 8.0 |
| Golf | 5.0 | Softball | 5.0 |
| Gymnastics | 5.5 | Swimming | 6.0 |
| Handball | 8.0 | Tennis | 7.0 |
| Hockey | 8.0 | Volleyball | 4.0 |
| Horse riding | 3.5 | Walking | 3.5 |
| Running 8 min/mile | 12.5 | Weight lifting | 4.5 |
| Stage | Minutes | % grade | km/h | MPH | METS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 10 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 5 |
| 2 | 3 | 12 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 7 |
| 3 | 3 | 14 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 10 |
| 4 | 3 | 16 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 13 |
| 5 | 3 | 18 | 8.0 | 5.0 | 15 |
| 6 | 3 | 20 | 8.8 | 5.5 | 18 |
| 7 | 3 | 22 | 9.6 | 6.0 | 20 |
Total Durations = 21 minutes
So, if I'm understanding this correctly. If I reach a 160 heart rate out of 179.0 MPHR predicted for my 41 years of age while running 12 minute miles worth 8.5 METS. My score would be:
83.7 12(8.5) - 4(41) = 21.7
The same heart rate for my age running 8 minute miles:
83.7 12(8.5) - 4(41) = 69.7
24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Human Memory, Computer Memory
Almost all of those limits start with a peculiar fact about human memory: Although we are pretty good at storing information in our brains, we are pretty poor at retrieving it. We can recognize photos from our high school yearbooks decades later, yet find it impossible to remember what we had for breakfast yesterday. Faulty memories have been known to lead to erroneous eyewitness testimony (and false imprisonment), to marital friction (in the form of overlooked anniversaries), and even death ...Folksonomies: memory human condition
Folksonomies: memory human condition
Gary Marcus describes how human memory is haphazard, context-specific. We can't retrieve a specific detail easily, but we can if we are in the right context to trigger its retrieval.
