Smarter 2 Year Olds Better Liars
Beware smart 2 year olds telling you a story. As early as two, children who are more developmentally advanced are much better liars. Modest proposal: anyone who genetically engineers their kids for high IQ should be restricted in the number of genetic variations they add for enhanced tendencies to tell lies and to lie well. I also think that parents should not be allowed to genetically engineer really smart psychopaths. Though psychopaths can be really efficient CEOs. Perhaps there is a way to genetically engineer safe psychopaths?... (Source: FuturePundit)
Source: FuturePundit - November 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Genetic Variations Between Brain Cells In Same Brain
Some people are human genetic chimeras which have cells from two different fraternal twins which fused into a single human during early embryonic development. Human chimeras are thought to be rare. But chimeras have produced some amazing medical stories such as the woman who failed a genetic test to prove she was the mother of her children. Turns out her ovaries came from a fraternal twin. Now some research on large genetic variations in human brains show that even people who started with a single genome at the embryo stage end up with a lot of genetic diversity between neuron cells taken from the same brain and lower but ...
Source: FuturePundit - November 2, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Brand Names And Computer Design
Check out these speculations on which jobs will survive robotics. Regards visual arts: I expect some artists will use secretly computers to help do artistic creation and then pass off their work as purely human product. People who want to buy something by a name brand designer or big name artist will likely insist on buying from those who hide the extent of the help they get from computers. Therefore some people will use computers to do a substantial fraction of their work and then pretend it was done all by their lonesome selves. For example, a future clothing designer will make a few basic designs, enter them into a comp...
Source: FuturePundit - October 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Brain Sleeps To Divert Resources To Trash Removal
Toxins get flushed out from around brain cells while we sleep. The glymphatic system does the job. A good night's rest may literally clear the mind. Using mice, researchers showed for the first time that the space between brain cells may increase during sleep, allowing the brain to flush out toxins that build up during waking hours. These results suggest a new role for sleep in health and disease. The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the NIH. "Sleep changes the cellular structure of the brain. It appears to be a completely different state," said Maiken Nederga...
Source: FuturePundit - October 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Automated Trains Would Cut Mass Transit Costs
With the highly paid BART mass transit train operators about to go on strike in the San Francisco Bay Area what came to my mind: Can the BART trains be operated automatically? The answer: yes, the technology exists to eliminate human operators from BART trains and in other mass transit train systems. Automation would cut costs and therefore enable the expansion of mass transit systems. Automation would also make mass transit services more reliable by cutting the risk of system stoppages due to union strikes. Check out this Wikipedia list of driverless trains around the world. Modest proposal: US government should give loca...
Source: FuturePundit - October 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Genetic Varian Influences Degree Of Prosocial Behavior
Variants in a transporter gene for neurotransmitter serotonin affect anxiety and willingness to help others in socially risky settings. People's willingness to help others may be influenced by a gene that affects their level of social anxiety, according to a new study led by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientist. The study appears to be the first to describe this particular pathway. Research participants who carry the dominant version of the gene were more likely to indicate anxiety about social interactions or being trapped in situations or places. The anxiety appears to inhibit their "prosocial" behavior and increas...
Source: FuturePundit - October 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Brain Compound Released By Exercise Protects Neurons
Good news: Scientists are making progress in their efforts to put exercise in a pill. Research has shown that exercise is good for the brain. Now investigators have identified a molecule called irisin that is produced in the brain during endurance exercise and has neuroprotective effects. Researchers were able to artificially increase the levels of irisin in the blood to activate genes involved in learning and memory. The findings, published online October 10 in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism, may be useful for designing drugs that utilize this exercise-induced molecule to guard against neurodegenerative diseases a...
Source: FuturePundit - October 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Human DNA From 7500 To 3500 Years Ago Sequenced
Mitochondrial DNA samples were successfully extracted from 364 human skeletons to detect human migration waves into Europe. Ancient DNA recovered from a time series of skeletons in Germany spanning 4,000 years of prehistory has been used to reconstruct the first detailed genetic history of modern-day Europeans. The study, published today in Science, reveals dramatic population changes with waves of prehistoric migration, not only from the accepted path via the Near East, but also from Western and Eastern Europe. The research was a collaboration between the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD), at the University of Adel...
