Dandelions and Orchids

From "The Science of Success":

This vulnerability hypothesis, as we can call it, has already changed our conception of many psychic and behavioral problems. It casts them as products not of nature or nurture but of complex "gene-environment interactions." Your genes don't doom you to these disorders. But if you have "bad" versions of certain genes and life treats you ill, you're more prone to them.

...

The Swedes, Ellis and Boyce noted in an essay titled "Biological Sensitivity to Context," have long spoken of "dandelion" children. These dandelion children—equivalent to our "normal" or "healthy" children, with "resilient" genes—do pretty well almost anywhere, whether raised in the equivalent of a sidewalk crack or a well-tended garden. Ellis and Boyce offer that there are also "orchid" children, who will wilt if ignored or maltreated but bloom spectacularly with greenhouse care.

At first glance, this idea, which I'll call the orchid hypothesis, may seem a simple amendment to the vulnerability hypothesis. It merely adds that environment and experience can steer a person up instead of down. Yet it's actually a completely new way to think about genetics and human behavior. Risk becomes possibility; vulnerability becomes plasticity and responsiveness. It's one of those simple ideas with big, spreading implications. Gene variants generally considered misfortunes (poor Jim, he got the "bad" gene) can instead now be understood as highly leveraged evolutionary bets, with both high risks and high potential rewards: gambles that help create a diversified-portfolio approach to survival, with selection favoring parents who happen to invest in both dandelions and orchids.

Antibody for Cancer?

Possibly.

From the paper's abstract:

[T]he present study indicates that mAb F77 defines a unique prostate cancer marker and shows promising potential for diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, especially for androgen-independent metastatic prostate cancer.

NORAD Tracks Santa

Follow Santa's progress here.

Merry Christmas!

Iron Man 2: Electric Boogaloo

Looks fun.

I Know What I Want for Christmas

SurfaceScapes Gameplay Session from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

Nerdgasm!

Oll Raigth

If you've ever wondered what American English sounds like to foreigners:



It's gibberish, completely. It's also fantastic.



(Seen at MamaPop first)

Brittany Murphy Dies at Age 32

From the Washington Post article:

Brittany Murphy's family told Los Angeles officials the actress was ill with flu-like symptoms in the days before her death at age 32.

The 32-year-old star of films such as "Clueless" and "8 Mile" died Sunday morning after collapsing at her Hollywood Hills home. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter says they will conduct an autopsy Monday to try to determine what killed the actress. Winter says the reported illness could be a contributing factor to her death, but that it will be weeks before a final determination is made.

It's always extra strange when someone so near my own age dies. I enjoyed Murphy's characters in several films. What a shame.

Geologists Heart Beer

From my own experience, I can completely concur: Geologists really DO love beer. Engineers don't say no much, either.

Always Interrupting Man's Work

From The Onion:

According to recently excavated clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform script, thousands of Sumerians—the first humans to establish systems of writing, agriculture, and government—were working on their sophisticated irrigation systems when the Father of All Creation reached down from the ether and blew the divine spirit of life into their thriving civilization.

Change Blindness

This phenomenon is quite interesting for several reasons, including the roll it plays in magic tricks, and con games.