Oxytocin: The Asocial Cure?
July 20, 2008
For centuries artists have tried to capture the essence of love, and now scientists may have found it in the brain. Known as oxytocin (from the Latin word for “quick birth”), the naturally occurring hormone is best known for controlling contractions during labor, but it also plays a key role in other fundamental human urges — including the desire to connect with others. “Somehow, the peptide increases trust, or alters the way individuals see each other,” says Tom Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health.
Without oxytocin people would be far less inclined to seek social interaction, let alone fall in love and mate for life (or, as scientists call it, “pair bond”). The brain releases gobs of it during orgasm, mothers are awash in it during breastfeeding and, in clinical trials, a spritz of oxytocin has been shown to reduce anxiety, increase feelings of generosity and even ease the symptoms of shyness. Conversely, researchers are beginning to discover that low levels of the hormone — or the body’s faulty response to it — may contribute to severe social dysfunctions like depression and autism.
My $650,100 Lunch with Warren Buffett
June 30, 2008
My $650,100 Lunch with Warren Buffett – TIME
What would you pay to have lunch with the richest man in the world? For me and Mohnish Pabrai — a friend who, like me, runs a U.S.-based investment fund — the answer is $650,100. That’s how much we forked over for the privilege of dining with Warren Buffett on June 25.
It was worth every dime. Buffett is the most successful investor in history, yet he has reached that pinnacle while also being supremely ethical. As remarkable for his philanthropy as for his stock picking, he announced in 2006 that he’d give the bulk of his billions to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and typically the fee for our lunch went to the Glide Foundation, a charity that helps the poor and homeless. Lunch with Buffett, we figured, would be a good way to give to charity, but it would also be the ultimate capitalist master class — a unique chance to see up close what makes the Sage of Omaha tick and to learn from his wisdom.
Warren Buffett is my hero.
Half of US Gun Deaths are Suicides
June 30, 2008
Half of US Gun Deaths are Suicides – TIME
(ATLANTA) — The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens’ ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.
Suicides accounted for 55% of the nation’s nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There was nothing unique about that year — gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40% of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2% included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent.
Though let’s not blame guns here. I’m sure these people would have found another way if guns were otherwise unavailable.
How to Live With Just 100 Things
June 14, 2008
How to Live With Just 100 Things – TIME
Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive. With all this stuff piling up and never quite getting put away, we’re no longer huddled masses yearning to breathe free; we’re huddled masses yearning to free up space on a countertop. Which is why people are so intrigued by the 100 Thing Challenge, a grass-roots movement in which otherwise seemingly normal folks are pledging to whittle down their possessions to a mere 100 items.
“Stuff starts to overwhelm you,” says Dave Bruno, 37, an online entrepreneur who looked around his San Diego home one day last summer and realized how much his family’s belongings were weighing him down. Thus began what he calls the 100 Thing Challenge. (Apparently, Bruno is so averse to excess he can’t refer to 100 things in the plural.) In a country where clutter has given rise not only to professional organizers but also to professional organizers with their own reality series (TLC’s Clean Sweep), Bruno’s online musings about his slow and steady purge have developed something of a cult following online, inspiring others to launch their own countdown to clutter-free living.
Bruno keeps a running tally on his blog, guynameddave.com of what he has decided to hold on to and what he is preparing to sell or donate. For instance, as of early June, he was down to five dress shirts and one necktie but uncertain about parting with one of his three pairs of jeans. “Are two pairs of jeans enough?!,” he asked in a recent posting.
That’s an interesting concept, though I don’t think I would fare very well. As they say, “he who dies with the most toys wins!”
College Drinking and Heart Problems
June 9, 2008
College Drinking and Heart Problems – Fit Nation – TIME
In many ways, I was a pretty typical pre-med student. I studied hard with hopes of becoming a doctor, and on the weekends I drank socially with good friends. As I got older and passed through medical school and residency, my thirst for alcohol waned considerably. As it turns out, that may have been a good thing for many reasons. I didn’t know it at that time, but drinking heavily, even as far back as college, could have increased my risk of heart disease.
