December 2011
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When You Teach Someone Else You Learn Better →
Over at Time, Annie Murphy Paul writes about the “Protégé Effect”, or why first-born children are given tools to learn that their younger siblings don’t have, or why teaching someone else is the best way to deeply learn a subject.
Students enlisted to tutor others, these researchers have found, work harder to understand the material, recall it more accurately and apply it more...
November 2011
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Watch
fMRI images of a woman’s brain as she experiences an orgasm. Oxygen levels in the blood correspond to the activity of different brain regions and are represented here on a spectrum from dark red (lowest) to yellow/white (highest). Twenty snapshots of the data have been taken from a 12-minute sequence during which she approaches orgasm, achieves orgasm and then enters a refractory period....
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“There is a reason the iPad is the most desired U.S. holiday gift item,...”
– The Great Tablet Debate: Fads or Here to Stay? | Techland | TIME.com (via brooklynmutt)
My grandmother has macular degeneration … and an iPad. It’s the “computer” that makes it possible for her to read. I just love living … right NOW.
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“Everybody, even the schoolchildren, knows this is a catastrophe for all of us”
– Fatih Birol, Chief Economist for the International Energy Agency, referencing our energy consumption and estimates of temperature increases at U.N. climate talks in Durban, South Africa.
More: World on track for nearly 11-degree temperature rise, energy expert says - The Washington Post
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Promising HIV-preventative gel trial halted in... →
The NIH has decided to pull the plug on a formerly promising trial of a vaginal gel that held hope of preventing the transmission of HIV between “discordant couples”.
It could have something to do with how they applied the gel, but for now it’s simply another a setback for the HIV prevention community. Read my previous post about the drug involved here.
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So you know: The CDC does not have a system in... →
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It's Okay To Be Smart - Weekly Highlights
Welcome, welcome, one and all … it’s time for the post-Turkey Day highlight reel:
UC Davis protestors were pepper sprayed viciously while peacefully protesting, and we are reminded that when it comes to these deterrents, the danger is in the dose (it’s dangerous).
The Russians launched a Mars probe with possibly the best satellite name ever: Phobos-Grunt. But it did not pass...
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Seriously Strange Scientific Phenomenon of the... →
By using a Wii board, researchers have traced a connection between body posture and our ability to estimate correctly.
Cool (and short) podcast here.
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'Breaking Dawn' Movie Is Apparently Inducing... →
And not for the reason you’re thinking (that being, of course, that your brain is revolting against you)!
Seems like there’s some flashing white light during a scene where someone known as “Bella” is “acting” as if she is having a baby, and in some small percentage of the population it causes neural firing to sync up in such a way as to induce a seizure....
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World Bank: Guide to Climate Change Adaptation in... →
climateadaptation:
The World Bank published an easy to read guide to climate adaptation. The primary focus is to explain what adaptation is, and how city managers can adapt and lower risks to people, their homes, and businesses.
“Building resilience and adapting to climate change is increasingly a high priority for cities. Besides mitigation, on which efforts have largely focused in the past,...
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“Imagine a world where YouTube, Flickr, Facebook or Twitter had never been...”
– Andrew Howard on what SOPA and the Protect IP act mean for the future of the Internet and how they affect you directly. Read it, then watch this, then go do something about it. (via curiositycounts)
Just stay informed, friends. If you don’t pay attention, someone could take away our ability...
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Shop Till We Drop: Does Consumption Culture... →
From Scientific American, thoughts for Black Friday:
“There is no doubt true that our overly consumerist culture is contributing to our addiction to oil and other natural resources and the pollution of the planet and its atmosphere.
Unfortunately the tendency to acquire and even horde valuable goods may be coded into our DNA. Researchers contend that humans are subconsciously driven by...
One thing I’m gonna miss: The face of a sad Aggie. Hook Em!
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WatchGooble Gobble, y’all.
Be thankful, even for the freaks :) Enjoy dinner.
My plan for the long weekend: tear through as much of my Ask box as possible. The number of questions is more than 40, less than 100, just so you have sympathy. Thanks for asking such great stuff, I’ll get to as many as possible this weekend.
Apologies if you’ve sent something in and haven’t heard from me. I still love you. It’s not you, it’s me.
Have a great...