14 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
1.9 Cases of Leukemia per 10,000 CT Scans in Children
In the breakdown of results, the study authors from Group Health Research Institute and University of California, Davis note that the risk of developing leukemia was highest from head scans for kids under age 5 with a rate of 1.9 cases per 10,000 CT scans. Younger children and girls seemed more susceptible to solid cancers than older kids and boys. Every 300 to 390 scans of a girl’s abdomen or pelvis was associated with the development of one solid cancer. The study estimates that 4,870 fut...
1 19 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
Reza Aslan's Eloquent Dismissal of Generalizations
REZA ASLAN, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE: Well, I like Bill Maher. I have been on his show a bunch of times. He's a comedian.
But, you know, frankly, when it comes to the topic of religion, he's not very sophisticated in the way that he thinks. I mean, the argument about the female genital mutilation being an Islamic problem is a perfect example of that. It's not an Islamic problem. It's an African problem.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Well, wait, wait, wait.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Hol... 1 
notes
notes03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
The Silence of the Universe is Significant
Geoff Marcy, the University of California at Berkeley astronomer who has found scores of exoplanets, and who has diligently searched for signs of anything artificial in the data, says the silence is significant: “If our Milky Way Galaxy were teeming with thousands of advanced civilizations, as depicted in science-fiction books and movies, we would already know about them. They would be sending probes to thousands of nearby stars. They would have a galactic Internet composed of laser beams a...Folksonomies: extraterrestrial life
Folksonomies: extraterrestrial life
1 notes
notesThe fact that we can't detect anything out there means there may be nothing to detect.
20 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
It is Impossible to Keep Up with New Knowledge
No man's model of reality is a purely personal product. While some of his images are
based on firsthand observation, an increasing proportion of them today are based on
messages beamed to us by the mass media and the people around us. Thus the degree of
accuracy in his model to some extent reflects the general level of knowledge in society. And
as experience and scientific research pump more refined and accurate knowledge into society,
new concepts, new ways of thinking, supersede, contradict... 1 notes
notesThe growth of knowledge is too fast for anyone to keep on top of it, even in specialized fields. Is the solution for everyone to become generalists?
22 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Sid Myer's "Civilization" as an Educational Tool
[Kurt D.] Squire has studied middle school kids who played Civ3. He found that some students who were able to spend the hours needed to learn the game began to identify “rules” by which history progressed; rules that apply to such issues as resource allocation, the tradeoff between aggressive military expansion and diplomacy, and technological exchange among societies. Weir, who had college juniors and seniors playing every day for three weeks in a summer course, says some of the game sce...
2 Perspectives from a selection of Professors who use the game to teach history, be it the trade-offs in growth, the way modern culture colors the portrayal of history in the game, and the way the game allows for speculation about alternative histories.
13 APR 2013 by ideonexus
How the Brain Handles Novelty and Routine
When faced with complexity, our first response is to retreat to the familiar, even if the familiar means failing. But in addition to reverting to what is familiar, we also have another reaction: fear.
We are hardwired to perceive real change as threatening, so we instinctively reject it. Sure, a few of us have the courage and tenacity to attack the complex, the unknown, and the risky. After all, this is hiow new discoveries are made.
But many more of us do not.
Why not?
It turns out t... 1 notes
notesThe frontal cortex is wired to handle novelty and the basal ganglia wired to handle routine, when we live in a world of constant novelty, is our gut reaction to oppose everything?
24 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Mozart and Intelligence
One of the more startling findings about early enrichment is the effect of music. You can hardly pick up a newspaper without seeing some kind of reference to how Mozart makes people smarter. The governor of Georgia recently proposed spending $105,000 of state money to provide every newborn baby with a compact disc of classical music, citing its positive effects on brain development and spatial and mathematical skills. What is it about classical music that is so good for mental function, and a... 1 notes
notesWhy we suspect playing Mozart for infants will make them more intelligent.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
More Females are Born in Times of Stress
A stress-related decline in the sex ratio is no anomaly, but a biological mechanism that evolved to keep the species going, according to Ralph Catalano, professor of public health at the University of California, Berkeley. “From an evolutionary perspective, in stressful eras it’s a smarter bet to have a female child than a male child. A daughter is more apt to provide you with grandchildren,” Catalano tells me. In hard times, he explains, weak males are less likely to survive and to rep...Folksonomies: pregnancy fetal development
Folksonomies: pregnancy fetal development
1 notes
notesIt makes sense evolutionarily to have females during times of stress as males are less likely to survive.
03 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
If Humans Were Like Chimpanzees
If we were hairless chimpanzees, our society would still Dok fairly familiar in some ways. We would live in families, be very social, hierarchical, group-territorial, and aggressive toward other groups than those we belong to. In other words, we would be family-based, urban, class-conscious, nationalist, and belligerent, which we are. Adult males would spend more time trying to climb the political hierarchy than with their families. But when we turn to sex, things would begin to look very dif...Much would be the same, but we would be very different sexually.
