Christina's Thoughts

So much for the "Alpha Male" idea of wolf packs.

L. David Mech is a famous wolf researcher (and a blogger about his research). If you have heard of a concept of "alpha-male" it is because of ideas from an old book of his, about social structure of wolf societies.

However, most of the early research on wolves was done on artificially built groups, e.g., wolves caught in various places all put together in a single wolf pen at a zoo. In such rare and unnatural situations, these stranger-wolves do indeed form social hierarchies (or "pecking order" - a term that arose from studies of chickens). But such situations rarely if ever happen out in nature. A pack of wolves is usually composed of Mother, Father and their (sometimes quite grown-up) offspring: closely related individuals who know each other well.

These days, it is L. David Mech himself who is working the hardest to change the way we think about wolf (and dog) packs and to eliminate the term "alpha male" at least from studies of canid behavior if not from metaphors about human societies (hat-tip to Jim Henley). Decades have passed since his book came out, much research was done in the meantime (including by him and his students) and we now know better.

Apparently the stories of blue food dye healing spinal cord injuries were in error. It was not blue food dye, but rather, a similar chemical.

Still very interesting, though. :-)

Dirt-cheap blue food dye may aid recovery from spinal-cord injuries. This is a substance that's been used since 1928, and they only just discovered this benefit. It requires direct injection into the bloodstream. The article said there was a side-effect that the rats turned blue. I would hope that's a temporary side effect, but even if not, I'd rather have blue skin and be not paralyzed then keep my skin color and be paralyzed ...

The article said that it has to be administered within 15 minutes of the injury, which is one major disadvantage. And there are some other questions as to whether it could work in humans. But, if it does, it would be simply amazing! An incredibly cheap, completely non-toxic, drug to treat spinal-cord injuries? Awesome!

Current Mood: excited

Ant Mega-Colony Found to Extend Around the Globe Billions of ants forming a single colony!

Humor, from the Onion:

Amazing New Hyperbolic Chamber Greatest Invention in the History of Mankind Ever Great parody of the way the media often overhypes new discoveries. :-D

Seven Million People Direct Descendants of Smooth-Talking Ancestor. The funny thing about that is, a considerable number of people living in the 9th century would have far more than 7 million descendants. :-) Indeed, it's been estimated that all Western Europeans have a common ancestor who lived somewhere around the year AD 1000.

Women Have Become Too Easy apparently.

That article really ticks me off.

An object that has value is worshipped, respected, cherished, and shared with very few deserving people. As soon as you start sharing that object with anyone and without care, the object starts to lose value. The more people use the object, the more it depreciates and the less bargaining power it has: this is a plain psychological fact of life.

Most women don't realize the importance men place on a woman's promiscuity. Women think that because men don't care about how many women they've slept with, they won't care about how many men their woman has slept with. But the reality is that most men (those looking for a serious relationship and not a one-night stand) do place great value on a woman's sexual restraint.

There was a time when many women cherished their bodies much like a sacred temple. Where only a noble man, one who respected and loved her, had access to her body.

Men recognize the power of a woman's sexuality. In turn, men appreciate and place great value on women who can control themselves and demonstrate a certain degree of sexual discipline because most men certainly can't.

Over the past years, most women have lost a sense of value for their sexuality. They've realized that sex is fun and pleasurable, but in the process, they've forgotten that it's the one gift that they can offer their lover, and that so many men value.

Think about it for a moment: if men value a woman's purity so much, how do you think they feel when they receive the same gift offered to so many other men? Here's a better example: if I were to offer Stacy the same engagement ring that I once offered my ex-fiancée, would she appreciate it? I'm sure she wouldn't, and it's only a ring. Then how do you think men feel when a woman offers herself once she's already offered it to so many other men?

There used to be a time when women could signal to a man, "If you stay with me, I'll let you have my body." But now men are saying, "It's okay, you can keep it because with all this supply, it's just not worth as much as it once was."

