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Is Heavy Marijuana Use Harmful?
A new study by Australian researchers into the effects of heavy Marijuana use have returned some interesting results. Heavy users showed reduced size in specific areas of the brain as well as earned lower scores than the nonusers in a verbal memorization test.
Brain scans showed the hippocampus and amygdala were smaller in men who were heavy marijuana users compared to nonusers, the researchers said. The men had smoked at least five marijuana cigarettes daily for on average 20 years.
Now, I’m a bit biased in this debate, but isn’t that a bit too heavy? 5 joints daily for 20 years? Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Bruce Mirken seems to agree with me saying, “These were people who were essentially stoned all day every day for 20 years … This study says nothing about moderate or occasional users, who are the vast majority — and the (study) even acknowledges this.” Mirken follows with, “The documented damage caused by comparably heavy use of alcohol or tobacco is just off-the-charts more serious, and you don’t need high-tech scans to find it.”
It is a bit excessive a study group. Even most ‘daily’ users I’ve met never hit the 5 joint mark every day. I think a more moderate-use study would be more informative overall as well as a more controlled experiment to weed out other possible causes. In the end though, the researchers had and have the best of intentions saying, “With nearly 15 million Americans using cannabis in a given month, 3.4 million using cannabis daily for 12 months or more and 2.1 million commencing use every year, there is a clear need to conduct robust investigations.” With that, I whole heartedly agree. More research is definitely needed. And I, for one, will be doing my part.
Via: Reuters
Humanism In British Schools
The British Humanist Association have just launched a new website of various educational resources to help professionals teach Humanism in schools - maintaining their lead over America in the race to be a reasonable nation.
Similar to the AHA’s Kochhar Humanist Education Center, the BHA’s site offers toolkits, presentations, videos and official documentation on humanist views from the BHA.
The teachers’ area offers a number of easy to use online toolkits for teachers to use when wishing to explain the background to Humanism and its core values.
I smiled while browsing through their excellent library when I stumbled upon school worksheets for children with titles like “What Makes Us Special?” and “Using Reason And Evidence To Decide What Is True” and knowing there were no religious undertones behind them.
I think it’s great to see more of these resources popping up. There are a lot of very creative non-religious people out there and resources like these give those people the mental weaponry to create really great works of art and social statements.
Obama Winning The Non-Religious Vote
An interesting article at the Washington Post reveals that Obama has so far successfully won over non-religious voters in almost every state.
… of the 30 states where I could find comparable data, Obama won the “no religion” crowd an astonishing 26 times!
The author makes a good point regarding Obama’s seeming success with the non-religious minority while increasing the amount of religious rhetoric at the same time.
The secularists I speak with usually mention three arguments for ignoring his faith-based exuberance. The first–and most dubious–is that Obama is just pandering to crucial voting blocks and will regain his senses upon moving into the White House.
More plausibly, others suggest that his background as a student and scholar of constitutional law insures that he will never violate the sanctity of The Wall. Last, it is often remarked that Obama is a true liberal. Secularists, so I have been told, have little to fear from a true liberal.
You can throw me into the ’sanctity of The Wall’ group. While I don’t believe he’s just pandering to a religious crowd, I’m not that concerned with the increase in religious talk. The man can add injections of religious tonality to his speeches all day long for all I care as long as he doesn’t try to make the same injections into our legislature. And I don’t think he will. Which is why I, apparently like so many other non-religious people, support Obama.
Via: Washington Post
I Didn’t Want Your Crummy Cars Anyway
A small Ford dealership in Mojave California has decided to appeal to their community’s Christian majority by telling everyone else to sit down & shut up. Keiffe and Sons Ford have been running to following ad on at least one local radio station:
But did you know that 86% of Americans say they believe in God? Since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians, who believe in God, we at Keiffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don’t tell the other 14% to sit down and shut up. I guess maybe I just offended 14% of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case then I say that’s tough, this is America folks, it’s called free speech. None of us at Keiffe & Sons Ford are afraid to speak out. Keiffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond, if we don’t see you today, by the grace of God, we’ll be here tomorrow.
Here’s a recording of the actual ad.
