Nu börjar det.
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Det verkar som att Sisyfos-hypotesen har visst stöd i forskningen:
"Around the world, increases in wealth have produced an unintended consequence: a rising sense of time scarcity. We provide evidence that using money to buy time can provide a buffer against this time famine, thereby promoting happiness. Using large, diverse samples from the United States, Canada, Denmark, and The Netherlands (n = 6,271), we show that individuals who spend money on time-saving services report greater life satisfaction. A field experiment provides causal evidence that working adults report greater happiness after spending money on a time-saving purchase than on a material purchase. Together, these results suggest that using money to buy time can protect people from the detrimental effects of time pressure on life satisfaction."
Antropofagi har tidigare rapporterat om att E/INTP-personlighetstypen ogillar konsumism, och att "all this material asceticism and conflict avoidance support one primary goal – to free up mental resources for more important things."
(Relaterat: Den fjärde ryttaren; nationalekonomin och patriarkatet; konsumismen - en fallstudie; holism; adaptiv preferensformering; monster inom respektive utom; odjuret.)
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En annan metod för att frigöra kognitiv kapacitet verkar vara att avstå från smarta telefon; kan möjligen bidra till att förklara varför Antropofagi läser hyllmeter med böcker i veckan, medan den genomsnittlige medborgaren fortfarande kämpar med baksidestexten på Zlatan-biografin.
"Our smartphones enable—and encourage—constant connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They put the world at our fingertips, and rarely leave our sides. Although these devices have immense potential to improve welfare, their persistent presence may come at a cognitive cost. In this research, we test the “brain drain” hypothesis that the mere presence of one’s own smartphone may occupy limited-capacity cognitive resources, thereby leaving fewer resources available for other tasks and undercutting cognitive performance. Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention—as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones—the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity. Moreover, these cognitive costs are highest for those highest in smartphone dependence."
Dessutom riskerar den som använder sociala medier snart att bli omhändertagen - det senaste är nämligen att ditt Instagramflöde avslöjar din mentala (o)hälsa. Gökboet nästa för den som lägger för deppiga filter på sina utflyktsbilder.
(Relaterat: Alla blir idioter och demokratin dör; miljöpåverkan avseende IQ; Luther; intelligent pöbel.)
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Den som har anledning att läsa upp på den senaste dinosaurieforskningen kanske blir förvånad över att allting har fjädrar nuförtiden. (Nuförtiden i det här fallet = minst 65 miljoner år sedan.) Sara Sheppard har med andra ord ännu fler revideringar att göra i sin dinosauriebok.
But there's more. Den klassiska uppdelningen mellan fågelhöftade- (ornithischier) och ödlehöftade (saurischier) dinosaurier är nu satt ifråga:
"Our study has found a sister-group relationship between Ornithischia and Theropoda (united in the new clade Ornithoscelida), with Sauropodomorpha and Herrerasauridae (as the redefined Saurischia) forming its monophyletic outgroup. This new tree topology requires redefinition and rediagnosis of Dinosauria and the subsidiary dinosaurian clades. In addition, it forces re-evaluations of early dinosaur cladogenesis and character evolution, suggests that hypercarnivory was acquired independently in herrerasaurids and theropods, and offers an explanation for many of the anatomical features previously regarded as notable convergences between theropods and early ornithischians."
(Relaterat: Lyells återupprättelse; världen är min pen pal.)
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En annan grej som är gammal är vikingar. En studie från september i år visar att minst en vikingakvinna begravdes som fullvärdig krigare. Vilket betyder att arbetsmarknaden var mindre könssegregerad för 1000 år sedan än i dagens Sverige. Bra jobbat med jämställdhetsintegreringen, Kung Klas-Trudvuld den Blodspillde!
"The genomic results revealed the lack of a Y-chromosome and thus a female biological sex, and the mtDNA analyses support a single-individual origin of sampled elements. The genetic affinity is close to present-day North Europeans, and within Sweden to the southern and south-central region. Nevertheless, the Sr values are not conclusive as to whether she was of local or nonlocal origin. [...] The identification of a female Viking warrior provides a unique insight into the Viking society, social constructions, and exceptions to the norm in the Viking time-period. The results call for caution against generalizations regarding social orders in past societies."
