The Helper
May
22
“Our country doesn’t do many things well, but when it comes to big occasions, no one else comes close,” so claimed an instructor I heard at the gym this week. He might be an expert in physical fitness but it’s doubtful this chap was drawing on any evidence or established knowledge about the UK’s standing on the international league table of pageantry or anything else, and what’s more, he probably didn’t care about his oversight. What he probably did feel is a social pressure to have an opinion on the royal wedding that took place last weekend. To borrow the terminology of US psychologist John Petrocelli, he was probably bullshitting.
“In essence,” Petrocelli explains in his new paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, “the bullshitter is a relatively careless thinker/communicator and plays fast and loose with ideas and/or information as he bypasses consideration of, or concern for, evidence and established knowledge.”
While pontificating on Britain’s prowess at pomp is pretty harmless, Petrocelli has more serious topics in mind. “Whether they be claims or expressions of opinions about the effects of vaccinations, the causes of success and failure, or political ideation, doing so with little to no concern for evidence or truth is wrong,” he writes.
There are countless psychology studies into lying (which is...
“In essence,” Petrocelli explains in his new paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, “the bullshitter is a relatively careless thinker/communicator and plays fast and loose with ideas and/or information as he bypasses consideration of, or concern for, evidence and established knowledge.”
While pontificating on Britain’s prowess at pomp is pretty harmless, Petrocelli has more serious topics in mind. “Whether they be claims or expressions of opinions about the effects of vaccinations, the causes of success and failure, or political ideation, doing so with little to no concern for evidence or truth is wrong,” he writes.
There are countless psychology studies into lying (which is...
May
21
MINNEAPOLIS – People who eat a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts and fish may have bigger brains, according to a study published in the May 16, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“People with greater brain volume have been shown in other studies to have better cognitive abilities, so initiatives that help improve diet quality may be a good strategy to maintain thinking skills in older adults,” said study author Meike W. Vernooij, MD, PhD, of the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “More research is needed to confirm these results and to examine the pathways through which diet can affect the brain.”
The study included 4,213 people in the Netherlands with an average age of 66 who did not have dementia.
Participants completed a questionnaire asking how much they ate of nearly 400 items over the past month. Researchers looked at diet quality based on the Dutch dietary guidelines by examining intake of foods in the following groups: vegetables, fruit, whole grain products, legumes, nuts, dairy, fish, tea, unsaturated fats and oils of total fats, red and processed meat, sugary beverages, alcohol and salt. Researchers ranked the quality of diet for each person with a score of zero to 14. The best diet consisted of vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, dairy...
“People with greater brain volume have been shown in other studies to have better cognitive abilities, so initiatives that help improve diet quality may be a good strategy to maintain thinking skills in older adults,” said study author Meike W. Vernooij, MD, PhD, of the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “More research is needed to confirm these results and to examine the pathways through which diet can affect the brain.”
The study included 4,213 people in the Netherlands with an average age of 66 who did not have dementia.
Participants completed a questionnaire asking how much they ate of nearly 400 items over the past month. Researchers looked at diet quality based on the Dutch dietary guidelines by examining intake of foods in the following groups: vegetables, fruit, whole grain products, legumes, nuts, dairy, fish, tea, unsaturated fats and oils of total fats, red and processed meat, sugary beverages, alcohol and salt. Researchers ranked the quality of diet for each person with a score of zero to 14. The best diet consisted of vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, dairy...
May
21
China's social credit system has blocked people from taking 11.14 million flights and 4.25 million high-speed train trips.
The numbers, from the end of April, were included in a report by China's state-run outlet Global Times, but it is unclear what offences those targeted in the travel ban have committed.
China's Social Credit System is actually a collection of blacklists, of which there are more than a dozen at the national level. Each list is based on similar offences - such as misbehavior on planes and trains, or failing to abide by a court judgment - and determines the punishments individuals face, from throttling internet speeds to blocking loans.
While it's not made clear which list has had so many plane and train trips blocked, a former official, Hou Yunchun, is quoted as saying that the system needs to be improved so that "discredited people become bankrupt".