So far, Ford Motor Company doesn’t seem too concerned about their public image being tarnished. That might change if enough non-religious people call them (1-800-392-3673 between the hours of 8am and 5pm, local time, Monday through Friday. Hearing impaired callers with access to a TDD may contact us by calling 1-800-232-5952.) and express how this kind of advertising makes them feel. You could also call in to some of the local radio stations and express your concerns or build a little local news around it. Christians are very good at waving the ‘offended’ card in front of the news media’s face. Maybe we should try it.
Via: Pharyngula
Worth Mentioning This Week
With Memorial Day AND Towel Day both coming up, it’s been a very busy week at work and at home and the blog has suffered as a result. Here are some links worth mentioning that I most likely would have written blog posts about had I not been so busy.
- Mike the Mad Biologist posts about why Tenure is so important.
- The International Space Station (ISS) is visible in the sky all this week. Phil Plait has the scoop.
- The Texas State Board of Education is in very big trouble.
- The deepest living organisms on Earth have been discovered at temperatures reaching 100 °C.
- A new study shows some human traits aren’t so unique to humans after all.
More TN Bible Nonsense
Tennessee is on a roll this month. First we’ve got Bible Study in public schools and now we’ve got people wanting to build a Bible theme park in Rutherford County.
A developer wants to build what would be the country’s largest Bible-based theme park in Tennessee, depicting scenes such as the parting of the Red Sea. But the plan has created a deep divide among locals.
Some welcome the $200 million, 280-acre Bible Park USA project as a way to bring in much-needed revenue to Rutherford County, while others are concerned about making money off the Bible.
$200 million? Really? And they’re worried about making money off the Bible? You’ve got to be kidding me. Isn’t there somewhere that amount of money could be better applied? Like AIDS, cancer or disaster relief? I’m also quite sure the 280 acres could be better used for landfill.
Via: NPR
Sunday School For Humanists
The American Humanist Association announced the Kochhar Humanist Education Center (KHEC) last week during a Washington DC press conference. The center’s core focus is to develop the curriculum for a secular equivalent of Sunday schools. The center is already developing curriculum standards and has released the first bits of what is to become a massive online library of humanist and freethought literature. I only had time to quickly flip through the online library but instantly found quite a few excellent short reads on religion, history and philosophy.
I like the overall concept.
“Religious organizations have long had educational programs and institutions for passing on their values to each new generation. These have included Sunday schools, private religious schools and an abundance of resources for parents,” said Dr. Bob Bhaerman, education coordinator of the KHEC. “Now it’s time for nontheistic people–whether they call themselves humanists, atheists, agnostics or even identify with a more traditionally religious label–to more effectively share their values with future generations and deepen the understanding of those values among adults.”
I think this is one of those areas where we can definitely fill religion’s shoes. Their lessons focus on compassion, critical thinking, science, and human relationships for children and adults. I think the problem will come in the form of a lack of local support, funding and interest. I hope this initiative fares well and grows to massive proportions and I’d love to see programs like this in my own local town.
Via: American Humanist Association
Women Have No Emotions During Orgasm
Somehow I knew this. I never had the evidence to back up my claim, until now.
To better understand the science of sex, researchers are using PET scanners to map the areas in the brain that are excited during sexual encounters and orgasm. When comparing the results of men to those of women, the researchers uncovered somewhat counter-intuitive data. The scans for men showed an increase in emotional activity as well as a decline in vigilance and fear whereas the women’s scans showed no emotional activity at all during orgasm.
[In men] scientists also saw heightened activity in brain regions involved in memory-related imagery and in vision itself, perhaps because the volunteers used visual imagery to hasten orgasm. The anterior part of the cerebellum also switched into high gear. The cerebellum has long been labeled the coordinator of motor behaviors but has more recently revealed its role in emotional processing. Thus, the cerebellum could be the seat of the emotional components of orgasm in men, perhaps helping to coordinate those emotions with planned behaviors. The amygdala, the brain’s center of vigilance and sometimes fear, showed a decline in activity at ejaculation, a probable sign of decreasing vigilance during sexual performance.
To find out whether orgasm looks similar in the female brain, Holstege’s team asked the male partners of 12 women to stimulate their partner’s clitoris—the site whose excitation most easily leads to orgasm—until she climaxed, again inside a PET scanner. Not surprisingly, the team reported in 2006, clitoral stimulation by itself led to activation in areas of the brain involved in receiving and perceiving sensory signals from that part of the body and in describing a body sensation—for instance, labeling it “sexual.”
