Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Autism: A Different Kind of Human
Boing Boing has an article that supports an idea I have had the autism is a for of human speciation. Here is a quote from the article:
The two researchers make an unlikely team. One is Dr. Laurent Mottron, a psychiatrist and cognitive neuroscientist at the Riviere-des-Prairies Hospital. He has been studying autism for 25 years. The other is Michelle Dawson, who is autistic. Ms. Dawson has never been to university, but is working at the level of someone with a PhD. For the last couple of years, these two have been collaborating on research into autism. They argue that autism should be recognized as a different way of being human, rather than as a disease or series of defects to be eradicated.It also talks about psychopathy, saying that there is little evidence that it is a psychological disorder and plenty of evidence that it is an evolved strategy for survival. If this is true then psychopaths are almost human monsters with all the controversy that statement entails.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Leopard Geckos: Sexy Temperature
The sex of leopard geckos depends on the temperature at which the their eggs develop. If that wasn't strange enough their behaivor and sexual preferences are also shaped by temperature.
Oh just go read the article.
Oh just go read the article.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
The Camera is Working
If you want to prove your camera is good, what do you do? If you're NASA then you use one space probe to take a picture of another one. The first picture is just cool the second is at a lower resolution with the rover highlighted.
Of course there is also the view from the ground:
Quote: Understatement
Despite the best that has been done by everyone . . . the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage
- Emperor Hirohito during the broadcast annoucing Japan's surrender
- Emperor Hirohito during the broadcast annoucing Japan's surrender