Source: FuturePundit - October 12, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Robots Improve Food And Wine Quality
A robotic grape sorter will improve wine quality and pay for itself in 2 years. Fast image processing makes this possible. Automation raises quality. As computer hardware speeds up and algorithms for image processing improve many agricultural jobs now done by manual laborers will be done better and more cheaply by robots. I even foresee the day when weed and bug removal is done by machine that choose each weed and each bug to remove. Another story on better food quality thru robotic agricultural work: Dutch field robot harvests only right-sized broccoli. In this sotry image processing is again key to higher quality. Anothe...
Source: FuturePundit - October 10, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Brain Stimulation Alters Social Norm Compliance Rates
Christian Ruff, Giuseppe Ugazio, and Ernst Fehr from the University of Zurich found that low level electric currents into the prefrontal cortex of the brain raised or lowered willingness to voluntarily treat others fairly. For the study, 63 participants took part in an experiment in which they received money and were asked to decide how much of it they wanted to share with an anonymous partner. A prevalent fairness norm in Western cultures dictates that the money should be evenly split between the two players. However, this contrasts with the participants' self-interest to keep as much money as possible for themselves. In ...
Source: FuturePundit - October 5, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Oxytocin Makes Other Faces Look More Pleasant
Oxytocin speeds up facial recognition and makes us more prone to like a new face. "Social bonding, mutual support, mate preference and parental investment," says Dr. Colonnello, "are all mediated by the oxytocinergic system, which is heavily reliant on a person's ability to appreciate that self and others are both different and valuable." Participants in the study were shown videos of their own face morphing into an unfamiliar face and vice versa, and were instructed to press a button as soon as they felt that they saw more features belonging to the incoming face. Of the 44 participants, those given oxytocin before the tas...
Source: FuturePundit - September 30, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Tyler Cowen: Average Is Over
Tyler Cowen, author of The Great Stagnation, a book about the cause of slow economic growth and stagnant wages, has published his sequel: Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation. The title refers to how the average wage earner is disappearing as society increasingly fractures into two separate major classes, neither of which is centered in the middle. I hear Yeats: "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold". For years I've been telling anyone one who'll listen that they better get higher level skills or else. So the theme of this book strikes a strong chord with me. Think you are firmly an...
Source: FuturePundit - September 28, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
1.75 Billion Years Left For Life On Earth?
Some scientists at the University of East Anglia think the expanding Sun will make Earth unlivable within 1.75 billion years or maybe 3.25 billion years. Andrew Rushby, one of those scientists, suggests a move to Mars. But there''s a better idea: Make Earth's orbit gradually get bigger. Don Korycansky, Gregory Laughlin, and Fred Adams proposed using 1 million passes of an asteroid Near Earth to tug on its orbit and by the planet another 5 billion years. It just so happens Earth's orbit around the sun is already increasing. A few billion years ought to be enough time to turn Mars into an interplanetary ship that can hold a ...
Source: FuturePundit - September 23, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Suppose Sea Levels Rise Substantially
Cities could be threatened by rising sea levels if lots of ice melts. At the risk of stating the obvious: Make like the Netherlands. Did you know that 26% of the Netherlands lies below sea level? The Dutch know how to hold back water. Another idea: a wealthy city could build a very thick dike out of long-lasting materials out into a bay. Then it could dump all its compostable trash into the walled off area. As the trash turned into soil the city would build up a new section that could even be higher than the existing city. Some of its soil could be removed and spread in city park areas to raise their altitude. The soil cou...
Source: FuturePundit - September 21, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Home Solar Installations Rising Sharply
In states with high electric power costs many homebuilders now offer solar options on new construction and sales are booming. At least six of 10 largest U.S. homebuilders led by KB Home are including the photovoltaic devices in new construction, according to supplier SunPower Corp. (SPWR) Two California towns are mandating installations, and demand for the systems that generate electricity at home will jump 56 percent nationwide this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Costs for solar are about 20% lower when part of original housing construction. Plunging costs for solar cells have helped create th...
Source: FuturePundit - September 13, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
