Apr 30 2009
All the bougainvillea in our yard died back to the ground due to the many hard frosts we had this winter. But they are back. The stalks seem to be shooting out new growth at nearly an inch a day.
Will they reach the height they had last year? Or might their set-back be more than a season’s worth? I’m curious to find out. And I won’t cheat by applying Rapid-Gro intravenously.
Apr 30 2009
The trouble with making specific claims about human nature is that we are a very plastic species, behaviorally speaking. Even when it comes sexual relations. New research published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution . . .
suggests that human mating strategies are not likely to conform to a single universal pattern.
But does that mean there is infinite flexibility in this aspect of human behavior? While there may be great variability, are there no innate general tendencies?
No surprisingly, culture can exert a significant influence on human sexual behavior. The study found -
While male reproductive success varied more than female reproductive success overall, huge variability was found between populations; for instance, in monogamous societies, variances in male and female reproductive success were very similar.
Is it possible that the question, “What is the nature of human sexuality?” is actually multiple choice, and there is not one correct answer, but many, depending on social and ecological and other factors? Probably. I eagerly await further research.
Apr 29 2009
Damn those parasites. Swine flu has millions of folk worried. If we were citrus trees, we’d have other worries. Such as the above infection on a “healthy” orange tree leaf from our backyard. Fungus? Virus? I don’t know. The microscope photo was x200.
Below the fold you will find a shot at x60. And eggs! Insect eggs! The orange tree in our yard needs to take more showers, it seems. And wash the underside of its leaves with soap.
Apr 29 2009
The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. (Matthew 25:1)
Sex is more than “the act.” Intercourse precedes and will lead to sexual reproduction. When examining human sexual behavior and religious morality, it is the reproductive ramifications that count.
For example, why are virgin’s desirable? Well, because they are “untouched” by other men. Is this considered good because other men will make them dirty? Is it all about germs? No. Maybe slightly. But the primary issue that virgins are desirable is procreative reasons. A male who marries a virgin will not raise some other male’s child.
Though some claim that all children are equal in the eyes of a god, genetic ties are important. Studies have shown that individuals will behave much more altruistically, for example, when the subject needing assistance is a close blood relative. Is it the blood that counts? It’s the DNA, silly.
Apr 29 2009
Last weekend I read — skimmed, really — a book titled, The Bridge to Humanity: How Affect Hunger Trumps the Selfish Gene. I was interested in the topics it promised to address, namely human evolution and the role culture plays in it. Although the term “affect hunger” set off a bit of an alarm bell in my brain (what the hell is that?) the heading to the first section, in particular, seemed to hold promise: “Nature and Nurture.”
Psychology is considered a science. Is it? Can be. The book I read was not. Not really. Consider these representative passages:
Affect hunger is the motivating force for sociality, just as thirst motivates us to drink and hunger to eat.
Culture is therefore the shared perception of the universe and its contents, seen as a systematic whole, including the perceptions of self and the delineation of behavioral propriety.
Affect hunger is rooted in biology and emerges with culture. It ties the two together. Affect hunger does not leave the realm of biology, for its very existence plays a role in survival, first by contributing to the central nervous system and second by motivating us to entice the maternal care that is needed to live in a human world.
It seems that in attempting to develop a psychological theory-of-nearly-everything, the author wrote in generalities and employed numerous analogies. Data? There was none I found that directly supported unique, specific claims.
What makes a field of study science is not the subject itself, but how it examines and explains. A classic example is Intelligent Design. Although some people would like to needle it into science classes, just because it purports to be about biological life doesn’t make it a science.
If the book I read wasn’t science, what was it? Philosophy? Meta-psychology? Because I believe in precision I’m going to refrain from slapping any old term on it. Frankly, I don’t know what to call it. Maybe we simple need more words. Specific words.
Apr 28 2009
Is a blossom merely a way for a seed to make another seed? The thought reminds of the illusion of looking in a mirror directly before you with another directly behind.
Sure, the plant and flower stage seem more impressive and may even have a greater duration, on average. But does that fact give the non-seed stage a greater “being”?
