27 JUL 2018 by ideonexus
The Great Lifespan Escape
At the time when the lines begin, in the mid-18th century, life expectancy in Europe and the Americas was around 35, where it had been parked for the 225 previous years for which we have data.3 Life expectancy for the world as a whole was 29. These numbers are in the range of expected life spans for most of human history. The life expectancy of hunter-gatherers is around 32.5, and it probably decreased among the peoples who first took up farming because of their starchy diet and the diseases ... 1 
notes
notes06 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
Of All Times in which to Live, You Would Choose Today
I don't think in terms of one year, but I can tell people what I genuinely believe, which is that if we take responsibility in being involved in our own fate if we participate, if we engage, if we speak out, if we work in our communities, if we volunteer, if we see the joy that comes from service to others, then all the problems that we face are solvable despite all the terrible news that you see, despite all the genuine cruelty, pain, and hardship people are experiencing all around the world...Folksonomies: optimism
Folksonomies: optimism
1 notes
notes13 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Phonetic Orthography in Spain and Italy
Fonetic spelling, in one form or another, has been,
and is now, used by progressiv teachers in England
and America as an introduction and an aid to the
study of the current orthografy. Their experience is
that children can spel correctly that is, fonetically
the words they ar able to pronounce, as soon as
they hav learnd the alfabet employd, and the principle
of combining letters into sillables.
In languages such as Italian and Spanish, that hav
approximately fonetic alfabets, appro...
1 There is a cost savings that comes with reducing the number of years spent teaching spelling.
24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Astronomers Inventing Planets Based on Circumstantial Evi...
It happened three times in the past that theoretical astronomers invented a new planet on the basis of indirect and circumstantial evidence. The first time was in 1845 when Adams and Leverrier independently deduced the existence of the planet Neptune from the perturbations which it had produced in the motion of Uranus. One year later, Neptune was duly discovered in the predicted region of the sky. The successful prediction of the presence of an unseen planet was one {31} of the great events... 1 notes
notes28 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Actuarial Escape Velocity
actuarial escape velocity is defined as occurring when a year of medical research adds more than a year’s worth of longevity to the total population. Nothing even close to this has ever been achieved, and emerging signs of an asymptotic curve in progress suggest this velocity may neverA medical concept, when medical research extends lifespans at a rate of more than one year per one year of research.
17 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
Fire is Unwinding the Sun's Energy from the Trees
Nobody is bom a specialist. Every child is born with comprehensive interests, asking the most comprehensively logical and relevant questions. Pointing to the logs burning in the fireplace, one child asked me, "What is fire?" I answered, "Fire is the Sun unwinding from the tree's log. The Earth revolves and the trees revolve as the radiation from the Sun's flame reaches the revolving planet Earth. By photosynthesis the green buds and leaves of the tree convert that Sun radiation into hydrocarb...
1 Every year the trees store the sun's energy in a ring. When we burn the tree, we are unwrapping that energy.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Pioneer 10 Plaque
On the title page of this chapter is shown the message. It is etched on a 6-inch
by 9-inch gold-anodized aluminum plate, attached to the antenna support struts of
Pioneer 10. The expected erosion rate in interstellar space is sufficiently small that this message should remain intact for hundreds of millions of years, and probably
for a much longer period of time. It is, thus, the artifact of mankind with the
longest expected lifetime.
The message itself intends to communicate the locale, ep... 1 notes
notesCarl Sagan describes everything that went into the symbolism of this message sent to the stars.
08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Babies Categorize Sounds Before Words
As they hear us talk, babies are busily grouping the sounds they hear into the right categories, the categories their particular language uses. By one year of age, babies' speech categories begin to resemble those of the adults in their culture. Pat conducted some even more complicated experiments with Swedish babies using simple vowels to see how early they start organizing the sounds of their language in an adult-like way. She showed that at six months the process has already begun. The six...Babies learn the sounds of their language, which gives them the ability to distinguish and categorize words later on.
29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Weening Among Human Ancestors
Archaeologists have discovered that since the Pleistocene, humans lave always suckled infants for several years. Using biochemical analysis given human population when its children moved from breast milk to other foods. In one group of skeletons from South Dakota dated between 5500-2000 b.c., children were apparently depending on food other than mother's milk by the time they were twenty months of age.^' Recorded history also tells a similar story. Middle Eastern groups in 3000 B.C. were brea...Folksonomies: evolution breastfeeding
Folksonomies: evolution breastfeeding
A survey of ancient cultures and estimates of when they weened their children onto other foods.
29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Adverse Health Effects of Formula Feeding
More significantly, the breast—bottle controversy has moved far away from the question of what is best for babies. The decision for substitute milk is influenced by the pressures of corporations, their advertising, and their lobbies. The money game behind the production of formula has overpowered what might be best for babies here in first-world countries and for babies more at risk in third-world countries. It takes about $1,800 a year to feed an infant some kind of powdered or canned form... 1 notes
notesFormula feeding results in unnecessary expenses for poor people when a free alternative exists as well as having a deleterious effect on infant health that results in many deaths each year.
