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Reprinted from Sify News, July 29, 2010
A specific part of our brain processes information about human and animal faces and is responsible for how we recognize them and interpret facial expressions. Now, Israeli researchers are exploring what makes this highly specialized area of the brain unique.
In her “Face Lab” at Tel Aviv University, Dr. Galit Yovel of TAU’s Department of Psychology is trying to understand the mechanisms at work in the face area of the brain called the “fusiform gyrus” of the brain. She is combining cognitive psychology with techniques like brain imaging and electrophysiology to study how the brain processes information about faces. Her most recent research on the brain’s face-processing mechanisms appears in the Journal of Neuroscience and Human Brain Mapping.
The study of face recognition does more than provide an explanation for embarrassing memory lapses. For instance, it may help business executives better match names with faces, and more important can lead to better facial recognition software to identify terrorists or criminals. Similar to faces, bodies are also processed by distinct brain areas. How we perceive faces is not totally intuitive, she says, and therefore raises the question of how this information is combined in our brain to understand how separate face and body areas generate a whole body-image impression. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Middle East, Science on July 29, 2010 - י"ח אב תש"ע at 10:02 am
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A common test to diagnose gestational diabetes — a temporary condition which can harm both mother and child if left untreated — also has predictive power for Type 2 adult-onset diabetes, a new Tel Aviv University study finds.
Dr. Gabriel Chodick of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine has proven that women who “fail” the glucose challenge test, a series of four blood tests conducted over a single four-hour period, have a higher chance of developing adult onset diabetes later in life. In his latest published research, Dr. Chodick found that nearly half the women who fail all four of the four-part tests, demonstrating an elevated blood sugar level, developed Type 2 diabetes within ten years.
Dr. Chodick’s study statistically proves what has been anecdotally believed by healthcare practitioners in the past. “While doctors take this into consideration, there usually isn’t close follow-up in the clinical setting,” says Dr. Chodick. He says that women in the highest risk group (those who fail all four of the tests) should be given special counseling and intervention to prevent the onset of diabetes, which can greatly diminish quality of life and lead to adverse effects including heart disease, blindness and liver cancer. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Science, Women's Health on July 17, 2010 - ו' אב תש"ע at 10:54 pm
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By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH, Jerusalem Post, 18/07/2010
Star Trek fans will remember “tractor beams” that allowed the starship Enterprise to trap and move objects. Now Tel Aviv University is turning this science fiction into science fact on a nano scale by building special laser “tweezers” for medicine, communications and harvesting energy.
The new tool, called Holographic Optical Tweezers (HOTs), use holographic technology to manipulate simultaneously up to 300 nanoparticles such as beads of glass or polymer that are too small and delicate to be handled with traditional laboratory instruments.
The technology, also known as “optical tweezers,” could form the basis for tomorrow’s ultrafast, light-powered communication devices and quantum computers, says Dr. Yael Roichman of TAU’s school of chemistry. She’s using these tweezers to build nano structures that control beams of light, aiding in the development of anything from optical microscopes to lightfuelled computer technology, HOTs are a new family of optical tools that use a strongly-focused light beam to trap, manipulate and transform small amounts of matter. First proposed as a scientific theory in 1986 and prototyped by a University of Chicago team in 1997, holographic optical tweezers have been praised as indispensable for researching cutting-edge ideas in physics, chemistry and biology.
Roichman and her team of researchers are currently pioneering the use of optical tweezers to create the next generation of photonic devices. Made out of carefully arranged particles of materials such as silicon oxide and titanium oxide, these devices have the ability to insulate light, allowing less energy to be lost in transmission. “Our invention could increase transmission speed and save energy, which is important for long-life batteries in computers, for instance,” says Roichman.
Photons are already used in optical fibers that bring us every day services such as cable TV. But Roichman says this technology can be taken much further. In her lab, she is advancing the previous study of photonic crystals, which control and harness light, by manipulating a variety of particles to create 3D heterogeneous structures. The ability to insulate light in a novel way, preserving its potential energy, is central to this goal. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science, Science and Technology on July 17, 2010 - ו' אב תש"ע at 10:15 pm
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Areas of expansion in the human cortex during infancy and childhood, top, closely match areas of change in the human brain when compared to the brains of apes and monkeys. Yellow areas expanded the most, followed by orange, red, blue and light blue areas. (Credit: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.)
ScienceDaily (July 13, 2010) — A study undertaken to help scientists concerned with abnormal brain development in premature babies has serendipitously revealed evolution’s imprint on the human brain.
