19 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
The Unmentioned Trade-Offs in Life Extention
Now it is not that the cell biologists can’t point to experiments which seem to fit their views, as is common in natural science. (After all, the Earth’s Moon does indeed have a geocentric orbit.) Good colleagues of mine like Robert Reis are able to produce nematode worms that live ten times longer than their unmutated controls, if they use ingenious genetic and environmental manipulation. But nematodes have well-developed physiological machinery for sustaining states of metabolic arrest,...
1 From Michael R. Rose's "Immortalist Fictions and Strategies"
25 JUL 2014 by ideonexus
The Paleo Meat-Eater Myth
So, myth one is that humans are evolved to eat meat and that Palaeolithic peoples consumed large quantities of meat. Humans have no known anatomical, physiological, or genetic adaptations to meat consumption. Quite the opposite, we have many adaptations to plant consumption.
Take, for example, vitamin C. Carnivores can make their own vitamin C, because vitamin C is found in plants. If you don’t eat plants, you need to make it yourself. We can’t make it, we have to consume it from plants....Folksonomies: diet
Folksonomies: diet
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notes20 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Plight of Man
Life through many long periods has been manifested in a countless host of varying structures, all circumscribed by one general plan, each appointed to a definite place, and limited to an appointed duration. On the whole the earth has been thus more and more covered by the associated life of plants and animals, filling all habitable space with beings capable of enjoying their own existence or ministering to the enjoyment of others; till finally, after long preparation, a being was created capa... 1 notes
notesLife has evolved into every niche over billions of years, and we show up to wonder at it all.
31 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
An Early Incorrect Assumption About Plate Tectonics
Though the theories of plate tectonics now provide us with a modus operandi, they still seem to me to be a periodic phenomenon. Nothing is world-wide, but everything is episodic. In other words, the history of anyone part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror. That they occur dramatically and infrequently; as opposed to our modern understanding of them being gradual and perpetual.
08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Nature is a Teaching Machine
Nature seems to act on us as a teaching machine. When a scientist reaches a new understanding of nature, he or she experiences an intense pleasure. These experiences over long periods have taught us how to judge what sort of scientific theory will provide the pleasure of understanding nature. 1 notes
notesScientists experience intense pleasure from studying nature.
29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Instinctual Breastfeeding
From an evolutionary point of view, it would seem that last-feeding should be one of the more instinctual behaviors, like eating or sleeping or sex. In most mammals, if mothers don't know how to offer their milk or babies don't know how to suckle, the infant dies. If die purpose of reproduction is to pass on genes, it would seem that feeding would be one of the more hard-wired biological behaviors. In explanation, Wiessinger offered this story: A female gorilla, born and raised in a zoo, gave...Breastfeeding is instinctual, so that separating the mother from the infant can prevent it from happening, but there is a cultural aspect to it as well for primates.
29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Cross-Species Milk
Our notions of mother's milk come from what we see, and for most of us the milk we see is cow's milk, a brilliant white liquid. But milk from other species looks quite different—kangaroo milk, for example, is pink. But whatever the hue, breast milk is species-specific; that is, the composition is finely tuned to the particular growth and maturational needs and digestive system of the young of each species.^ ^ For example, cow's milk is higher in volatile fatty acids than human milk, and hum... 1 notes
notesA comparison of the milk produced by females of various species, its nutritional content, and what that tells us about their lifestyle.
29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Temperament in Babies as an Evolutionary Adaptation
It might also be difficult to extend the categories of temperament across cultures when the categories mean different things in different environments. For example, "difficult" babies in Western cultures are those who do not sleep for long periods and those who cry. Under a different caretaking package, these reactions would not even show up. More important, there is no reason to assume that what is "bad" in one culture will end up "bad" in another culture. Dutch researcher Marten de Vries fo... 1 notes
notesDifficult babies in Western cultures are better able to survive harsh conditions in Third World cultures.
21 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Step-by-Step Relaxation
Your wife can be shown the principles of relaxation and she can be taught the consciousness of her muscles' state of tension in prenatal classes under the supervision of experienced teachers. Being a human animal, however, she needs to practice these principles at home daily in order to perfect them. This you can help her do. A suggested time is just before retiring for the night, as a prelude to sleep. This serves a double purpose: It establishes her self-confidence in her physical relaxatio...Good for getting through labor.
18 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Primitive Women were Scientists
rhe systematic development of knowledge and technology that we all 'science' originated in the millennia of prehistory, and early vomen were among these first 'scientists'. They invented tools, accumulated knowledge about edible and medicinal plants, and 3robably discovered 'the chemistry of pot-making, the physics of spinning, the mechanics of the loom, and the botany of flax anc ;otton'.i These developments occurred over long periods of time arising independently in different parts of the w... 1 notes
notesWith gathering being our primary mode of operation in primitive society, the responsibility fell on women to do the scientific research.
