Are American Leaders Smart Enough?

Wired.com: Why is it important for people to care about science?

Brian Greene: When you look around at the opportunities that we have and the problems that we face, from climate change to stem cells to alternative energies to the possibilities of personalized messenger, all of these are scientific at the core. And if you don’t have a population that’s going to engage with some of the underlying science, then you’re starting to fray away at the edges of democracy. How can a society make decisions about so many science-based issues if the populace doesn’t know science?

And when you talk to kids, and they realize how spectacular science is, how different it is from what they learn in the classroom, you see a whole world, literally a whole universe, open up to them. Those are the moments when I feel that it’s something crucial. (more)

If we don’t understand science–and all other complex topics, like math–how will our representatives understand

• how the economy works
• whether there is global warming or global cooling
• the meanderings of a 2000+page bill

…enough to make well-reasoned decisions that serve the best interests of our democratic society?

You say, our Congresspeople will figure it out. They’re smart. How many actually believe that anymore:

Congresspeople aren’t even required to have a college degree–how can they understand the machinations of a 2000+ Health Care bill, and the macro-economics of a capitalist economy? Have we reached the tipping point, where there are no longer enough smart people in Congress to offset the dummies?

Are we Humpty Dumpty falling off of our democratic capitalist wall? I hope there’s a big sponge down there.

 

How Man Communicated Before He Had Words

There is much debate over when early man began to speak–with words, that is. Paleoanthropologists discuss the development of the brain and the throat–when was it evolved enough to support the formation of words and the thought that goes into syntax.

Me, I think when man was clever enough to live in groups, he had to come up with a way to communicate with each other. This isn’t a leap. Chimpanzees do it, pretty much communicating all of their basic needs. The difference is, we presume Man the Thinker must have had deep thoughts, plans, ideas, symbolic representations for his world. This, we will never know. What we do know is that there was no reason that Early Man couldn’t communicate to his group about what was important to his life. As more became important, I’m sure language adapted.

Here’s a primer, from chimpanzees:

• body odor–excitement, fear, anger, etc. There is no reason early man couldn’t distinguish between the meaning of different body smells.
• intense stare–mild threat. Early man had many more facial muscles than chimps, so we could probably use and understand much more than an ‘intense stare’. How about a ‘loving look’, or a ‘pained look’.
• quick yawn to expose canines–threat. Early man didn’t have canines, but the exposed teeth probably still got a message across, especially in conjunction with arm movements and noises. The body became larger and more threatening. This probably included ‘hair raise’ as we still do when we sense danger.
• bobbing back and forth in a crouched position–threat. Ready to attack.
• branch-shaking–threat. A weapon and the branch enlarges the body. Both reasonable body language for ‘I’m a danger to you’.
• crouched position–submission. Not ready to attack, head down so not even looking. that sounds almost like the fetal position
• touching/patting–reassurance. Chimps do a lot more grooming than early man because their groups are smaller. Scientists hypothesize that one functionlanguage served was as ‘verbal grooming’, allowing an individual to ‘groom’ or assuage more than one person at a time.
• grooming–submission, reassurance. See above.
• play face–play. This communicates so much more than words, in both children and adults.
• fear grin–fear. Fear shows on our face before we ever get a word out. It’s a much better means of communicating danger than language to anyone looking at us.
• waving arms–anger. this is much like the ‘branch-shaking’ above, but without a weapon. Not as threatening, but the communication of ‘anger’ is clear
• barking-like a dog’s bark. How often do you read that a character ‘barked’. Same idea.
• pant-hoot–I wish this hadn’t evolved away. It’s a primal reaction to an emotion. I at times feel like a good pant-hoot would help.
• A loud, long, savage-sounding wraaaa call is made when a chimpanzee comes across something unusual or dangerous. We might yell, but the ‘wraa’ communicates something more. It’s similar to yelling what the danger is.
• When young chimpanzees play, they emit breathy laughter. And soft grunts uttered by foraging or resting chimpanzees probably serve to maintain communication within the group. There is no difference between the play of modern man’s young. Words are unnecessary because the sounds say it all.
• touching, kissing, or embracing the subordinate. We still do this to communicate a particular message.
• When angry, chimpanzees may stand upright, swagger, wave their arms, throw branches or rocks – all with bristling hair and often while screaming or with lips bunched in ferocious scowls. Read: the neighborhood bully.

