IdeaFestival

Born for Better things

According to SciAm, living in mentally rich environments can change our genes.

Lamarckian theories about the influence of the environment were largely abandoned after scientists discovered that heritable traits are carried on the genes encoded by our DNA. A recent study, however, published by neuroscientists Junko A. Arai, Shaomin Li and colleagues at Tufts University, shows that not only does the environment an animal is reared in have marked effects on its ability to learn and remember, but also that these effects are inherited. The study suggests that we are not the mere sum of our genes: what we do can make a difference.

So too, grief. Whether they be from neglect or outright harm, the injuries from childhood abuse linger for a lifetime.

Wayne

Scientific American

"Billions" of other Earths?

Kepler, which will focus for three years on the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way with the goal of locating potential Earth-like planets, is set to launch in the coming week. Needless to say the find of a planet in the habitable zone of another star could startle.

But a recent CNN article points out perhaps it shouldn't come as too big a surprise.

Ant life: Mourning and the unwanted burial

Ants: The superior civilization? At the risk of stating the obvious, there are some pretty big differences; nonetheless, a couple of quotes from the February 26 review of the follow up to the Pulitzer Prize winning 1991 book from Bert Hölldobler and E.O. Wilson stood out. Check out this connection between colony behavior and CO₂:

Some of the most fascinating insights into ants have come from researchers who measure the amount of carbon dioxide given off by colonies. This is rather like measuring the respiration rate in humans in that it gives an indication of the amount of work the superorganism is doing. The researchers discovered (perhaps unsurprisingly) that colonies experiencing internal conflict between individuals seeking to become reproductively dominant produce more CO2 than do tranquil colonies where the social order is long established. But extraordinarily, they also discovered that about three hours after removing a queen ant, the CO2 emissions from a colony drop. 'Removing the queen thus has a clear effect on worker behavior, apparently reducing their inclination to work for the colony,' the researchers concluded. While it's dangerous to anthropomorphize, it seems that ants may have their periods of mourning just as we humans do when a great leader passes from us.

"Mourning"? I have doubts about it. But given our propensity to bury bad news, this humorous quote highlighted one certain similarity between colonies and human society.

However, ants clearly are fundamentally different from us. A whimsical example concerns the work of ant morticians, which recognize ant corpses purely on the basis of the presence of a product of decomposition called oleic acid. When researchers daub live ants with the acid, they are promptly carried off to the ant cemetery by the undertakers, despite the fact that they are alive and kicking. Indeed, unless they clean themselves very thoroughly they are repeatedly dragged to the mortuary, despite showing every other sign of life.

Bert Hölldobler, who coauthored The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies along with famed entomologist E.O. Wilson, will be at the 2009 IdeaFestival in Louisville.

Wayne

Wikipedia: Superorganism

Ants, Bert Holldobler, E.O. Wilson, entomology

POW! Right Between the Eyes!

Steve Hardy at Creative Generalist writes about a new book entitled "POW! Profiting from the Power of Surprise," which sounds mighty interesting. Steve:

Pow! is about how business 'is in desperate need of new ways to inspire bored and cynical consumers who have grown weary of the same old song and dance. In today’s information economy, it doesn’t matter how many people you reach, but how much attention they pay. And the best way to get attention is with the powerful, but largely misunderstood, element of surprise.'

Agreed. And when it comes to strategy, I think folding surprise - or unexpected delight - into the enterprise can often be the more direct route to discovery. Besides, any book with a written foreword by John Cleese and Craig Ferguson should pass the laugh test.

Joy really is a business strategy.

Wayne

New quantum experiment to "mantangle" observers?

Via Slashdot: If the human eye can detect photons - that is, after all, its job - would a suitably scaled-up experiment in photonic entanglement also entangle two human observers? One expert in the subject believes the idea is possible and has dubbed it "mantanglement".

No comment.

Wayne

Wikipedia: quantum entanglement

physics, mantangle

Supersenses for children

A GPS that vibrates when pointed home? Artists Kenichi Okada and Chris Woebken are designing objects that will allow children to enjoy the heightened sense and point of view of some animals.

Wayne

When words die

When an animal becomes extinct, all we have are the records of that animal and how it interacted with its environment. For some, we have fossils, bones and other records of their moment on this earth. But when a language becomes extinct, unless we have something recorded such as a writing system or more recently actual audio recordings, we lose everything about the sound of that language.

This article goes quite this wonderful news about the film "The Linguists". I am SO excited about this film. Many people are not aware of linguistics or what linguists do. I can remember my graduate schools days when people would say, "what are you studying?" There were many answers; law, English literature, business management..But when I answered "linguistics", eyes rolled, eyebrows raised and crickets started to sing.

Linguistics is an important branch of the sciences. Enjoy this movie. I know I will.

Tina

How ethically sound is the "Spotless mind"?

SEED flagged this one: Researchers appear to have developed a drug that might erase bad memories. But how ethical is it?

...British experts warned the drug raises some difficult questions.

Professor John Harris, an expert in biological ethics at the University of Manchester, said: 'It is obviously up to the individual whether or not she wishes to risk the possible effects, including psychological discontinuity, of erasing unpleasant memories.'

An interesting complexity is the possibility that victims, say of violence, might wish to erase the painful memory and with it their ability to give evidence against assailants.

'Similarly criminals and witnesses to crime may, under the guise of erasing a painful memory, render themselves unable to give evidence.'

The Daily Mail (UK) article references the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which Cate Winslet and Jim Carrey erase the memories of a relationship gone bad.

Wayne

Wikipedia: memories

Latest IF Conversation, Katrina Firlik: Are we our Brains?

"Are we our brains?" Neurosurgeon Katrina Firlik offers her view of consciousness, ideas and Louisville in the latest IdeaFestival Conversation. She is the author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe.

Her view reminds me of neurologist and author Warren Brown, who has said in a listeningtowords lecture I blogged that we "don't have bodies, we are bodies".

Wayne

News: Cork hat wearers unlikely to die from lightening strike

Why are we susceptible to big numbers? Reviewing a claim about the drug Crestor, Guardian columnist and MD, Ben Goldacre, finds it truthfully beside the point.

Wayne