Who do you love?
life | Vice, 2 August 2016
Past researchers have found that people of lower cognitive ability are more likely to be prejudiced, but prejudice isn’t exclusive to dim wits. A new study finds that people at both high and low ends of the intelligence spectrum actually express equal levels of prejudice—the difference is just what they’re prejudiced against.
Smart drug to increase intelligence
life | Futurism, 14 April 2017
Qualia is a forty-two ingredient ‘smart drug’ designed to provide users with immediate, noticeable uplift of their subjective experience within twenty minutes of taking it, as well as delivering long-term benefits to their neurology and overall physiologic functioning.
Solar cell competitor breaks through
eco | Science Alert, 4 September 2017
Perocskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown promise in recent years as the future of solar power technology, only there’s been a catch – to make them last, they’ve needed an expensive fix. That’s all set to change, putting PSCs back on track. A team of researchers from Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) returned to the drawing board with existing PSC technology to find a better solution for making the otherwise low-cost material stable enough to deal with whatever the sun can throw at it.
Plastic degrading fungus found in Pakistani rubbish dump
eco | Independent, 22 September 2017
Scientists believe they may have discovered one solution to the planet’s growing level of plastic waste in the form of a plastic eating fungus. Researchers who set out to find a naturally occurring means of recycling plastic safely, extracted rubbish from a dump outside Islamabad and found a soil fungus feeing on plastic.
Long lost notebook from the Congo sheds light on climate change
eco | The Guardian, 25 September 2017
Decaying notebooks discovered in an abandoned research station contain a treasure trove of tree growth data from the 1930s. The treasure was found by biologist Koen Hufkens in a tumbledown building at the Yangambi Biological Station, which was once Africa’s leading forest and agriculture research institution. Combined with other records, the recovered data allows Hufkens to make improved predictions about the health of the forest.
psychoactive: Yet another victory for cannabis
psychoactive | US Health Times, 28 September 2017
The 9thUS Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision that marks a turning point in federal prosecutions of cannabis dispensaries and growers. Despite half the states in the union deciding to buck federal law and allow for the cultivation and distribution of cannabis as part of a medical marijuana program, the Department of Justice has their own agenda. Or they had, at least. The court is forcing the Department of Justice to prove that the cases they have pending against medical marijuana businesses were in violation of state law, before allowing the cases to move forward.
Killing animals for food soon outdated?
life | Futurism, 28 September 2017
In August, Richard Branson wrote a post (https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/investing-cleaner-way-feed-hungry-world) on the Virgin website about his investment in Memphis Meats, which expressed his vision about the future of food. Branson is one of several influential thinkersinvesting in a cruelty-free, sustainable food system. While these thinkers reached their decisions through different means, in the end they all seem to agree that diets that rely on animal meat are less healthy and unsustainable — and that as our planet changes, our habits will too.
How deep is your love?
life | The Conversation, 29 September 2017
Just how much information is carried in our tone of voice and conversation patterns and how does that impact our relationships with others? Computational systems can already establish who people are from their voices, so could they also tell us something about our love life? Evidence shows that it seems like it.
Out of Africa
life | Newsweek, 29 September 2017
The first modern humans may have emerged up to 350,000 years ago—170,000 years earlier than previously thought. Analysis of ancient DNA has allowed scientists to trace back the ancestry of people from South Africa to determine when our ancestors split from other hominid species. Their findings consistently point to an early date of divergence, between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago.
moonlightng ayahuasca in tokyo
psychoactive | Vice, 3 October 2017
By concocting a replication of the notorious South American psychedelic drink, ayahuasca, using only traditional Japanese herbs and antidepressants, Aoi Glass claims to have found a legal loophole for providing an ayahuasca-like experience to the masses. Glass has been moonlighting as pseudo-shaman in a quiet, suburban Tokyo neighborhood for more than three years. A gaduate of Hirosaki University’s Agricultre Biotechnology department, he initially began his research into ayahuasca as part of an effort to treat his friends’ depression, after several of them lost their jobs.
Catholics done with fossil fuel
eco | The Guardian, 3 October 2017
More than forty Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi. The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.
Vitamins and hyperactivity
life | University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 3 October 2017
New Zealand researchers have shown that vitamin-mineral treatment improves aggression and emotional regulation in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), in the first published results from a new trial. Another promising approach is mindfulness, as taught in Vipasana meditation. Related information can be found here. https://www.finallyfocusedbook.com/2017/10/10/mindfulness-put-adhd-ease/
Everybody loves a good story
science | Medical Express, 5 October 2017
New brain research by USC scientists shows that reading stories is a universal experience that may result in people feeling greater empathy for each other, regardless of cultural origins and differences. And in what appears to be a first for neuroscience, USC researchers have found patterns of brain activation when people find meaning in stories, regardless of their language. Using functional MRI, the scientists mapped brain responses to narratives in three different languages—English, Farsi and Mandarin Chinese..
