Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ISSN 2048-2590
#FOOD
S K R A T M O X P S E H T
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#TECHNOLOGY
#ART
#HEALTH
PLUS...
#SCIENCE
HOW REAL MEN DANCE FROM PUNK TO PYTHAGORAS THE SECRET WORLD OF FOOD FLAVOURS
Deputy Editor/ Molecular Guru @crowe_jon Media Guru @benvealpr Photographer jnlloyd@gmail.com Design Guru ian@gurumagazine.org
Leila Wildsmith Guru Opinions www.writingonthewall0612.blogspot.co.uk Kim Lacey kimberlylacey.com James Lloyd thesoftanonymous.com Toby Brown Ross Harper Simon Makin Natasha Agabalyan Food Guru thescienceinformant.com @SciencInformant Abigail James
aflyinmyprimordialsoup.wordpress.com
@refharper
@_abigailjames @JohnnyAnkers
John Ankers Kathryn Lougheed germzoo.blogspot.co.uk Benjamin Chabot-Hanowell Berit Brogaard Kristian Marlow
ARRIVALS LOUNGE
think theres a little bit in all of us that dreams of being the best. For some of us it will be the fantasy of our cooking prowess being recognized by a Michelin Star; for others, it will be the penning of a novel that sells more than J.K. Rowling. For me, being a world-famous surgeon was high up the list. This ambition was dashed five years ago when I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Surgeons twice needed to chop chunks out of my grey matter, ultimately forcing me to hang up my stethoscope for good. The upside of surviving the tumour has its downsides: I am told I am now less socially inhibited speaking my mind too freely, and often being landing in hot water as a result. Brain damage rarely has a good outcome, but thats not always the case: in this issue we read the story of Jason,
a beer-swilling womaniser who was transformed into an artist and mathematics prodigy after serious head injury. Inspiration can also be found through Fitness Guru Matt Linsdells account of overcoming sporting injury and James Lloyds guide to dancing. Sceptic Guru Daryl Ilbury offers a crash course in dinner-party Latin, and our Food Guru Natasha Abagalyan explains how processed food gets infused with our favourite flavours. Read, enjoy and be inspired. Want to make Guru Magazine better? Join the Readers panel, complete a survey, and tell us what you think. Were offering a new iPad and some great prizes for those who do. Find out more here.
Dr. Stu
2013/0102
GURU 10 February/March 2013 ISSN 2048-2590 2012 Guru Magazine Ltd. Guru Magazine Ltd. is a company registered in England & Wales. Company no. 7683000 gurumagazine.org
This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, click the link above or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA. Advertising & letters info@gurumagazine.org Press & marketing enquiries press@gurumagazine.org
The opinions expressed herein are of the individual authors and do not represent the views of Guru Magazine Ltd. Text and picture material is sent at the owners risk. Follow Guru on Twitter
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CONTENTS
#HUMAN BODY
5 REASONS NOT TO PREPARE FOR A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
The zombies are coming! The undead have infected movies, video games and even politics. South African journalist Anina Mumm comes up with five good reasons not to get a shotgun just yet. Page 8
#GURU OPINIONS
OF CAPITAL IMPORTANCE
Page 22
Why cant kids spell? Leila Wildsmith wags her teachers finger at the media. It worries her because if we dont understand language, we dont really understand ourselves.
#FITNESS
TALES FROM THE WATER COOLER: GETTING THROUGH BACK PAIN
Page 12
#MIND
Page 24
To look at him, youd consider Fitness Guru and personal trainer Matt Linsdell to be the pinnacle of health, with a physique people would pay good money for. Yet a hidden pain hampers his joie de vivre. He shares his hurt in the hope that we can avoid such pain ourselves.
#ASKAGURU
Page 15
#LIFE
STRIKE A POSE
Page 28
Every Friday we open up the digital gates to readers questions both weird and wonderful. We endeavour to find the best answers and feature them on our website. Heres a selection of some of the best from the last two months.
Michael Jackson liked to Shake his Body and Billy Idol would Dance on his Own. Lady Gaga says Just Dance. Few men can La Bomba like Ricky Martin, but Gurus resident groovster James Lloyd explains how a guys dance floor grind can wow the women.
#HUMAN BODY
Page 18
#NEWS
Page 32
#GUREVIEWS
SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE: THE GAME
Page 36
#MIND
Page 49
A mobile app that explains your subconscious from playing a game? Sounds like it could be fun, but Kim Lacey isnt impressed
#FOOD
Page 37
#LIFE
Page 52
#GENETICS
THE FUTURES BRIGHT: CONSUMER GENETICS IS HERE
Page 41
Its a safe bet a Tarot card reader wont give you a reliable prediction of the future but buy your own genetic testing promises to be a crystal ball for your health. Abigail James asks whether you really want to know.
#LIFE
Page 56
#HEALTH
YOUR GUTS FOR GLORY
Page 43
Page 61
We all want to do something for humanity but poo-ing into a pot? Simon Makin puts a peg on his nose
Page 62
#TECHNOLOGY
WANT TO BUILD THE PERFECT SMARTPHONE?
Page 46
Dropped calls, frozen screens, disappearing contacts: it can make you want to throw your smartphone in the bath. Doctor John Ankers looks to alternative sources for inspiration to solve mobile frustrations.
#HUMAN BODY
ANINA MUMM
Once, not too long ago, a zombie apocalypse was just a daydream. Now though, the living dead are all the rage, with zombie-fever having spawned dozens of movies, video games and books. But some people are taking it a little too far. Anina Mumm explains why we should cast out all fear of the shuffling dead. At least for the time being
Gun sales in America are booming as Patriots everywhere empty their favourite zombie cartridges at life-size zombie targets all in practice for their bloody zombie doom. For inspiration, they watch The Walking Dead, and then flip the channel to Discoverys Zombie Apocalypse to learn more about how to shoot em in the head.
This time we cant just laugh and say Only in America!People worldwide are taking this zombie thing just a little too seriously. Australian Prime Minister, Julie Gillard, even namechecked zombies as a cause of the impending apocalypse (in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way). So should we be worried? In short: no. A basic biology lesson should convince you that life is for the living:
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thalamus, the part of the brain that controls basic bodily functions, to develop a zombies taste for humans through the primal urge of hunger. Your primal brain also controls your appetite, of course, but somehow when you become undead your brain would drive you to cannibalism. Really? Even if you were vegetarian? They also say this virus would change the zombies DNA so that it would no longer need energy from food. When you eat food, enzymes, acids and bacteria in your gut break it down into smaller pieces that, with the help of hormones like insulin, are absorbed by the body and used for energy. A very large number of genes control this complicated process of turning meat into movement, thoughts and, yes, even farts. Is it really likely then that a zombie-virus could rewrite the human recipe contained in DNA to such an extent that it would develop an entirely new way of getting energy without food, gut bacteria or metabolic hormones? Ill let you answer that.
ergy from that amazingly unlikely new DNA recipe, they still wouldnt work. Muscles need very specific amounts of minerals like calcium, potassium, phosphates and sodium chloride (thats table salt to you and me). You should get these from your normal diet and they control how your intricate muscle fibres contract and relax to give you balance and movement. Whats more, without oxygen (from the blood) muscles would stiffen as rigor mortis sets in. If the zombies dont eat ... and they dont pop vitamin pills ... and their blood doesnt flow ... how could they stagger so?