(Relaterat: Vad jag vill tro; varje misslyckande; oinitierade gissningar; begränsat utrymme; sköna nya, jämställda värld; aber natürlich; mm. under etiketten normkritik.)
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Ond bråd död är förstås inte så kul, oavsett om en är kvinna eller man. Som tur var så stiger den förväntade medellivslängden rätt stadigt, eller har iaf. så gjort under lång tid, dvs. ungefär sedan medeltiden tog slut. Härligt nog verkar det som att life expectancy kommer att fortsätta att öka en stund, och faktiskt mer för män än för kvinnor. Tyvärr gäller detta Världen - i bl.a. Sverige är verkar den förväntade ökningen vara ringa eller obefintlig. Detta, spekulerar Antropofagi, möjligen pga. höga siffror redan i dagsläget - har vi månne nått biologins gränser?
"Life expectancy is projected to increase in all 35 countries with a probability of at least 65% for women and 85% for men. There is a 90% probability that life expectancy at birth among South Korean women in 2030 will be higher than 86·7 years, the same as the highest worldwide life expectancy in 2012, and a 57% probability that it will be higher than 90 years. Projected female life expectancy in South Korea is followed by those in France, Spain, and Japan. There is a greater than 95% probability that life expectancy at birth among men in South Korea, Australia, and Switzerland will surpass 80 years in 2030, and a greater than 27% probability that it will surpass 85 years. Of the countries studied, the USA, Japan, Sweden, Greece, Macedonia, and Serbia have some of the lowest projected life expectancy gains for both men and women. The female life expectancy advantage over men is likely to shrink by 2030 in every country except Mexico, where female life expectancy is predicted to increase more than male life expectancy, and in Chile, France, and Greece where the two sexes will see similar gains. More than half of the projected gains in life expectancy at birth in women will be due to enhanced longevity above age 65 years."
(Relaterat [jag noterar att de inbäddade graferna från Our World in Data verkar ha dött - det går bra att gå in och modellera på deras sida själv, och jag hoppas att resonemangen ändå är begripliga]: Life expectancy i Japan; vet fortfarande inte; Luther; Sveriges smittor, Rwandas folkmord, och Nordkoreas överraskning; kontrafaktisk guesstimation; Jevgenij Zamjatin; ännu mer Japan-död; yes I can; mot kulturrelativism.)
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För att överhuvudtaget ha någon life expectancy gäller det att födas. Och detta, min vänner, är något som företrädelsevis kvinnor pysslar med. Att föda barn verkar emellertid ha rent ekonomiska kostnader, och nu är det senaste att det också påverkar hjärnan:
"Pregnancy involves radical hormone surges and biological adaptations. However, the effects of pregnancy on the human brain are virtually unknown. Here we show, using a prospective ('pre'-'post' pregnancy) study involving first-time mothers and fathers and nulliparous control groups, that pregnancy renders substantial changes in brain structure, primarily reductions in gray matter (GM) volume in regions subserving social cognition. The changes were selective for the mothers and highly consistent, correctly classifying all women as having undergone pregnancy or not in-between sessions. Interestingly, the volume reductions showed a substantial overlap with brain regions responding to the women's babies postpartum. Furthermore, the GM volume changes of pregnancy predicted measures of postpartum maternal attachment, suggestive of an adaptive process serving the transition into motherhood. Another follow-up session showed that the GM reductions endured for at least 2 years post-pregnancy. Our data provide the first evidence that pregnancy confers long-lasting changes in a woman's brain."
(Relaterat: Sopor på högen; runka loss.)
