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POPSCooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart We started innovating. We tried different materials, such as bone, and invented many new tools, including needles for beadwork. Responding to, presumably, our first abstract thoughts, we started creating art and maybe even religion. To understand what caused the cognitive spurt, Khaitovich and colleagues examined chemical brain processes known to have changed in the past 200,000 years. Comparing apes and humans, they found the most robust differences were for processes involved in energy metabolism. The finding suggests that increased access to calories spurred our cognitive advances, said Khaitovich, carefully adding that definitive claims of causation are premature. The research is detailed in the August 2008 issue of Genome Biology.
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POPSSeals help measure Southern Ocean It's not easy to measure for us to measure the currents,and temperatures under the ice, but the seals have no trouble. A simple solution to what may otherwise have been a difficult problem to solve. The ice caps and polar oceans can provide critical information concerning the temperature regulation of the planet so details of changes are necessary to contribute to any picture we might pretend to have. I wonder if they've tried penguins?
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POPSCritical Neuroscience: popularisation and ideology Good to see that scientists themselves are raising concerns to do with the mishmash of mass media titbits about neuroscience that act ideologically to reinforce dominant social ideas pertaining to power, human nature and the political economy.
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POPSThe Earth's 6th Great Mass Extinction is Occurring as You Read This With the human population expected to reach 9-10 billion by the end of the century and the planet in the middle of its sixth mass extinction — this time due to human activity — the next few years are critical in conserving Earth’s precious biodiversity. The cause of the Sixth Extinction, Homo sapiens, means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part. At a casual glance, the physically caused extinction events of the past might seem to have little or nothing to tell us about the current Sixth Extinction, which is a human-caused event. For there is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through transformation of the landscape, overexploitation of species, pollution, and the introduction of alien species
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POPSSocial Networking for Lawyers Excellent point. You didn't wait to list in the Yellow Pages until everyone else had. You did it right away, and went for the big ad, right?
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POPSKerry: On September 11, 2001 We Were At Peace May 30, 2008 UPDATE: Responding to Kerry's claim, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said: "It’s absolutely critical that the next Commander in Chief understands the challenges America faces. Yet it’s clear that Barack Obama has a thin understanding of history and fails to grasp the threat of terrorism." "After a week’s worth of examples demonstrating Obama’s lack of preparedness to serve as president, his campaign is understandably desperate to shift the focus. Considering it’s now been 873 days since Obama visited Iraq, any suggestion that he even understands what’s happening on the ground is laughable."
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POPSPhysicians Create List of Who Will Live and Die Who is Out of Luck? It's being recommended that every hospital choose a triage team to decide who will get lifesaving treatment and who will not, but the guidelines already spell out some people who are supposed to be denied care. They include: * People older than 85 * People with severe trauma, such as critical injuries from car crashes and shootings * Severely burned patients older than 60 * People with severe mental impairment, such as advanced Alzheimer's disease * People with severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes
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POPSConservatives' Hate-Based Campaign Against Obama "When the controversy over Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright reached critical mass last week, it was the political equivalent of the green flag at a NASCAR race. The conservative strategists and talkers had been slowly circling the track, feet itchy on the accelerator, just waiting for the signal to floor it. But now, as The Politico reported in a story titled "GOP sees Rev. Wright as path to victory," the Republican strategists know exactly what must be done, starting with famed ad man Alex Castellanos: "All the sudden you've got two dots, and two dots make a line," said Castellanos. "You start getting some sense of who he is, and it's not the Obama you thought. He's not the Tiger Woods of politics." As Castellanos knows well, these kinds of attacks have their greatest power when they tap into pre-existing archetypes voters already carry with them, and the deeper they reside in our lizard brains the better."
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POPSGive Peace a Chance! Elect Women?!?! The list of female presidents is astounding. Everywhere in the world it seems, except America!!! It starts with Asia, Latin America, Europe and of course Ireland but no American. The Brits even have 'sour puss' herself, the majesty, but no American. I'm not suggesting that Hillary would be the ideal role model for future presidential candidates. Far from it and with a black man running its difficult to know which artificial barrier America should surmount first. Making it a more complicated choice is that the other candidate is old enough to be my father and I'm a grandfather!!! So age before beauty. Only in America! Oh god! Not again. He was always badly mentally endowed so how will it be know when he finally goes ga ga??? His short arm wave is so reminiscent of Bush!!! Frightening.
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POPSNew Phone-to-web sync tool? Syncy is covered by TechCrunch writer Roi Carthy. Looks like an interesting service that may provide real value to those looking to not only sync their phone address/contact information, but also use that as the basis for a social network.
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POPSFungus threatens mass extinction of frogs and other amphibians In addition to their intrinsic value, they offer many benefits and are a critical part of a healthy world. They play an important role in the food web as both predator and prey, eating insects which benefits agriculture and minimizes disease spread. Their skin also has substances that protect them from some microbes and viruses, offering promising medical cures for a variety of human diseases. The outcome of the Amphibian Ark project will be that we will have saved hundreds if not thousands of species from extinction. We also will have developed a capacity both within our institutions and globally to continue to provide amphibian species with care and protection when needed, formed a true partnership between offsite and onsite components of conservation, and demonstrated to the world that zoos and aquariums are essential conservation organizations.”
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POPSCandidates Missing Most Important Issue The article continues and bears reading in full: "My fellow Americans, we are facing a national emergency. A global emergency. Unless we act decisively this next presidential term, it may well be too late. The current administration and Congress by January 2008 will together have squandered eight critical years, but we will not squander another. Accordingly, my administration, on assuming office, will immediately issue an executive order adding a 100 percent tax on gasoline at the pump, with all funds to be dedicated to research and development of non-carbon energy and mass transit. I would further establish a federal tax on all new vehicles, with a sliding scale based upon their actual gas mileage. There would be a federal tax credit for scrapping cars, also based upon their gas mileage, to encourage the destruction and recycling of older gas-guzzling vehicles.
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POPSReport Cites China's Cyber-Warfare Plans See PITAC report (2005, I think) for more information on the "Crisis of Prioritization" in protecting the infostructure on which nearly every facet of American life depends. Another great read is "The Cyber War of 2002" (@ http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.02/cyberwar.html)
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POPSNew Element Discovered When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium…an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
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