the evolving mind

It seems that couches may not create the human potatoes that sit on them. The search for the reason why humans in the U.S. are getting heavier has led to many proposed causal factors, a sedentary lifestyle being one of them. With technological advance has come many very cool leisure time activities we can enjoy while sitting on our butts. Video games, DVDs and DVR programs, a World Wide Web with a vast and tremendously varied content and ways to interact. Etc.

Yet new research strongly suggests that the rise in obesity can be entirely explained by — surprise, surprise — increased food intake. Who’d a hunk that simply eating and drinking more calories without changing your activity level would cause weight gain?!

Yes, the new research is statistical in nature. Still, merely by looking at the calories of food and drink produced and consumed in this country over the decades researchers actually predicted more weight gain than actually occurred. As the lead author tells it:

“For adults, we predicted that they would be 10.8 kg heavier, but in fact they were 8.6 kg heavier. That suggests that excess food intake still explains the weight gain, but that there may have been increases in physical activity over the 30 years that have blunted what would otherwise have been a higher weight gain,” Swinburn said.

Interesting. Should we take couches and desk chairs out of the line-up of suspects of causal agents in the recent rise in obesity? Maybe. Of course, the furniture we rest upon are accomplices at best. It’s the average American’s lifestyle that should stand before a camera and hold a placard. And a lifestyle consists of many factors.

Technorati Links: behavior, health

The most precious resource on planet Earth? Photosynthesizing plant tissue. It is invaluable. Praise be to leaves!

Technorati Links: biology

What is the meaning of a small hole in a small shell? It depends. If the hole was manufactured by a human, it could mean something. In this case, it is likely the shell was used as an ornamental bead. And? It is the age of the bead that is the rage in this scientific finding.

But before I share that –perhaps as an intellectual drum-roll, but more to provide context — the bead was found in a cave in Morocco that had already yielded shells in a layer of 82,000 year old deposits. And there is another cave in South Africa that 41 similar shell beads have been unearthed. These have been “confidently” dated to 71,000 years ago. Ancient.

The bead in question was actually one of nearly four dozen shells discovered, the majority “perforated.” And they date back to at least 110,000 years. We now have a new world record! Well, a science record.

And the meaning of it to human evolution? It doesn’t say much if anything about the form hominids took back then. But how they functioned, yes it does say something. How big of a deal is it? Imagine if you were to discover a wild troop of chimpanzees wearing shell necklaces they fashioned themselves. No, the hominids at that time were not equivalent to chimps. But the appearance of a new type of behavior is a big deal.

Archaeologists widely believe that humans in Europe first started fashioning purely symbolic objects about 40,000 years ago, but in Africa this latest evidence shows that humans were engaged in this activity at least 40,000 years before this.

Who are we as a species? Reading tea leaves won’t tell you a Damn thing. But a hole in a small shell? That can.

[article originally found at ScienceDaily]

Technorati Links: culture, evolution

Animal or vegetable? Hints: 1) the title and 2) this microscope pic is at x200. Answer and another pic below the fold.

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Technorati Links: microscope, puzzle

When I see people dancing, I sometimes want to join in. Other times another part of my brain kicks in and I think, “What odd behavior. I wonder how the tendency to engage in it evolved.” Dance is, after all, a cultural universal. Which means it is likely not just a matter of learning. There is something innate about the urge to dance. In humans. But what about other animals?

In a new piece of research conducted over at Harvard University, we learn that some animals “seem to be able to keep a beat, implying an evolutionary link between the two capacities.”

First off, big kudos for the use of “seem to be able.” For further down in the article we read the words of lead author, Adena Schachner:

“Our analyses showed that these birds’ movements were more lined up with the musical beat than we’d expect by chance,” says Schachner. “We found strong evidence that they were synchronizing with the beat, something that has not been seen before in other species.”

Second comes the “two capacities” part. Besides keeping a beat, what is the other? And here is the fascinating part – vocal mimicry. The ability to imitate sounds.

Interesting.

You may have observed that dogs are notoriously bad at disco dancing. The are also largely inept at vocal mimicry. Parrots, however, are another matter. It seems that they can get a bit of a groove on. Maybe if the researchers had better set the mood with a disco ball and some gold neck chains for the birds . . . .

And here is the suggestion of a clue to the evolution of human dance -

“Our data suggests that some of the brain mechanisms needed for human dance originally evolved to allow us to imitate sound,” says Schachner.

That certainly could be an important part of it. Could be. I wonder if mirror neurons and the human aptitude at motor/gestural mimicry could also play a role.

Technorati Links: animals, behavior, evolution

I love rocks. Well, not unconditionally (sorry geological equivalent of Carl Rogers). Those rocks that have caused me harm (Yah, I’m talking to you, stone that shot out from under a car I was pushing out of a ditch years ago . . . and hit me square on the shin!) I could take or leave. No, leave it at leave. Other rocks, on the other rock-handling hand, however, are just plain faciful (fascinating + beautiful).

When my wife and I lived in New Mexico we became rock hounds and acquired quite a collection. Now we live in Florida, the sand bar state, and . . . you have to buy rocks if you want rocks.

Oh well.

Technorati Links: nature, physics

Last night I listened to a recent episode of the podcast, “This American Life” with Ira glass [#378 - This I used to Believe]. In it I heard a Christian football coach explain to the sad/distraught female interviewer why her friend had died of cancer. Adam. It was Adam’s fault. We now live in a fallen world and bad stuff happens to good people because of it.

If you ask me, that guy is delusional. But because he is not personally suffering, or an obvious danger to himself of others, and because his relationships are intact . . . . the state won’t involuntarily institutionalize him.

Just kidding. Mostly.

The Christian coach’s schizophrenic ideation aside (split from reality), there are some very serious psychological disorders that have nothing to do with fictional characters and evil forces working in the world. Take depression. Through no fault of their own, millions of people worldwide suffer from depression. If you have ever experienced a state of profound depression, even for a relatively “fleeting” hour, you can imagine what kind of hell clinical depression can produce.

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Technorati Links: belief, mental illness, religion

If you are an advocate of science, skepticism, critical thinking, freethought, technological and thus economic progress, etc., etc., yes, education is important.

And whether or not you know it, our education system and priorities changes. Every year. To some degree. With that thought came this one fast on its heels: Man, I need to get more involved. Before getting involved, however, getting informed is essential. You might want to enter into discussions as well so as to round out your viewpoint.

For some information and “rounding” opportunities, I recommend checking out the Carnival of Education. See the most recent edition here.

Technorati Links: blog carnival, education, science

A frigid solar system? Isn’t that somewhat oxymoronic? Our very own planet has vast sheets of ice on it. And the above pic of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, shows ice tracks.

Biological life may prove to be something of a Goldilocks phenomenon. This planet is too cold; this planet is too hot; but this planet is just right.

How broad a range is “just right”? I don’t think we have an answer to that. Not yet.

Photo thanks to NASA.

Technorati Links: cosmos, evolution, NASA

Too funny.  Video thanks to The Onion.

Special Boy With Freakishly Large Brain Wins Spelling Bee

Technorati Links: intelligence, video