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Noah Gray › Comments
Human Nature Today: Miller "theorizes that teenage girls may cut themselves as a way to demonstrate their ability to withstand infections." - right... - http://www.nytimes.com/glogin...
Ozgur Uckan liked this
This is nothing new, but you can never diss evolutionary psychology enough.
- laura
But he also says listening to Bjork is a sign of high intelligence! It must be true!
- The Neurocritic
Obviously he must be right; oh and it is spelled Björk...listening to "Army of Me" right now...
- Noah Gray
I coincidentally had "Debut" on top of a stack of nearby CDs.
- The Neurocritic
Just because someone says something funny, evolutionary psychology is false?
- Alexander Kruel
No, Alexander... my hatred of evolutionary psychology is deep-rooted; i just felt like pointing out this especially ridiculous statement. What I hate most about evo.psych is the reinforcement of gender stereotypes, that shit just makes me fume. As to Björk and high intelligence, well he just got lucky he got this one right ;)
- laura
Saying "teenage girls may cut themselves as a way to demonstrate their ability to withstand infections" is funny?
- The Neurocritic
It sounds unfounded and highly suspicious with a strong tendency towards absurdity. But what is really funny is the reactions that statement causes. I just want recommend scientists to keep care not to try to disprove inconvenient ideas with their studies as opposed to finding out how things really are. Otherwise you end up doing the same that proponents of intelligent design do, namely...
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- Alexander Kruel
usually i might try to base my opinions on fact, whether it's something i like to hear or not. but there's so many bigots out there, i reserve the right to be one when it comes to hating evolutionary psych. most of us don't live in caves anymore, and not all women crave sugar daddies.
- laura
Alexander, what is the evidence that teenage girls cut themselves to demonstrate their ability to withstand infections? This is not just an inconvenient idea, it's a wrong one. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary, so why do you admonish scientists for uncritical thinking? I could say the same of you in this situation.
- The Neurocritic
Thought about you, check this article: http://hplusmagazine.com/article... ;-)
- Alexander Kruel
kewl, thanks :)
- laura
I'm starting a trip to London today. - http://www.dopplr.com/travell...
I'll be there from December 14th until December 18th. See more in my Dopplr profile.
- Noah Gray
Policy Forum on Public Access to Federally Funded Research: Implementation | The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog...
Patricia F. Anderson, Björn Brembs, D0r0th34 and OpenSci Info liked this
White house starts Public Access Forum to discuss Open-Access for federally-funded research (via @hilaryspencer)
- Noah Gray
from Bookmarklet
Can't you see the writing on the (Facebook) wall? friendfeed still in serious decline. Another 21% traffic drop in November. - http://siteanalytics.compete.com/friendf...
Khader Shameer, Joe Bonner, Richard Akerman and 3 other people liked this
Discuss. If there's anyone actually on here.
- Noah Gray
everyone left....
- Mike Nencetti
would be interesting to see average stay and visits/person over this period
- Mike Chelen
I still get better and more meaningful engagement on Friendfeed than any other site.
- Andy Bakun
All we know from the FriendFeed founders is that they intend to keep the site running "indefinitely" - i.e. until such time as they announce that it's shutting down. I see plenty of activity in my networks, but I also see "signs": broken features (search), degraded performance (updates), no new development and most of all - lots of development at Facebook - that the end might be edging closer. A shame, it's by far my favourite and most useful network.
- Neil Saunders
I agree with all comments. Well, except Mike N's, since I don't understand it. But anyway, I get nowhere near the interaction I used to get despite having increased numbers of subscribers. My narcissism doesn't allow me to think it is because I post crap, so I choose to blame the site. And the traffic numbers back that up. As do Neil's always thoughtful points.
- Noah Gray
i was just bumping the thread to generate comments.
- Mike Nencetti
I'm here, a sure sign of it's impending demise.
- SuezanneC Baskerville
Could it be lowered interaction frequency comes from everybody having more subscriptions and distributing attention more selectively? I'd like to see statistics for likes and comments per user and unit time over the last 12 months...
- Björn Brembs
Is that a nice way of saying "Yes, your links DO suck"?
