Wednesday, May 11
Psychopathy an Evolutionary Adaptation
Dan is a psychopath. But he is smart, charming, and successful. You would not know from first meeting him that he feels pride rather than remorse when he regularly plays the system, deceives people, and exploits others to get what he wants.
But does Dan have a psychological disorder?
Lesleigh Pullman and colleagues recently set out to assess the hypothesis that psychopathy might not be a mental disorder, but rather an effective life strategy. To do so, they analyzed a surprising sign of mental disorders: handedness.
Defining psychopathy and mental disorders
Psychopathy is characterized by emotional and interpersonal deficits such as callousness, grandiosity, and a lack of empathy and remorse. It sometimes involves deviant behavior like aggression and violence. Diagnosis is generally based on interviews or self-reported questionnaires that assess selfishness, remorseless use of others, and lifestyle.
Though the term is often used for run-of-the-mill jerks, less than 5 percent of the population — maybe even less than 1 percent — is selfish and remorseless enough to qualify as a psychopath.
Pullman and her colleagues take an evolutionary perspective on what constitutes a mental disorder, specifying that it must be a harmful dysfunction. To add up to a mental disorder, in other words, behavior cannot just fall outside of the norm. Instead, the behavior must constitute a failure to perform a function that evolution selected because it helps a person.
In other words, psychopathy must harm a person’s functioning or wellbeing if we are to consider it a disorder.
It might seem obvious that psychopathy is in fact harmful. Psychopaths struggle to maintain relationships. They are more likely to die prematurely and to be incarcerated. Hart and Hare, for example, argue that given its negative impact on society, psychopathy is perhaps second only to schizophrenia as a public health concern. READ MORE...
Electric Vehicle Maintenance
Today I completed the annual maintenance on my 3.5 year old electric car. I refilled the wiper fluid and added a bit of air to the tires. That’s it. Except for two other things, that’s all I’ve done in the life of the car, though one of those things was a doozy.
The promise of the electric car is that it needs almost no maintenance. There are no oil changes or minor, regular and major service appointments. There are far fewer parts and fewer things to go wrong. In time, I’ll need new wiper blades and a few other minor things. Many drivers report their brake pads not wearing out after 200,000 miles because EV driving almost never uses the brakes.
I did change out the internal air filter to add a HEPA filter for the wildfire and Covid problems of today. That cost about $40 and a bit of time, and probably will need doing again 3 years later.
The doozy was needing new tires at around 28,000 miles. That was too early, far before their rated life. One reason for this was a stupid mistake on my part. In the past, I’ve taken my gasoline cars in for regular service, and they were rotating my tires as needed during this service. Not taking my EV in for service, I never got the rotation done. That not only meant the drive tires of my car wore out faster, it also meant I could not make a warranty claim on them. Lesson learned. READ MORE...
Dark Zone Art
The cave winds two miles beneath northern Alabama, with mysterious so-called dark zones, deposits, waterfalls, and passageways that turn into deep pools. Ancient footprints are embedded in its farthest passages. Union soldier names from the Civil War remain scribbled on the wall.
Crouching because the ceiling was so low, Alan Kresler took off the light from his helmet on July 30, 1998 and raked a beam across the surface above him.
I can see the artwork of fellow humans who lived centuries ago. Probably a round-headed bird.
“When I see it, I think it’s OK,” Cresler, who currently works at the US Geological Survey, said in an interview this week. “Talking about it gives me chills today. I recognized the imminent importance of it.”
Mr. Cressler, along with archaeologists, 3D photography experts, etc. In addition, he explored for many years the cave known as the 19th Anonymous Cave and its art. This week they published their findings in the journal Antiquity. This study reveals art that was initially invisible when Mr. Cressler was too close to the ceiling over 20 years ago to see a complete array radiating in all directions above. He emphasized the role of 3D technology above. he.
Jan Simek, an archaeologist at the University of Tennessee and co-author of the dissertation, said cave art is one of the largest found in North America, deep in complex dark zones out of natural light. ..
Using radiocarbon dating and analysis of pottery debris, researchers have found that art has replaced mid- and late Woodland eras, or agriculture, hunting, and gathering have replaced the region’s food production and sedentary lifestyles. It is estimated to date back between 500 and 1000 AD.
