razib | July 20, 2009Perceptual variation in umami taste and polymorphisms in TAS1R taste receptor genes:
A subset of subjects displays extremes of sensitivity, and a battery of different psychophysical tests validated this observation. Statistical analysis showed that the rare T allele of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) R757C in TAS1R3 led to a doubling of umami ratings of 25 mmol MPG/L. Other suggestive SNPs of TAS1R3 include the A allele of A5T and the A allele of R247H, which both resulted in an approximate doubling of umami ratings of 200 mmol MPG/L. We confirmed the potential role of the human TAS1R1-…
razib | July 19, 2009Moon astronauts urge Mars mission:
At a rare public reunion of the Apollo 11 crew, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins said Mars instead of the Moon should be the focus of exploration.
Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, said the race to get to the Moon had been the ultimate peaceful contest.
He said it was an "exceptional national investment" for the US and ex-USSR.
The trio spoke at an event at Washington's National Air and Space Museum to mark the 40th anniversary of their mission.
Mr Armstrong told the audience: "It was the ultimate peaceful competition: USA vs USSR.
Apparently 4 out…
razib | July 19, 2009Tyler Cowen gives a positive review of Your Religion is False:
In addition to its humor, I prefer the content of this book to the better-known "new atheist" tracts. Grus yields many of the strongest arguments. For instance the biographical and sociological correlates with belief (most people choose the religion they grew up with, or encountered through a friend, etc.) suggest that, in this area, intuitions which feel "certain" simply cannot be trusted.
Also see associated weblog.
razib | July 18, 2009Tom Rees has a blog post, Religion and marital infidelity, which shows that religious attendance, but not belief, correlate with a tendency to not have affairs. I think the critical point here is that religion is a complex phenomenon, and we condense many separate dimensions or parameters into one term. For example, there seems to be a tendency with higher socioeconomic status to be positively associated with religious attendance and affiliation, but negatively associated with religious beliefs.
razib | July 18, 2009Alex Tabarrok points me to a new paper on the effects of Toxoplasma gondii, Increased incidence of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected military drivers and protective effect RhD molecule revealed by a large-scale prospective cohort study:
We confirmed, using for the first time a prospective cohort study design, increased risk of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected subjects and demonstrated a strong protective effect of RhD positivity against the risk of traffic accidents posed by latent toxoplasmosis. Our results show that RhD-negative subjects with high titers of anti-Toxoplasma…
razib | July 17, 2009There's a new paper on ancient DNA out, Targeted Retrieval and Analysis of Five Neandertal mtDNA Genomes:
Analysis of Neandertal DNA holds great potential for investigating the population history of this group of hominins, but progress has been limited due to the rarity of samples and damaged state of the DNA. We present a method of targeted ancient DNA sequence retrieval that greatly reduces sample destruction and sequencing demands and use this method to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of five Neandertals from across their geographic range. We find that mtDNA…
razib | July 15, 2009FuturePundit points me to an article about an older woman who had IVF treatment who has died, Spanish woman who gave birth through IVF at 66 dies:
A Spanish woman who became the world's oldest mother at the age of 66 has died of cancer just two-and-a-half years after giving birth to twins, raising fresh questions about the ethics of fertility treatment for women past natural childbearing age.
Some of the aspects of this case are sui generis, obviously. But as people have children later and later, I wonder as to the probabilities of larger proportions of individuals having their parents die…
razib | July 15, 2009Sunday Function
Imaging a Superior Mnemonist
The Last 100 Years: 1998 and the accelerating Universe!
Swearing increases pain tolerance
Swoopo
razib | July 15, 2009Too big a bill:
Josh Muszynski, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was one Visa customer aghast to find the 17-digit charge on his bill. Adding insult to injury, he had also been hit with a $15 overdraft fee.
He noticed that his debt exceeded the world GDP while making a routine balance inquiry on his online Bank of America account. According to his statement, he had spent the profound sum in one pop at a nearby Mobil gas station -- his regular stop for Camel cigarettes.
"Very, very panicked," he jumped in his car and sped to the station.
razib | July 15, 2009Hawaii Looks to Space Tourism to Aid Recession Woes:
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, the state would start by spending up to a million dollars developing a spaceport.