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Det är inte bara barnafödande som är dumt för hjärnan. Nej, även supande har en kostnad för knoppen. Så, det kanske är lika så bra att bara gå helt över till knark istället. Det verkar, med undantag av heroin, tjack, metamfetamin, special K, PCP och krokodil, vara något mindre skadligt än alkohol. Och så dödar man i allmänhet fler när man krökar, som sagt. Varför inte psilocybin, t.ex.:
"Psilocybin with psychological support is showing promise as a treatment model in psychiatry but its therapeutic mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, cerebral blood flow (CBF) and blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after treatment with psilocybin (serotonin agonist) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Quality pre and post treatment fMRI data were collected from 16 of 19 patients. Decreased depressive symptoms were observed in all 19 patients at 1-week post-treatment and 47% met criteria for response at 5 weeks. Whole-brain analyses revealed post-treatment decreases in CBF in the temporal cortex, including the amygdala. Decreased amygdala CBF correlated with reduced depressive symptoms. Focusing on a priori selected circuitry for RSFC analyses, increased RSFC was observed within the default-mode network (DMN) post-treatment. Increased ventromedial prefrontal cortex-bilateral inferior lateral parietal cortex RSFC was predictive of treatment response at 5-weeks, as was decreased parahippocampal-prefrontal cortex RSFC. These data fill an important knowledge gap regarding the post-treatment brain effects of psilocybin, and are the first in depressed patients. The post-treatment brain changes are different to previously observed acute effects of psilocybin and other ‘psychedelics’ yet were related to clinical outcomes. A ‘reset’ therapeutic mechanism is proposed."
(Relaterat: Färdrapport inkl. epilog; mycopsykologi; cirkelresonemang; inte så kul med knark; världsjaget; totalkonsumtionsmodellen; avtrubadur.)
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Men oj, däremot, vad opioider är dåligt. Antalet överdoser i USA ökade kraftigt mellan 2010 och 2015, framförallt pga. fentanyl och heroin. Sablarns anamma!
(Relaterat: Det mesta under etiketten Narkotikapolitik, inte minst "hur farligt är heroin?", "krisa uppfattningar på marginalen", samt "nu jävlar i helvete ska vi knarka".)
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Knark, schmark. Ska vi snacka feta hälsoeffekter ska vi ta oss en titt på fetmaepidemien. En analys av 68,5 miljoner personer (oj! jo!) visar att övervikten är dubbelt så tung idag som den var 1980. Schnöskitt värre. Den här mäktiga, interaktiva kartan låter oss överblicka trenderna, tack vare ytterligare en studie på temat. Men fettätande verkar i alla fall inte vara farligt:
"High carbohydrate intake was associated with higher risk of total mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality. Total fat and types of fat were not associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke. Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings."
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Vad är då bryggan från fetma till trafikbullers negativa kognitiva effekter? Tja, fattar du inte det bor du förmodligen riktigt jävla nära en stor väg. On the flip-side behöver du inte oroa dig mer än vanligt för Parkinsons eller MS:
"In this large population-based cohort, living close to heavy traffic was associated with a higher incidence of dementia, but not with Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis."
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Det fina med demens är ändå att man glömmer sina sorger. Inklusive massdöden av insekter som kommer innebära slutet på all världens matproduktion och således leda till en malthusian trap-nollsummespels-medeltid där våld florerar som lösgodis på en... lösgodisaffär. Checka:
"Global declines in insects have sparked wide interest among scientists, politicians, and the general public. Loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize ecosystem services. Our understanding of the extent and underlying causes of this decline is based on the abundance of single species or taxonomic groups only, rather than changes in insect biomass which is more relevant for ecological functioning. Here, we used a standardized protocol to measure total insect biomass using Malaise traps, deployed over 27 years in 63 nature protection areas in Germany (96 unique location-year combinations) to infer on the status and trend of local entomofauna. Our analysis estimates a seasonal decline of 76%, and mid-summer decline of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study. We show that this decline is apparent regardless of habitat type, while changes in weather, land use, and habitat characteristics cannot explain this overall decline. This yet unrecognized loss of insect biomass must be taken into account in evaluating declines in abundance of species depending on insects as a food source, and ecosystem functioning in the European landscape."
En får ge rätt till Dead Prez, som ju rappade att "Interfering with the crops and now the bees are disappearing".
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The end is here.
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