Month: January 2023

Animals, Brain, Psychology, ScienceLeave a comment

Visual thinking: How to comprehend animal consciousness

Fernando Kaskais

Humans are good visual thinkers, too, but we tend to privilege verbal thinking. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Temple Grandin Excerpted from VISUAL THINKING: THE HIDDEN GIFTS OF PEOPLE WHO THINK IN PICTURES, PATTERNS, AND ABSTRACTIONS by Temple Grandin published on October 11, 2022 by Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2022 Temple Grandin. It always struck me as ridiculous to think that a dog or a cow does not have consciousness, yet people continue to debate the subject. Aristotle believed that what set men above animals was the ability to reason. … Continue reading Visual thinking: How to comprehend animal consciousness

Media&Culture, PhotographyLeave a comment

Oblíquo

Fernando Kaskais

© FERNANDO KASKAIS Em fotografia, mostrar qualquer coisa é mostrar o que está oculto. O olhar pode ser oblíquo, mas não é necessário que o fotógrafo, para salientar o mistério, recorra a temas exóticos excepcionalmente impressionantes. O que é familiar, através do uso da câmera, pode tornar-se misterioso. A realidade é, como disse Viktor Shklovsky, desfamiliarizada. kaskaisphotos.wordpress.com/2023/01/28/obliquo/ Continue reading Oblíquo

Africa, Curiositys, History, Media&CultureLeave a comment

The other Cleopatra

Fernando Kaskais

A silver coin dated 25-24 BCE featuring King Juba (REX IUBA) and, on the obverse, the Greek legend BASILISSA KLEOPATRA and a crocodile (associated with Egypt). Photo courtesy the British Museum Daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, she became the influential queen of a mysterious, abundant North African kingdom Jane Draycott is a lecturer in Classics at the University of Glasgow. Her books include Prosthetics and Assistive Technology in Ancient Greece and Rome (2021) and Cleopatra’s Daughter: Egyptian Princess, Roman Prisoner, African Queen (2022). You may not have heard of the Roman client kingdom of Mauretania, not to be confused with the contemporary African country … Continue reading The other Cleopatra

Brain, Philosophy, Psychology, ScienceLeave a comment

Ways of Being: Rethinking Intelligence

Fernando Kaskais

Art from Cephalopod Atlas, 1909. (Available as a print and as a cutting board, benefitting The Nature Conservancy.) “Intelligence is not something which exists, but something one does.” BY MARIA POPOVA “Intelligence supposes good will,” Simone de Beauvoir wrote. “Sensitivity is nothing else but the presence which is attentive to the world and to itself.” Yet our efforts to define and measure intelligence have been pocked with insensitivity to nuance, to diversity, to the myriad possible ways of paying attention to the world. Within the human realm, there is the dark cultural history of IQ. Beyond the human realm, there is the growing abashed understanding that other … Continue reading Ways of Being: Rethinking Intelligence

Brain, Politics, Psychology, Rights, ScienceLeave a comment

Criminologists, Looking to Biology for Insight, Stir a Racist Past

Fernando Kaskais

Visual: Bea Hayward for Undark Using biology to understand criminal behavior has long been controversial. Top criminology programs are pursuing it anyway. BY MICHAEL SCHULSON NEARLY 2 MILLION PEOPLE, most of them Black or Latino men, are locked up in the United States. In October 2021, the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, published a report arguing that correctional officials should examine the biology of imprisoned people — their hormones, their brains, and perhaps even their genes. The report describes a future in which corrections sounds a bit more like practicing medicine than meting out punishment. Correctional … Continue reading Criminologists, Looking to Biology for Insight, Stir a Racist Past

Art, Curiositys, History, Media&Culture, RussiaLeave a comment

The most controversial painting in Russian history

Fernando Kaskais

Created in the 1880s, “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan,” which depicts a father murdering his son, divides Russians to this day. KEY TAKEAWAYS Tim Brinkhof In 19th century Russia, writers spoke loud and clear. Instead of hiding their personal beliefs behind dense layers of symbolism, they wrote unambiguously about the social, political, and economic problems of their time. This made them somewhat unique in the literary world. Indeed, where the true meaning of books like Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness continues to be debated to this day, there has never been any doubt that Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s What is to be Done? is, … Continue reading The most controversial painting in Russian history

Climate Change, Eco, Future, Planet, ScienceLeave a comment

There’s no planet B

Fernando Kaskais

Scientific researchers on a bat-collecting expedition in Sierra Leone. Photo by Simon Townley/Panos The scientific evidence is clear: the only celestial body that can support us is the one we evolved with. Here’s why Arwen E Nicholson is a research fellow in physics and astronomy at the University of Exeter in the UK. She has developed Gaian models of regulation to understand how life might impact the long-term habitability prospects of its planet. Raphaëlle D Haywood is a senior lecturer in physics and astronomy at the University of Exeter in the UK. Her research focuses on detection of small, potentially terrestrial … Continue reading There’s no planet B

Curiositys, Drugs, Health, Living, PsychologyLeave a comment

The real reasons young people are choosing sobriety

Fernando Kaskais

Illustration © Tertia Nash Beyond booze by Eve Upton-Clark Their drinking habits have seen them derided as ‘generation sensible’, but this overlooks the complex and nuanced reasons people are turning their back on alcohol, writes Eve Upton-Clark. In 2022, the idea that young people are going sober is nothing new. While this trend has been bubbling away for a while now, over the past year, it seems to have accelerated: in fact, almost 150,000 university students have stopped drinking since last September alone, according to new research by Student Beans. This means a third of university students in the UK identify as … Continue reading The real reasons young people are choosing sobriety

Brain, Health, Psychology, ScienceLeave a comment

Education Seems to Protect The Gut, Not Just Make You Smarter

Fernando Kaskais

(Sam Edwards/Getty Images) ByDAVID NIELD The different parts of our bodies are intricately tied together, and good health in one area can often mean benefits in other areas too. Take, for example, a potential link between a better education and a reduced risk of having gut disorders. The research builds on a previous study by some members of the same team that uncovered a genetic association between Alzheimer’s disease (where cognitive functioning breaks down) and gastrointestinal tract health problems. “Gut disorders and Alzheimer’s may not only share a common genetic predisposition but may be similarly influenced by genetic variations underpinning educational attainment,” says geneticist Simon … Continue reading Education Seems to Protect The Gut, Not Just Make You Smarter

Curiositys, Living, Media&Culture, Planet, PsychologyLeave a comment

Americans are among the most loving, Chinese and Germans the least

Fernando Kaskais

A new study of global love finds that Americans have some of the most loving relationships, while Chinese and Germans have some of the least. KEY TAKEAWAYS by Ross Pomeroy An international team of nearly 100 scientists has conducted one of the largest studies on love of all time. Their work is published in the journal Scientific Reports. Psychologist Piotr Sorokowski based out of the University of Wrocław in Poland is first author of the Herculean (or perhaps more Shakespearean) scientific effort. He and numerous colleagues from dozens of countries joined together to survey 9,474 individuals over 18 years old in romantic relationships spread across 45 countries … Continue reading Americans are among the most loving, Chinese and Germans the least