Temperature and pH
Some say that a zombies body temperature is higher than a humans. It just so happens that every protein in the human body, including hormones, enzymes (proteins that make the chemical reactions in our body happen as they should) and antibodies (molecules used by the immune system to attack microbes and other alien invaders), work perfectly at 37 degrees Celsius. At lower temperatures (which arise, say, in the case of death) proteins can work, but very slowly. At higher temperatures, they become distorted and stop working. So unless this virus
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Extra reading:
A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology Psychiatrist Steven Schlozman analyzes what makes the undead tick From Voodoo to Viruses: The Evolution of the Zombie in Twentieth Century Popular Culture The Undead Report Zombie Biology Munz, P., Hudea, I., Imad, J. and Smith?, R.J. (2009) When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling Of An Outbreak Of Zombie Infection, Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress, pp. 133-150. Ragan, S.M. (2005) Etiology of Remoero-Fulci Disease: The Case for Prions, J. Zom. Sci., vol. 6, pp. 1519-1523. Smith, R. (2009) A report on the zombie outbreak of 2009: how mathematics can save us (no, really), CMAJ, vol. 181, no. 12, pp. E297-E300. Stanley, D. (2012) The nurses role in the prevention of Solanum infection: dealing with a zombie epidemic, J. Clin. Nurs., vol. 21, no. 11-12, pp. 1606-13.
Anina Mumm is a biochemist/journalist by training. She runs Transcript, a science communication company specialising in writing, editing, infographics, social media and photos. She is also an executive member of the South African Science Journalists Association. In her spare time she dabbles in data journalism and nurtures her addictions to food, the gym, social media and the colour purple. Anina fights ignorance on twitter as @aninja_m.
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#FITNESS
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a fever of 38C (100.4F) or above unexplained weight loss swelling of the back constant back pain that does not ease after lying down pain in your chest orhigh up in your back pain down your legs and below the knees pain caused by a recent trauma or injury to your back loss of bladder control inability to pass urine loss of bowel control numbness around your genitals, buttocks or back passage pain that is worse at night (From NHS Back Pain advice)
Matthew Linsdell has a degree in Environmental Science and is a certified personal trainer. He calls himself an evidence-based trainer, as training is a field littered with well-disguised pseudoscience. He owns a small exercise facility in Ottawa, Ontario where the emphasis is on teaching the biology behind the exercise you find can out more at smart-fit.ca
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ASK A GURU
Ever had one of those questions that really bugs you? Us too! Well heres some most excellent news: everyFriday our team of Gurus will be accepting your questions about (pretty much) anything health, nutrition, psychology, space or life! To ask a question, simply post it on ourFacebook Our diverse team of writers and Gurus will research and find you the answer. If we cant, then well hunt down an expert who can. It might take us a few days to find the answer, but we will do our best! See the full list of questions answered so far on our
wallor tweet it to@GuruMagwith the hashtag #AskAGuruon any Friday. We also accept questionsvia email.
If a man has gender reassignment surgery will he suffer phantom limb type feelings?
Sent via twitter Phantom limb syndrome is the sensation of a body part being present even after it has been amputated. A most peculiar condition, the amputee can find the absent limb feeling very real and even as if it can be moved and manipulated. Its a surprisingly common syndrome and can be extremely painful for many: an amputated hand may feel as if it is clenched and the fingernails are digging into the palm. The reasons for phantom limb sensations are unclear but they are thought to be due to the way the brain is hard-wired for all its body parts: a region within the parietal brain lobe (the top of the head) has a map for receiving sensations from different body regions. When a body part is removed, this now redundant brain segment creates an image of the missing body part from other bodily sensations. It isnt imagined the feelings are just as real as when the body was whole.
Answered by Dr Stu (Science Guru)
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Gender reassignment involves (obviously) the removal of body parts. For men, the penis (although not a limb) seems to be vulnerable to the same problem as for arms, hands, legs and feet. 60% of transsexual men experience phantom limb feelings for the absent genitalia after surgery. And not just men are affected: women commonly feel phantom breasts after a mastectomy.
ASK A GURU
Why does my atheist brother-in-law complain when his son refuses to believe in Father Christmas?
Asked by @Christomill via twitter I have given this much thought because there are three ways of approaching the issue of challenging personal beliefs: by tip-toeing daintily through the tulips, bashing through the obstruction with a frontend loader, or my personal favourite obliterating the tulips with the front-end loader. Im going to have to take the first route, because ideally as a science journalist Id need to interview all parties before throwing any light on the matter; and besides, there are some sensitive issues at stake here. Firstly, I have to assume that your atheist brotherin-law doesnt believe in Father Christmas either. That makes sense because the character doesnt exist outside of folklore, and even then, in such apparently diverse forms as to render reports of him untenable as proof. Besides, in order to deliver as many presents as needed in a single night (even to only the good children), would require Father Christmas (and his reindeer) to do some interesting things with the laws
Answered by Daryl Ilbury (Sceptic Guru)
of physics (see The Physics of Santa) Secondly, I also have to assume that because the son has been brought up in a home where at least one the parents is an atheist, he has been encouraged to employ critical reasoning. He has therefore come to the logical conclusion that Father Christmas doesnt exist. This means that unlike his peers who have been encouraged to believe in nonsense he wont grow up to believe in horoscopes and homeopathy. The logical answer to your question is therefore simple its love (altogether now, 123aaaah!) I can imagine that your brother-in-law doesnt want to risk his son being prejudiced by his peers (and their judgemental parents) by running around and telling everyone that Father Christmas doesnt exist.
Now, for those of you about to vomit at the thought of all of this, dont despair. New technological developments have allowed the development of artificial casings. These artificial casings can either be made from natural substances, like the hide of a cow, or from cotton. Finally, truly artificial casings can be made from plastic. Only one question remains: how long will this tasty information keep you from eating your next juicy submucosal sausage?
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ASK A GURU
I have noticed that some products (such as Soy Milk) state a warning that it should be consumed within 4 days after being opened. How accurate is this?
