Language Skills In Your Twenties May Predict Risk Of Dementia Decades Later

The point is communication affects biology, perhaps more than biology affects communication.

Language Skills In Your Twenties May Predict Risk Of Dementia Decades Later:
"'A puzzling feature of Alzheimer's disease is how it affects people differently,' said study author Juan C. Troncoso, MD, with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 'One person who has severe plaques and tangles, the telling signs of Alzheimer's disease in their brains, may show no symptoms affecting their memory. Another person with those same types of plaques and tangles in the same areas of the brain might end up with a full-blown case of Alzheimer's disease. We looked at how language ability might affect the onset of symptoms.'"

Evolution Guides Cooperative Turn-taking, Game Theory-based Computer Simulations Show

The point is that it's ALL about evolution.

Evolution Guides Cooperative Turn-taking, Game Theory-based Computer Simulations Show:
"ScienceDaily (July 9, 2009) — It’s not just good manners to wait your turn – it’s actually down to evolution, according to new research by University of Leicester psychologists.

A study in the University’s School of Psychology sought to explain how turn-taking has evolved across a range of species. The conclusion is that there is an evolution-based “invisible hand” that guides our actions in this respect. What's more, the researchers have shown that this behavior can be simulated using a simple computer algorithm and basic genetic laws..

. . turn-taking has also evolved in many other species without language or the capacity to reach negotiated agreements. These include apes, monkeys, birds, and antelopes that take turns grooming each other, and mating pairs of Antarctic penguins that take turns foraging at sea while their partners incubate eggs or tend to chicks.

“It is far from obvious how turn-taking evolved without language or insight in animals shaped by natural selection to pursue their individual self-interests.”

Difference In The Way Children With Autism Learn New Behaviors Described

Difference In The Way Children With Autism Learn New Behaviors Described

: "ScienceDaily (July 10, 2009) — Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have collaborated to uncover important new insights into the neurological basis of autism. Their new study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, examined patterns of movement as children with autism and typically developing children learned to control a novel tool. The findings suggest that children with autism appear to learn new actions differently than do typically developing children.

As compared to their typically developing peers, children with autism relied much more on their own internal sense of body position (proprioception), rather than visual information coming from the external world to learn new patterns of movement. Furthermore, researchers found that the greater the reliance on proprioception, the greater the child’s impairment in social skills, motor skills and imitation.

read full story click on headline.

New Posibilities for Exhibtion Design

The point is that dynamic QR codes are an important bridge between Print and Augmented Reality.

Canon unveils augmented reality dinosaur show in Japan:
"Canon's just unveiled its new augmented reality display in Chiba, Japan, and we have to say, we're thinking about heading over there to check it out... and hopefully experience what it's like to be eaten (virtually) by a T-Rex. Featuring 260 dinosaur specimens, the display makes us of a virtual reality viewer -- one for each person roaming round the exhibit -- putting the dinosaurs at a 'distance' of about 5 meters. The exhibit will make use of various Canon products, including an inkjet printer, an LCD projector and several different cameras. The dinosaurs will be on display starting July 18th until August 1st, so you probably want to just go ahead and book a flight right now."

The mechanism of the learning feedback loop

The point is that to understand the mechanisms of learning, it is illuminating to examine what happens when things break down. The fact is that most life activity - including learning - is shaped by positive and negative outcomes. Understanding how that plays out in bottom of the pyramid High Schools might go a long way to managing attendance and homework compliance.

New Findings On Parkinson's Disease And Effect On Patient Behavior:
"Gluck explains that an increased sensitivity to learning from events that results in positive outcomes, coupled with a decrease in the ability to learn from negative outcomes, could explain why some Parkinson patients treated with dopamine agonists develop impulse-control disorders, including pathological gambling, hypersexuality, alcoholism, and compulsive eating and shopping. All of these behaviors can be understood as reward-seeking behaviors in the absence of appropriate sensitivity to their negative consequences."

Work Fatigue And Working Overtime Are Associated With Weight Gain

The point is that while correlation does not equal causation, it is a data point that suggests that being over weight can be partly the result of stress reducing strategies.

Work Fatigue And Working Overtime Are Associated With Weight Gain:
"The study revealed some risk groups, where weigh gain was more common than in other groups. Especially work fatigue was strongly associated with weight gain. Work fatigue measures pre-stage for burn out. Those who report work fatigue 'feel totally worn out after a day at work', 'feel tired in the morning when they have to get up and go to work', 'have to work too hard', 'feel like totally exhausted', 'report that their work is definitely too stressful', and 'they worry about their work even when they are off duty'. Working overtime was defined as working over 40 hours a week."

5 Unique Uses for QR Codes

5 Unique Uses for QR Codes:
"Anyone with a smartphone can scan and read QR codes with the click of a camera, and anyone with access to a computer can generate QR codes themselves. BayBrain’s Snappr.net offers a QR bar code generator and links to a comprehensive list of software for code reading. By scanning the codes, you can access images, websites and text. By creating the codes, you can produce your own messages.

Usually synonymous with mass production, the quick response (QR) bar code was originally created by Japanese company Denso-Wave to keep inventory. However, because QR codes allow for more data than the standard 10-digit bar code, and because scanning requires less effort than typing a URL, the QR has taken a turn for the personal. The genius behind QR codes is that even a hairless chimp can play with them. Below are five of my favorite uses:"

QR codes within context of art

QR codes within context of art: "
streetartdealer,c6 and Steal from work are launching the exhibition Street Art Dealer at Bristol on 9 July (6-9.30pm at 74-76 Horsefair, Broadmead) which aims to show innovative uses of QR code technology within the context of art. An 'interactive installation that accomodates the nature of the QR code' will also be demonstrated. See the invitation by clicking read more"

The Purpose of Public Education

B

ridging Differences: The Emperor Wears No Clothes:
"I think it would be fair to argue that an institution that is funded by public monies must defend itself on the grounds that it serves, first and foremost, a public purpose—one which by its nature is held in common by all citizens, voters, and their offspring.

Here’s my suggestion. They must serve to prepare future voters to be knowledgeable and skilled citizens by the time they reach voting age—smart enough to preserve, protect, and improve the democracy of which they now are full members. We need a national “bar mitzvah” ceremony that seriously stops and takes stock of how well it has used children’s time (12-13 years of involuntary schooling) and the public’s money."

Mannahatta � Home

Mannahatta � Home

Researchers Describe The 90-year Evolution Of Swine Flu

Researchers Describe The 90-year Evolution Of Swine Flu: "ScienceDaily (July 5, 2009)
— The current H1N1 swine flu strain has genetic roots in an illness that sickened pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa, report infectious disease experts at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their paper, published online June 29 and slated for the July 16 print issue, describes H1N1's nearly century-long and often convoluted journey, which may include the accidental resurrection of an extinct strain."