There is a human-characteristic figure, a coiled snake with a rattling tail and a bifurcated tongue, and a 10-foot-long snake that winds across the expanse. Some designs incorporate ceiling features, such as snakes that appear to emerge from natural crevices. READ MORE...
Tuesday, May 10
Sacred Bird Sacrificed to Thoth
Carol Ann Barsody and Frederic Gleach examine the over 1,500-year-old mummy bird.
(Image credit: Cornell University)
An ancient Egyptian bird mummy, long forgotten in storage and mislabeled as a hawk, is finally getting its due now that researchers have digitally peered inside its wrappings.
The 1,500-year-old mummy, scientists learned, is not a hawk but likely a sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopica) — a wading bird with stilt-like legs and a long curved beak that the ancient Egyptians often sacrificed to Thoth, the god of the moon, reckoning, learning and writing.
"Not only was this once a living creature that people of the day may have enjoyed watching stroll through the water," Carol Ann Barsody, a masters student in archaeology at Cornell University, who spearheaded the project, said in a statement. "It also was, and is, something sacred, something religious." READ MORE...
Molten Salt Battery & Energy
Close-up of the freeze-thaw battery developed by the PNNL team.
Credit: Andrea Starr/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
During spring in the Pacific Northwest, meltwater from thawing snow rushes down rivers and the wind often blows hard. These forces spin the region’s many power turbines and generate a bounty of electricity at a time of mild temperatures and relatively low energy demand. But much of this seasonal surplus electricity—which could power air conditioners come summer—is lost because batteries cannot store it long enough.
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a Department of Energy national laboratory in Richland, Wash., are developing a battery that might solve this problem. In a recent paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science, they demonstrated how freezing and thawing a molten salt solution creates a rechargeable battery that can store energy cheaply and efficiently for weeks or months at a time.
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a Department of Energy national laboratory in Richland, Wash., are developing a battery that might solve this problem. In a recent paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science, they demonstrated how freezing and thawing a molten salt solution creates a rechargeable battery that can store energy cheaply and efficiently for weeks or months at a time.
Such a capability is crucial to shifting the U.S. grid away from fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases and toward renewable energy. President Joe Biden has made it a goal to cut U.S. carbon emissions in half by 2030, which will necessitate a major ramp-up of wind, solar and other clean energy sources, as well as ways to store the energy they produce.
Most conventional batteries store energy as chemical reactions waiting to happen. When the battery is connected to an external circuit, electrons travel from one side of the battery to the other through that circuit, generating electricity. To compensate for the change, charged particles called ions move through the fluid, paste or solid material that separates the two sides of the battery.
Most conventional batteries store energy as chemical reactions waiting to happen. When the battery is connected to an external circuit, electrons travel from one side of the battery to the other through that circuit, generating electricity. To compensate for the change, charged particles called ions move through the fluid, paste or solid material that separates the two sides of the battery.
But even when the battery is not in use, the ions gradually diffuse across this material, which is called the electrolyte. As that happens over weeks or months, the battery loses energy. Some rechargeable batteries can lose almost a third of their stored charge in a single month. READ MORE...
Reversing Aging
Source: University of East Anglia
In the search for eternal youth, poo transplants may seem like an unlikely way to reverse the aging process.
However, scientists at the Quadram Institute and the University of East Anglia have provided evidence, from research in mice, that transplanting fecal microbiota from young into old mice can reverse hallmarks of aging in the gut, eyes, and brain.
In the reverse experiment, microbes from aged mice induced inflammation in the brain of young recipients and depleted a key protein required for normal vision.
These findings show that gut microbes play a role in the regulating some of the detrimental effects of aging and open up the possibility of gut microbe-based therapies to combat decline in later life.
Prof Simon Carding, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and head of the Gut Microbes and Health Research Program at the Quadram Institute, said: “This ground-breaking study provides tantalizing evidence for the direct involvement of gut microbes in aging and the functional decline of brain function and vision and offers a potential solution in the form of gut microbe replacement therapy.”
It has been known for some time that the population of microbes that we carry around in our gut, collectively called the gut microbiota, is linked to health. Most diseases are associated with changes in the types and behavior of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes in an individual’s gut. READ MORE...
