Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: ‘real,’ not imaginary

Recent research indicates that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is not the product of sufferers’ imagination or a by-product of depression.  Schutzer et al. report these findings in PLoS ONE; a much more accessible article is at Science News. By comparing Lyme disease patients, carefully screened CFS patients, and a control group with neither condition, the researchers found that each group had a significant number of proteins in their spinal fluid that were not found in the other groups. Schutzer said, “This provides strong evidence of a biological component.” Let’s hope that it not only provides a pathway to determining a cause or cure but increases acceptance of CFS as a ‘real’ affliction. Indeed, perhaps it will lead to a test to distinguish people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome from those with depression, Lyme disease, dietary deficiency, or some other problem.

Were Cro-Magnons smarter than us?

As an article from the Daily Mail points out, early Homo sapiens had bigger brains than we do. Cro-Magnons, living in Europe perhaps as early as 45,000 years ago, had 10 percent more brain than the average human today. (Neanderthals had bigger brains, too, but, unlike those of Cro-Magnons, theirs grew in a differently shaped skull.)

So does this mean that Cro-Magnons and other big-brained earlier humans were smarter than us? Not necessarily, but it also doesn’t mean that they weren’t smarter.

Ancestral women moved among stable male bands?

Recent research regarding two, long-extinct hominin species has received a lot of press lately. Much of it has ridiculously over-interpreted or misinterpreted the published findings. What Sandi Copeland and her collaborators argue officially (article here) is that these species preferred for females to move into new groups after childhood, much like “chimpanzees, bonobos and many human groups”; males, in contrast, mostly remained part of the band into which they were born.

Maybe so – but this impressive research is preliminary. It represents only an initial step in demonstrating that this pattern occurred. And, despite some fun headlines, the species involved are not necessarily our ancestors. So here’s a list of concerns to temper the fanfare:

Is Sarah Palin white? Nerd Nite video

On March 23, 2010, I gave a presentation at Nerd Nite in Washington, DC. The promo read: “No matter how funky Justin Timberlake is, races are not genetic categories. As the great sociologists Rodgers and Hammerstein averred, ‘You’ve got to be carefully taught.’ Hurray for education in the USA! Racial stereotypes seem to be one of the few things that almost every American learns, making race socially but not genetically ‘real.’ We’ll consider all that, including who can jump.”

Toilet paper: Proper positioning and alignment

Far be it from me to opine on the proper use and disposal of toilet paper – neither of which is my strong suit. A lifetime of experience suggests, however, that positioning the roll and dispensing bathroom tissue from it are issues to which I might and perhaps should contribute my expertise. To wit:

The situation depicted to the left is horrible.  The roll is backwards. Under what conditions would it be preferable for defecators to reach across the roll, potentially straining their backs or slipping from the toilet seat, to obtain the lead tissue?

Baseline helps humans, like macaques, hook up

A study of rhesus macaques indicates that males can tell when females are ovulating but that many can do so only with females they know. Basically, females’ faces change “luminance” when they’re fertile. But males are better at perceiving this change when they know what the female looks like at other times. One of the researchers told the New York Times, “I don’t think these things have been studied in humans.” Au contraire.

Indeed, this study reminds me of research that I performed years ago among salsa dancers at a club in Tucson. No, I didn’t study how ovulation influenced their moves. But I did come to similar conclusion: Dancers couldn’t accurately tell whether their partners were flirting with them – or disrespecting them – unless they had a baseline for comparison.

When Muslims destroy the Quran

I would oppose the hate-mongering destruction of the Quran (or Koran) by Terry Jones even if it didn’t provoke some Muslims to violence and many others to outrage and resentment. But some groups of Muslims have intentionally destroyed mosques and thus Qurans, apparently without receiving such near-universal condemnation.

GGC’s alma mater: My losing song

While a faculty member at Georgia Gwinnett College, I entered a contest to compose its alma mater. That was more than a year ago, and, after a long and mysterious silence, the college has announced its two finalists. You can find them here. My entry isn’t one of them. Here it is:

We’ll Paint Tomorrow Green:  download or click below to play:

My approach was that an alma mater written today should have a more contemporary sound than one written a century ago and that it should have a melody that people will be able to sing (unlike the national anthem), enjoy singing (unlike most alma maters), and sound good singing en masse. Basically, “Hey Jude” was my model.

Is Qaddafi a ‘leader’?

Even today, news sources including the New York Times (for example, in this article) use a euphemism – “leader” – to refer to Muammar Gaddafi’s position within his country. Indeed, a quick search using Google finds 16.4 million pages that refer to Muammar Gaddafi as the “Libyan leader.” That’s compared to 1.9 million pages calling him (perhaps inaccurately) the “Libyan president,” 1 million calling him the “Libyan dictator,” and a paltry 326,000 calling him the “Libyan ruler.”

Reporters should avoid this lazy attribution. Leaders obtain followers through persuasion, inspiration, and exemplification.

Dear terrorist: Please learn from experience

Today Trans7 TV interviewed me, as a ‘man in the street,’ regarding a recent set of ‘book bombs.’ These were, literally, bombs inside books that were delivered to a few Indonesians whom Islamic hardliners oppose. The only injuries thus far were to police officers as one tried to defuse one of the explosive packages. Caught by surprise, I blathered about how it was scary and I asked the terrorists to “please stop.” I almost went back to the reporter to amend my remarks, because my real thought is this: Terrorism almost never works.