| ஆன்ட்ராய்ட் மொபைல்களின் சிறப்புகளில் ஒன்று இதற்கென அதிகமான அப்ளிகேசன்களும், விளையாட்டுக்களும் உள்ளது தான். கடந்த மார்ச் மாதம் வரை நாலரை லட்சத்திற்கும் அதிகமான அப்ளிகேசன்கள், விளையாட்டுக்கள் உள்ளதாக கூகுள் தெரிவித்துள்ளது. அவற்றில் அதிகமானவைகள் இலவசமாக கிடைக்கின்றன. இலவசங்கள் எதுவும் இலவசம் இல்லை என்பதை நினைவில் கொள்ளுங்கள். எல்லா இலவசங்களுக்கும் நாம் மறைமுகமாக ஏதோவொரு விலை கொடுக்கிறோம். இலவச ஆன்ட்ராய்ட் அப்ளிகேசன்களிலும் அப்படித்தான். கடந்த அக்டோபர் 2011-வரை கிட்டத்தட்ட 37 சதவீத அப்ளிகேசன்களை ஆன்ட்ராய்ட் மார்க்கெட்டிலிருந்து (Google Play) பல்வேறு காரணங்களுக்காக கூகுள் நீக்கியுள்ளது. அதில் 70 சதவீதம் இலவச அப்ளிகேசன்களாகும். நீக்கப்பட்டதில் அதிகமானது மால்வேர் அப்ளிகேசன்களாகும். பொதுவாக ஆன்ட்ராய்ட் அப்ளிகேசன்கள், விளையாட்டுக்களை நிறுவும்போது சில அனுமதிகள் (Permissions) கேட்கும். அவற்றை ஏற்றுக் கொண்டால் தான் அவைகளை நிறுவ முடியும். ஆன்ட்ராய்டில் மொத்தம் 22 விதமான அனுமதிகள் இருக்கின்றன. அப்ளிகேசன்கள், விளையாட்டுக்களை நிறுவும் முன் அந்த அனுமதிகளை படிப்பது அவசியமாகும். முக்கியமான சில அனுமதிகள், Services that cost you money – make phone calls [உங்கள் மொபைலில் இருந்து மற்றவர்களுக்கு கால் செய்வதற்கான அனுமதி. இதற்கு கட்டணம் வசூலிக்கப்படலாம்.] Services that cost you money - send SMS or MMS [உங்கள் மொபைலில் இருந்து எஸ்.எம்.எஸ், எம்.எஸ்.எஸ் ஆகியவைகளை அனுப்புவதற்கான அனுமதி. இதற்கு கட்டணம் வசூலிக்கப்படலாம்.] Storage - modify/delete SD card contents [உங்கள் மெமரி கார்டில் சேமித்து வைக்கவும், அதில் உள்ளவற்றை மாற்றம் செய்வதற்கு, நீக்குவதற்குமான அனுமதி.] அப்ளிகேசன்களை நிறுவும் முன் அவைகள் கேட்கும் அனுமதி அவசியமானதா? என்பதை பாருங்கள். Photography தொடர்பான அப்ளிகேசன் Storage அனுமதியை கேட்கும். ஆனால் அதுவே Phone Call செய்வதற்கான அனுமதியை கேட்டால் கவனமாக இருக்க வேண்டும். சில அப்ளிகேசன்களை நிறுவுவதற்கு எந்த அனுமதியையும் கேட்காது. "This application requires no special permissions to run." என்று சொல்லும். ஆனால் அது போன்ற அப்ளிகேசன்களாலும் மால்வேர்களை நிறுவி நமது தகவல்களை எடுக்க முடியும் என்று தற்போதைய ஆய்வு தெரிவித்துள்ளது. பாதுகாப்பாக இருப்பது எப்படி? தீங்கு விளைவிக்கும் அப்ளிகேசன்களிடமிருந்து பாதுகாப்பாக இருப்பதற்கு சிறந்த வழி, அந்த அப்ளிகேசன்/கேம் பற்றி அதை பயன்படுத்தியவர்கள் என்ன சொல்லியுள்ளார்கள் என்பதை "User Reviews" பகுதியில் படிப்பதாகும். அதை படித்தல் ஓரளவு நாம் தெரிந்துக் கொள்ளலாம். Rating-ஐ மட்டும் பார்க்க வேண்டாம். கருத்துக்களையும் படியுங்கள். முடிந்தவரை அப்ளிகேசன்/கேம்களை Google Play-வில் இருந்து மட்டுமே நிறுவுங்கள். தற்போது போலியான Angry Birds Space கேம் மற்ற தளங்களில் பரவி வருகிறது. இது Trojan Virus-ஐ நிறுவிவிடும். கவர்ச்சியான, ஆபாசமான அப்ளிகேசன்/கேம்களை தவிர்த்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள். அவைகள் தான் அதிகம் மால்வேர்களை பரப்புகிறது. நீங்கள் பார்க்கும் அனைத்து அப்ளிகேசன்களையும் நிறுவ வேண்டாம். |
Friday, April 20, 2012
ஆன்ட்ராய்ட் கைத்தொலைபேசிகளினால் வரும் தொல்லைகள்
Ravens remember relationships they had with others
Ravens have long-term memory. Credit: Markus Boeckle
In daily life we remember faces and voices of several known individuals. Similarly, mammals have been shown to remember calls and faces of known individuals after a number of years. Markus Boeckle and Thomas Bugnyar from the Department of Cognitive Biology of the University of Vienna show in their recent article, published in Current Biology, that ravens differentiate individuals based on familiarity. Additionally, they discovered that ravens memorize relationship valence and affiliation.