Asked by Julio Vazquez via Facebook Best before and use by dates are used on different types of food. Use by dates relate to perishable foods, which can go off easily (like dairy productsandmeat). The use bydateindicates the latest date on which the food is definitely safe to eat (if stored correctly, that is: dont expectmilkto be any good on its use by date if its been left out of the fridge all day). Best before dates are used for foods with a longer life than perishable goods things likecookies and cakes. This date indicates how long you can expect the food to remain at its best quality. Such foods are typically still safe to eat after their best before date, but may just not be quite so pleasing on the palate. Not good unless you like stale-tasting muffins. Turning to things likesoya milk, its generally best to heed the advice given on the packaging. Some things like milk may look and smell fine, even well after their use-by date, but that doesnt mean it hasnt become contaminated with some lurking bug or other since you opened it. As a UK Food Safety expert
Answered by Jon Crowe (Molecular Guru)
explains Its tempting just to give your food a sniff to see if you think its gone off, but food bugs like E. coli and salmonella dont cause food to smell off even when they may have grown to dangerous levels. So food could look and smell fine but still be harmful. In short, use by dates arent just produced as a result of guesswork, but rather as the result of careful testing. You can read more about the science behind use by dates here. Incidentally, US soya milk manufacturers state that their products remain fresh for between 7 and 10 days, as reportedhere.
Theres plenty more where they came from. Here are some corkers:
Could you make someone love you by dosing them with love hormones? How true to real life forensics is CSI? Why cant women read maps? Why cant men shop? Do pets get mental health disorders? Why dont babies lose their voice from screaming? Is Sheldon Cooper or Leslie Winkle from TVs The Big Bang Theory right?
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#SCEPTICISM
everyone pauses to ponder whats just been said, invariably with at least an eyebrow cocked. So here are some handy Latin phrases to keep tucked into your sceptic tool belt, and explanations of how to use them in situations drenched in superstition and pseudoscience:
Its also impressive. Whip out the odd Latin phrase in polite discourse, especially with a dash of restrained ceremony, and it has the same impact as George Clooney announcing at a ladies book club that he also has a PhD in astrophysics: discussion suddenly stops and
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At the gym
A friend shows you their new Quantum Electro-Therapy bracelet that supposedly aligns the geomagnetic arterial essences in their body. After finally composing yourself and wiping away the tears, you explain its a load of pseudoscientific rubbish. Clearly upset, they challenge you by saying: How can you say that? I see a lot of people wearing them. Thats when you slowly shake your head, smile and say, Oh Bob, youre a victim of the ad populum fallacy. The belief that something being popular is a reason for accepting it as true.
At church
You hear of someone who is denying their child medical attention because they believe some form of divine intervention will cure them. Their belief is based solely on faith, but the scientist in you knows this will place the health of the child at risk. You slowly shake your head, and say sadly, Credo quia absurdum (I believe because it is absurd). This is the seemingly paradoxical justification employed by those who believe that reason and faith are hostile to each other and that faith is superior at arriving at particular truths. So make a note of these phrases. Maybe even keep them in your mobile phone. And when the occasion arises (and if theres one thing we know for sure its that superstition and pseudoscience remain ever popular) youll know what to do.
To some degree, this is the flip side of the womens outburst. Someone in the office shows you a crystal they believe contains magic powers, and they rub it every day because, according to them, it will bring them good luck. They know this to be so because the crystal
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Bitten by the Latin bug? Keen to impress your friends and family with your newfound linguistic skills? Then try these:
Argumentum ad lapidem
hen someone simply dismisses your W argument as being absurd, without providing any evidence thereof. Example: Evolution? What a load of rubbish!
Argumentum ad nauseum
When someone says the same thing over and over again in an attempt to establish it as true, as opposed to providing proof thereof.
Argumentum ad baculum
When someone threatens you in order to change your belief.
Daryl Ilbury is a multi-award winning broadcaster and op-ed columnist based in South Africa. He has a passion for science that has burned since he was a child. You can see an archive of his work on his website www.darylilbury.com or follow him on Twitter at @darylilbury.
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URU OPINIONS
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about this here). Perhaps the bigger issue is not the use or misuse of standard spellings and grammar, but the messages that are conveyed by inaccurate use. Yes, writing can still be understood without capital letters (I could have written this entire article without capitals; then again, my computer would make every effort to correct them for me), but what subconscious messages would I have conveyed about myself, or the magazine? That I wasnt well educated? On a deeper level, inaccurate punctuation can lead us to construct an opinion, not just about a persons literacy skills, but about their beliefs and values. If I didnt use capitals, you might think me lazy, or that I didnt care about my article or the magazine. You might not think much of the editorial staff who allowed this lack of capitalisation. At worst, you might doubt the validity of what we have to say. I doubt you would have thought me cool or forward-thinking. In such a public, professional setting as a digital magazine, there is an expectation that the language used is formal. To follow this line of thought to one extreme, could we perhaps say that there is a direct correlation between the lack of capitalisation of proper nouns and the lack of respect in our society today? If I do not use correct grammar, my students may very well see me in a different light. When I go to see doctor Jones instead of Doctor Jones when I am ill, will I still trust his or her judgment? If I dont use a capital letter for your name, will you still feel that I value and respect you? Perhaps most importantly the language we use and specifically the lack of capitals affects our thoughts about other people and our thoughts about ourselves. If I see myself (and represent myself) as i and not I, then I may not appreciate my own significance and importance. Instead, I undermine my own worth and encourage others to do the same. Perhaps our use of capitals really is of capital importance.
Leila Wildsmith is an English teacher in a secondary school and, in her spare time, loves writing and reading a wide variety of different books. She occasionally blogs about writing at www.writingonthewall0612.blogspot.co.uk and intensely dislikes misplaced apostrophes.
students writing is not technically correct without capital letters, I can still understand it. If our culture is doing away with capital letters, perhaps now is it time for us to shed them too? Facebook and Twitter are two further examples of the interesting link between cultural shifts and language. Despite being proper nouns, neither use a capital to represent their name as it appears in company logos. Again, we can ask: does this reflect a shift in modern culture to omit capitals, or does the omission of capitals on such popular sites encourage others to do the same? Many say that language really does reflect the changes that are occurring in culture already. We see this in the addition of new words popularised by TV programmes, such as Amazeballs and Bridezilla, to online dictionaries (read
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#MIND
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Previous Page: (Washing Hands) Flickr SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget, (bloody hand) Flickr Jo Naylor
be completed to form cleansing-related words. What they found was fascinating: participants who thought of an unethical action were more likely to complete the blanks with cleaning terms. Those who originally imagined an ethical action usually filled in the blank with other random words that sounded right to them. But it gets more interesting. They also tried a similar experiment using an assortment of cleaning products and other everyday items instead of fill-in-the-blank prompts. This time, Zhong and Liljenquist asked participants to handwrite a given story of which some were ethical and others were not. After the writing session, the participants were asked to select an item from an assortment given to them. Those that copied the unethical stories chose cleaning products (like toothpaste or antibacterial wipes) instead of random objects (like candy bars or Post-It notes). Zhong and Liljenquist concluded that seeking physical cleansing does actually ease the minds worry over moral infractions.
