Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts

First-NIght-Effect Means Little Sleep at New Hotel

SAnthropology: we have evolved to be on guard on the first night when sleeping in a new place.
Man is still a hunter. We may live in cities and believe we are advanced but our genes have evolved to survive in the wild outdoors beneath the starlit night sky. If we move into a new environment getting a good night's sleep on the first night is a problem. Our brain is "on-guard" against unknown dangers.
Primitive man sleeps
This phenomenon is in all animals. One hemisphere of the brain will sleep while the other remains on sentry duty. This "first-night-effect" is permanent. There is no cure because it isn't an illness. After the first night the brain adapts, records the new environment and deems it to be safe.

Tests show that the left hemisphere sleeps lighter in a new situation. Slow-wave activity is weaker than the right hemisphere. Furthermore, the default-mode network which involves mind wandering is more active. This indicates that the brain is checking the environment. Sleeping test subjects were played some normal and some unusual sounds. The left hemisphere became even more alert when it heard unusual sounds or even loud sounds. After the first night the brain became "normalized" then no such activity was observed.
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Conservation of Fish is a Losing Battle

Conservation: Overfishing is just as toxic as pollution. G+
We are already running out of food.  If carbon dioxide doesn't kill us diminishing fish stocks will.  Soon, the humble fish and chips will cost too much for most people.  When the crunch comes the decline will be sudden over a period of five years.  It will not be possible to increase fish stocks in the medium term and some fish species will disappear forever.
Overfishing
People must eat and in Asia in particular daily fishing is part of everyday life.  There will be little chance of a freeze on fishing.  It they are allowed to keep fishing and Western countries stop they will export to the lucrative fishing markets and nothing will change.

Manufacturers like Birds Eye are alreading putting "rubbish" fish in their food products rather than the old reliable species.  When you get a fishy taste that is the second rate fish formally called baitfish.  It is so bad that major predators have fallen by 90 percent over the last 50 years.  There is not enough out there for them to eat and sustain themselves.

It is not only fishing that is reducing available stocks, pollution such as plastic bags is also killing fish.  Human control their environment,  they also destroy it.  Soon you will be able to swim safely on beaches because there will not be any sharks left.  Or there could be the odd one looking for his last dinner which could be you!
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Dingo is a Mystery to Science

Science: Dingo dog came to Australia via Southeast Asian seafarers.
Archaeological evidence shows that dingoes arrived in Australia 4,000 years ago.  There is no mystery as to who brought them.  Southeast Asian seafarers did land in Australia to get fresh water and herbs to treat constipation.
Dingo is Australia
Dingo in Australia
The dingo is common across the world today, all the way from India to the Pacific islands.  In news videos you see dogs roaming about the street in the background that are absolutely identical to the dingo, same upright tail, same color coat.
Dingo is India
Dingo in India
People chosen as the distributor of the dingo are the Lapita who moved eastward out into the pacific.  This choice is just for convenience.  It is definitely wrong.  The dog is common everywhere.  Let's face it, Timor is so close to Australia that sailors obviously landed here, often.

Genetic evidence places the origin of dingoes in China.  This is only where the breed began.  It rapidly spread to every country in Asia and Southeast Asia.  The dog is definitely a meat eater though.  It does not have the capacity to digest starch, so it is said that they did not live with agricultural people.  But weren't the Chinese mainly farmers 4,000 years ago?  They still are!  Dingoes are ancestors of modern dogs, not the other way around.
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DINGO IS ASIAN 
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Technology Causes Loss of Skills

Technology: people lose inter social skills, flat batter mobile phone, running writing, lost in outback bush.
Technology is breaking the bond of people to the natural environment.  Communication involves not just reading and posting snippets on Twitter.  Language skills are still paramount to our survival. Hardly anyone writes in long-hand these days. Ask a twenty year old to write something said to them in a grammatical or mathematical phrase/sentence with a pen and they cannot do it. Take for example "Fifty-eight thousand dollars a year over five years". This is a grammatical phrase. A mathematical sentence is "$58,000 x 1year x 5years" To take it to its logical conclusion it is "$58,000 x 1 x 5 = $290,000".   Many young adults are completely at a loss to do this.
Person-lost-in-broken-down-car-in-bush
She is alone!
Not only are we losing communication skills, many would not survive outside of cities if they had to get sustenance that did not come from a supermarket. Though cooking shows are popular on television, they are watched for entertainment. Young people get meals out of a packet. They just whack it into the microwave and that's it. Restaurants provide their cooked meals. Children do not believe that milk comes from cows. They do know that it comes out of a factory in cartons ready to drink.

Going bush in 4 wheel drives is popular, but this is done with real risk. Have an engine failure, run out of petrol and have a flat mobile phone could mean the end for everyone in the vehicle. Purchasing an EPIRB is not even given a thought. Aren't these things for when you get lost at sea? They are, though a smart traveller buys one to get her/him out of a fix on land. Last year three inexperienced people died in outback Western Australia. You are told to remain next to the car. Of course, this is ignored and the lost try to find a nonexistent homestead in the remote bush.
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LOST IN SPACE
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Genetics Gives Children Mathematical Aptitude

Genetics: genetic predisposition makes girls or nboys good at maths.
The money poured into education to encourage girls and more boys to study maths and science could be a waste.  Research on twins shows that numerical aptitude is 75 per cent genetic.  Either both twin children are good at dealing with numbers or both are not.  There is also a 50 per cent genetic predilection for writing skills.
Girl student good at maths
Despite parents helping their children with homework and the like, it had little influence on academic achievement.  Furthermore, teachers and the schools attended whether private or public had no impact.  Children took to maths or English according to their genetic makeup.