So far it was unknown whether relationship valence can be remembered based on former positive or negative interactions. As response to calls of formerly known individuals ravens not only increase the number of calls but also change call characteristics dependent on whether they hear former "friends" or "foes". This suggests that ravens remember specific individuals at least for three years.
The ability to change call characteristics is especially interesting: In case they hear a "friendly" individual they respond with a "friendly" call, whereas when listening to a "foe", they exhibit lower frequencies and rougher characteristics, an effect already described for other animal species.
Ravens respond to calls from previously unknown individuals with even lower and rougher calls and thus try to increase the acoustic perceivable body-size – also in humans larger people have lower voices than smaller ones and angry humans rougher voices. While it was known that mammals change their voices based on the relationship they share with others, the researchers were now able to show for the first time that also birds change their calls according to relationship quality.
The duration of the memory is beyond the previously estimated ability for birds; the ability to remember relationship valence has been shown for the first time in animals.
More information: Current Biology (2012). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.023
Provided by University of Vienna
"Ravens remember relationships they had with others." April 19th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-04-ravens-relationships.html
Comment:
Ravens are bigger and smarter than crows. One of may favourite book on animal behaviour is 'Mind of a Raven' by Bernd Heinrich
Ravens are bigger and smarter than crows. One of may favourite book on animal behaviour is 'Mind of a Raven' by Bernd Heinrich
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Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
Hebrew inscription appears to confirm 'sign of Jonah' and Christian reference on ancient artifact
(Phys.org) -- Following the recent announcement of the discovery of the earliest known Christian imagery in the exploration of a sealed first century Jerusalem tomb, controversy predictably erupted, with numerous members of the community of biblical scholars offering alternate interpretations of the iconography and disputing the tomb's claimed Christian connections.
Now, the exploration team has announced a previously unnoticed but highly specific detail that appears to confirm the original interpretation of the inscribed images. James H. Charlesworth of Princeton Theological Seminary has announced the identification and deciphering of a previously overlooked four letter inscription written in ancient Hebrew on the controversial "Jonah" ossuary. The inscription appears to spell out the name "Jonah" in Hebrew.
The first century CE tomb in the Jerusalem suburb of Talpiot, now two meters under a condominium building, was explored through the use of robot cameras. The associated images and their controversial interpretation were announced on February 28, 2012.
The expedition, carried out in 2010-2011, was directed by historian James D. Tabor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and archaeologist Rami Arav of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, funded by the Discovery Channel, and is the subject of a documentary produced by filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici that aired on the Discover Channel on April 12.
Among the robotic exploration's more controversial finds was an ossuary or "bone box" with an engraving of what the team identified as "Jonah and the fish," a symbol associated with the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. If correct, this interpretation would make the ossuary engraving the earliest Christian art ever found as well as the first archaeological evidence related to faith in Jesus' resurrection.
The image of Jonah and the fish was used by later early Christian groups as a symbol of Christ and his resurrection, based on a reference by Jesus to Jonah in a passage in the gospel of Matthew (12:39-40). The Jonah "sign" became the quintessential expression of Christian resurrection faith in later centuries with over a hundred examples of Jonah images in the Christian catacombs at Rome.
The discovery of a Jonah image in first century Jerusalem tomb—a type of tomb that went out of use in 70 CE when the Romans destroyed the city—was a surprise and predictably controversial. Various scholars have disputed the Jonah identification insisting that the image is more likely a funerary monument or an amphora-like vase of some type and not a fish at all.
After the February announcement of the exploration's results, the team continued to examine the photographs of the engraving. In puzzling over cryptic marks on the fish's head they noticed what appeared to be Hebrew script inside the design. Charlesworth, being an expert in Hebrew script of the period, was called upon to analyze the markings.
Charlesworth's discovery appears to confirm the original interpretation of the team. It appears that the lines the team originally interpreted as representing the stick figure in the mouth of the fish also form four cryptic Hebrew letters (in the Hebrew script familiar from the Dead Sea Scrolls): Yod, Vav, Nun, Heh, spelling out (from right to left) Y O N H or YONAH—the Hebrew name of the prophet Jonah. The inscription is engraved in letters less than 4 centimeters in height—too deep to have been natural scratches in the stone, too intricate in shape to be random marks by the engraver.