The blacklist Hou is referring to most likely involves debtors and was created by the Supreme People's Court in an attempt to make people comply with verdicts and repay their debts.
The court publishes...
The numbers, from the end of April, were included in a report by China's state-run outlet Global Times, but it is unclear what offences those targeted in the travel ban have committed.
China's Social Credit System is actually a collection of blacklists, of which there are more than a dozen at the national level. Each list is based on similar offences - such as misbehavior on planes and trains, or failing to abide by a court judgment - and determines the punishments individuals face, from throttling internet speeds to blocking loans.
While it's not made clear which list has had so many plane and train trips blocked, a former official, Hou Yunchun, is quoted as saying that the system needs to be improved so that "discredited people become bankrupt".
The blacklist Hou is referring to most likely involves debtors and was created by the Supreme People's Court in an attempt to make people comply with verdicts and repay their debts.
The court publishes...
May
17
If you’re anything like me, you spent most of May 16th, 2018 entrenched in debate with friends, family and coworkers. Is it ‘Yanny’ or ‘Laurel’?
Early in the morning, my wife asked me which I heard when she played the audio on her iPhone. I immediately said ‘Yanny’ and she looked at me, bewildered. I asked her, “how do you possibly hear Laurel?”
As someone who grew up infatuated with sound, and even studied it in college for seven years (Go Bees!) I was instantly fascinated with how we could each be hearing entirely different words. I spend most working hours of every day listening to and editing audio, and part of my profession involves an understanding that our society listens to media on playback devices ranging greatly in both quality and cost. So, I decided to take a listen on the monitors in my home studio, which certainly provide a better sonic experience than the speakers on an iPhone.
The word being spoken was clearly ‘laurel’. The version that you most likely heard originated from the vocabulary.com audio clip demonstrating proper pronunciation of the word ‘laurel’ (sorry, team ‘yanny’), and had probably been downloaded, re-uploaded and subsequently sonically mangled by the means with which we regularly share and consume media.
Read more here. (The Pro Audio...
Early in the morning, my wife asked me which I heard when she played the audio on her iPhone. I immediately said ‘Yanny’ and she looked at me, bewildered. I asked her, “how do you possibly hear Laurel?”
As someone who grew up infatuated with sound, and even studied it in college for seven years (Go Bees!) I was instantly fascinated with how we could each be hearing entirely different words. I spend most working hours of every day listening to and editing audio, and part of my profession involves an understanding that our society listens to media on playback devices ranging greatly in both quality and cost. So, I decided to take a listen on the monitors in my home studio, which certainly provide a better sonic experience than the speakers on an iPhone.
The word being spoken was clearly ‘laurel’. The version that you most likely heard originated from the vocabulary.com audio clip demonstrating proper pronunciation of the word ‘laurel’ (sorry, team ‘yanny’), and had probably been downloaded, re-uploaded and subsequently sonically mangled by the means with which we regularly share and consume media.
Read more here. (The Pro Audio...
May
17
The ozone layer has made an impressive recovery in the last 30 years, but that has never been a foolproof plan. A new study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday illustrates a shocking spike in emissions for an ozone-depleting chemical banned by international treaty decades ago. The culprit who is generating this pollutant is still unknown and at large.
“We were shocked, no doubt,” says Stephen Montzka, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and lead author of the new study. “We couldn’t understand how on Earth emissions would be increasing when production had been zero for so long.”
The chemical, CFC-11, is part of a class of substances called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) once hailed as a pinnacle of 20th century industrial chemistry. CFCs showed up in refrigerators, aerosol cans, and solvents of all kind. They were everywhere, like some sort of miracle compound specifically designed for modern consumerism.
Then scientists started realizing that CFCs were widening a gaping hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, an essential shield for life on this planet against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. CFCs’ chlorine molecules initiate ozone-destroying chemical reactions and allow UV radiation through to the surface. The world came...
“We were shocked, no doubt,” says Stephen Montzka, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and lead author of the new study. “We couldn’t understand how on Earth emissions would be increasing when production had been zero for so long.”
The chemical, CFC-11, is part of a class of substances called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) once hailed as a pinnacle of 20th century industrial chemistry. CFCs showed up in refrigerators, aerosol cans, and solvents of all kind. They were everywhere, like some sort of miracle compound specifically designed for modern consumerism.
