Evolutionary Psychology In The Bedroom

Fascinating experiment in Germany shows how we're all the same deep down. We're all scared of predators. See M2:Bedroom Layouts Reflect Ancestors’ Preferences

I Don't Think This Is A Good Thing

A large influx of freshwater into the ocean can turn off ocean currents which halts the transfer of heat from the equator to the poles. (See Shutdown of thermohaline circulation)

UCIrvine: 18 percent more water fed into the world’s oceans from rivers and melting polar ice sheets in 2006 than in 1994, with an average annual rise of 1.5 percent.

[Via Juan Cole]

Really Old School

Geologists think they have found pristine mantle up in Canada.

Via SciAm: Tricky Mantle: Intact Pocket of Ancient Earth May Have Escaped Mixing for 4.5 Billion Years

New research indicates that rocks from Baffin Island in Canada stem from a patch of Earth that dates back to the infancy of the planet but has somehow escaped geologic recycling and processing since that time.

Drop The Running Shoes

22 July, 2010 Update
NPR: For Humans, Slow And Steady Running Won The Race

Update: NPR covers the new research too: Study: Humans Were Born To Run Barefoot

This is another article about running similar to the earlier post: Run Like A Persistence Hunter

Via SciAm: Running Shoes Jog Joints

This is why I like running in plain "water shoes".

Another Reason To Drive A Station Wagon

Bears won't eat them! Or something like that.

Via Barking Up The Wrong Tree: What kind of car is most likely to get broken into by a hungry bear?

From 2001 to 2007 bears broke into 908 vehicles at the following rates: minivan (26.0%), sport–utility vehicle (22.5%), small car (17.1%), sedan (13.7%), truck (11.9%), van (4.2%), sports car (1.7%), coupe (1.7%), and station wagon (1.4%).

Full study is in the Journal Of Mammalogy: Selective Foraging for Anthropogenic Resources by Black Bears: Minivans in Yosemite National Park
I saw something like this on television before. It was video of black bears prying open minivan windows in a matter of minutes and eating the seat cushions and trashing it. Perhaps an advantage of a station wagon is that it is too small for the bears to move around once inside.

Presented By The Law Of Uninteded Consequences

Via INFRASTRUCTURIST: Is the Low Gas Tax Costing You More Money on Car Repairs?

Here's the math from the link:
Car repair costs due to roads in poor condition = $300 - 400
Raising the gasoline tax to pay for road repair, cost to the average driver = $150

The Fierceness Of The New Madrid Earthquake May Have Been Exaggerated

Via SciAm: New Madrid quake analysis rewrites history books

Eating Non-Fat Is Nonsense

Or Atkins was right.

Via SciAm: Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart

Three Species Of Orca

Not one.

See SciAm: Orcas are more than one species, gene study shows

This reminds me of something I saw on television recently that showed Orca's had somehow learned that if they could launch a surprise attack on a Great White Shark and then hold it upside down for 15 minutes then they could have their way with it. It was amazing.

See DailyMailUK: Pictured: The moment a whale delivers a deadly 'karate chop' blow to a killer shark

The Latest On The Original Dog

Via NPR: Dogs Likely Descended From Middle Eastern Wolf

...dog skeletons 12,000 or 13,000 years old have been found in what is now northern Israel. "They're found in burials with humans in a very clear human context."

The Gulf Stream Current Is Very Sensitive

When the North Atlantic current that transports heat from the equator to the northern hemisphere gets turned off the heat gets shut off quickly too.

See NS: Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months

Dr. Hart And Ardi

Dr. Hart has been studying the African rift valley for a long time and been a part of many hominid discoveries over the past 20 years.

The latest discovery is the oldest hominid yet.

See DaytonDailyNews: Miami geologists part of history-making ‘Ardi’ dig

More Evidence Conservatism Is A Psycological Disorder

After reading all 18 pages of Democracy Corps' study The Very Separate World of Conservative Republicans I'm left wondering when do we stop looking at this as politics and start recognizing that these people are paranoid and need help.

See this earlier post: Is Being A Conservative A Mental Defect?

Example from the study:

An Oppressed, Mocked Minority
Conservative Republicans passionately believe that they represent a group of people who have been targeted by a popular culture and set of liberal elites – embodied in the liberal main-stream media – that mock their values and are actively working to advance the downfall of the things that matter most to them in their lives – their faith, their families, their country, and their freedom...

The notion of a liberal media using its reach and power to advance a radical agenda is a given for these voters. If you do not see and understand this reality, you are not a part of their collective group and you cannot possibly understand the current political environment in our country. This creates an almost siege-like mentality, in which these conservative Republicans are always on the defensive, at all times looking for any slight against them and their beliefs and seeking to link it back to a broader effort rooted in the liberal media.

Although I find it interesting that they now see themselves as the minority after oppressing other minorities for generations. And, they would not be mocked if they stopped this. (yes, I am an elitist.)

Another Dog Origin Hypothesis

On the heels of the Dogs In Disarray post comes a mitochondrial DNA study suggesting dogs were first domesticated in China for the same reason cows and pigs were domesticated.

See NYT: In Taming Dogs, Humans May Have Sought a Meal

Sampling the mitochondrial DNA of dogs worldwide, the team found that in every region of the world all dogs seem to belong to one lineage. That indicates a single domestication event. If wolves had been domesticated in many places, there would be more than one lineage, each leading back to a local population of wolves.

The single domestication event seems to have occurred in southern China, where the dogs have greater genetic diversity than those elsewhere. The region of highest diversity is usually the place of origin because a species tends to lose diversity as it spreads.

Studying Geologists In Their Natural Environment

Because a great geologist is a great person - someone you'd be lucky to know - but what makes them such wonderful and smart people and the best lovers on the planet?

Via PhysOrg: Cognitive scientists use eye-tracking technology to learn what makes a great geologist

Dogs In Disarray

Update - SciAm has more on this topic: The Origin of Dogs

New genetic research indicates dogs may not have originated from the domestication of wolves in east Asia as originally believed. Now a massive worldwide collection of DNA from dogs is underway in order to better understand where dogs were first tamed.

See NYT: Research Undermines Dog Domestication Theory

Christopher Columbus Knew Exactly What He Was Doing

As I discovered when I read Stephen J Gould's 'Dinosaur In A Haystack'. Everyone knew the Earth was round and that there was a continent to the west. Now there is some more supporting evidence.

See Reuters: Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says

I Thought This Question Had Been Settled

Further confirmation that stromatalites are microbial in origin.

See PhysOrg: Scientists say that microbial mats built 3.4-billion-year-old stromatolites

The Father - Daughter Relationship

Via FiveThirtyEight: Having Daughters Rather Than Sons Makes You More Liberal

The authors' key finding is that support for policies designed to address gender equity is greater among parents with daughters. This result emerges particularly strongly for fathers.

Origins

New genetic research pinpoints the source of all humans to near the South African - Namibia border.

Via BBC: Experts unveil African gene study

The first humans most likely evolved near the South Africa-Namibia border, the team said, and migrated north out of the continent via the Red Sea.

Researchers had identified 14 ancestral population clusters "that correlated with ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties", they said.

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