 

The Importance of Running to Man

Man seems an unlikely survivor of the primal world. We don’t have claws like Dinofelis, deadly teeth like Sabertooth, thick skin like early rhinos, or the huge size of a mammoth. How did we escape becoming the favorite snack to all these better-equipped predators?

One way is we learned to run. Not the sprint of a gazelle who can take off and flee at an outrageous pace. Like her, many Pliocene animals relied on quickness and speed to escape predators or catch prey. Few had resources beyond that initial sprint.

We weren’t as swift as our four-legged competitors, but when the gazelle quickly tired and had to stop to regenerate, we kept running. In fact, even then, we could run great distances which enabled us to chase down prey when they tired and overheated.

We learned to pace ourselves for long-distance running. Paleoanthropologists noted that by 2 million years ago, our genus Homo already had long slender legs and short(er) arms. These are traits that serve the runner. Long legs for a better stride with an Achilles’ tendon that anchors the calf muscles to the heel and stores and releases energy during running–unnecessary for ordinary walking. Shorter arms because we no longer headed for trees as the first means of escape.

By then, we had developed millions of pores for sweating, lost much of the hair and fur that keep the heat of exercise in our bodies, and evolved a cooling system in our heads to keep that most vulnerable of parts from overheating. There was even a snazzy ligament attached to the base of the skull to keep our heads steady as we ran.

Most important is our gluteus maximus–the muscle of the buttocks. Chimps don’t have the powerful, pronounced one that we do, the physical attribute that stabilizes the trunk as we lean forward to run.

Before 2 million years ago–during Australopithecus’ time–none of these traits were prominent. Maybe that’s why they disappeared and Homo lives on.

 

Can You Believe Your Eyes Anymore?

The art of painting invisible hasn’t reached American shores yet, but it seems to be all over the world. Here’s a post my colleague WordDreams did on a British student artist–amazing work–but no more stunning that what you’ll see of Mr. Liu Bolin, from China.

How do they do this?

Liu Bolin – The Real Life Invisible Man

35-year-old Liu Bolin, from Shandong, China, manages to camouflage himself in any surroundings, no matter how difficult they might be.

Liu works on a single photo for up to 10 hours at a time, to make sure he gets it just right, but he achieves the right effect: sometimes passers-by don’t even realize he is there until he moves.

The talented Liu Bolin says his art is a protest against the actions of the Government, who shut down his art studio in 2005 and persecutes artists. It’s about not fitting into modern society. Despite problems with Chinese authorities, Liu’s works are appreciated at an international level.

For more, visit this website.

16 Tips in the Science of Walking Silently

There is a science to walking quietly. Most trackers emphasize the same techniques (see below), but to understand what they mean takes time. In one of my African field studies, I became intrigued with native populations who could move so quietly, they were there–and gone–without disturbing even the air currents around them. I started reading about their life style, their need to fit into nature, the basic understanding that to remain hidden from danger means to blend into Nature. To sound like her, not apart from her. If you can sound like the animals, the trees, the wind, danger is less likely to find you.

Here are some of the books I studied to reach an understanding of this topic:

• Nature’s Way–Native Wisdom for Living in Balance with the Earth, by Ed McGaa, Eagle Man
• The Forest People, by Colin Turnbull
• The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior, by Tepilit Ole Saitoti
• Tracking and the Art of Seeing, by Paul Rezendes
• Tom Brown’s Field Guides, by Tom Brown
  
• The SAS Guide to Tracking, by Bob Carss

If you don’t have time to read these vital books, here’s my summary of their brilliant ideas:

