Chocolate Causes Weight Gain?
Not looking good for chocolate. Habitual chocolate intake was recently found to be associated with lower body weight in three cross-sectional epidemiological studies. Our objective was to assess whether these cross-sectional results hold up in a more rigorous prospective analysis. ... Our prospective analysis found that a chocolate habit was associated with long-term weight gain, in a dose-response manner. Our cross-sectional finding that chocolate intake was associated with lower body weight did not apply to participants without preexisting serious illness. The more chocolate the larger the long term weight gain. Our main...
Source: FuturePundit - September 11, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
How Parents Will Guarantee They'll Get Grandchildren
Prospective parents will use offspring genetic engineering to give their children strong instinctive desires to have their own kids. They'll do this to guarantee that their kids make grandchildren. The result? Human population explosion. I do not see how we can avoid human population explosion.... (Source: FuturePundit)
Source: FuturePundit - August 28, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Too Few Caregivers For Aging Baby Boomers?
The AARP Policy Institute sees a big shortage of caregivers for aging folks. How to deal with this problem? Consider these findings: In 2010, there were 7.2 potential caregivers (ages 45-64 or the average age of caregivers) for every person age 80-plus. In 2030, that caregiver ratio will drop to 4 to 1 and by 2050, when all boomers will be in late life, the ratio becomes less than 3 to 1. In 2050, there will be three times as many people age 80-plus as there are today. The sub-optimal solution: automated care. Robots, monitoring cameras, automated kitchens, autonomous cars, smart beds, smart sinks, and other elements of hi...
Source: FuturePundit - August 26, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Conscientious People Making Fewer Babies
Why bring babies into a world full of so many unconscientious people? Men with neurotic personality traits are having fewer children compared to previous generations, according to a new study published in the European Journal of Personality. The study examined the effect of personality on how likely a person is to have children, using extensive survey and birth registry data from Norway. It also found that men who are extraverted and open tend to have more children, while women who rank as conscientious on personality tests tend to have fewer children, although these findings were constant across generations. The stu...
Source: FuturePundit - August 23, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Battered Dogs Elicit More Sympathy Than Battered Adult Humans
Do college students lack sympathy for adults who get beat up? I bet this holds for other age brackets and educational levels. In their study, Levin and co-author Arnold Arluke, a sociology professor at Northeastern University, considered the opinions of 240 men and women, most of whom were white and between the ages of 18-25, at a large northeastern university. Participants randomly received one of four fictional news articles about the beating of a one-year-old child, an adult in his thirties, a puppy, or a 6-year-old dog. The stories were identical except for the victim's identify. After reading their story, respondents ...
Source: FuturePundit - August 18, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Push An Asteroid Into Earth Orbit?
A dozen small asteroids have orbits which make a nudge into an Earth Lagrange point doable.. By looking through the catalog of known asteroids, aerospace engineers have identified 12 candidates that we could reach out and capture using existing rocket technology. These are smaller asteroids, probably too small (2 to 60 meters) to be useful for mining. So my take: don't bother. Why? Asteroid capture should be done entirely for profit. I would rather NASA spent on developing systems to find more asteroids, especially since an asteroid could wipe out our civilization. The more asteroids discovered and studied with, say, orbit...
Source: FuturePundit - August 15, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
10 Speed Automatic Transmissions And 3 Cylinder Engines
The strides being made to increase fuel efficiency are amazing.The race to raise car fuel economy is driving up transmission gear count while it drives down engine cylinder count. The 2015 Chevy Volt will come with a 3 cylinder engine. If electric power can supplement the engine's power the impact on acceleration should be small or none. A 3 liter diesel engine will enable a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee to go 730 miles. Great for escape from a sudden collapse of civilization. Or just use it to the Alaska highway. The improvements to internal combustion engine drive train efficiency might cause liquid-fueled vehicles to last mu...
Source: FuturePundit - August 9, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Will Robots Work For Poor Unemployed Masses?
Will robots cause unemployment of most working age people? Suppose they will. Then will governments collect tax money to pay the zero marginal product non-workers to live a life of leisure? Some people, for example Federico Pistono, think we will all do just fine once robots wipe out most of our jobs. I think an assumption underlying this argument is false. The assumption of the complacent: sufficient amounts of robot-driven production will get done in the countries where people live to provide the revenue flows that governments will then tax to fund bountiful lives of leisure. But consider the massive profits which Americ...