- Noah Gray
Some limited stats at http://www.ffholic.com (room search seems broken). Would be fun to pull out the API and answer Björn's question.
- Neil Saunders
@Noah: lol :-) I did comment, didn't I? You know all Germans always lie! :-)
- Björn Brembs
Well, being half-German, I guess you have a 1/2 chance in correctly identifying when you should trust what comes out of my fingers...
- Noah Gray
My experiments with the API suggest that you can only go back 600 entries (late October in my case). So much for that plan :-)
- Neil Saunders
Well, where have they all gone to if the stats are to be believed?
- Frank
Uhh...Facebook and Twitter? Google Wave? Who knows. Why would we not believe the stats?
- Noah Gray
Compete unique visitors are US-only, so the Silicon Valley buzz factor is amplified. People interested in FF because of the startup story left when that story ended. People who like the features are still here.
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
Great! Then it's back to where it started! A fringe site w/ a great interface for specialists. <-- Somehow,I don't see that as boding well or progress, even if "progress" means a mass adoption and dilution. At least mass adoption would mean the site isn't going anywhere...
- Noah Gray
My tiny bit of observation would be that when FF allowed twitter feeds and such, that more people started using FF as a kind of dumping ground -- if it was good enough for twitter, it was good enough to feed here as well. So there is more noise than seemed to be the case a few months back. But I do not use twitter, so cannot vouch for a twitter-effect.
- Mickey Schafer
I still love FriendFeed, but I personally now have more interacations (both reading and commenting) on Twitter.
- Martin Fenner
@Mickey: I completely agree, which is why I deleted Twitter from here about 6-7 months ago and saw a much-better signal in my feed with regards to interactions and discussion-seeding. I think Deepak and Cameron might have played with this a bit as well but I don't remember what conclusions they drew...
- Noah Gray
Honestly, how can anybody interact on Twitter? Twitter and FriendFeed is like MS Paint and Photoshop...
- Björn Brembs
What Bjoern said.
- Bill Hooker
This makes me sad! :-(
- Jannifer @wordsforliving
...but even at the peak in the Compete chart -- August 2009 -- it was only 1MM uniques. the regulars at Friendfeed (like me) love it, but it was never in the same ballpark in terms of usage or relevance to average Net users as Twitter or Facebook. Not even close. A lot of the most active users, and loudest (like Scoble) have left, for the most part, and perhaps they were skewing the numbers far beyond what the site would have naturally had in the first place.
- .LAG liked that
@LAG, well the difference in usage is not difficult to understand, Twitter is like MS Paint and Facebook is like Photoshop... :-)
- Björn Brembs
Uganda proposes death penalty for HIV positive gays - Times Online - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol...
Disgusting. Likely the work of Christian fundamentalists. Evangelism and finding religion was so good for the (third) world...
- Noah Gray
Human rights FAIL.
- Chris Lasher
Pissed that a reviewer wants me to verify my mice results in rats. But happy none asked me to relate results to the baboon sleepwalking litt
Egon Willighagen, Björn Brembs and Noah Gray liked this
The tragedy and comedy of peer review. I'm glad you've kept your sense of humor about it -- the baboon sleepwalking comment is hilarious!
- The Neurocritic
Reality is stranger than fiction. I didn't make that up. A colleague who published a rat behavior paper was asked by a reviewer to do just that! Not surprisingly that reviewer was trying to stall the paper because he had a similar story in the pipeline.
- Hysell Oviedo
You forgot to mention the part where he actually had to awkwardly address that concern in the rebuttal letter. Without laughing. Or cussing. Didn't want the editor to think he was slacking off and ignoring bits of the review...
- Noah Gray
"These amps go to 11!!" - http://xkcd.com/670/
Chad Orzel, Anna Croft, Jennifer Melinn and 3 other people liked this
Brilliantly brilliant. 'nuff said...
- Noah Gray
from Bookmarklet
Open science set back. For the 2nd time in 4 yrs researcher has come to steal ideas, refused to discuss his project & tried to publish 1st
Please do tell the story...
- Noah Gray
Yes, I'd like to hear it too.