Then scientists started realizing that CFCs were widening a gaping hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, an essential shield for life on this planet against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. CFCs’ chlorine molecules initiate ozone-destroying chemical reactions and allow UV radiation through to the surface. The world came...
May
13
The Mariana Trench—the deepest point in the ocean—extends nearly 36,000 feet down in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. But if you thought the trench could escape the global onslaught of plastics pollution, you would be wrong.
A recent study revealed that a plastic bag, like the kind given away at grocery stores, is now the deepest known piece of plastic trash, found at a depth of 36,000 feet inside the Mariana Trench. Scientists found it by looking through the Deep-Sea Debris Database, a collection of photos and videos taken from 5,010 dives over the past 30 years that was recently made public.
Of the classifiable debris logged in the database, plastic was the most prevalent, and plastic bags in particular made up the greatest source of plastic trash. Other debris came from material like rubber, metal, wood, and cloth, and some is yet to be classified.
Most of the plastic—a whopping 89 percent—was the type of plastic that is used once and then thrown away, like a plastic water bottle or disposable utensil.
While the Mariana Trench may seem like a dark, lifeless pit, it hosts more life than you might think. NOAA's Okeanos Explorer vessel searched the region's depths in 2016 and...
A recent study revealed that a plastic bag, like the kind given away at grocery stores, is now the deepest known piece of plastic trash, found at a depth of 36,000 feet inside the Mariana Trench. Scientists found it by looking through the Deep-Sea Debris Database, a collection of photos and videos taken from 5,010 dives over the past 30 years that was recently made public.
Of the classifiable debris logged in the database, plastic was the most prevalent, and plastic bags in particular made up the greatest source of plastic trash. Other debris came from material like rubber, metal, wood, and cloth, and some is yet to be classified.
Most of the plastic—a whopping 89 percent—was the type of plastic that is used once and then thrown away, like a plastic water bottle or disposable utensil.
While the Mariana Trench may seem like a dark, lifeless pit, it hosts more life than you might think. NOAA's Okeanos Explorer vessel searched the region's depths in 2016 and...
May
12
Bacteria come in two very broad categories based on the structure of their cell walls, the outer region that gives the cells shape and integrity. The cell walls of Gram-positive bacteria consist of a membrane surrounded by a thick layer of sugar and protein, while the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria consist of a membrane surrounded by a second membrane.
This fundamental anatomical difference has a profound medical implication: The types of antibiotics that can kill Gram-positive bacteria are likely ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria and vice versa. A major reason is the cell wall: An antibiotic may be able to penetrate one type but not the other. This is why, for instance, that the drug vancomycin is prescribed to treat Gram-positive infections, such as Staphylococcus, but is completely useless against Gram-negative infections, such as E. coli.
Finding new ways to sneak antibiotics past these cell wall barriers is one way that microbiologists are fighting antibiotic resistance. Now, researchers have shown that a synthetic "double Trojan horse" drug can fool bacteria into willingly accepting a toxic antibiotic, essentially causing them to commit suicide.
Like all cells, bacteria require nutrients to survive. Iron ions are not easy to come by, so some bacteria have evolved an elaborate mechanism to gather them. They secrete specialized iron-harvesting...
This fundamental anatomical difference has a profound medical implication: The types of antibiotics that can kill Gram-positive bacteria are likely ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria and vice versa. A major reason is the cell wall: An antibiotic may be able to penetrate one type but not the other. This is why, for instance, that the drug vancomycin is prescribed to treat Gram-positive infections, such as Staphylococcus, but is completely useless against Gram-negative infections, such as E. coli.
Finding new ways to sneak antibiotics past these cell wall barriers is one way that microbiologists are fighting antibiotic resistance. Now, researchers have shown that a synthetic "double Trojan horse" drug can fool bacteria into willingly accepting a toxic antibiotic, essentially causing them to commit suicide.
Like all cells, bacteria require nutrients to survive. Iron ions are not easy to come by, so some bacteria have evolved an elaborate mechanism to gather them. They secrete specialized iron-harvesting...