But when a woman reached orgasm, something unexpected happened: much of her brain went silent. Some of the most muted neurons sat in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which may govern self-control over basic desires such as sex. Decreased activity there, the researchers suggest, might correspond to a release of tension and inhibition. The scientists also saw a dip in excitation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which has an apparent role in moral reasoning and social judgment—a change that may be tied to a suspension of judgment and reflection.
Brain activity fell in the amygdala, too, suggesting a depression of vigilance similar to that seen in men, who generally showed far less deactivation in their brain during orgasm than their female counterparts did. “Fear and anxiety need to be avoided at all costs if a woman wishes to have an orgasm; we knew that, but now we can see it happening in the depths of the brain,” Holstege says. He went so far as to declare at the 2005 meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Development: “At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings.”
In all honesty, I’m a bit skeptical. I’m sure the act of being studied played a part in the results and I wonder if this was taken into consideration. That kind of ’stage fright’ or ‘performance pressure’ can play havoc on a person’s emotional state. Maybe their concentration on the job at hand shifted the balance of emotion and logic in favor of the latter.
Via: Scientific American
Bible Study In Tennessee Public Schools
What on Earth was Tennessee thinking this week?
SB4104, a bill authorizing the state board of education to approve a curriculum for an elective state-funded course of a nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible, passed the state senate on Thursday.
This mockery of legislature was introduced by Sen. Roy Herron (D) who has let his personal religion get in the way of his reason and understanding of our constitution and the separation of church and state. The whole thing is entirely unnecessary as the state already allows schools to teach the Bible and has a process for approving the curriculum local schools want to use.
The bill slipped past the Senate after three (3) amendments were made to include more ‘constitutional-friendly’ wording and is now on its way to the house as HB4089. If you life in Tennessee, you know what to do. Load up your email and send one off to your house representative telling them what a crock this bill is… Use nicer language though. I’ve already sent one to my representative, Judd Matheny (R). He’s a pretty cool guy. I have a good feeling he’ll do right on this one.
You can read the full bills in PDF: HB4089 | SB4104
Find your House Representative at the bottom of this page.
Brain Implants Are Here… And They Work
We’ve read about them for years in science fiction. They’ve been testing them for decades. Some people can’t wait to get their hands on them while others are afraid they could be used for malicious purposes. Brain Implants are small devices that stimulate areas of the brain that don’t quite work right on their own. Mostly due to the short lengths of the studies, reports have so far been hazy regarding their overall effectiveness until now. A long-range study being presented at the upcoming American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting demonstrates how, over a 10-year period, patients aided by brain implants increasingly regained control over their moods and obsessive behaviors.
The data we are presenting on 43 patients is the result of more than 10 years of work across multiple institutions worldwide. These data represent the largest number and the longest evaluation of patients with psychiatric disorders who have undergone DBS implants, including some with long-term follow up,” said Dr. Rezai, who represented an international working group of physicians studying DBS therapy for treatment resistant OCD and depression.
To me, the scariest possibility with brain implants is security. As the technology proliferates, it’ll only be a matter of time until they become connectivity devices. Once they’re open to a network, the threat of malicious compromise becomes very real. How long does a device need to be connected to the internet before someone learns how to break in and use it for their own nefarious purposes? I could imagine some form of hierarchy of low-level to high-level where some implants are allowed connectivity with the outside and each other whereas others are hard-wired and dedicated to one task. Then we have the Black Market or the use of implants as drug relaying devices.
Regardless of the social implications, it’s still cool to know the technology is picking up and looking good.
Via: io9
I Knew Those Were Useless
A new study by Ohio State University researchers reported in the April 25th issue of the journal Science reveals the old “two trains traveling at 60 miles per hour in opposite directions” style word problems are less effective at training students in math than more abstract concepts, such as finding the value of x.
When asked to solve new problems using these teachings, major discrepancies appeared. In one case, abstract-learning students scored an average of 80 percent on a test. Their “real-world” counterparts, however, seemed unable to transfer their knowledge to a new situation, posting only a 44 percent average.