Source: FuturePundit - August 6, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Chinese Hackers Take Over Decoy Water Control System
A Chinese hacking group accused this February of being tied to the Chinese army was caught last December infiltrating a decoy water control system for a U.S. municipality, a researcher revealed on Wednesday. Kyle Wilhoit of Trend Micro set up the decoy system. He thinks real water control systems have been compromised and their operators do not know it. The article paints a picture of many groups breaking into industrial control systems online. Hopefully most of the infiltrating groups associated with governments aren't going to use the power they get over these systems except in event of a war. One wonders under what scen...
Source: FuturePundit - August 4, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Robots To Slash Farm Labor Use
Robots are going to transform farming. Will robots make human farm workers obsolete in a decade? In Salinas Valley California the Mountain View start-up Blue River Technologies is testing their Lettuce Bot which can replace 20 farm manual laborers. The Blue River Tech Lettuce Bot dispenses fertilizer and removes excess lettuce sprouts. The developers expect to support weed removal in a future rev. Automation of vegetable farming will cut costs of producing the most beneficial kinds of foods. Automated weed removal will reduce pesticide exposure and raise yields. Solar-powered robotic weed detector as a step toward "full sc...
Source: FuturePundit - August 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Plastic Surgery Does Not Improve Attractiveness
See Face-lifts have minimal effect, according to new study. Also, Facial plastic surgery won't make you more attractive to others, study suggests. My guess is that whether plastic surgery really helps depends on whether you are trying to peel back the years or improve facial shape in a young face. The latter can certainly help. A classic example of a big improvement in attractiveness before and after Marilyn Monroe. The nose and chin work really helped. If you are still tempted by plastic surgery then consider the risks, especially from a quack surgeon. Find the best. Check out totally botched celebrity plastic surgeries. ...
Source: FuturePundit - August 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Car Electric Battery Prices Dropped In Half Since 2008?
A chart in Technology Review shows a decline in electric vehicle battery prices from $1000 per kwh to $485 per kwh since 2008. Realistic? Suppose the $485/kwh number is correct. Then the 24 kwh Nissan Leaf lithium battery costs Nissan about $11600. Add in other costs including retail mark-up and it suggests the the approximately $30k Nissan Leaf gets sold at a loss. Nissan, GM, and other EV makers don't admit to selling at a loss. But batteries are still very expensive. The Chevy Volt uses a 16.5 kwh battery which would cost about $8k at $485/kwh. The Ford Focus Electric, with a 23 kwh battery is getting a $4k price cut to...
Source: FuturePundit - August 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Jame Hansen: Nuclear Energy Essential For Climate
Fearless climate scientist James Hansen doubles down on for unpopular positions. Hansen makes the argument that renewable energy sources are not sufficient to allow us to get off of burning fossil fuels. Would you prefer to take offense with Hansen's position in global warming or Hansen's position on nuclear power? Or are you an outlier who agrees with him on both topics? Hansen likes fast reactors that burn more of the fuel and produce less waste. But waste disposal isn't the main problem with nuclear power. Lower cost coal and natural gas power are why we see few nukes getting built in the United States. In Europe the co...
Source: FuturePundit - July 27, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
High CO2 Reduces Tree Water Loss
Many climate scientists expect a hotter world will be drier in many regions. Tough on plant growth. However, higher atmospheric carbon dioxide reduces the need for trees to open pores to absorb carbon dioxide. This reduces water loss from leaves. DURHAM, NH, July 10, 2013 - A study by scientists with the U.S. Forest Service, Harvard University and partners suggests that trees are responding to higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by becoming more efficient at using water. Whether this will be a benefit to you personally probably depends on where you live. Trees that release less water into the atmosphere will reduce pr...
Source: FuturePundit - July 27, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Resveratrol Blocks Beneficial Effects Of Exercise?
Taking resveratrol? Might want to rethink that. In contrast to earlier studies in animals in which resveratrol improved the cardiovascular benefits of exercise, this study in humans has provided surprising and strong evidence that in older men, resveratrol has the opposite effect. What is emerging is a new view that antioxidants are not a fix for everything, and that some degree of oxidant stress may be necessary for the body to work correctly. This pivotal study suggests that reactive oxygen species, generally thought of as causing aging and disease, may be a necessary signal that causes healthy adaptations in response to...
Source: FuturePundit - July 23, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