May
09
A potential new cure for baldness has been discovered using a drug originally intended to treat osteoporosis.
Researchers found the drug had a dramatic effect on hair follicles in the lab, stimulating them to grow.
It contains a compound which targets a protein that acts as a brake on hair growth and plays a role in baldness.
Project leader Dr Nathan Hawkshaw told the BBC a clinical trial would be needed to see if the treatment was effective and safe in people.
Only two drugs are currently available to treat balding (androgenetic alopecia):
Read more here. (BBC)
Researchers found the drug had a dramatic effect on hair follicles in the lab, stimulating them to grow.
It contains a compound which targets a protein that acts as a brake on hair growth and plays a role in baldness.
Project leader Dr Nathan Hawkshaw told the BBC a clinical trial would be needed to see if the treatment was effective and safe in people.
Only two drugs are currently available to treat balding (androgenetic alopecia):
- minoxidil, for men and women
- finasteride, for men only
Read more here. (BBC)
May
08
146 million people, 99 million addresses, 209,000 payment cards, 38,000 drivers' licenses and 3,200 passports.
Equifax has published yet more details on the personal records and sensitive information stolen by miscreants after they hacked its databases in 2017.
The good news: the number of individuals affected by the network intrusion hasn't increased from the 146.6 million Equifax previously announced, but extra types of records accessed by the hackers have turned up in Mandiant's ongoing audit of the security breach.
In February, in response to questions from US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Equifax agreed that card expiry dates and tax IDs could have been among the siphoned data, but it hadn't yet worked out how many people were affected.
Late last week, the company gave the numbers in letters to the various US congressional committees investigating the network infiltration, and on Monday, it submitted a letter to the SEC, corporate America's financial watchdog.
As well as the – take a breath – 146.6 million names, 146.6 million dates of birth, 145.5 million social security numbers, 99 million address information and 209,000 payment cards (number and expiry date) exposed, the company said there were also 38,000 American drivers' licenses and 3,200 passport details lifted,...
Equifax has published yet more details on the personal records and sensitive information stolen by miscreants after they hacked its databases in 2017.
The good news: the number of individuals affected by the network intrusion hasn't increased from the 146.6 million Equifax previously announced, but extra types of records accessed by the hackers have turned up in Mandiant's ongoing audit of the security breach.
In February, in response to questions from US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Equifax agreed that card expiry dates and tax IDs could have been among the siphoned data, but it hadn't yet worked out how many people were affected.
Late last week, the company gave the numbers in letters to the various US congressional committees investigating the network infiltration, and on Monday, it submitted a letter to the SEC, corporate America's financial watchdog.
As well as the – take a breath – 146.6 million names, 146.6 million dates of birth, 145.5 million social security numbers, 99 million address information and 209,000 payment cards (number and expiry date) exposed, the company said there were also 38,000 American drivers' licenses and 3,200 passport details lifted,...
May
08
Eating up to 12 eggs a week does not increase cardiovascular risk factors in people with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, new research finds – despite conflicting dietary advice continuing around the world.
University of Sydney researchers aim to help clear up conflicting dietary advice around egg consumption, as a new study finds eating up to 12 eggs per week for a year did not increase cardiovascular risk factors in people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition today, the research extends on a previous study that found similar results over a period of three months.
Led by Dr Nick Fuller from the University’s Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders at the Charles Perkins Centre, the research was conducted with the University of Sydney’s Sydney Medical School and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
In the initial trial, participants aimed to maintain their weight while embarking on a high-egg (12 eggs per week) or low-egg (less than two eggs per...
University of Sydney researchers aim to help clear up conflicting dietary advice around egg consumption, as a new study finds eating up to 12 eggs per week for a year did not increase cardiovascular risk factors in people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition today, the research extends on a previous study that found similar results over a period of three months.
Led by Dr Nick Fuller from the University’s Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders at the Charles Perkins Centre, the research was conducted with the University of Sydney’s Sydney Medical School and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
In the initial trial, participants aimed to maintain their weight while embarking on a high-egg (12 eggs per week) or low-egg (less than two eggs per...
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