I always said thought it was the word problems that were abstract but that’s semantics. I don’t know that the blame of this lies solely in the type of problem but more in the execution of that style of problem. Word problems should be “real-world” and not concepts that have no bearing in real life, like trains leaving stations. Who cares? That’s what the train’s schedule is there for. So you can see when they arrive ahead of time. In my opinion, these “real-world” word problems would be more effective if they focussed on useful economics and statistics instead of pointless distances and concepts that only relate to the “real-world” in a teacher’s head.
Via: Scientific American
Crowd-Funding For Better Movies
Jessica Mae Stover has come up with a pretty nifty idea to fund her movie, ‘Artemis Eternal‘. Cut out the middleman and let the people fund the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tokCs7Wl5d8
The idea is simple enough: visitors get to follow the entire process. Contributions for the film range from $1+ with the contributor getting an online credit for the contribution, $25+ gets the contributor a credit in the film, and $100+ gets credit in the film and “Wingman” status that offers name credits on the “silver aurum,” the development map on the front page of the movies website. So far the project has raised $40,000 of the $100,000 required to produce the movie.
Micro-funding and Crowd-funding has been picking up steam mainly due to the ease of the transaction through the internet. I can’t really think of a better industry to relinquish its powers back to the people than Hollywood… well, maybe the music industry.
Donations and ‘crowd-funding’ are near the core of most of today’s popular internet media outlets like Podcasts and Internet TV studios. Just outside of in-media advertising. Personally, I’d much rather live in a world where interested parties fund projects up front rather than everyone being subjected to advertisements in the end product.
Via: TechCrunch
Obama Wrong About Autism
Already? He’s not even in the White House yet and he’s already making idiotic claims that go against scientific evidence. That little image on my sidebar shows that I support Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential election. I’ve agreed with most of what he’s said… until now.
We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.
Oh dear. The evidence clearly shows that it is indeed a combination of increased awareness as well as new diagnosis criteria. When you broaden the definition of an illness you’re bound to find more cases. Here’s a nice simplified thought experiment.
Imaging there is an illness that causes headaches and runny noses. For years you only define the illness by the symptom of headaches. People with headaches have the illness. New evidence starts to show a connection with runny noses and the headaches. This new evidence clearly shows that the two symptoms are part of the same illness so you broaden your definition of the illness to now include both headaches and runny noses. In one fell swoop, you’ve increased the number of reported cases. Are there really more cases of the illness or just more people being diagnosed using the new definition?
My point isn’t to add fuel to the autism / vaccine debate because I don’t believe there is one. It’s a non-debate. The majority of respectable scientists agree that there is no link between vaccines and autism. My point is how numbers can be confusing and that it would do everyone a world of good to be a little skeptical. Our presidential candidates included. These candidates intend to run my country and I don’t take well to them being idiots who don’t do research before making public statements.
I also want to make the point that this is exactly what happens when select interest groups come down on the candidates with questions that pertain solely to their misguided and often misinformed causes. I’m sure Obama is only making attempts to stay neutral. He doesn’t want to shut the potential voters out by putting their idiotic cause in it’s rightful place. Saying, “I’m sure you have a legitimate concern, I’ll look into it.”, is far from admitting the validity of those concerns. But it’s also far from having the integrity to put misguided and misinformed causes where they belong. I believe the President of the United States should be informed enough to feel confident in putting ludicrous claims in the grave. I wonder if Obama would stand so neutral over James Watson’s claims that African Americans are less intelligent than Caucasians. A claim that respectable scientists rightfully refute. Something tells me he would have a somewhat stronger opinion about that non-debate.
UPDATE: After watching the video, I see the “This person included” remark was directed at someone in the audience. My point remains about being informed enough to stamp out dangerous notions when they’re presented.
Religion Is ‘The New Social Evil’
I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘new’ but pollsters in the UK asked 3,500 people what they thought were the worst aspects of modern society and discovered religion was high on the list. The results were very reassuring… for the UK, that is.
The researchers found that the “dominant opinion” was that religion was a “social evil”.
Though poverty and drug abuse are higher on the list (and rightly so), it seems Britain is fed up with religion. Other issues expressed by the 3,500 polled included family breakdown, young people’s behavior and fears over immigration.
“Britain has had it with religion,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society.
Via: Times Online