- The Neurocritic
Researcher D's first visit was 4 years ago. He came by to visit our olfaction group and came across interesting results from a grad student's project. He used the insights from the student's project and published a hi-profile paper that got him a nice position. Because he was scooped, the student hasn't been able to publish his thesis work yet. This year Researcher D struck again. He...
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- Hysell Oviedo
listening to "Siboney-Connie Francis" - http://blip.fm/~gvuvc
listening to "Gorillaz 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)" - http://blip.fm/~gvu2d
9/11 Memorial FAIL - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
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11/25/09 - I've walked by this plaque many times over the last 3 years, but it was only after the city razed all the trees in this little gardened area near the A,C,E subway stop at Canal & 6th Ave that I actually read it. It says: "The enhancements to this site are in memory of the victims of September 11, 2001." FAIL
- Noah Gray
That is so sad!
- Bronwen Dekker
Access denied? - http://www.nature.com/nature...
Alexey and Björn Brembs liked this
Information-sharing resources are essential to biologists and deserve international support.
- Noah Gray
Are Happy Facebook Pics Proof That You Aren’t Depressed? - http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discobl...
OK, here goes: Woman is depressed. So badly that she goes on sick leave from work. To help he situation, her doctor sez "Go out and have some fun." Woman goes out and has some fun, posts pics exhibiting fun to Facebook. Insurance company (apparently a big Fb stalker) sees pics and decides woman is having too much fun and can't possibly be depressed. Cuts off sick leave payments. The End.
- Noah Gray
Answer: no, of course they aren't, as the first comment explains very nicely. I hope she wins the case.
- Neil Saunders
Stupid insurance stalkers...
- Noah Gray
The Great Beyond: From the mouths of snakes - http://blogs.nature.com/news...
"New species are discovered all the time, but it’s not quite so frequent for them to fall out of the mouths of snakes."
- Noah Gray
Cannibals could hold the key to fighting 'mad cow disease' - http://www.nhs.uk/news...
Hhmm. I am not new to such issues. "This novel study on a rare disease in a unique population does not currently have direct relevance to the prevention or treatment of CJD in the UK, but may eventually lead to research that does". Kind of (as usual) ties in with the team leader's spin off company, D-Gen. mAB price list http://www.d-gen.co.uk/Price_l...
- Graham Steel
The cool thing about the research was the connection between contracting kuru after eating the brains of a corpse and a genetic mutation that seemingly protects tribesmen from getting the prion disease. Could this be a population genetic response to an epidemic prion disease? If so, it may represent an extreme example of genetic selection over an extraordinarily short time frame. So in...
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- Noah Gray
Fair point, Gov. I had only briefly read the link that you posted (not seen) although I had seen another media report on the BBC. As a lay-person, I don't have access to the related pdf but due to my patient advocacy work (in this field), I do. I can haz legit password access to NeuroPrion database since 2007. I shall therefore refrain from commenting further as on this occassion, Prof Collinge has not played his D-Gen card. I shall study the pdf...
- Graham Steel
Neuroskeptic: B-Movie Medicine - http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009...
The "magic" behind psychogenic illness: Desiree Jennings and her flu shot-induced neurological damage "cured" by.......[wait for it]........psychology.
- Noah Gray
PLoS Biology: Article-Level Metrics and the Evolution of Scientific Impact - http://www.plosbiology.org/article...
Obviously the impact factor and classical means of assessing scientific productivity are broken. Here is a well-written and thought-out assessment of the future of article level metrics and why that future is and should already here.
- Noah Gray
The Neurocritic: Unusual Changes in Sexuality: Case Studies in Neurology - http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2009...
An extraordinary set of individual cases raising many issues, not least of which is the issue of responsibility for one's actions in the face of brain damage or malfunction. That has always been a favorite philosophical issue of mine...
- Noah Gray
The big hairy ambitious haircut – finally! - http://shirleywho.wordpress.com/2009...
Mickey Kosloff, Jim Norris, Cameron Neylon and Pedro Beltrao liked this
@shwu Just wear a sleeve while playing ultimate...that's what I do...