Party drugs counteract depression
psychoactive | Rave Jungle, 6 October 2017
Clinical major depression is a mental health condition that affects around 350 million people worldwide. Depression leaves its victims with overwhelming sadness, loss of hope, and unfortunately drives some to commit suicide. Now, however, there are some alternative treatments being explored by academic and medical communities across the globe. These methods involve the use of recreational drugs. Studies have been performed with ketamine (aka Special K), MDMA (Ecstacy) and psilocybin (shrooms)
Psychedelic renaissance
psychoactive | Massive, 9 October 2017
Psychedelics are back to stay. MAPS (the Multidisciplinare Association for Psychedlic Studies), founded by its executive director, Rick Doblin, in 1986, has since disbursed over 20mio US$ for research leading to the recognition of the therapeutic value of the substances mentioned above. On 16 August, 2017, the FDA designated MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD as a Breakthrough Therapy. We’ve sure come a long way but the researchers involved nust be careful in all their conclusions and promotions to avoid the pitfalls of the past.
Brain decodes info in reverse
science | Sciencecr, 10 October 2017
Scientists at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institutehave contributed to solving a paradox of perception, upending models of how the brain constructs interpretations of the outside world. When observing a scene, the brain first processes details and uses that information to build internal representations of more complex objects, like cars and people. But when recalling that information, the brain remembers those larger concepts first to then reconstruct the details — representing a reverse order of processing. The research, which involved test subjects and mathematical models, could shed light on phenomena ranging from eyewitness testimony to stereotyping to autism.
Tesla battery to oust fossil fuels
science | ewao, 11 October 2017
Though wind and solar power have progressed a lot recently, the problem that remains to be solved is how to store it. Renewable energy producer Elon Musk recently introduced his answer – called the Powerwall, a wall-mounted storage device capable of holding10 kilowatt hours of electric energy and that can deliver it at an average of 2 kilowatt per hour.
Magic mushrooms reboot depressed brains
psychoactive | The Guardian, 13 October 2017
Psychedelics have shown promising results in the treatment of depression and addictions in a number of clinical trials over the last decade. Imperial College London researchers used psilocybin to treat a small number of patients with depression, monitoring their brain function, before and after.
Images of patients’ brains revealed changes in brain activity that were associated with marked and lasting reductions in depressive symptoms, and participants in the trial reported benefits lasting up to five weeks after treatment.
Intentionally avoided inbreeding
science | Sciencecr, 15 October 2017
Early humans seem to have recognized the dangers of inbreeding at least 34,000 years ago, and developed surprisingly sophisticated social and mating networks to avoid it, new research has found. The study, reported in the journalScience, examined genetic information from the remains of anatomically modern humans who lived during the Upper Paleolithic, a period when modern humans from Africa first colonized western Eurasia.
The human life of whales & dolphins
science | The Guardian, 16 October 2017
Life is not so different under water. Bottlenose dolphins use simple tools, orcas call each other by name, and sperm whales talk in local dialects. Many cetaceans live in tight-knit groups and spend a good deal of time at play. That much scientists know. But in a new study, researchers compiled a list the of the rich behaviors spotted in ninety different species of dolphins, whales and porpoises and found that the bigger the species’ brain, the more complex –
In fact the more “human-like” – their lives are likely to be.
Under the new moon
science | Physics-Astronomy, 18 October 2017
As it turns out, the earth has had a „mini moon“ by its side for over a century, and even though the relationship has been exposed, the partnership is likely to continue for centuries to come. This newly discovered moon is smaller than our moon and rounds the earth with astonishing irregularly. This second „moon“ is actually an asteroid called 2016HO3 and it is currently locked into a little dance with the earth.
Mysterious stone gates found in Arabia
science | New York Times, 19 October 2017
Google Earth has provided access to ancient mysteries around the world and has helped to discover thousands of ancient burial sites across the Arabic peninsula. Recently, archeologists uncovered nearly four hundred previously unknown stone structures they call „gates“ in the Arabian desert, believed to have been built by nomadic tribes thousands of years ago.
Verified technique to control your dreams
life | IFL Science, 19 October 2017
A technique to induce lucid dreaming has been independently verified for the first time, and might be even more effective when combined with others.More than half the participants lucidly dreamed during the trial, a record-breaking success rate in just a week without using external intervention.
Five US towns powered by renewables
eco | HuffPost, 21 October 2017
Over the past decade, five location have successfully transited to reneable energy, and the number of cities committed to green evergy has doubled since the present US administration took over. Forty-six cities, including San Diego and Atlanta, have decided to improve their energy standards.