the evolving mind

Oh my gosh. NASA objectifies its female astronauts. Just look at this headline:

Sweet Potato Takes A Ride On Space Shuttle Columbia

Can you believe it!

Oh, wait. They actually did put a tuber into space? My bad.

As for me, I’m not sexist, I swear. At least I don’t think I am. My excuse for misinterpreting the above is that yesterday I heard a blues song that contained the words, “she’s my sweet potato pie.” I guess part of the song was still in my mind.

New headline: The Blues Genre is Sexist!

Technorati Links: NASA, semantics

What is the material in the above photo? Hint, it fell from a position closer to the sun.

Identity below the fold.

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Technorati Links: birds, microscope, puzzle

At this moment there are chipping sparrows feeding on the ground outside my window. And I can hear the “chucking” call of a nearby common grackle. Otherwise, no birds on the feeders. A quiet morning.

Birds are an interest of mine. When you combine birds with science, well, my cup runneth over.

Ooh. Female cardinal. A male flew in and she bolted. He’s feeding, peeling seed husks from the seed, making teet!-like calls every three seconds or so. Didn’t his mother instruct him not to sing with his mouth full?

In research on Savannah sparrows conducted by Heather Williams (rhymes with feather — sorry) of Williams College that I encountered three items I’d like to share and comment on.

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Technorati Links: evolution, research

What a hilarious parody of talking-head nonsense.

Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Technorati Links: psychology, religion

Please excuse the following smarty-pants rant.

When I read the article, Astronomers To Gaze Back In Time And Map History Of Universe, I thought, Nope, that’s bullshit, can’t do it.

The physics and philosophy of time is perhaps my greatest interest, so I read the article with interest and care.

Here is what the researchers aim to do -

Making use of an Infrared Array Camera on NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS) will make a very large map of the sky, capable of detecting extremely faint galaxies. The primary aim is to chart the distribution of stars and black holes from when the Universe was less than a billion years old to the present day.

And the goal?

[to] detect moderately massive galaxies when the Universe was less than 8% of its current age.

Can we call that “gazing back in time?” Strictly speaking, no. As Einstein taught us, there is no ultimate reference frame, a perfect and final x,y,z & t. Instead, there are multitudes of reference frames out there, each equally valid. Einstein further blew minds by demonstrating that time can “flow” at different rates in different frames. There is no single “time” in the universe, there are “times.”

Also thanks to Einstein and the work of other physicists and philosophers, we understand that information is not transmitted instantaneously. At its fastest, information travels at the speed of light. So a person on planet 1 may learn about planet 2 exploding before or after a person on planet 3. In a real sense, looking “back in time” involves receiving information, in our reference frame, that we know took a long time to get here. Rather than looking back in our own time, we are gazing at old information from another time. No clock is sent spinning backwards.

Another analogy: Say you receive a mangled Christmas card your now deceased grandmother sent you five years ago (and apparently got lost somewhere in a postal warehouse). By reading it, are you gazing back in time? Maybe your imagination is. But the card is right there in your own time.

Technorati Links: cosmos, time

In a sense, chimpanzees and other primates are political animals. What do I mean by that? They engage in behaviors such as alliance formation and favor exchange in order to improve their access to resources.

The study report, Small Male Chimps Use Politics, Rather Than Aggression, To Lead The Pack, begins this way -

With most mammals, the biggest and most aggressive male claims the alpha male role and gets his choice of food and females. But a new study from the University of Minnesota suggests that at least among chimpanzees, smaller, more mild-mannered males can also use political behavior to secure the top position.

There is strength in numbers, and in some social groups described as egalitarian — in which attempts at despotic rule by one is prevented by the vigilant, unified discouragement many — the strategy of gaining power by making friends is likely more effective.

