Interesting things

[robinturner]

Last night I stumbled across World Science and learnt some interesting things.

• The human brain has got smaller over the last 30,000 years. On the plus side, it has got more adaptable, so we're doing more with less.
• Humans' recognition of musical pitch is way down the scale, along with rats (birds are, unsurprisingly, at the top). This explains why contestants in musical talent shows can sing so wildly out of tune without losing points.
• Punishing wrongdoers activates pleasure centers in the brain, so there may be something in Nietzsche's view of punishment.
• Beauty and ugliness activate the same area of the brain, so there may be something in Lao Tzu's view of beauty.
• Smoking marijuana has long-term effects on short-term memory. Or was it short-term effects on long-term memory?

Comments

[earthemp6.livejournal.com]

Smoking up does affect memory. I've seen it here everyday in Canada, and do not think it should ever be legalized.

[solri.livejournal.com]

I see the legalisation question in tems of rights rather than the effects of a particular drug - I even think people should have the right to smoke tobacco if they want ;-)

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

alcohol affects memory, too, and worse. Should that be illegal?

[earthemp6.livejournal.com]

Well, in Canada you WOULD get fired for being impaired by alcohol, primarily because of strict laws against public drunkenness. The new proposal to legalize (not merely decriminalize) marijuana would allow people to be impaired (and annoying) in public, at work, schools, etc. It's bad news for everyone, who doesn't care to smoke up that is.

Example:
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a286ed4f-af05-42b3-84fa-f69535de5082
"The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse also lists a 1996 study by Texas Christian University of marijuana use among 4,600 municipal employees in four cities in the Southwest. About 8% were marijuana users and the survey found they reported more absenteeism, tardiness, compensation claims and job turnover than workers who had not used the drug"

I have no desire to get into a circular debate, this remains as ever merely my opinion.

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

unless you have very odd law, it's likely against public intoxication, not just drunkeness, which would also cover marijuana, or any other substance that impairs judgment.

At any rate, I wasn't trying to be confrontational, just poking at your premise. We tend to take for granted the damage caused by things that are illegal, without really measuring them against analagous things that are legal. I personally tend to err on the side of individual rights, up to the point it impacts other people.

[klig.livejournal.com]

That's a first-rate link, right there.

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

That seems pretty unlikely - the process of bodily immunity does not lend itself well to the production of super-bugs the way that antibiotic use does. And, if it did, the person who was the carrier would soon be dead, so it wouldn't likely spread very far, even if it did happen.

That being said, vaccines aren't a terribly good thing - the drop in infectious disease in the world can be directly linked to better public health and hygene, rather than vaccination. And, there's a whole bunch of research regarding mercury content, dubious efficacy, and a whole host of other issues. I'll probably vaccinate my kids for those things which are truly life threatening, for an otherwise healthy individual, and drop the rest.

fascinating stuff . . . or: OK, so what were we talking about?

[kesey.livejournal.com]

"Smoking marijuana has long-term effects on short-term memory. Or was it short-term effects on long-term memory?"

hee hee .. reminds me of "the signs of getting older ... second thing to go is your memory, and .. uhh .. i forgot the first one"

more seriously .. define "long term" in this context. i read somewhere just the other day where they have studied this effect and determined that the effects on short term memory persisted for awhile, but were completely reversable after adequate clearance of the THC (usually about one week) that remains in the body (specifically stored in the fatty parts of the brain/nervous system).

obviously i was sufficiently impressed with the article that these specifics crossed over into my long term memory (as scattered as that may be at this point) ... and I really wanted to cite the article here ... but ... ummm ... uhh ...

damn! I can't seem to recall where it was that I read that! ;-)

Re: fascinating stuff . . . or: OK, so what were we talking about?

[solri.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing about this study was that it claimed to detect effects on memory a month after use. It does sound like a scenario for a Furry Freak Brothers story, though:

SCIENTIST: When was the last time you smoked marijuana?
FAT FREDDY: Umm, err, too long, man - must be least a month!

[hfx-ben.livejournal.com]

Smaller ... 30,000 years ... mmmm something fishy here ... that's a very short time.
Neanderthal had larger brains, IIRC ... I wonder if there something like a category error in here somewhere.

[blorky.livejournal.com]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php is also a good site for science news.

[cibetky.livejournal.com]

The beauty and ugliness isn't really surprising to me. I think love and hatred activate the same area as well...? ;-)