Hmm. In the least, I would amend the inquiry to: Is a blossom merely a way for a seed to make other seeds?
As for a chicken being an egg’s way of making another egg, I’m inclined to say “yes” but with a few asterisks appended to that yes. Why yes? In brief, it all started with replicating molecules (at least our best guess points in that direction). Add flesh and extravagant behavior and what have you got but replicating molecules that go to great lengths to successfully replicate.
Maybe.
Apr 28 2009
It seems that all people do not perceive sounds the same. In particular, weaker individuals, in terms of body frame and muscle mass, tend to perceive an approaching sound as being closer than stronger individuals do. Interesting. What should we “make” of this knot of data?
In the report of this finding there is this speculation about the reason for it:
This connection between physical fitness and the brain’s auditory system may have evolved to help the weak get out of the way of approaching danger.
But before a whole cloth of explanation is woven it would be wise to hesitate. There are, however, other knots that suggest the same.
The research expands upon previous work showing that women respond to looming sounds sooner than their typically larger, stronger male counterparts — though both groups perceive receding sounds equally. Rhesus monkeys also spend less time looking at receding sounds than approaching sounds. “These reactions are influenced by evolutionary forces; it’s a good thing to respond a little bit early and, evolutionarily, it doesn’t cost much,” says Neuhoff.
One last point. The title writer of the news piece deserves fifty lashes with a noodle for his/her word choice: “Wimps Hear Dangerous Noises Differently.” Wimps? What are we, in high school?
Apr 27 2009
Above is a NASA photo of the moon. No, not the Moon. One of Mar’s moons. “A” moon would be more accurate, I guess.
Excuse me for stepping on a soapbox, but precision with language is important. And that is why I tend to get my undies in a bunch over the question, “Do you believe in God?” Um . . . which one?
And by that I don’t mean Zeus or Jesus’ daddy. For even Christians will attribute significantly different qualities to their god. In a real sense, they have differing intrinsic definitions of “God.”
Should NASA send men to Moon? Please–try to be precise. Try.
Apr 27 2009
I had my mind blown this weekend. And it wasn’t from inhaling, snorting or drinking a mind-altering substance. I read some science. The hard stuff.
Alright, it is a Monday morning so maybe you won’t find the material as potent. But man. Sip these four points from new astronomical research and see if your mind goes a-tripping:
1. Water has been discovered. Not on Earth. Not on Mars. It is being ejected by a “supermassive” black hole (not just a black hole or a massive black hole but a supermassive black hole!) at the center of a distant galaxy.
2. The water is part of a maser. Like a laser, but with microwaves.
[M]olecules in the gas amplify and emit beams of microwave radiation in much the same way as a laser emits beams of light.
3. How did they detect it? No, not with a supermassive telescope lens. With a phenomenon known as “gravitational lensing.”
The faint signal is only detectable by using a technique called gravitational lensing, where the gravity of a massive galaxy in the foreground acts as a cosmic telescope, bending and magnifying light from the distant galaxy.
Feeling a bit woozy yet? You might want to switch to some lighter reading material.
4. It took the information about the water, transported by the radiation, 11.1 billion years to reach Earth. However . . .
because the Universe has expanded like an inflating balloon in that time, stretching out the distances between points, the galaxy in which the water was detected is about 19.8 billion light years away.
Dude. You kidding me? Wow.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to return to planet Earth. Which is pretty wild itself. In fact, between episodes of typing I have been gazing past my desk out a window and upon very strange growths coming up out of the ground. They are like lumpy poles with smaller lumpy poles projecting out and up from the main pole, and hanging off the smallest poles are green radiation-converter-things. Crazy.
Dude! Outer space rocks! As does local space! But what IS space?! Maybe I’ll put aside that question for now. It’s Monday morning and I have a lot of work to do.
Apr 26 2009
I wonder. If emoticons help express a person’s emotional state and social intentions, could a picture or work of visual art be used to express your mood? Surely music can do that — auditory art, if you will.
My mood this morning? Good-ish. Partly sunny you might say. But also . . . tired. I wouldn’t mind reclining in a grove of trees and not doing much. Physically resting while my mind wanders.
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