Videogaming guilt
Shift your focus just a bit and think about how playing videogames might alleviate the stress after a trying day. Its a common reason to pick up the joypad: the US Army has enlisted the use of videogame consoles to help soldiers become desensitized to violence or to simply let them blow off steam. But why does playing a violent game one in which you would kill someone actually make you feel better? A recent study by Mario Gallwitzer and Andr Melzer, published
in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, took The MacBeth Effect one step further to find out the answer. Heres the scenario: youre trying to unwind after a tough day. Instead of kicking back with a book (which is my favorite!), you decide to relax by playing a first-person shooter (FPS), the type of video game that takes place from your perspective so it appears like youre the one performing the action. So there you are, ready to strike from behind a digital bush, and BOOM! You successfully vaporise your target another human character. OK, stop right there. How do you feel? Energised? Morally conflicted? Not affected? Though you may not realize it, your response to that question has something to do with the amount of time you spend gaming. Frequent gamers would be more likely to say not affected, while infrequent gamers (like myself) would likely choose morally conflicted. Gallwitzer and Melzers study drew on research that showed how gamers who played on a regular basis were more likely to automatically distance themselves from the characters and actions in the game than those who didnt play video games often. They predicted that
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infrequent gamers were more likely to use hygiene products after playing because of the moral distress they endured. And they were right. For someone like myself, whos not much of a gamer, Gallwitzer and Melzers study represents a key finding. Just as with the original The MacBeth Effect experiment, they show that those who experience moral distress virtually (from a video game) are more likely to select cleaning products when given a choice. By contrast, regular gamers dont feel any moral distress, so dont feel the need to reach for the cleansing products. (Does this mean gamers smell worse? - Ed) Glancing round my house, I know its time for a good spring clean. Ive not done anything immoral lately, so Im pretty confident its the actual dirt that is prompting me to reach for the vacuum cleaner. That said, next time Im out shopping I may just psychoanalyse the products in someone elses cart. And see if they look guilty
References
Gollwitzer, M. and A. Melzer. (2012). Macbeth and the joystick: Evidence for moral cleansing after playing a violent video game. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48: 13561360
Zhong, C. and K. Liljenquist. (2006). Washing away your sins: Threatened morality and physical cleansing. Science, 313: 1451-1452
With a PhD from Detroits Wayne State University, Kim Lacey from Detroit, USA knows a thing or two about memory studies, digital media and digital humanities. She also has a serious addiction to combo plates at restaurants. You can read about Kim at kimberlylacey.com or follow her on Twitter at @kimlacey.
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#LIFE
STRIKE A POSE
HOW MEN SHOULD REALLY DANCE
STRIKE A POSE
This Valentines Day, romance will be on the minds of many men around the world. But how should a man go about wooing that special girl or guy of his dreams? Well, get your glad rags out guys: according to research published last year, an impressive display of dancing may be one way to win someones heart, as James Lloyd explains...
Its a common scenario. Youre at a wedding reception, the speeches are over, and a DJ starts doing his thing in the corner of the room, obscured by a wall of tacky disco lights. Before long, the complimentary champagne begins to work its magic on the revellers. A mildly inebriated Auntie Valerie is the first to wander onto the dance floor, deciding that a slightly dented reputation is a small price to pay for having a good time. Uncle Bob is next to follow, loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves the minute he hears the opening blasts of Y.M.C.A.. Meanwhile, the best man lets call him Dave has his eye on one of the bridesmaids, Emily.
RIGHT: Examples of an avatar created for the rating purposes.
Hugging his warm pint of Heineken, Dave looks longingly at Emily as she glides across the dance floor like a swan on roller skates. Feeling ever more tipsy, he puts down his beer and shuffles towards her. Suddenly, Y.M.C.A. gives way to the moody drum and bass intro of Billie Jean. Dave spots his chance. Moving deftly through the throng of dancers, he positions himself opposite Emily and begins to engage in a mating ritual worthy of any bird of paradise. Completely oblivious to the onlooking crowd, Dave bends his torso from side to side like a man possessed, simultaneously shaking his head to the beat whilst performing an elaborate twisting routine with his right knee. The ritual seems to have worked: 30 minutes later both he and Emily are locked in a romantic embrace, gently swaying to Lady in Red amidst a sea of teary-eyed couples. Daves secret? Hes familiar with a recent article in Biology Letters, which shows that certain dance moves are more likely than others to ignite the passions of a woman. Nick Neave and colleagues at Northumbria University and the University of Gttingen used motion-capture technology to record
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STRIKE A POSE
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the movements of 19 men dancing to a basic drum beat. Each dancer was then mapped onto a computer-generated avatar, and 37 heterosexual women were asked to rate the avatars on their dancing prowess. By correlating the womens ratings with the avatars movements, the scientists were able to come up with a recipe for successful boogieing. The three factors that contributed most strongly to a high dance score were neck internal/ external rotation variability (head shaking), trunk adduction/abduction variability (sideways bending) and right knee internal/ external rotation speed (twisting speed). These movements, claims the study, may provide signals of a mans suitability as a sexual partner by indicating his physical strength, health, fitness, and/or genetic quality. According to Neave and his colleagues, dance in humans is a set of intentional, rhythmic, culturally influenced, non-verbal body movements that are considered to be an important aspect of sexuality and courtship attraction. This links us to wolf spiders, manakin birds, and seahorses (amongst other animals), all of whom perform courtship displays to entice members of the
opposite sex (see sidebox: Natures movers and shakers). So, men, if youre looking to woo on the dance floor, then you cant do much better than shaking your body like the proverbial Polaroid picture. And dont forget to twist those knees like theres no tomorrow*
*NB: Guru does not accept any responsibility for minor injuries, deflated egos, or red-faced humiliation suffered as a result of this article. Dancing is to be undertaken solely at the readers discretion.
Further reading:
Neave, N., et al. (2011). Male dance moves that catch a womans eye. Biology Letters, 7: 221-224.
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STRIKE A POSE
Wolf Spider
To entice sexy-looking females, the male wolf spider uses a strange kind of semaphore dance. He enthusiastically waves his feelers or palps in an elaborate fashion, rather like a 1990s raver pulling shapes at the Haienda. This impressive dance routine requires so much energy that the spiders heartbeat triples while hes performing. If she likes what she sees, the female spider will tap her legs to encourage the eight-legged lothario. Then, if successful, the dance will finish with a mating session, in which the male spider uses his palps to pump sperm into his besotted lover.
Manakin Bird
The small manakin birds that live in the American tropics are well known for their spectacular courtship rituals. Some use their wing feathers to make buzzing and snapping noises; some fly around in circles; whilst others waggle their bottoms in the females face. But nothing compares to the sight of a manakin moonwalking backwards along a branch. Thats right... a bird doing a moonwalk. Backwards. If the female manakin isnt impressed by that, then she clearly isnt familiar with the works of Michael Jackson.
