Author Archives: curiouscat

Benefits of a Mediterranean Diet May Include Reduced Risk of Cognitive Impairment As We Age

Medical studies about healthy living are very complex and not easy to draw clear conclusions from. But the evidence continues to grow on the benefits of a healthy Mediterranean diet.

Mediterranean diet may prevent memory loss and dementia, study finds

The true diet is simple, plant-based cooking, with the majority of each meal focused on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds, with a few nuts and a heavy emphasis on extra-virgin olive oil. Fats other than olive oil, such as butter, are consumed rarely, if at all. And say goodbye to refined sugar or flour.

Meat can make a rare appearance, but usually only to flavor a dish. Instead, meals may include eggs, dairy and poultry, but in much smaller portions than in the traditional Western diet. However, fish, which are full of brain-boosting omega-3’s, are a staple.
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“Eating a healthy plant-based diet is associated with better cognitive function and around 30% to 35% lower risk of cognitive impairment during aging,” lead author Claire McEvoy, assistant professor at Queen’s University Belfast

I am skeptical of the size of the risk reduction. It is seems decades of health studies show that precise measures are not that trustworthy. But it does seem that there are many benefits to a Mediterranean diet.

This is actually a photo of a dinner I enjoyed while in Malaysia (which just is one I had easy access to add to this post)

I have been taking this into account in my eating. I try to eat much more green leafy vegetable (though more is from my very low levels before). I try to reduce the amount of meat and increase the amount of fish and nuts. I try to eat enough fiber and I eat yogurt. I try to eat more fruits and vegetables in general. I try to reduce the amount of processed foods and sugar. My diet is far from great but it is much better than is was 20 years ago. I have probably been focused on doing better for over 10 years (post from 9 years ago: Healthy Diet, Healthy Living, Healthy Weight).

Google: Patent System in Crisis

Google’s patents chief believes the US patent system is “in crisis” and I agree, see related posts below. Google: Kill all the patent trolls

There are too many businesses, she added, who do little more than use patents as a means of making money. Such businesses, often referred to as trolls in patent law, have proved to be a serious minefield for tech companies over the last few years. Lee highlighted the tribulations of Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry handheld, which settled a patent lawsuit for $612m last May.

Speaking alongside Lee, Apple’s chief patent counsel, Chip Lutton, wouldn’t go quite so far as his Google counterpart. He said the US patent system was “not broken” and that it was “not in crisis,” calling it “the best in the world”. But he acknowledged that there was a “huge bubble” of patent assertions that needs to be scaled back. “The question with this bubble market, as with any bubble market, is ‘Can we solve it without a crisis arising?'” he said.

Lutton believes that the key to fixing the country’s patent problems lies with the courts, not the patent office. “Most patents issued are never litigated and never licensed,” he said. “We need to focus on fixing the litigation system. That’s most relevant.”

Highly Paid Professor

A Raise for the Record Books:

Under the new agreement, the base state salary for Alain E. Kaloyeros, a professor of nanosciences and vice president and chief administrative officer for the college, rose from $525,000 to roughly $667,000.

That’s in addition to money he earns from his research efforts: In the 2006 fiscal year, he also received $258,701 based on his generation of external grants, contracts, licenses and royalties, which Kaloyeros estimated via e-mail amount to about $250 million per year. (He added in his e-mail that he turns down all offers for consulting, board service, and the like, so does not have any income external to the university).
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“Alain has been responsible for bringing in billions of dollars to U Albany for nanotechnology research and development … about $4 billion to date,” said Susan V. Herbst, provost and officer in charge, or acting president, at Albany. Herbst approved the raise, which was subsequently approved by SUNY’s former systemwide chancellor, John R. Ryan. “Certainly in medicine, engineering, the life sciences, the great universities across the country need to pay competitive salaries to keep the very best faculty with them. We are no different.”

Kaloyeros’s salary increase comes with an increase in duties related to economic development, for which a full announcement is pending in a few weeks, Herbst said. She pointed, though, to one major economic development initiative already announced and under way: Kaloyeros’s work to bring the international headquarters for SEMATECH, a consortium of semiconductor manufacturers representing about half the world’s production, to Albany.

New York City Travel Photos

photo of stained glass window - The Cloisters, NYC
Photos from my trip to New York City last year are now online. Photos include: The Cloisters (part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – though located far uptown) art and architecture of medieval Europe, the remodeled Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building and Flatiron Building.

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Interesting Lobsters

Is there a 400 pound lobster out there?

Lobsters sometimes bury their food and eat it over several days. They use teeth located in their stomachs, eat their molted shells (full of calcium) and can shed appendages if attacked, wounded or surprised, only to regenerate them later. Finally, lobsters live in a hierarchy and it’s the females who do the courting.

But there’s one lobster fact that trumps them all: lobsters show no apparent signs of aging. They don’t slow down or become weaker or more susceptible to disease. They don’t get infertile — older lobsters are actually more fertile than younger ones. Most lobsters seem to die because of something inflicted upon them and not because a body part failed or broke down. They’re such hardy creatures that scientists aren’t even sure how old lobsters can get. Add in that lobsters grow throughout their lives, and one has to ask: Is possible that a lobster born before Napoleon and as heavy as an NFL lineman is chowing down on the seafloor?