- Noah Gray
makes you look manga :-)
- Björn Brembs
Hair, schmair... :-)
- Bill Hooker
In Vivo Performance of Genetically Encoded Indicators of Neural Activity in Flies - http://www.citeulike.org/user...
Noah Gray liked this
J. Neurosci., Vol. 25, No. 19. (11 May 2005), pp. 4766-4778. Genetically encoded fluorescent probes of neural activity represent new promising tools for systems neuroscience. Here, we present a comparative in vivo analysis of 10 different genetically encoded calcium indicators, as well as the pH-sensitive synapto-pHluorin. We analyzed their fluorescence changes in presynaptic boutons of the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction. Robust neural activity did not result in any or noteworthy fluorescence changes when Flash-Pericam, Camgaroo-1, and Camgaroo-2 were expressed. However, calculated on the raw data, fractional fluorescence changes up to 18% were reported by synapto-pHluorin, Yellow Cameleon 2.0, 2.3, and 3.3, Inverse-Pericam, GCaMP1.3, GCaMP1.6, and the troponin C-based calcium sensor TN-L15. The response characteristics of all of these indicators differed considerably from each other, with GCaMP1.6 reporting high rates of neural activity with the largest and fastest...
- Björn Brembs
gCaMp3, newly reported in N Methods is pretty amazing, performance-wise...
- Noah Gray
I'm just about done submitting an ERC starting grant. If we get funded, we'll screen all of the available ones for the best performance in characterizing resting-state activity in fly brains (aka fMRI for flies).
- Björn Brembs
listening to "Bebot - Black Eyed Peas" - http://blip.fm/~gekvr
listening to "Royksopp - Someone Like Me" - http://blip.fm/~gco0w
listening to "Brazilian Girls - http://blip.fm/~gcnal
listening to "Of Montreal - Bunny Ain - http://blip.fm/~gcmpb
listening to "Jamiroquai, Canned Heat" - http://blip.fm/~gbk3t
Olivia Lovag liked this
Man's Facebook Status Given Book Deal - http://www.theonion.com/content...
Björn Brembs liked this
QUIZ TIME!! Which actually happened: (a) Man's Facebook status given book deal (see story below) (b) Potty-mouthed Twitter account (@shitmydadsays) gets TV deal (http://is.gd/4SLZa)
- Noah Gray
10^15 synapses in the adult brain, 10^16 synapses in the brain of a child
Kris-Stella and Noah Gray liked this
Just finished counting?
- Alexander Kruel
yea.. pretty gory
- Christopher Harris
:D
- Alexander Kruel
Jeff Lichtman once claimed that learning after birth consists only of synaptic pruning :-)
- Björn Brembs
So we "lose" 9.0*10^15 (~9000000000000000) synapses somehow? What's the number of synapses that are being killed by binge drinking for example? I doubt such activities could account for it though?
- Alexander Kruel
Chris, that number seems off by a factor of ten. I thought that I have typically seen 10^14 as the estimate for adults...?
- Noah Gray
@Björn A lot of work conducting longitudinal microscopy of dendritic spines (putative synapses) in rodents suggests exactly that: major pruning. In fact, although learning or experience can induce more spines in the short term, over long periods, most are subsequently loss; i.e., there is no net gain.
- Noah Gray
For the non-experts like me it sounds like a child has at least 9 times more synapses than an adult. This may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... (Heard about it for the first time.)
- Alexander Kruel
@Noah I got those numbers from some lecture notes, very recent notes but probably just lifted out of a textbook, and I guess everyone's counting method is different. I was just struck by the 10-fold difference. No surprise kids can learn 3 languages simultaneously to the point of fluency. Wonder what else they learn..
- Christopher Harris
I suppose as long as you're not entering a different universe for everything else you'll have to learn, the residual synapses and the knowledge they represent are enough to build on for prevailing similarities of artifacts, actions and frameworks of the intermediate world in which we reside? Maybe that's why it is so hard to learn about quantum phenomena, grasp relativistic circumstances and make sense of probabilistic behavior within artificial frameworks and of quantum/cosmologic scales?
- Alexander Kruel
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