Science, Technology & Health: March 2005 Archives

New Scientist has a column about "13 Things That Don't Make Sense", but I think two of them should be combined. They're all pretty interesting, particularly the cosmology items. (HT: John Vescio.)

The Guardian has a great article about brain-computer interfaces, including brain implants and explants that allow users to control computers and other electronic devices. The fascinating thing to me is that these advances could lead to technology that allows thoughts to be put into brains as well.

Getting the signals is one thing; deciphering them is another. But Donoghue's team found that some simple rules held - if the brain wanted to move the hand to the right, certain cells would fire a rapid series of impulses. If the brain was willing the hand to move left, the cells fired a different number of times. Other information, such as where the hand should end up, what trajectory it should take, and how quickly it should move, is also embedded in the electrical signals.

Part of the difficulty in reading brain signals is that while even a simple movement such as raising a hand requires electrical signals from many regions of the brain, the implanted electrodes pick up just a tiny fraction of those that fire. "We're recording only a dozen or so, when a million might be active," says Donoghue, who likens the process to dropping a microphone into a crowded room and trying to get the gist of all the conversations going on.

So what would happen if the embedded electrodes were used to apply signal pulses to the brain rather than merely reading them? Would they need to be applied all across the brain, or would localized applications be sufficient to create thoughts? Would the brain get confused, or just adapt? What would it feel like to the patient?

Russia has been reaping the peace dividend since the end of the Cold War and has thus been able to drastically increase funding for spanking research.

It may sound a bit kinky but everything from depression to alcoholism can be cured with a beating on the bare bottom, scientists claim.

Spanking is more effective than exercise at keeping the blues at bay, say Russian researchers who carried out tests on caning.

They recommend that people receive 30 weekly sessions of 60 of the best. High levels of pain make the body produce endorphins or 'happy chemicals' and this leads to feelings of euphoria.

Endorphins also boost the immune system, release sex hormones and reduce appetite.

So, uh... put this into practice however seems best to you.

(HT: Rush.)

Beyond mere notification, I think a minor girl should need her parents' permission to have an abortion. Oh, ideally, the vast majority of abortions should be entirely illegal, but if we must have them doesn't it make sense for them to be treated like the major medical procedures they are? You may remember a bill in New Zealand that would have required parental notification for abortions by children; I have no idea if the bill became law, but it was very popular and vehemently opposed by the left in New Zealand. The article I quoted earlier said:

Many parents are horrified at the notion of school staff whisking their under-16 year old daughters off for an abortion during school hours, leaving parents out of the loop in what is likely to be the most traumatic decision their child has ever made. ...

The pro-life Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child points out that schools are obliged to inform parents if even mild medications are given to children while away from home, yet abortions are exempt from this policy.

Fantasy, right? That would never happen? But it looks like something even worse in going on in Illinois where an unrelated adult snatched a kid from school for an abortion. The mother of the girl tried to intervene, and got arrested.

The girl was allegedly taken to an abortion clinic by the mother of the man allegedly to have impregnated the 14-year old.

According to the girl's mother, her 14-year old daughter was called off from school in Madison County by a woman posing as the girl's “grandmother.” The woman took the girl from her home only minutes before the girl’s mother returned home from work.

It's amazing how our courts bend over backwards to kill handicapped people in hospitals and unborn babies, and convicted murderers on death row take decades to execute. Disgusting.

While we're on the topic of genetics, here's a new study that proposes to link genes and religion.

Until about 25 years ago, scientists assumed that religious behaviour was simply the product of a person's socialisation - or "nurture". But more recent studies, including those on adult twins who were raised apart, suggest genes contribute about 40% of the variability in a person's religiousness.

That actually makes sense. Religion correlates with many beneficial social traits, and although it's unlikely that religion itself is genetic, it's intuitive that many of the traits associated with "religion" have genetic components.

About a dozen studies have shown that religious people tend to share other personality traits, although it is not clear whether these arise from genetic or environmental factors. These include the ability to get along well with others and being conscientious, working hard, being punctual, and controlling one's impulses.

It's likely that these traits predispose a person towards accepting and thriving in a "religious" environment, and that religion is an effect rather than a cause. An interesting situation, considering that genetic predisposition is no excuse for sin -- or for disbelief.

Update:
Clayton Cramer discusses genetics in the context of predestination.