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that the human brain regions that grow the most during infancy and childhood are nearly identical to the brain regions with the most changes when human brains are compared to those of apes and monkeys.
Researchers report the finding in a detailed comparison of the brains of normal-term infants and healthy young adults published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists conducted the study to help assess the long-term effects of premature birth on brain development. These can include increased risks of learning disabilities, attention deficits, behavioral problems and cognitive impairments.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on July 14, 2010 - ג' אב תש"ע at 12:08 pm
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The findings reject allopatric speciation in a case study from a system thought to exemplify it, and suggest the potential importance of speciation due to differences in ecological conditions (ecological speciation).
ScienceDaily (May 1, 2010) — A genetic study of island lizards shows that even those that have been geographically isolated for many millions of years have not evolved into separate species as predicted by conventional evolutionary theory.
Professor Roger Thorpe and colleagues Yann Surget-Groba and Helena Johansson, at Bangor University, UK, reveal their findings April 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
Since Darwin’s study of the Galapagos Islands, archipelagos have played a central role in understanding how new species evolve from existing ones (speciation). Islands epitomize allopatric speciation, where geographic isolation causes individuals of an original species to accumulate sufficient genetic differences to prevent them breeding with each other when they are reunited.
Current day Martinique in the Lesser Antilles is composed of several ancient islands that have only recently coalesced into a single entity. The phylogeny and geology show that these ancient islands have had their own tree lizard (anole) species for about six to eight million years. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on May 3, 2010 - י"ט אייר תש"ע at 7:10 am
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by Gert Korthof (updated 23 Apr 2010)
http://home.planet.nl/~gkorthof/korthof.htm
Extensions & alternative evolutionary theories 
Evo-Devo 
Non-religious Anti-Darwinism + Anti-Evolution Religious criticism: Creationism / Intelligent Design Fine Tuning Theistic Evolution Buddhism & Hinduism Orthodox neo-Darwinism textbooks Evolutionary Biology introductions Anti-Creationism/ID Origin of life & Astrobiology Ecology & Earth System Science History of Darwinism Bibliographies, anthologies, encyclopedias Human evolution (general) Psychology, Behaviour & Brain Sex & evolution Genetics & genomics Medicine & evolution Economics & evolution Politics, ethics & evolution Theoretical & mathematical biology Philosophy & evolution History & evolution Engineering & evolution Evolution & Literature
philosophy of science 
books suggested by readers Scientific controversies Nederlandse literatuur
This page lists the most accessible literature on evolution including the critics of evolution. The emphasis is on recent, affordable books for non-specialists written by specialists. This page shortly characterises noteworthy books and gives links to book reviews in Nature, Science, etc (19). Furthermore, I have written detailed reviews of many books which are on separate pages of the site Was Darwin Wrong? (now called: ‘The Third Evolutionary Synthesis’). Those reviews are listed in a handy table on the index page. I have subdivided the literature in categories and subcategories (see directory structure above). The goal of this site contains also information about myself. If the reader feels I omitted books that belong on this introduction page, please drop me a note. They are included on this page or suggestions by readers.
Extensions, revisions & alternative evolutionary theories
top
This is a category of scientific, non-religious critics of Darwinism. Here we find scientists who do accept evolution (common descent), but aren’t happy with parts of the neo-Darwinist explanation of evolution (mainly the mechanism of evolution: natural selection).
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on May 1, 2010 - י"ז אייר תש"ע at 6:04 am
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EVOLUTION WATCH
“When it comes to intelligent design, private and government-run agencies are suppressing free speech.”
By Bob Unruh, April 15, 2010
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A complaint has been filed against NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, which sent Galileo to Jupiter and dispatched a ship named Dawn to orbit asteroids Vesta and Ceres, claiming managers there discriminated against and demoted a key project worker because he shared intelligent design videos with co-workers.
The case has been filed by David Coppedge, an information technology specialist and systems administrator on the lab’s Cassini mission to Saturn, which has been described as the most ambitious interplanetary exploration ever launched.
“For the offense of offering videos to colleagues, Coppedge faced harassment, an investigation cloaked in secrecy, and a virtual gag order on his discussion of intelligent design,” said attorney Casey Luskin of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture.
Luskin serves as a consultant to the Coppedge lawsuit, which is being handled by Los Angeles First Amendment attorney William J. Becker, Jr., of The Becker Law Firm, and includes allegations of free speech violations and wrongful demotion.
