George Monbiot shares fears of Amoc Havoc
Last week we showcased a piece by Damien Carrington about the rising dangers of a collapse in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation(LSS 16 4 26) Several outlets took up the theme, But it took a writer as prescient as George Monbiot to put it into wider context:
A critical eye for IQ
We’ve always had our doubts about IQ tests, and not just because we’re rubbish at them. Now an eminent researcher in psychology shares our concerns that such tests on their own are sufficient to guess at a child’s future development.
https://theconversation.com/the-truth-about-child-iq-research-shows-it-fluctuates-and-may-be-an-unreliable-predictor-of-future-success-27156 nMargherita Malanchini
Running up that hill-it doesn’t hurt ……
Immune cells linked to endurance in mice reports Nature Briefing. Is this what’s going on inside the cells of top athletes?
B cells — the ‘security guards’ of the immune system — also provide crucial support for muscles during exercise. B-cell-deficient mice performed worse on strength and endurance tests than did mice with healthy B-cell counts. Researchers found that the absence of B cells lowers the amount of the amino acid glutamate, which is associated with improved mitochondrial and skeletal muscle function, released by the liver. A lack of glutamate in muscle tissue and the bloodstream could explain the decrease in exercise performance, they suggest.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Cell paper
Human machine barrier gets ever more blurred
News that Barcelona surgeon Dr Juan Aibar has successfully implanted electrodes into the brain of an unfortunate sufferer from Tourettes syndrome reinforces another old trope of this blog. That our ability to create functioning interfaces between nervous tissue and artificial technology is advancing ever further. Perhaps you could ask Arnold Schwarzenegger where it might end, or rather Terminate (this El País article by Jessica Mouzo is in Spanish)
Quote of the week “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak… even that prophet shall die.” — Deuteronomy 18:20,
Harsh words for someone!
#climate change #global warming #amoc #neurology #medicine #immunology #intelligence testing
Learning, Science and Society 