That's why today, we find a lot of women complaining that men no longer want to commit. This is false; men still want to commit, but women no longer have that special gift to bait men into a relationship.

After all, if the body becomes familiar and the personality becomes aggravating, what else is there left to commit to? Well, I'd like to think that it is the woman's special gift that keeps a man hooked.

Current Mood: annoyed

Latvian entrepeneur offers small loans, with souls as collateral.

"Would you pledge your soul as loan collateral?" Sure, why not? Get real money for imaginary collateral? ^_^ I'll also put up my unicorn for collateral, if you want. ;-)

Current Mood: amused

Cute little kittens! ^_^ Interesing article, too. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31586820/ns/us_news-environment/

Top Ten Reasons Why the BMI Is Bogus

Very interesting article. It had always seemed rather over-simplistic to me.

I tell you, kids these days don't know how good they've got it. No respect for their elders. *Shakes cane*

^_^ This stereotypical elderly rant brought on by this article Modern Teen's View on Walkman

Current Mood: amused

Sixteen-year old baby.

A girl in Baltimore is 16 years old, but remains with the appearance and mental development of an 11-month-old baby, various parts of her body, however, are still aging at different rates. Her bones, for example, are at a level of development equivalent to about a 10-year-old's, while her teeth are equivalent to an 8-year-old's.

Another example of the problems of "Zero Tolerance": Arizona teen strip-searched on suspicion of having ibuprofen! Not even a serious drug, but ibuprofen, for crying out loud! As far as I know, that can't possibly be abused. At any rate, even if she was suspected of having something more serious, that would still be excessive.

I just have one word to say about this article. "Duh!" http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/06/citalopram-doesnt-wor.html

SSRI antidepressants are often used to try to treat repetitive behaviours [in autism]. Unfortunately, they don't work, at least according to a new study

The main reason why SSRIs are used to try to treat repetitive behaviour is that they also work rather well against obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD have repetitive behaviours, "compulsions". They might wash their hands ten times after going to the toilet. Or check that the fridge door is closed and the oven is switched off every time they leave the kitchen. Or count up to one hundred in their head whenever they see the number 13. And so forth.

SSRIs do work against OCD. Does this mean that they ought to also work against the repetitive behaviors in autism? Only if you think all repetitive behaviours are the same, with the same causes.

People with OCD feel compelled to perform their ritualistic behaviours as a way of coping with their "obsessions" - intrusive, unpleasant thoughts that they can't otherwise get out of their heads. Someone might be obsessed with the thought of germs and disease whenever they go to the toilet, and the only way to feel clean is to wash their hands 10 times. They might be obsessed with the idea that their family will die whenever they see the unlucky number 13, unless they "cancel it out" by counting to 100. The repetitive behaviours, in other words, are a consequence of the obsessions, which are anxiety-provoking thoughts. SSRIs probably work by making the obsessions seem less troubling, so there is less need for the compulsions.

People with autism are often described as having "obsessions", but this means "Things they are very interested in", not "Thoughts they cannot get rid of". Likewise, autistics may show "compulsive behaviours", but not as a way of dealing with obsessions. The words are the same, but the reality is different.

It could well be that autistic people just tend to like sameness and routine. That's part of who they are, and it's not something that can be treated with drugs. People with OCD hate having it - they don't like their obsessions or compulsions, they are stuck with them. But in autism, or at least in most cases, that's not how it works. An autistic child "compulsively" playing with the same toy over and over, or reading yet another book about their "obsession", dinosaurs, may be perfectly happy. So giving them happy pills might not be such a good idea. And this is what the authors of the paper eventually suggest -

It may be that the repetitive behavior in children with ASDs is fundamentally different from what is observed among children with obsessive-compulsive disorder in its behavioral picture and in its biologic underpinnings.

This article is good.

A groundbreaking study suggests people with autism-spectrum disorders such as Asperger's do not lack empathy – rather, they feel others' emotions too intensely to cope.