Whites seahorse
In one of natures most elegant courtship displays, Whites seahorses unique to the Australian coast carry out a sublime ballet worthy of Anna Pavlova herself. Before mating, the two lifelong partners entwine their tails, circling one another and mirroring each others movements. Once this intimate pas de deux is complete, the female deposits her eggs into the pouch of the male seahorse, who lovingly carries them until the tiny baby seahorses are ready to emerge fully-formed. Awwww.
James Lloyd studied physics at university and recently finished a climate science PhD. Hes now swapped semiconductors for semicolons, writing about science and blogging at The Soft Anonymous. James enjoys music making, hill walking and trying to find the perfect flapjack. Find him on Twitter @jbb_lloyd.
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February/March 2013
www.gurumagazine.org
POLITICS
MAKING PEACE: IRAN AND ISRAEL SHUN CONFLICT TO WORK TOGETHER
Just as Ali Baba called out the words open sesame to unseal the cave of treasures in Arabian Nights, Middle Eastern scientists are hoping to evoke the same spirit of opening doors by naming their collaborative particle accelerator project SESAME. In a region better known for violent conflict, countries including Iran, Turkey, Egypt and even Israel, are coming together to back the construction of a machine similar to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland a synchrotron light-source, and the first of its kind in the Middle East. Set for completion in 2015, SESAME (Synchrotron light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) will be built in Jordan and will act somewhat like a giant microscope. Electrons are to be accelerated to near the speed of light around a circular chamber by powerful magnets, releasing an energy called synchrotron radiation, which is then diverted into beamlines. These beamlines can be tweaked to the specific needs of the research being conducted, with applications ranging from the study of viruses to the development of new materials. The SESAME venture is aimed at fostering scientific excellence and economic development, using physics to bridge cultural and social rifts. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of SESAME is the cooperation between Iran and Israel, whose relationship has become increasingly strained recently. Officials from each country are putting aside accounts of industrial sabotage and calls for each others destruction, choosing to set an example by securing continued funding instead. Observers from Western Europe and the US are overseeing the project to ensure that the national scientific interests of each member state are properly represented. Work conducted at the institute must be made available to all, with no allowance given for classified or military research so as not to exacerbate the already volatile political situation. Maintaining relations between the Arab, Iranian and Israeli backers presents the projects organisers with a serious diplomatic challenge. The recent heightening of tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran makes the task even more difficult, but the councils members are hopeful that these usually hostile countries may find common ground in the goal of scientific advancement. Prof. Eliezer Rabinovici, a physicist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is optimistic that peace will prevail: We are having a rough period now a very rough period and it may become even rougher. But I think that as scientists, we have to look at the long range, and in the long range we see no conflict of interest between the people of Iran and the people of Israel.
Author: Links:
Toby Brown
BBC News Sesame.co.jo
(Synchrotron Radiation) Flickr CLS Research Office
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MIND
1960S DRUG THAT HELPS US REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES
Anyone who saw the 1997 blockbuster, Men In Black, will be aware that one day thanks to a pen torch and some strategically-placed sunglasses troubling memories will be a thing of the past. Well we may not be there yet, but if Merel Kindt and her colleagues are correct, were not that far off. The results from their Amsterdam University labs showed that taking the old-fashioned blood pressure medicine, propranolol, can fully erase fear memories. Sixty volunteers were trained to associate a spider picture with fear by giving them small electric shocks. These volunteers demonstrated that their brains had learned to make the association by showing an exaggerated startle response whenever they were subsequently shown a spider photo. However, Kindt showed that, when individuals took propranolol and were then shown the spider picture days later, their expression of fear was completely abolished unlike those who did not receive the tablet, whose startle response remained unchanged. This new memory-wiping technique is based on the principle of memory reconsolidation: when we remember something, the invoked memory is retrieved from its long-term storage location (in a part of the brain called the neocortex) at which point it becomes vulnerable to disruption. (Its a bit like retrieving a file from a filing cabinet. Once the file is removed, the papers stored in the file could get jumbled up in a way thats not possible while the file is safely stored away.) The memory is then restabilized by being stored back into the neocortex where it becomes resistant to change once again. It is thought that this process may underlie our ability to strengthen and weaken individual memories based on new experiences. In her experiment, Kindt managed to block restabilization of the fear memory, causing it to be lost forever: once retrieved from the filing cabinet of our neocortex, the memory file was basically shredded by the propranolol before it could be safely re-filed. Unfortunately for the sci-fi fans among us, taking propranolol did not cause individuals completely to forget the whole experience of being tested: they expected to receive a shock when presented with the picture of a spider, but didnt seem to care anymore. This highlights a limitation of the memorywiping technique the drug seemed only to target the fear-memory link, and nothing else. While it may seem positively James Bond that memories can be selectively erased, the idea of blocking restabilization is not a new one. Countless experiments carried out on animals have produced similar results. But Kindts work is special because she has shown that taking a drug, which is already well established in the medical community, can selectively erase fear memories in humans. This could prove to be a landmark discovery in the treatment of psychological trauma (in particular, post-traumatic stress disorder) and could even be extended to therapies for drug addiction. So what next? Well, as with all new treatments, rigorous testing will have to be carried out: history is littered with the empty packets of innovative new medicines, which never made it through clinical trials. Indeed, three years after the initial experiment, we are still waiting for any key developments. So, for now, psychologists and neuroscientists sit with crossed fingers the hope being that the treatment of unpleasant memories will soon be readily achievable through a simple process of therapeutic forgetting.
Author: Links:
Ross Harper
Beyond extinction: erasing human fear responses and preventing the return of fear
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BRAIN
HARNESSING THE HIDDEN POWER OF YOUR BRAIN
Being able to watch your brains activity while you work might help you to control your thinking and boost performance, according to a new study from researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London (UCL). The approach, known as neurofeedback, involves letting people watch what their brains are doing on a screen as its actually happening. The team at UCL monitored brain activity using a technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show volunteers the location of activity in their brains as they imagined images. During this training, volunteers were asked to try to change how they thought to increase activity in the back of their brain the visual cortex, where visual information is processed. After a training session, the subjects were given the job of spotting subtle changes in the contrast of a picture that is, tiny differences in colour intensity and brightness. Those who had been able to control their brain activity during the initial training by successfully learning how to increase visual cortex activity were better able to detect the subtle changes in the task. The scientists hope the technique could be used to benefit people with impaired brain function, such as people who have had a stroke, and often have difficulty seeing even though their eyes arent damaged. Who knows, maybe one day neurofeedback might be a technique we could all use to boost our mental abilities. Well, heres hoping
Author:
Simon Makin
BIOTECH
THE THINKING ROBOT: YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND?
