An easy way to save a life in hot weather. Great advice.
Category: health
Mundane chance to be a super hero
Just got swabbed by Be The Match outside Nopalito (who aren't terribly busy today!) It was quick & easy. Thinking fondly of @superamit! 🙂
Photo by Mum Jinx:
specific realities
Bad science has bad consequences
RT @kottke: The Jenny McCarthy Body Count
Psychiatry Giant Sorry for Backing Gay ‘Cure’
Media I’ve enjoyed recently
Productivity and problem-solving
Lewis Pugh's mind-shifting Mt. Everest swim (TED video)
Bosses Who Work Out Are Nicer (60-Second Science podcast)
Psychology
Gun-Toting Increases Bias to See Guns Toted (60-Second Science podcast)
Environment and climate
Jason Clay: How big brands can help save biodiversity (TED video)
Lee Hotz: Inside an Antarctic time machine (TED video)
Rob Dunbar: Discovering ancient climates in oceans and ice (TED video)
Politics and philosophy
Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index (TED video)
Carne Ross: An independent diplomat (TED video)
Technology and the Web
Chris Anderson: How web video powers global innovation (TED video)
Christien Meindertsma: How pig parts make the world turn (TED video)
This was great. Really impressive piece of research. (It never occurred to me that fine bone china has actual bone in it.)
Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car (TED video)
Breathe Easier with Electric Car Charging Overnight (60-Second Science podcast)
App Turns iPhone Into spiPhone (60-Second Science podcast)
Health
Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics (TED video)
A non-health takeaway from this one: Corporations (or as more benignly referred to, "brands") will be analyzing and acting on our social activity in staggering detail in ways that are not automatically or even always possibly perceptible to us. Individual rights now and in the future will require people with an understanding of the technology and techniques of analysis who are working on our side. We will need watchdogs with deep understanding of advanced analytics.
Mitchell Besser: Mothers helping mothers fight HIV (TED video)
Annie Lennox: Why I am an HIV/AIDS activist (TED video)
Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome (TED video)
Didn't enjoy his presentation style, but the content and its implications are impressive.
Inge Missmahl brings peace to the minds of Afghanistan (TED video)
Wonderful projects and encouraging data on the power of psychosocial counseling to help break cycles of violence.
Mechai Viravaidya: How Mr. Condom made Thailand a better place (TED video)
Hans Rosling: The good news of the decade? (TED video)
"The time has come to stop thinking of sub-saharan Africa as one place. Their countries are so different and they merit to be talked about in the same way that we don't talk about Europe as one place. I can tell you that the economy in Greece and Sweden are very different."
It's bigger than that, though:
"There is no such thing as a Western world and Developing world.""You can clearly see the relation with falling child mortality and decreasing family size."
"Almost 50% of the fall in child mortality can be attributed to female education."
It's this kind of tight focus on the actual data—on what really works—that makes me love and respect Hans Rosling. It also reinforces my commitment to only vote for presidential candidates who place a high priority on the family planning and female education efforts which will drive that reduction in child mortality while at the same time slowing population growth.
Boys Who Lack Empathy Don't React to a Fearful Face (60-Second Science podcast)
Animal Production Practices Create Antibiotic Resistance (60-Second Science podcast)
Astronomy
Amateur Planet Hunters Find Exoplanets (60-Second Science podcast)
Culture
Amit Sood: Building a museum of museums on the web (TED video)
Monika Bulaj: The hidden light of Afghanistan (TED video)
Physics
Large Hadron Collider "Big Bang" Analogies Put Under Microscope (60-Second Science podcast)
Biology
Elephants Ask for a Helping Trunk (60-Second Science podcast)
Black Plant Life Could Thrive on Other Planets (60-Second Science podcast)
Box Jellyfish Eyes Aim At The Trees (60-Second Science podcast)
Bat Ears Deform for Better Ping Pickups (60-Second Science podcast)
Body Hair Senses Parasites While Slowing Their Blood Quest (60-Second Science podcast)
Boa Constrictors Listen To Loosen (60-Second Science podcast)
Cocktails
Bloody Mary Gives Up Its Flavor Secrets (60-Second Science podcast)
Music
You Probably Get That A Lot (TMBG Podcast Video Bonus)
Cutbacks Hurt a State’s Response to Whooping Cough
Lucy on the couch with tissues
Hot toddying up before Yellow Submarine. Will a fading dose of Robitussin Cough & a bit of whiskey be acceptable mind-altering substances?
If you’re looking for me at the movie, I’ll be in the row that reeks of Ricola cough drops instead of more traditional hippie scents.
Double blargh
Warning: this cold that’s going around is a doozy. Commence evasive action: frequent handwashing, waving instead of hugging, etc.
sweet relief
Fellow cold/scratchy throat sufferers! Take an orange & put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cut into 8ths. Eat the cold tart bliss