But Hawaii isn't alone: The state is already facing heady competition from states including Florida, Okalahoma and New Mexico, all of which are moving into the space tourism market.
Hawaii has one comparative advantage: it's further south. I recall that the increased velocity of the earth's rotation the closer you get to the equator means that you get some energy for lift-off for free. This is why the French launch their…
razib | July 14, 2009Wired had a long piece on Facebook's attempt to challenge Google. The gist seems to be that just as Google revolutionized the way search was done via PageRank, so Facebook will revolutionize search though results generated via one's personal "Social Graph." I'm generally skeptical of this idea in relation to Facebook, though my skepticism has more to do with the assumption that the value of a social network declines as it becomes less exclusive. In the Wired piece the author suggests that Facebook has reached the penetration at which positive feeback loops begin to occur. Perhaps. But it…
razib | July 14, 2009Steve points me to a new genetic genealogical study on a super-male lineage, 7 Million People Direct Descendants:
"This is one of the largest diasporas known to have descended from a single progenitor," said head researcher Lawrence Ghilcrest, adding that DNA evidence now corroborates stories about the Welshman that historians once dismissed as myth. "To have propagated his genetic material so effectively, and across so much territory, we can only infer Gwilym was quite the charmer."
razib | July 13, 2009Update: See Ed Yong.
Randall Parker points me to a new paper from Joshua Greene which describes the neurological responses of individuals when do, or don't, lie, when lying might be in their self-interest. From EurekaAlert:
The research was designed to test two theories about the nature of honesty - the "Will" theory, in which honesty results from the active resistance of temptation, and the "Grace" theory in which honesty is a product of lack of temptation. The results of this study suggest that the "Grace" theory is true, because the honest participants did not show any additional neural…
razib | July 13, 2009
Back in the early 1990s I remember stories about the incredible reduction in size and volume of the Aral Sea. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the environmental disasters caused by state "planning" were exposed for all to see, and the command system of the USSR was as good at managing environmental resources as it was any other resource. But it fell off my radar until I saw this piece in ScienceDaily, Declining Aral Sea: Satellite Images Highlight Dramatic Retreat. It's rather mind-blogging that in 20 years a sea could disappear, but I guess its just a matter of basic water debits…
razib | July 13, 2009
Conor Clarke and Conor Friedersdorf are guest blogging at Andrew Sullivan's. They also did a Bloggingheads.tv recently. Names matter, that's for sure. I also think that Clarke looked somewhat like the "Gigolo Joe" character from A.I. in the diavlog.
razib | July 13, 2009Anil Dash has an essay up, Google's Microsoft Moment, (H/T, Charles Iliya Krempeaux) which will be roughly correct at some point in the future if not now. Organizations go through changes in a predictable manner, and Google is unlikely to defy the inevitable laws of corporate evolution. On a related note, Bing Delivers Credibility to Microsoft. Bing is OK, but I wonder how much of the relative openness to it is conditional upon the reality that Microsoft's star is in relative decline in the firmament of technology companies, and so there isn't a reflexive hostility engendered by genuine fear…
razib | July 13, 2009Interesting Q & A on the "shadow banking" system over at The Atlantic. The last answer is illustrative of a major distinction between physical and social systems:
I use the term "Credit Insurer of Last Resort." And here's the idea: The Bagehot Rule - lend freely, at a high rate, in a crisis - dates from 1873. That was a good enough rule for the 19th century British economy, an economy that ran on short term commercial bills of exchange, 90-day paper. You can see for the new capital markets banking system we have a problem. We have 30-year mortgages that are the underlying asset that are…
razib | July 12, 2009Wired has a piece up To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes, which discusses the controversy over the utility of running shoes. Of course the "support" that typical athletic shoes provide is real. when I switch to flip-flops in warm weather it takes a few days to get comfortable walking up or down hills. There is a shift in the emphasis of which tendons you have to work.
razib | July 11, 2009Onion News, really funny. Below the fold....
New Live Poll Allows Pundits To Pander To Viewers In Real Time