“Coppedge was punished even though supervisors admitted never receiving a single complaint regarding his conversations about intelligent design prior to their investigation, and even though other employees were allowed to express diverse ideological opinions, including attacking intelligent design,” Luskin said. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on April 16, 2010 - ב' אייר תש"ע at 3:23 pm
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Judith Horstman , – FOXNews.com , – April 13, 2010
The six-million dollar man was pure fantasy in the 70s — but largely realistic technology today. And the future of this tech is even wilder: Implantable brain electrodes may be just around the corner.
Adapted from the book The Scientific American Brave New Brain.
The six-million dollar man was pure fantasy in the 70s — but largely realistic technology today. And the future of this tech is even wilder: Implantable brain electrodes may be just around the corner.
Futurists and science-fiction writers have long speculated about merging human and machine, especially human brains and computers. These dreams are slowly becoming reality: The deaf are hearing with bionic "ears," the blind see with the aid of electrodes, an amputee is moving a prosthetic arm by thought, a man paralyzed with locked-in syndrome is "speaking" through a brain electrode connected to a computerized synthesizer.
One such bionic advance — thought-driven neural implants — could change the lives of millions of people, including the many thousands conscious but now entombed within their own bodies in what’s called locked-in syndrome, and the thousands of wounded warriors returning from battle with missing limbs and devastating brain injuries. And it could open tremendous opportunities for people in the future who would like to take their minds where no man’s body has gone before — into deepest space or the deepest of ocean depths, for example, through the "senses" of a thought-driven robot.
Neural implants listen to the brain’s instructions for movement, even when actual movement is no longer possible, and decode the signals for use in operating a computer or moving a robot or an artificial limb. The technology for the basic requirements — powerful microprocessors, improved filters, and longer-lasting and smaller batteries — has advanced rapidly, boosted by funds from many sources, including the U.S. Department of Defense, which sponsors research in prosthetics for wounded war veterans. Years of animal research have revealed neuron activity and the brain’s amazing plasticity: the ability to revise itself.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Recent Posts, Science, Science and Technology on April 13, 2010 - כ"ט ניסן תש"ע at 9:09 am
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Sarit Rosenblum, YNET News, April 9, 2010
A breakthrough made by Israeli researchers may pave the way for healing chronic illnesses: Researchers from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital have developed a new method for producing large amounts of human fetal stem cells.
Fetal stem cells can transform into any type of cell in the human body. The cells attract considerable scientific interest due to the estimate that in the future they could be used as an endless source of cells, which will be transplanted and improve the performance of organs in a wide variety of degenerative diseases.
The medical world hopes to be able to use fetal stem cells to heal Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, reticular degeneration and other illnesses. In addition, the cells may be used in the future to grow human organs which would replace damaged organs like kidneys and liver.
Up to now, stem cells would be multiplied in colonies of one cell layer attached to a flat substrate. In their study, the Israeli researchers showed that human fetal stem cells can be produced and multiplied while floating in liquid substrate. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science, Science and Technology on April 10, 2010 - כ"ו ניסן תש"ע at 8:19 am
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MIT Press, April 2010
Edited by Massimo Pigliucci and Gerd B. Müller
In the six decades since the publication of Julian Huxley’s Evolution: The Modern Synthesis, spectacular empirical advances in the biological sciences have been accompanied by equally significant developments within the core theoretical framework of the discipline. As a result, evolutionary theory today includes concepts and even entire new fields that were not part of the foundational structure of the Modern Synthesis. In this volume, sixteen leading evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science survey the conceptual changes that have emerged since Huxley’s landmark publication, not only in such traditional domains of evolutionary biology as quantitative genetics and paleontology but also in such new fields of research as genomics and EvoDevo.
Most of the contributors to Evolution—The Extended Synthesis accept many of the tenets of the classical framework but want to relax some of its assumptions and introduce significant conceptual augmentations of the basic Modern Synthesis structure—just as the architects of the Modern Synthesis themselves expanded and modulated previous versions of Darwinism. This continuing revision of a theoretical edifice the foundations of which were laid in the middle of the nineteenth century—the reexamination of old ideas, proposals of new ones, and the synthesis of the most suitable—shows us how science works, and how scientists have painstakingly built a solid set of explanations for what Darwin called the "grandeur" of life.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on April 5, 2010 - כ"א ניסן תש"ע at 2:53 pm
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