New research from the American Heart Association (AHA) reveals that college students who drink excessively can double their levels of something known as C-reactive protein (CRP), a biological marker for inflammation that has been associated with a higher chance of cardiovascular problems. The study asked 25 college students to complete surveys assessing CRP risk factors such as smoking, medication use and alcohol use. In case you’re curious (I was), heavy drinking was defined for the purpose of the study as three or more alcoholic drinks at least three days a week or at least five drinks two days of the week. Compared with those of moderate drinkers (two to five drinks at a time, one or two days a week), the CRP levels of heavy drinkers were more than double, placing them in the zone associated with a moderate risk of heart disease.
Computer Literacy Tests: Are You Human?
June 9, 2008
Computer Literacy Tests: Are You Human? – TIME
Every web surfer, in the course of his or her browsing, has been forced to stop and perform this weird little task: look at a picture of some wavy, ghostly, distorted letters and type them into a box. Sometimes you flub it and have to retype the letters, but otherwise you don’t think about it much. That string of letters has a name; it’s called a CAPTCHA. And it’s a test. By correctly transcribing it, you have proved to the computer that you are a human being.
This electronic hoop you have to jump through was invented in 2000 by a team of programmers at Carnegie Mellon University. Somebody at Yahoo! had gone to them, complaining that criminals were taking advantage of Yahoo! Mail–they were using software to automatically create thousands of e-mail accounts very quickly, then using those accounts to send out spam. The Carnegie Mellon team came back with the CAPTCHA. (It stands for “completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart”; no, the acronym doesn’t really fit.) The point of the CAPTCHA is that reading those swirly letters is something that computers aren’t very good at. If you can read them, you’re probably not a piece of software run by a spammer. Congratulations–you can have an e-mail account.
They didn’t mentioned RapidShare which uses the most insanely difficult CAPTCHA. They show you several letters, only four of which have an image of cat. Those are the letters who need to type in. Seriously, it must take humans on average of at least two times to type it in correctly. Suddenly, it takes 10 minutes to download a 1MB file! I bought their premium account recently because I couldn’t stand their CAPTCHA anymore. Maybe that was the whole point.
Speed Racer: 100 Meter World Record – TIME
June 2, 2008
Speed Racer: 100 Meter World Record – TIME
(NEW YORK) — Like a bolt out of nowhere, Usain Bolt is now the world’s fastest man. The Jamaican sprinter, who doesn’t even consider the 100 meters his best race, set the world record Saturday night with a time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix, .02 seconds faster than the old record held by his countryman, Asafa Powell.
Bolt was using the 100 for “speed work” and to avoid having to run the more grueling 400, when, suddenly, he ran the world’s second-fastest time last month at 9.76. Even then, he said he wasn’t sure if he would give up the 400 meters for the 100 for the Beijing Olympics.
Hard to imagine he has any choice now.
Is It Time to Invade Burma?
May 10, 2008
Is It Time to Invade Burma? – TIME
The disaster in Burma presents the world with perhaps its most serious humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. By most reliable estimates, close to 100,000 people are dead. Delays in delivering relief to the victims, the inaccessibility of the stricken areas and the poor state of Burma’s infrastructure and health systems mean that number is sure to rise. With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur.
How David Blaine Held His Breath
May 3, 2008
How David Blaine Held His Breath – TIME
For most non-medical people, the term “apnea” is most familiar when coupled with the word “sleep,” and refers to a dangerous condition in which people inadvertently stop breathing while asleep. But the word literally means a temporary cessation of breathing and it is practiced (on purpose) around the world by an international community of extreme athletes — a brotherhood that now includes magician and stuntman David Blaine. On the set of The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 30, Blaine broke the world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds — proving that just how temporary apnea can be is a question of training, endurance and will.
An average person in good health can hold their breath for about two minutes, but with even small amounts of practice it is possible to increase that time dramatically. “The body can be trained,” explains Dr. Ralph Potkin, a pulmonary specialist who worked with Blaine in the weeks leading up to his recent feat.
David Blaine is nuts!