I've been researching home security products for a little while now, and I've found a few nifty devices that appear to rather useful. I'm making some purchases and I hope to report back in a few days. I don't want to give away all my tricks, but two of the most interesting products are both cheap and easy to install, and I think they'll be effective at deterring criminals as well.

The first is the Keep-I volumetric air pressure alarm.

Keep-I monitors air pressure. If any change occurs, such as a criminal opening a door or window, the alarm sounds. When the device is set to fine recognition mode, a simple touch on your door handle will trigger the 95 decibal alarm. Within the space protected by the Keep-I, you can move about freely, your kids can play and your pets can run around. This alarm allows you to live your life while still protecting yourself and those you love, giving this high tech system great practical advantages over infra-red and motion detecting alternatives.

Sounds pretty cool, and it's portable.

Then there are these simple magnetic door and window alarms that can be easily mounted onto any entrance.

Door Alarm provides several alternatives to keeping your household, children, displays etc. safe and sound. Uses 3 1.5V LR44 batteries (included) with replacemnt easily available. Use as an alarm system to sound a 90dB siren when anyone opens a door or window you want protected.

I particularly like the note near the end:

Use it to keep kids out of cupboards, drawers or rooms. Get notified if grandpa leaves his room unattended.

90dB isn't incredibly loud, but it'll sure wake you up if you're asleep across the house and it'll probably wake up your neighbors too. And they're cheap enough to cover every door and window in your house for under $50.

In an article about Social Security, John Fund quotes economist Paul Samuelson saying in 1967, "a growing nation is the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived. And that is a fact, not a paradox." He's right, and he said it in a more elegant way than I managed to do when I wrote about deficit spending or functional density. The reason modest deficit spending for a nation is perfectly sustainable for eternity is that a growing population will always be able to pay the debts of their ancestors more easily than the ancestors themselves -- simply because there's more of them. The system only starts to collapse, like Social Security, when the population growth can't keep up with the expenses. As I've explained before, the factor of increasing population explains why deficit spending works for nations but not for individuals... unless individuals bring in more money each year than the year before, and their deficit rate is less than their growth rate. That's the expectation college students have when they borrow money for tuition, and it's usually smart for them to finance the future.

Remember when Yahoo looked like this? As Director Mitch points out, we've come a long way. The thing is, in 1995 it would have been possible to visualize websites from 10 years in the future -- more graphics, sounds, video, &c. -- but I'm not at all confident that 2015 will simply be more of the same.

I'm not a doctor and you certainly shouldn't use expired drugs (or any drugs) based on my recommendation, but you may be interested to learn that most drug expiration dates are arbitrary and most drugs don't lose potency until long after the dates written on the bottles.

Do drugs really stop working after the date stamped on the bottle? Fifteen years ago, the U.S. military decided to find out. Sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every two to three years, the military began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory.

The testing, conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter. The results, never before reported, show that about 90% of them were safe and effective far past their original expiration date, at least one for 15 years past it.

In light of these results, a former director of the testing program, Francis Flaherty, says he has concluded that expiration dates put on by manufacturers typically have no bearing on whether a drug is usable for longer. Mr. Flaherty notes that a drug maker is required to prove only that a drug is still good on whatever expiration date the company chooses to set. The expiration date doesn't mean, or even suggest, that the drug will stop being effective after that, nor that it will become harmful.

Some people assert that drug companies want us to throw away potent drugs so they can sell us replacements, but misleading labeling does more damage that simply costing consumers money.

Meanwhile, poor countries - under urging from the World Health Organization - often reject drug-company donations of much-needed medicines if they are within a year of their expiration dates.

It isn't known how much of the $120 billion-plus spent annually in the U.S. on prescription and over-the-counter medicines goes to replace expired ones. But in a poll done for The Wall Street Journal by NPD Group Inc. of Port Washington, N.Y., 70% of 1,000 respondents said they probably wouldn't take a prescription drug after its expiration date; 72% said the same of an over-the-counter remedy.

"People think that, upon expiration, drugs suddenly turn toxic or lose all their potency," says Philip Alper, professor of medicine at University of California at San Francisco. In his own practice, Dr. Alper says, "I frequently hear - from patients who can't afford medicine - that they have thrown away expired drugs." He says companies should be required to test drugs for longer periods and set later expiration dates when results warrant.

One final thing to note is that some drugs definitely do decay quickly and can even become dangerous. These include tetracycline drugs and drugs in liquid form, as well as others. Do some research on your own, or talk to a doctor.