How to Walk Silently

1. Take slow, measured breaths from the nose. Most martial arts (the training ground for stealth) emphasize this.
2. Watch the next place you will take a step. Be mindful of objects you are stepping on.
3. Outside, try to walk on bare dirt or live grass. Dead foliage creates a perceptible “crunch” even when lightly stepped on. If you encounter an area where forced to walk through foliage, then pick the clearest path and proceed slowly, possibly bending over and removing obstructions from the location of the next step.
4. If following someone, match the cadence of their steps (i.e. when they step with their left foot, you use your left foot). This will help mask any noise your feet may make. Remember that sound travels at 340 meters per second (1116 ft/sec), so you might need to adjust your walk accordingly: Note the delay between the visual step and the sound of the step from the one you are following, and try to use the same delay for your steps, only the other way around – you must step slightly before the person you are following.
5. Place the heel or toes of your foot down first and roll your foot slowly and gently onto the ground. If moving swiftly, run/leap from location to location. Avoid landing flatfooted. For moving backwards, this is reversed, so that the ball of the foot is placed down first, and then the heel lowered to the ground.
6. For getting really close to a target, walk on the outer edge of your feet, rolling your foot from heel to pinky toe. Though very silent, this technique is also uncomfortable and should only be used for short distances. The hips can be rotated slightly to make this technique easier.
7. When speed is required, try this: Stand 90 degrees to the direction you want to go with your feet spread slightly, then take the foot on the other side of where you want to go, and while balancing on your other foot, move it across, making an X with your legs. Take your other foot and swing it out from behind to the start position. This method allows you to walk with some speed silently, even when wearing jeans which usually make lots of noise.
8. How to walk silently on gravel: Bend low at the knees. The first part of your foot to hit the ground should be the heel. “Roll” forward on that foot until you’re on the ball of your foot (the padded part just behind the toes). Just before you’ve rolled all the way onto the ball of your foot, put your other foot down, heel first, directly in front of the first foot, almost touching it. You should be able to smoothly roll from the first foot to the second. Continue by rolling on the second foot, until you’re almost at the ball, and repeat by putting the first foot in front of the second. This should all be done fluidly.

Tips

• Running on the balls of one’s feet (‘digitigrade’) helps with speed and quietness, but be careful; this requires more strength in the feet and lower legs, and greater flexibility in the ankle and foot joints. It also requires better balance than normal movement, and creates a greater impression on softer surfaces (due to the weight being spread over a decreased surface area).
• When climbing items such as trees and cliffs, be mindful of where your foot lands. Try to place the toes and front padding of the foot in between branches and on crevices of the cliff. If you are forced to step in the middle of a branch or push up the side of the cliff, do it slowly and proceed with caution. A little force may dislodge a shower of debris or break a twig alerting watchers.
• Avoid shifting your weight until your forward foot is quietly and firmly on the ground. This will require a considerable degree of balance and practice.
• If you have problems with dragging your feet, then try walking around slowly with your shoelaces untied and dangling to create noise if you don’t raise and lower your feet. WARNING: Do not attempt to do this quickly or carelessly, as you could trip and fall. Keep it slow, steady and measured.
• Remember; sound is a form of energy created in walking as a byproduct of wasted energy (i.e. using more force than required in placing the foot on the ground). Control of foot placement minimizes this.
• You don’t just walk with your foot; your whole body is involved, from arms and head for balance, to hips and torso for driving the leg movements, to the legs themselves for creating the distance. ‘Play around’ with your movements so that you build a picture of what works for you and what doesn’t.
• Try Zig-Zagging as you walk: step with one foot then step forward and to the side. Step the other direction. Repeat. This way you keep more of your balance.
• When breathing, breathe through the open mouth, rather than the nose, to reduce the noise of breathing. Try to avoid situations where you must sneak around with indigestion, as growling stomachs, burps, and various other internal difficulties can be as much of a giveaway as a footstep. If you feel the urge to sneeze, this can often be suppressed firmly pressing on your upper lip – in this rare case the cartoons got it right. Unfortunately, there is no good way to suppress coughing, so your best bet is to try and prevent it by covering your mouth and nose when breathing dusty air or other irritants. Cloth isn’t necessary – even breathing through cupped hands can help.

The following method is taught by American tracker Tom Brown and taught to him by an Apache elder.

The Fox Walk

Weasel Walk

The basic movement of the ‘fox walk’ is that the foot is placed on the ground before weight is placed on it and the stride is shorter than a ‘normal’ one. If you have studied Tai Chi, you will have been taught a similar way of moving. The centre of gravity for this walk should be in the hips.

1. Touch the foot lightly to the ground, with the outside edge hitting the ground first. The heel, ball and edge of the foot strike together.
2. Next, roll the foot inward, until the whole surface area of the foot is on the ground.
3. At this stage, the walker will be able to feel exactly what the foot is stepping on and be able to judge whether the foot needs to be withdrawn or if it is safe to put weight on the foot.