Scientists at the University of Waterloo, Canada, led by Professor Chris Eliasmith, have built the most sophisticated simulation of a working brain ever constructed. Although much smaller than the human brain itself, consisting of only 2.5 million brain cells (compared to 100 billion) and many fewer than some previous simulations it displays an impressive range of different behaviours. The artificial brain can recognise images, remember sequences, and even complete the kind of complex task you might find in an IQ test. The supercomputer program, called SPAUN (Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network), uses a 28 x 28 pixel digital camera eye to gather input from its surroundings and then gives its responses with a robot arm. For instance, when shown the sequence 1 2 3 - 5 6 7 - 3 4 ?, together with an instruction, SPAUN will scrawl the digit 5 on a piece of paper. Unlike IBMs Watson supercomputer, which was built in 2011 to do one thing (play Jeopardy!) and do it well, but made no attempt to copy how the brain works, SPAUN replicates actual brain cell activity and wiring. More importantly, though, it turns this activity into behaviour. This is in contrast to larger, more detailed brain models, such as the Blue Brain Project, which produce detailed simulations of neural activity, but dont necessarily do anything. SPAUN has two software systems that work in harmony: a working memory system that is modelled on the higher thinking part of the brain (called the prefrontal cortex where we make our decisions), and an action selection system, which is based on other parts of the brain called the basal ganglia and thalamus (more primitive, instinctual regions). The action
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selection system routes data to the part of the working memory system appropriate for the task, which then stores that data, and performs the necessary thinking functions. All this is accomplished by software running on a supercomputer, but, as it stands, is still very limited compared to a real brain: SPAUN can only tackle eight predefined tasks, and is far slower than the real thing, taking around two hours of computing time to simulate one second of brain activity. It does however demonstrate a range of cognitive skills and even makes some of the same mistakes we do, such as remembering the first and last items in a list better than the others (known to psychologists as primacy and recency). The team also looked at the effects of killing off neurons to simulate ageing, and have seen patterns of decline similar to what happens in old age. Crucially though, SPAUN lacks adaptivity the ability to learn new tasks. This is a shortcoming the team hopes to tackle in future. Even so, theres no reason to presume that building on this simulation will at some point produce the more elusive qualities of living brains, such as awareness or intentions: SPAUN doesnt do any of its impressive tricks because it wants to it is explicitly programmed and fed instructions, like any other computer system. So without free will, theres probably not much need to worry about a future version taking control of our missile defence systems just yet
Toby Brown describes himself as an aspiring writer and purveyor of science and is currently studying for a Masters in Astrophysics at Liverpool University.
Ross Harper recently graduated from Cambridge University having studied Biological Natural Sciences. He spent the last year running his somewhat unconventional advertising business, BuyMyFace.com, and is now trying his hand at app development with his new company, Wriggle Ltd. Ross is living proof that you can take the boy out of the lab, but you cant take the lab out of the boy - no matter what crazy scheme hes currently working on, he makes sure to devote a bit of time to keeping with the latest in science news. Feel free to say hi to Ross on Twitter (@refharper).
ADVERTISMENT
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#STUFF
GUREVIEWS
With a PhD from Detroits Wayne State University, Kim Lacey from Detroit, USA knows a thing or two about memory studies, digital media and digital humanities. She also has a serious addiction to combo plates at restaurants. You can read about Kim at kimberlylacey.com or follow her on Twitter at @kimlacey.
WACK
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#FOOD
Previous Page: (hazmat mold) Flickr x-ray delta one, (Cheese) Flickr Patrick Hoesly
main flavour even if, on its own, it doesnt actually have the flavour were after.
A differential item, which is not essential
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cherry flavours imitate the taste of maraschino cherries the bright red cherries that have been preserved and sweetened. (You normally see them atop an iced cake or gracing a cocktail.) Maraschino cherries are best because the natural flavour of most cherries is very weak, and when this flavour is amplified it just doesnt taste nice.
SH
OH
CH3
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The ability of our bodies to distinguish between chemicals that are seemingly identical can have its down-sides, though. Thalidomide, the infamous drug that was used during the late 1950s and early 1960s to relieve morning sickness, exists as two mirrorimage forms, like limonene. While one of the mirror images acts as a sedative, the other causes devastating sideeffects most often, missing or truncated limbs. When these side-effects were discovered, thalidomide was quickly withdrawn from use. Theres a silver lining to this cloud, though. While thalidomide can be seriously damaging to healthy cells, its growth-limiting effects are now being explored as a potential way to treat both cancerous tumours and leprosy.
Natasha Agabalyan is on her way to becoming a Doctor of Cell Biology in Brighton, UK. In between drinking far too much coffee and blogging at The Science Informant, she has a love of finding out interesting tit-bits from all aspects of life. You can follow her on twitter at @SciencInformant.
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#GENETICS
ABIGAIL JAMES
But wait: like many areas of medicine, getting results and knowing what they actually mean to your life are often two very different things. Imagine youd sent your saliva sample to the lab, and received a report back stating very matterof-factly You have a 9.8% chance of developing disease X; this risk is 20% higher than the average of your ethnic background. Wouldnt that sort of information freak you out? Well, it appears that the general public are remarkably resilient: a study at Boston University has shown that those who discovered they were likely to develop Alzheimers disease were no more stressed two years later than those who had not. Knowing the future even if bad is therefore not necessarily a bad thing. That said, it is just one study and consumer-led genetics raises many other concerns.
Previous Page: (Fairy DNA) Flickr kyz, (Saliva Test Kit) Flickr Nina J. G.
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if an important risk is found and you keep the results a secret could you live with yourself if you didnt tell those close to you that their life could be a silently-ticking time bomb? In the future, whole foetal genomes could be sequenced your babys life laid out before it is even born as depicted in the 1997 film Gattaca. They say knowledge is power, but could information about your unborn child tempt you to take evasive action, prompting an abortion, if your future child doesnt mean your expectations?
by our genes, but by a complex interplay between genes and lifestyle. What we do with the result is down to us.
Ethical Impossibilities
There are plenty of ethical issues surrounding personal consumer genetics, but theres room for a lot of good too. In medicine, an individuals genetic information can be used by medics to choose drugs that are most likely to give good results, whilst minimising the chance of side effects. We are starting to say goodbye to onesize-fits-all medicines and hello to personalised, more effective treatments and healthcare. Personal genetic sequencing offers others a brand new approach one thats preventative rather than curative. We may discover what diseases and disorders we are predisposed to long before they take hold, allowing us time to alter their diet and physical activity, or to sign up for regular screening. This approach has the potential to improve our prospects of avoiding disease, or at least delaying its onset.. But remember: while your genes hold clues to your future, they dont set your fate. Genetic testing may give you an idea of the likelihood that something may happen, but it doesnt guarantee it. Our health is influenced not just
Dear readers: nothing in this article should be taken to imply that Guru Magazine Ltd. endorses the use of unregulated mail order companies, whose results can be highly unreliable. Genetic testing should only be sought under the guidance of a suitably qualified professional.