While the quantity of the data for the study was poor, little more than anecdote, really, these initial findings are intriguing. In detail -

The study focused on three alpha males who reigned between 1989 and 2003. Frodo, one of the largest and most aggressive male chimpanzees ever observed at Gombe, weighed 51.2 kg (112.6 lbs.) at his peak. He relied on his size and aggression to rule. While he allowed other chimpanzees to groom him, he seldom returned the favor. At the other end of the spectrum, Wilkie, who weighed only 37 kg (81.4 lbs.), obsessively groomed both male and female chimpanzees to maintain his top position. And Freud, who weighed 44.8 kg (98.6 lbs.), used a combination of the two strategies. (The average male chimp in Gombe weighs about 39 kg (85.8 lbs.).

I find primatology fascinating. Studies such as these may help us understand our own behavior. I look forward to more research.

Technorati Links: politics, status

As I look out my office window I see a dogwood tree in full bloom. Other deciduous trees rimming our yard are pushing out new leaves. I love the delicate new growth, for when light hits the paper-thin green tissue, it seems to glow.

This early spring season of growth, however, isn’t all pleasure.

Hold on . . . . just sneezed. Really.

In a little over a month the orange tree in our backyard will finish dropping the fruits of last season and push out blossoms for this one. The smell is divine. It tickles my nose in a good and not-so-good way. Nonetheless, I welcome it.

Technorati Links: biology

Jesus worked miracles….Actually, what the gospels say he performed were dynameis, ‘mighty deeds,’ or semeia, ’signs.’
- Russell Shorto (40)

Primate gestures and displays are aimed at impacting individuals from a distance. “Moving” them. Not physically, emotionally. The element of surprise can play a key role: of not knowing when or what an individual is capable of. Primates of all sorts are moved to watch and perhaps fear those who surprise them. And bow down. As for humans, if the feats fall into the category of beneficial wonders, the feeling may be more of awe and a desire to praise and follow.

Current age psychological research has confirmed that human beings are inclined to strive for status and recognize it according to the emotional impact different individuals make. One such study on children concluded, “the dominance hierarchies were formed on the basis of the relative degree to which a child was the target versus the initiator of aggressive and persuasive acts.” (41)

Is it in our nature to to bow down to persuasive others? I think so. Can we find evidence of that nature in religious ideas and writings? Yes.

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Technorati Links: primates, religion, status

Guess what the above is. Right you are! Congratulations, you can read!

But is it really? Seems to me it could be pvc pipes painted all fancy on some red clay on a Hollywood set. Heck, if the whole moon thing was faked, how is a person to believe we’ve sent a massive, metallic Tinker-Toy to Mars? That is a 36 million mile road trip, without a road.

But what if this whole NASA space exploration thing is one giant hoax, dreamed up to get a specific class of people to believe in the power of Hollywood hoaxes? The devious plan — to make them think something is a hoax that isn’t. What a brilliant hoax that is!

By the way, the class of people who believe the moon landing was a hoax pulled off and covered up by a massive conspiracy could be described this way: these are people who tend to think that their shadow is following them. On purpose. You can’t trust those shadows.

[pic thanks to NASA]

Technorati Links: NASA

In my psychology classes we talk about bi-directional influences. For many years it has been understood that a social group will influence the behavior of individuals. Say a kid moves to a new school, and in the school the other kids are unkind to the boy. The boy is more likely to avoid others, maybe even cower in the corner, whatnot. That is one direction of influence.

More recently psychologists have focused on how a person’s attributes and behavior can influence their treatment by a group. Now take a boy who tends to habitually avoid and cower, and place him in a new school. Guess what, the other kids are more likely to be unkind towards him. Just as a group influences the individual, so too does an individual influence the group. To some degree.

News about research into prejudice published last summer bore this headline -

Expecting To Be Treated With Prejudice May Be Self-fulfilling Prophecy, Study Suggests

The final graph reads -

“We’ve always known that stereotyping by dominant groups can negatively impact communications between groups,” Inzlicht said. “This study shows it’s also important to consider how the expectations and perceptions of marginalized groups can impact relations. Both sides play a crucial role.”

That’s a dead-on example of bi-directional influence.

Technorati Links: sociology