The benefits of fox walking include less strain on the body and less damage to the countryside.

Stalking/The Weasel Walk

Stalking is not only moving silently, but extremely slowly and done properly can enable the stalker to approach wild animals, sometimes even close enough to touch them. Each step will take typically up to a minute to complete. The movements flow and there should be no shakiness. Learning to stalk takes practice, so that you can freeze your movement if an animal looks towards you.

The walk is similar to the fox walk and is sometimes referred to as the weasel walk. The arms are kept very close in to the body and the hands can be put on the knees for support.

1. The back foot should be picked up and moved slowly to the front of the body. The foot should then be carefully and slowly lowered until it is a few inches away from the ground.
2. The toes are then turned upward and contact with the ground is made with the outside ball of the foot, which is then rolled slowly inwards.
3. The heel of the foot comes down and finally the toes. At this stage, weight can be put on the foot. If an object such as a stick is felt before the weight is placed on it, the foot can be removed and replaced somewhere else.

• Cat walk. Begin your step by lifting your foot straight up, toes pointing down to avoid snagging. Place the outside of your foot down first. Press the ball of your foot into the ground consciously, rolling from the outside in. Bring down your heel, then slowly shift weight to that foot. Be prepared to lift and shift whenever you feel any obstacle that might snap or crackle under your weight.
• Map your steps. To avoid watching your feet, make a mental map of upcoming ground cover for the next eight to 10 paces, noting where you’ll need to sidestep branches or high-step fallen logs.
• Go slow. When looking for game, take three to four slow steps and stop. How slow? Three steps should take you at least 20 seconds.
• Hide your noise. Mask the noise of footfalls by moving whenever other sounds can muffle your own. Wind in the trees, moving water, and even airplane noise can all hide the sound of a human on the hunt.

Sports Has Bigger Worries Than Steroids–How About ‘Is it Human?’

Imagine wondering not if Barry Bonds ws on steroids, but if his arm was human? Far fetched? Read these posts:

• HAL Has a Body
• She Looks Human
• The Soldier of the Future is a Hologram
• Robots are Almost Human

…and then read this BBC article about China’s first humanoid Olympics:

China plans for humanoid Olympics

The games will only be open to humanoid robots

China is planning to hold a robot Olympics in 2010.

The international event will be held in the city of Harbin and will see robots take part in 16 different events.

Robots will be able to compete in familiar Olympic sports such as athletics as well as those more suited to machines such as cleaning.

Entry to the competition will be restricted to robots resembling humans. They must possess two arms and legs. Wheels are banned.

The organisers of the games expect from more than 100 universities from around the world to send competitors to the event.

Harbin has been picked as the venue because the city’s Institute of Technology is the home of a robot football research group that manages a very successful team of soccer playing humanoids.

Professor Hong Rongbing, from the Harbin Institute of Technology, said the idea of the competition was to drive innovation and produce robots that are more flexible and helpful.

No specific date has been set for the games as its organisers are still rounding up sponsors to help pay for it.

The Chinese event will face competition from the RoboGames that also stages sports events for robots. The 2010 RoboGames will take in California in April.

The Harbin robot games will be one among an increasingly crowded calendar for robot sports and other competitive events. One event, Roboexotica, is for robots that can mix cocktails, light cigarettes and chat with bar patrons.

Robots already have their own world cup. The 2009 competition saw entries from 400 teams that hailed from 35 separate nations. The 2010 event will be held in June in Singapore. A rival event is run by the Federation of International Robot-Soccer Associations.

Top Ten Questions About Early Man

My colleague, amazingfacts, put together an intriguing list of our questions about the species, Homo sapiens sapiens, from how we became what we see today as ‘modern man’ to where will we eventually end up when our 2 million years of evolutionary history (that being the average life span of a species on the planet Earth) expires. Enjoy.

Top Ten Mysteries of the First Humans

Humans are unique among life on this planet, and much remains a mystery as to how we evolved. What steps came first? Why did we evolve this way and not that direction? Why are we the only human species left? What other paths might we have gone down in our evolution? And what directions might we go from here?

Where do modern humans come from?