Abigail James is a Biosciences undergraduate living in Canterbury. She is 51, the President of her universitys Science Society, loves axolotls, weedy seadragons, chai tea and a good book. She blogs at aflyinmyprimordialsoup.wordpress.com and tweets @_abigailjames.
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#HEALTH
SIMON MAKIN
Did you know that most of the cells inside you arent human? There are roughly ten times as many microbes in your gut as there are cells in your body and these include several hundred different species of bacteria. They are just part of the trillions of micro-organisms known as the human microbiome that we have living on and inside us.
The exact make-up of these microbial communities differs between different body areas and from person to person. They change over a lifetime, and over the centuries. The last 100 years have seen a rapid change in the industrialised world, presumably due to diet, antibiotics, and sterilisation.
Many of these tiny passengers do important jobs, such as bolstering our immune systems or helping our digestion. (See In sickness and in health in Issue 9 to find out more.) We dont yet fully understand how our microbiome relates to health or disease we just know that it does. The composition of our microbiome has been linked to conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and even depression. Although specific organisms have been implicated in some conditions, often its the overall diversity that matters just like any ecosystem. Now, two new citizen science projects are
getting the public involved in the study of the human microbiome to help us understand how diet and lifestyle might be influencing these personal ecosystems and affecting our health as a result. The first of these projects, known as American Gut, is being run by researchers at the University of Colorado, US, and collaborators at many other institutions, in association with the Human Food Project. The project has been encouraging thousands of Americans to get involved, either by paying fees to submit their own samples for analysis, by simply making a financial donation, or by examining data from the project, which will be made publicly available. Many conditions linked to the microbiome are more common in Western populations. With this in mind, the researchers plan to compare the inhabitants of American intestines with those of people living more traditional existences in places like Namibia and Peru. The project builds on previous efforts, such as the Human Microbiome Project, but is the first to look at this issue on such a large scale. The Human Microbiome Project recruited a few hundred volunteers, whereas this one hopes to enlist 10,000 people - and their household pets. Participants can also send samples from their dogs or cats to help scientists understand the relationship between our own microbes and those of our furry companions. A similar but smaller project, UBiome, aims to gather samples from as many people as it can from all over the world. Both projects are now possible thanks to the rapid drop in the cost of DNA sequencing. This, together with computational advances, will allow the researchers to analyse microbial genomes far more cheaply than was previously possible. Participants in both projects will receive a personal analysis, listing the critters living inside them and showing how they compare to others. You can see how many people signed up for American Gut here, or UBiome here.
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#TECHNOLOGY
JOHN ANKERS
Todays smartphones could do better. Yes, they send texts; make video calls; talk to satellites; take, edit and share your pictures; play games and music... one even makes a whipping noise if you waggle it a bit. And some of them can even make phone calls, too. But surely theres so much more that could be crammed in? Smartphones are still evolving. Theyre getting smaller, lighter and more streamlined. At the same time were always wanting more more connectivity!, more integration!, more features! We want apps that talk to other apps; Facebook statuses that automatically log GPS positions; whips that crack by themselves. May-
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The race for gadget supremacy never stops: Apple, Samsung and HTC have all launched new smartphones in recent months. But could the next generation of this evolving technology find inspiration in a not-so-unlikely place? John Ankers finds out.
be were spoilt or perhaps this is all part of the evolution: people expect more because the technology promises so much. Yet increasing the smartness of your next phone will probably require a balance between reliability and functionality. A microchips capacity will only stretch so far: apps must share the phones limited resources. In order for you to multitask, so must your phone. Intriguingly, smartphone developers could learn a thing or two by taking a look inside a mammalian cell. The human cell is multifaceted enough to put any smartphone to shame. The secret, as new research investigates, lies in learning how to multitask. The circuitry inside your cells is very different from what youd expect in the average phone: microchips and computer code are replaced by networks of genes and proteins that work together to transfer information and carry out app-like tasks. Your cellular circuitry has evolved over millions of years to co-ordinate lifes essential processes.
References:
Wong, J. V., Li, B. & You, L. (2012) Tension and robustness in multitasking cellular networks.
Doctor John Ankers is a researcher at the University of Liverpools Institute of Integrative Biology. Hes normally found in a dark room looking at the inner workings of cancer cells. Or sleeping. He won the BSCB Science Writing Prize in 2011 and currently writes freelance for the MRCs Biomedical Picture of the Day. He blogs at toomanylivewires and you can follow him on Twitter @JohnnyAnkers.
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#MIND
KAT LOUGHEED
LEFT: A rough layout of how the brain maps out the bodys surface sensations located inside the parietal lobe.
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Who in the world am I? Ah, thats the great puzzle! says Alice.
In the words of Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA: You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. As Lewis Carrolls Alice might have phrased it, Youre nothing but a pack of neurons. Each of us faces the great puzzle of who we are and how we see ourselves. Thanks to the work of people like Brumm and Ramachandran, we now possess some, but not all, of the pieces.
References:
Brumm K. et al. Functional MRI of a child with Alice in Wonderland syndrome during an episode of micropsia. J AAPOS. 2010;14(4): 317322. Ramachandran VS. et al. Synaesthesia in phantom limbs induced with mirrors. Proc Biol Sci. 1996;263(1369):377-86. Case LK., et al. Diminished sizeweight illusion in anorexia nervosa: evidence for visuo-proprioceptive integration deficit. Exp Brain Res. 2012;217(1):79-87. Ramachandran, VS. Consciousness and body image: lessons from phantom limbs, Capgras syndrome and pain asymbolia. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1998; 353(1377): 18511859.
A link to anorexia?
While such disorders have been linked to changes in normal brain activity (as Kathleen Brumms work found), cause and effect can be difficult to tease apart. What comes first the changes in the brain or the delusional behaviour? Eating disorders are one case in point: Workers in Vilayanur Ramachandrans laboratory have proposed that similar brain errors could partially explain eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. Author of the study Laura Case has considered the following conundrum: people with anorexia feel large,
Kathryn Lougheed is a research scientist at Imperial College London, working on the lung disease tuberculosis. She has an unhealthy interest in bacteria, blogging about research of the single-celled variety at germzoo.blogspot.co.uk in addition to running a popular science website for kids at ilovebacteria.com, answering such important questions as Why do papercuts hurt so much?