People with Asperger's syndrome, a high functioning form of autism, are often stereotyped as distant loners or robotic geeks. But what if what looks like coldness to the outside world is a response to being overwhelmed by emotion – an excess of empathy, not a lack of it?

This idea resonates with many people suffering from autism-spectrum disorders and their families. It also jibes with the "intense world" theory, a new way of thinking about the nature of autism.

As posited by Henry and Kamila Markram of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the theory suggests that the fundamental problem in autism-spectrum disorders is not a social deficiency but, rather, a hypersensitivity to experience, which includes an overwhelming fear response.

When it comes to not understanding the inner state of minds too different from our own, most people also do a lousy job, Schwarz says. "But the non-autistic majority gets a free pass because, if they assume that the other person's mind works like their own, they have a much better chance of being right."

Jeez, first Ireland does the stupid blasphemy law, now the Province of Alberta passes a law permitting parents to keep their children from attending classes discussing evolution and homosexuality.

Okay, I know that Alberta's not exactly like most of Canada, but seriously, I thought you guys were more reasonable up there. :-(

EDIT: *Laughs* Oh, good going guys. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/04/24/edm-alberta-ad-england-photo-beach.html An ad to promote Alberta used an image of a beach in Northumberland, England. A beach. In a landlocked province. Not even a Canadian beach, mind you, but an English one!

Current Mood: disappointed

Ireland's making blasphemy a crime?!

Speaking after an Oireachtas committee meeting, Mr Ahern yesterday defended a fine of up to €100,000 that will be imposed on blasphemers.

The Government moved to revive the crime by placing it onto a fresh statutory footing following advice from the office of the Attorney General.

Gardai will now have the power to seize blasphemous material from the home or any other premises used by a person convicted of blasphemy.

Current Mood: shocked

This is interesting. http://notexactlyrocketscience.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/resistance-to-an-extinct-virus-makes-us-more-vulnerable-to-hiv/

Immunity to viral infections sounds like a good thing, but it can come at a price. Millions of years ago, we evolved resistance to a virus that plagued other primates. Today, that virus is extinct, but our resistance to it may be making us more vulnerable to the present threat of HIV.

Current Mood: contemplative

Seen on ysabetwordsmith's LJ

The Real Boston Tea Party Was Against the Wal-Mart of the 1770's

Current Mood: thoughtful

Study finds that Music Pirates buy more music

The Norwegian study looked at almost 2,000 online music users, all over the age of 15. Researchers found that those who downloaded "free" music – whether from lawful or seedy sources – were also 10 times more likely to pay for music. This would make music pirates the industry's largest audience for digital sales.

Wisely, the study did not rely on music pirates' honesty. Researchers asked music buyers to prove that they had proof of purchase.

Current Mood: content

This is cool. http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/04/puijila_the_walking_seal_beautiful_transitional_fossil.php

A fossil of a proto-seal has been discovered, from before the development of flippers.

I like this line in the article:

She named it Puijila darwini after an Inuit word referring to a young seal, and some obscure biologist.

Ooh, neat. A new planet has been discovered around Gliese 581, only 1.9 Earth masses! And, better yet, they've determined that Gliese 581 d, which had been discovered nearly two years ago, is within the habitable zone, although just barely. Unfortunately, it's about 7 Earth masses, so it'd be unlikely to be habitable for Earth life.

However, here's the neat thing. Looking at the orbits of the known planets, it's possible that there's another, smaller, planet or two between c and d http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/04/the_gliese_system_addendum.php

Current Mood: geeky

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16902-bug-eats-electricity-farts-biogas.html

Vermont's legislature has overridden the governor's veto of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. And the first to do so entirely through legislative means, rather than a court ruling. Four down, forty-six to go!

Science Is Imagination

Orthodox Israeli newspapers edit out female cabinet members in group photo.

Kosher Cellphones in Israel.

Hundreds of mosques in Saudi Arabia found to be pointing in wrong direction.

Our moral thermostat - why being good can give people license to misbehave. Very interesting study.

What an odd news story http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297495,00.html