The most bitterly debated question in the discipline of human evolution is likely over where modern humans evolved. The out-of-Africa hypothesis maintains that modern humans evolved relatively recently in Africa and then spread around the world, replacing existing populations of archaic humans. The multiregional hypothesis contends that modern humans evolved over a broad area from archaic humans, with populations in different regions mating with their neighbors to share traits, resulting in the evolution of modern humans. The out-of-Africa hypothesis currently holds the lead, but proponents of the multiregional hypothesis remain strong in their views.

Who was the first hominid?

Scientists are uncovering more and more ancient hominids all the time — here meaning bipeds including humans, our direct ancestors and closest relatives. They strive to find the earliest one, to help answer that most fundamental question in human evolution — what adaptations made us human, and in what order did they happen?

Why did modern humanity expand past Africa about 50,000 years ago?

Roughly 50,000 years ago, modern humans expanded out of Africa, spreading rapidly across most of the world’s lands to colonize all continents except Antarctica, reaching even the most remote Pacific islands. A number of scientists conjecture this migration was linked with a mutation that transformed our brains, leading to our modern, complex use of language and enabling more sophisticated tools, art and societies. The more popular view suggests hints of such modern behavior existed long before this exodus, and that humanity instead had crossed a threshold in terms of population size in Africa that made such a revolution possible.

(more)

Is Belief in Global Warming Cooling?

This is a contentious topic. No doubt. Here’s the truth all scientists agree on: Earth gets warmer and colder, goes in and out of Ice Ages. Even Ice Ages have warming trends. We are in a warming trend in the most recent Ice Age. Eventually (not in our life time), Earth will pass out of the warming trend, back to the coolness of a frigid Ice Age.

What people don’t agree on is why. What causes Global warming and Global cooling? Is it changes in the tilt of the planet on its access? Or our revolution around the Sun? CO2 gases? Man?

Another fact we know is that the press likes hyperbole and drama, so when fear of Global Cooling ends, fear of Global Warming begins. It sells books, newspapers, speeches.

I don’t have an answer. I’m simply an observer. Read this and let me know what you think.

Americans go cool on global warming

The number of Americans who believe there is solid evidence that the Earth is warming because of pollution is at its lowest point in three years, according to a survey.

The poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that only 57 per cent believe there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has become warmer over the past few decades, and as a result, people are viewing the problem as less serious – down from 77 per cent in 2006.

The steepest drop occurred during the last year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time. The drop also was seen during a time of mounting scientific evidence of climate change – from melting ice caps to the world’s oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer. (more)

10-meter Wide Asteroid Collides with Earth

Did you notice this?

Indonesian Asteroid

Picture this: A 10-meter wide asteroid hits Earth and explodes in the atmosphere with the energy of a small atomic bomb. Frightened by thunderous sounds and shaking walls, people rush out of their homes, thinking that an earthquake is in progress. All they see is a twisting trail of debris in the mid-day sky:

This really happened on Oct. 8th around 11 am local time in the coastal town of Bone, Indonesia. The Earth-shaking blast received remarkably little coverage in Western press, but meteor scientists have given it their full attention. “The explosion triggered infrasound sensors of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) more than 10,000 km away,” report researchers Elizabeth Silber and Peter Brown of the Univ. of Western Ontario in an Oct. 19th press release. Their analysis of the infrasound data revealed an explosion at coordinates 4.5S, 120E (close to Bone) with a yield of about 50 kton of TNT. That’s two to three times more powerful than World War II-era atomic bombs.

The asteroid that caused the blast was not known before it hit and took astronomers completely by surprise. According to statistical studies of the near-Earth asteroid population, such objects are expected to collide with Earth on average every 2 to 12 years. “Follow-on observations from other instruments or ground recovery efforts would be very valuable in further refining this unique event,” say Silber and Brown.

 

Sizzle in Science Gets a ‘Cool’ Review

Thanks, Christina at TIE300christina, for this nice review of the Sizzle in Science:

The Sizzle in Science at http://delamagente.wordpress.com/ is a great blog site for teachers, students, and parents who love to explore all the dimensions of science. This site has instructional videos, virtual tours and interactive activities. I found Edheads to be a very interesting link which allows students to perform virtual activities that deal with areas such as weather, machines and health (allowing students to interact with virtual surgeries). There is also a link to the top science blog for students in third grade and above who are interested in astrology. Towards the bottom of the page there are short articles about a variety of science topics such as robots, biology, evolution and the high-tech generation today that students can read and post their thoughts to.