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#LIFE
BENJAMIN CHABOT-HANOWELL
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The tortoise and the hair: the devil and the angel
For psychologist-economist-Nobel Laureate and best-selling author Daniel Kahneman, emotions and gut feelings play a central role in our gift giving. In his recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman describes two reasoning systems that operate on different time scales. System 1 is fast: it is automatic, emotional, stereotypic, and subconscious. We use it frequently because rules of thumb, while imperfect, arent too intellectually taxing, and they often work. System 2 is slow: it is effortful, logical, calculating, and conscious. We use it infrequently because it takes a lot of energy and time to think this way. Evolutionary biologists and some economists think that we use System 2 so much because todays problems are so varied and complex. Under such circumstances, methodical calculation is more costly than more flexible albeit flawed rules of thumb. Among humans, natural selection has favored a brain that operates under System 1 when we find ourselves in a tight spot. Yet given enough time to think about something, we shift into analytical System 2 thinking, which is less cooperative and, as a new study suggests, more stingy. Experts from Harvards Department of Psychology wrap it up like this: when in doubt, cooperate. Harvard researchers analyzed the behavior of four participants in a public goods game. The rules are that players are given a number of money tokens at the start and secretly choose how many to put into a public pot. The researchers found that individuals who took 10 seconds or less to make a decision made contributions about 1.2 times the size of those made by individuals taking longer than 10 seconds to decide. More generally, contributions decreased with each additional second of decision time. They also found that individuals forced to make a decision quickly made slightly larger contributions than individuals whose decision time was unconstrained, who in turn made slightly larger contributions than individuals
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References
Berry LL (1979) The time buying consumer. J. Retailing 55: 58-69. Binmore K, Samuelson L (1994) An economists perspective on the evolution of norms. J. Inst. Theoretical Econ. 150: 45-63. Becker G (1965) A theory of the allocation of time. The Economic Journal 75: 493-517. Houston AI, McNamara JM, Steer MD (2007) Do we expect natural selection to produce rational behaviour? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 29: 1531-1543. Hutchinson JMC, Gigerenzer G (2005) Simple heuristics and rules of thumb: Where psychologists and behavioural biologists might meet. Behavioural Processes 69: 97-124. Kahneman D (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 499 p. Miyazaki AD (1993) How many shopping days until Christmas? A preliminary investigation of time pressures, deadlines, and planning levels on holiday gift purchases. In: McAlister L, Rothschild ML, editors. Advances in Consumer Research Volume 20. Association for Consumer Research. pp. 331-335. Morgilin C, Aaker JL, Pennington GL (2008) Time will tell: The distant appeal of promotion and imminent appeal of prevention. J. Consum. Res. 34: 670-681. Rand DG, Greene JD, Nowak MA (2012) Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature 489: 427430. The Meebo study was originally reported by Ki Mae Heussner for Adweek.
Benjamin Chabot-Hanowell is an evolutionary anthropologist who studies generosity, social inequality, aggression, warfare, and cooperation. He was a Fulbrighter to the Eastern Caribbean, where he learned to play a mean game of dominoes. His is better known as Brash Equilibrium. His wife calls him Babe. His daughter calls him Papa. He blogs intelligently and publishes statistical analyses of political fact checking at www.mynof3.com and tweets impulsively @BrashEQLibrium.
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#LIFE
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as we can. In 2005, Jason decided to draw what he saw when he looked at light bouncing off a car window. He grabbed a pencil and created a striking image using only straight lines. Putting pencil to paper helped Jason deal with the new world he had found himself in. Eventually he returned to his job as a furniture store sales person and, from his first day back, started decorating the white walls with his colorful drawings. Customers were curious about the peculiar but fascinating artwork. Who made them? they asked. I did, the skinny, autodidact artist would reply. They are hand-drawn. If you look at them close up, you can see it for yourself. People were shocked: Who knew the dorky guy in the furniture store could draw? Soon enough, most locals in town were talking about the eccentric man in the furniture store who was drawing amazingly complex images by hand. Jason couldnt think about anything but patterns all day long. But, as time went by, he realised that, while his drawings captivated peoples attention, most couldnt understand his explanations for his creations. He might as well have spoken Russian! Try as he may, he couldnt explain why, but had the odd sense that his imagery somehow related to mathematics. In an attempt to ease his frustrations, a mathematician friend advised him that if he wanted to make himself understood, he would have to learn to speak the language of mathematics. Until then, Jasons only interests had been getting drunk (and getting women), but eager to find answers, he signed up for a trigonometry class and a couple of calculus
classes at a local community college. A schooldropout, Jason was about to embark on a truly exciting journey. Last time, Jason had cheated on his geometry high school exam. Now he couldnt get enough. He absorbed mathematics with enthusiasm and, after learning the basics, Jason found himself understanding mathematics in terms of the images he continuously saw around him. Over time, he began to intuitively form images for mathematical formulae in his minds eye. He didnt stop his sketching and eventually started submitting his drawings to competitions, achieving recognition in 2010 as Best International Newcomer in the Art Basel Miami Beach Competition.
As anyone who has had an MRI can testify, getting inside a brain scanner is a tight squeeze: think Tom Cruise crawling through the vents in Mission: Impossible. Once inside a scanner, subjects have to lie extremely still for the brain images to come out clearly. Given these restrictions, we werent able to test Jasons brain activity while he drew his complex images. Instead, we chose to focus on the visions (which we call synesthetic images) that Jason experiences when he looks at mathematical formulae. We worked with Jason to create one list of formulae that caused him to experience complex geometrical images and another list that another list that didnt. Inside the brain scanner Jason was shown the formulae, one at a time, in a random order. We then studied the differences in his brain activity when looking at image-inducing versus non-inducing formulae. What we found was surprising. The popular explanation for the emergence of special talents after brain injury, such as artistic or musical abilities, is that certain regions of the left brain responsible for the inhibition of creative right brain have been damaged. This loss of the left brain results in the hyperactivation of the
BELOW: Jason being tested for metal before the fMRI scan.
We meet Jason
It was a chance encounter with New York author and journalist Maureen Seaberg that first put us in contact with Jason. After seeing him on the local news in Tacoma, Maureen realised that he had not yet met any scientists working on conditions such as his. She knew our lab was looking for new subjects and so recommended that he contact us to see if we could find out what was going on in his brain. After completing initial interviews and standard tests, we performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study (fMRI) in collaboration with neuroscientists Simo Vanni and Juha Silvanto from the Research Unit and Magnetic Imaging Centre at Aalto University in Finland. Unlike regular MRI brain scans, this type of imaging allows us to see which areas of the brain become active when someone performs a particular task.
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Berit Brogaard, DMSci, PhD is Professor of Philosophy with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Psychology, and the Center for Neurodynamics at the University of Missouri in St. Louis as well as the Network for Sensory Research at the University of Toronto. She is Director of the St. Louis Synesthesia Lab, a research group focused on synesthesia and savant syndrome. Kristian Marlow, MA is a graduate student, member of the Center for Neurodynamics and Associate Director of the lab. Like all good academics after a few too many glasses of wine Berit and Kristian began writing about the fascinating cases theyve studied for their forthcoming book The Superhuman Mind: True Tales of Extraordinary Mental Ability.
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