Monday, May 9
Do You Need A Graduate Degree?
And yet more well-paying jobs no longer require a college degree at all. In this tight labor market, do college grads need a master’s degree to compete? Maybe not.
“We have all reduced our almost obsession with the master’s degree,” says Johnny C. Taylor Jr., CEO and president of the Society for Human Resource Management.
Anecdotal and statistical evidence shows employers were already pulling back degree requirements even before the pandemic: Data from a job market analysis done by the Burning Glass Institute show a reduction in middle-skills and high-skills requirements — jobs that require more education than a high school diploma — from 2017 to 2019.
If fewer employers are requiring grad degrees to gain entrance to good jobs, prospective students should assess whether advanced degrees are worth taking on debt.
Some fields still require advanced degrees
Advanced degrees are still the key to entering certain professions: Medicine, law and teaching come to mind. In other fields, as long as you can convey you have the skills an employer is looking for, you can get a job without an advanced degree, says Brad Hershbein, senior economist and deputy director of research for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Advanced degrees could hedge against a recession
Employers are likely reducing education requirements to fill slots, which can be difficult in a tight labor market like this one, experts say. But that doesn’t mean it will last.
“Nobody can quite explain what we’re going through now; I think everyone thinks it’s temporary,” says Gordon Lafer, a professor in the Labor Education & Research Center at the University of Oregon.
Holding an advanced degree could provide a safeguard for the future. If the economic tide turns , Taylor says, the degree becomes a differentiator. READ MORE...
Saving During Inflation
“Inflation is a time for investors and savers to reevaluate their strategies,” says Walter Russell, CEO of financial adviser firm Russell and Company.
Through the Federal Reserve, the government tries to combat inflation on a large scale by raising the federal funds rate, which is the interest rate that commercial banks use to borrow and lend money to each other.
When the cost of borrowing becomes more expensive, higher interest rates trickle down to consumer products such as loans and mortgages, making them more expensive. But higher interest rates may also apply to deposit accounts, meaning that banks start to offer higher interest rates on checking, savings and certificates of deposit.
No one knows what the future will bring, but by making changes to how you spend and where you keep your money, you may be able to weather times of inflation more easily.
Here are some ways to save more during periods of inflation.
Look for high-yield interest rates
It can be frustrating to not be able to get loans for big purchases as easily during periods of high inflation. Still, consumers can take advantage of higher interest rates on bank accounts to fight the effects of inflation on their cash. Bank account interest rates usually don’t totally beat the rate of inflation, but these accounts can help hedge against inflation far better than keeping cash at home or in a low-rate account.
The national average annual percentage yield for savings accounts is 0.06%, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but there are plenty of financial institutions that offer rates that are much higher — some even 1.00% APY or more. To find these rates, you can research high-yield or high-interest accounts and choose the bank that works best for you.
Find ways to keep costs low
If you haven’t looked over your budget in a while, now may be a good time. During the pandemic, you may have subscribed to multiple streaming services that you don’t use anymore, or you might be spending more money dining out or paying for more convenience services now.
Some people are taking even more radical steps to save money. Amanda Claypool , a financial blogger based in upstate New York, has recently made larger lifestyle changes to keep her costs low in the face of inflation. She spent 2021 living out of her car while driving around the country and plans to return to that way of living soon to save on housing costs. She’s also been trying to trim her budget by biking 16 miles round-trip to work and by eating more rice and beans, a cheap but healthy meal. READ MORE...
SCOTUS Hypocrisy
“I would like to speak to America’s men for one minute. Imagine you do not have authority over your own body for 10 months. Imagine if that decision-making would be taken away even if you would die in childbirth, even if you couldn’t decide who you’re having children with, even if you couldn’t decide when you were having that child,” the New York Senator vehemently declared.
Gillibrand’s remarks echoed the sentiment of women across the nation at that moment, watching in horror as 50 years of precedent and reproductive health care choice is on the precipice of being stripped away.
The righteously indignant Gillibrand called out the GOP-appointed Justices who sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee during their own confirmation hearings and vowed to respect the constitutional law, including Justices Kavanaugh, Barrett, Gorsuch, and Alito himself. At Alito’s own hearing in 2006, the right-wing activist justice had this to say about the court’s reliance on precedents: READ MORE...
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