It is not clear if teachers are evenly well trained so students are benefiting evenly across the nation.  However, this is clutching at straws.  We all remember the lazy, bad teachers who threw a chapter of a book at use to scribble the lesson away while he/she played around at the desk or in the book cupboard.  It really seems that teachers have no effect on teaching per se in regard to student outcomes.
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Plant Chemistry Indicates a Very Hot Future

Chemistry: Stomata on plant leaves shows the way to predict climate change.
It looks like the future is going to be very hot - in Asia at least. Oddly it will not get drier. With more carbon around plants will not need as much water, so grass will grow everywhere. A 5 degree rise in temperature is expected by mid-century. High humidity will make life unbearable..
Stomata on plant leaves
Plants have a significant effect on the climate in general. This has been ignored in the past. Scientists are now examining it. More efficient use of water means less water in the atmosphere which increases temperature during the day.  Spring will arrive earlier as the climate itself changes.

A study of stomata, tiny spores on leaves involved in carbon dioxide absorption and the shedding of water, has provided information on how plants affect the weather. It was initially for understanding how plants work, but it has ultimately been applied to the study of climate change.
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Science Discovers Extrovert-Introvert Continuum

Science: Extroverts and introverts are on a continuum.
Do you mix with others easily?  Are you a loner?  Human beings can be categorized as extrovert or introvert.  There appears not to be a continuum to give variety to the species.  You are either one or the other.
Extrovert versus introvert
Don't get me wrong here.  Introverts can rise to the occasion and mix in a group.  Oddly, many introverts become entertainers to bring themselves out and beat their fears.  Clearly though, extroverts love other people and get lonely quickly, whereas introverts thrive doing things on their own.

After a noisy party where alcohol has temporarily changed introverts into extroverts.  The basically quieter type starts worrying about what he/she said at the bash.  The mixers just get on with life and don't fear anything.

Wait on.  Research has shown the people do fit on a continuum.  We cannot all be divided into either mixer or loner, not totally.  To make it simpler scientists have coined the phrase "ambiverts" for those in the middle.  This is very simplistic and smacks of keeping an established system alive.  No, we all different.  We are human aren't we?
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Big Raves About the Pegasus Helicopter Flotation Device

Technology:
It is surprising how people and government bodies live with a problem for decades when the answer is in front of their noses. Quite frequently rescue helicopter crash into the sea. There is usually a "ho-hum" - another helicopter has fallen from the sky.
Pegasus helicopter flotation device
Helicopters that can take off and land in the sea have been around for years. It is old technology. Obviously rescue organizations could have used them. However, they seem to feel that it best to reinvent the wheel. They plan to modify existing helicopters.

A self-inflating buoyancy balloon will be attached to standard helicopters. When a sensor detects water, automatic inflation will occur. Australian defence is throwing $4 million at the project. Marise Payne the Defence Minister is lauding it, saying "this is a fabulous innovation, by Australian minds, Australian brains, Australian workers...."  Let us hope it is not just a silly idea!rafdevice
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DNA From Mucus Shows the Sex of Whales

Genetics: Scientists work on whales instead of cattle.
Work on cattle genetics has shown the way to determine the sex of whales using a sample taken from blow holes. Specimens are composed of water and mucous membrane material.  They are collected from the sea by people in dingies, canoes and kayaks. The process involves scooping with a six-metre long carbon-fibre pole.
Getting samples of whale mucus
A team of researchers has enjoyed the chance to get away from working with cattle. They have also done a genetic study of koalas. Improving cattle and meat are their priorities, however.  A few hundred samples are to be taken.  This compares to a half a million already collected from cattle.

While blow hole samples are used for whales, hair is taken from cattle. Researchers have identified favourable traits for cattle from DNA. The real problem is getting these into cattle. Farmers are the ones who breed animals, not researchers. It is no surprise to find the more direct work on whales a welcome change.
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First RNA Formed in Freshwater Pools Near a Volcano

Chemistry: Life began near an active volcano in a freshwater puddle.
Use your imagination and assume that life began in a puddle of fresh water near an active volcano. Molecules begin to "see" each other and unite into a larger whole. They become membranes, the envelopes of future life. Like a chicken's egg the membrane shell is the holding structure where chemicals are assembled for incubating lifeforms.
life began in a freshwater puddle near an active volcano
RNA was the first significant biological molecule. This has a basic form of repeating subunits. A simple molecule perhaps. but difficult for a primitive Earth to "create". Yet it came into existence. Membrane were required for chemicals to grow into RNA. The fatty, lipid molecules in membranes formed easily. Lipids assist the building of RNA, then it forms a protective coating. This was the first primitive cell.

As soon as some RNA replicated, lifeforms began to evolve becoming more complex. This occurred in fresh water which was heated and cooled probably close to a volcano. Cycles of changing temperatures caused chemicals to move around and become concentrated which was necessary for molecular synthesis to take place.
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