Obesity Epidemic Explained – Kind Of

Graphic: percentage of population over 15 with a body-mass index greater than 30, for more see Wellington Grey

Obesity Epidemic Explained – Kind Of

So maybe everyone else already knew this and I am like, bumpkin girl, but I just have to take a moment and point everyone to this USDA research site on the massive inflationary trend in daily caloric consumption over the past three decades.

1970 – Americans ate an average of 2170 calories per day
2000 – Americans ate an average of 2700 calories per day

I don’t think most people know that. It does seem odd to me that so much effort is put into trying to come up with explanations that are much more complicated. Most of the complicated suggestions (usually some explanation that indicates it is some biology issue and not eating to much or exercising too little) don’t explain why there is an increase in the incidence of obesity over time – at least I don’t see how they do. It seems to me the base requirement for improving the health issue of increasing obesity is to have an explanation of what has caused the incredible increase.

I can certainly believe biological issues impact how easy it is to become obese or how difficult it is to maintain a healthy weight. But it seems to me the proportion of the population that is obese has drastically increased over time (or different regions of the globe with a similar genetic makeup) and the logical place to look for an explanation is behavior differences that created this change (not some biological issue that has changed). If 5% of the population was predisposed obesity in 1950 to obesity I can’t see any rational reason to think that has increased to 30% today.

Korean Engineering Education

Different Engineering Education Expectations

The “Engineering Education Innovation Center” of the engineering department at Yonsei University surveyed 350 human resources officials at some 100 small- and medium-sized companies, as well as big companies, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, and Nexon. In the survey, they gave engineering graduates an “F” grade in 13 out of 14 categories. Engineering graduates themselves also said, “Education in college is not useful to our work.”

On the contrary, however, engineering professors gave high marks of 97 out of 100 on their knowledge, and answered positively regarding their teaching skills, which revealed the different views colleges and companies have.

The conflict between what is being taught and what is needed in business is the subject of continuing debate globally.

Einstein Fellowship for Teachers

Ruth McDonald selected for Einstein Fellowship program:

“As a middle school science teacher, I love science, but I’m no engineering expert,” said McDonald, who has also taught math, social studies, and language arts during her career. “But I can bring in the experts using technology.” Her innovative use of technology – handhelds, laptops, videoconferencing with engineers and scientists – was among the elements leading to her selection.

The fellowship program offers current public or private elementary and secondary mathematics, technology, and science classroom teachers with “demonstrated excellence in teaching” an opportunity to make an impact in the national public policy arena. Fellowships enhance understanding, communication, and cooperation between legislative and executive branches and the science, mathematics, and technology education community.
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McDonald’s 11-month fellowship assignment is with the National Science Foundation. She will receive a stipend for her work from September 2007 through July 2008. “It’s not really a job,” she explained. “It’s a professional growth and development opportunity, with a focus on science, math, and technology. I’m excited about the resources this experience can bring to our district.”

McDonald, who said the district’s willingness to let her take time off to pursue the opportunity “shows how much they value teacher development and achievement,” said she plans to return to LCSD following the fellowship. Until then, she will provide insight into her experience via blogging and videoconferencing, continuing the use of technology that helped land her in Washington D.C. in the first place.

Computer Game and Real World Education

Planning ahead: UW game teaches kids, mixes virtual, real worlds

14 middle schoolers have been participating in “Urban Science” and working in a computer lab at Wendt Library on the UW’s engineering campus. They spend their summer mornings immersed for four weeks in a highly sophisticated computer game that takes them deep into a world where the lines between fantasy and reality are deliberately blurry.

The students work for a fictitious firm called Urban Design Associates, are assigned the title of planner, carry business cards and do field research in actual neighborhoods, armed with digital cameras and notebooks, under the guidance of graduate students in the educational psychology department. As part of the game, the grad students are known as planning consultants.

I like the real world and technology interaction for education. I believe getting kids involved with real world problems is a good way to get them interested in learning.

Evo-Devo

Sean B. Carroll discusses the science of evolution and the field of evo-devo in this New York Times Video. Learn more in this extensive article – From a Few Genes, Life’s Myriad Shapes:

evo-devo is the combined study of evolution and development, the process by which a nubbin of a fertilized egg transforms into a full-fledged adult. And what these scientists are finding is that development, a process that has for more than half a century been largely ignored in the study of evolution, appears to have been one of the major forces shaping the history of life on earth.

For starters, evo-devo researchers are finding that the evolution of complex new forms, rather than requiring many new mutations or many new genes as had long been thought, can instead be accomplished by a much simpler process requiring no more than tweaks to already existing genes and developmental plans. Stranger still, researchers are finding that the genes that can be tweaked to create new shapes and body parts are surprisingly few. The same DNA sequences are turning out to be the spark inciting one evolutionary flowering after another. “Do these discoveries blow people’s minds? Yes,” said Dr. Sean B. Carroll, biologist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

via: Justin Hunter (Justin and me in Madison) 🙂 Related: Opossum Genome Shows ‘Junk’ DNA is Not Junk – science webcast directory – Learning About the Human Genome – Curious Cat Science and Engineering Search