Charlesworth is the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature and director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton. He has devoted his career to the epigraphical study of the original texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls and specializes deciphering the Herodian script of this period. So far, Israeli epigrapher Robert Deutsch has confirmed Charlesworth's reading of YONAH and Haggai Misgav of Hebrew University says there are definitely letters there although he reads them as ZOLAH rather than YONAH. Charlesworth has invited other epigraphers to evaluate the inscription as well.
"This discovery by Prof. Charlesworth is quite remarkable and had been overlooked in our initial analysis," noted Tabor. "The engraver has apparently rather ingeniously combined what we took to be the stick-figure of Jonah with the four Hebrew letters spelling out his name."
Tabor believes that the inscription now confirms the image as "the sign of Jonah," thus strongly supporting the view that the tomb provides the first archaeological evidence ever found that can linked to the early Jewish followers of Jesus. The significance of this tomb is compounded in that it is less than 60 meters away from the controversial "Jesus family tomb," discovered in 1980, that had ossuaries inscribed "Jesus son of Joseph," "Mariamene," "Yose" and "Jude son of Jesus," names Tabor has linked to Jesus of Nazareth in his recent book, co-authored with Simcha Jacobovici, The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find That Reveals the Birth of Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2012).
Provided by University of North Carolina at Charlotte
"Hebrew inscription appears to confirm 'sign of Jonah' and Christian reference on ancient artifact." April 19th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-04-hebrew-inscription-jonah-christian-ancient.html
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Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
Getting to Sustainable Development, Inclusively and Efficiently
Sustainable development is built on the triple bottom line: economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social development - or prosperity, planet, people. Without careful attention to all three, we cannot create a sustainable world.
In the 25 years since sustainable development was coined as a term, there has been progress, but the pathway to sustainable development must now be more inclusive green growth.
Progress has often come at the expense of our natural wealth. We have destroyed and depleted our natural assets to the point where we run the risk of undermining the precious gains.
At the same time, while globally the planet is flatter and more equitable, within countries the gap between rich and poor has grown unsustainably.
Think about this: 1.3 billion people still don’t have access to electricity, a billion go hungryevery day, some 900 million still don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water, and more than 2.5 billion lack access to sanitation. Meeting these needs during a period of unprecedented urbanization and with climate change making the future ever more complex, demands growth that protects the natural resources upon which the poor especially depend. We cannot balance our economies or the health of the planet on the backs of the poor.
The answer is growth that is efficient in its use of resources. It avoids locking in irreversible environmental damage and which public policy steers to ensure inclusivity. Embracing this kind of inclusive green growth doesn’t mean no growth or even slow growth, and certainly not a reversal of growth. It means a step change in the way we manage economies.
For example, when countries value their natural wealth and ecosystems alongside GDP, they can see the true value of natural capital that we have taken for granted for too long. To make different investment decisions, we need different data and evidence.
Green growth, like all good growth policies, requires getting prices right. It requires addressing policy and market failures, creating tradable property rights, and removing inappropriate subsidies. It means increasing efficiency and recognizing inefficiency in the current growth patterns we are experiencing. It means finding creative strategies that work for each country and helping policy makers answer the Monday morning question: What do I do differently?
Thinking holistically about growth can get us back on the path to sustainable development.
Scientists find that neurological changes can happen due to social status
Researchers at Georgia State University have discovered that in one species of freshwater crustaceans, social status can affect the configuration of neural circuitry.
They found that dominant and subordinate crayfish differ in their behavioral responses when touched unexpectedly, and that those differences correlate with differences in neural circuits that mediate those responses.
The article was published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience. The research team included Edwards, Fadi A. Issa and Joanne Drummond of Georgia State, and Daniel Cattaert of the Centre de Neurosciences Integratives et Cognitives of the Universities of Bordeaux 1 and 2.
When dominant crayfish are touched unexpectedly, they tend to raise their claws, while subordinate animals drop in place and scoot backwards, said Donald Edwards, Regents' Professor of neuroscience at Georgia State.
In looking at the nervous systems of the animals, the researchers noticed differences in how neurons were excited to produce different reactions to being touched when the animals' behavioral status changed. The changes do not represent a wholesale rewiring of the circuits, Edwards said.
"There is reconfiguration going on, but it is probably a shift in the excitation of the different neurons," he explained.
Neuroscientists at Georgia State are working on building computational models of the animals' nervous systems to learn more about how the neurons work in crayfish.
"If you can't build it, you don't know truly how it works," Edwards said.
More information: Journal of Neuroscience, 32(16):5638-5645. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5668-11.2012
Provided by Georgia State University
"Scientists find that neurological changes can happen due to social status." April 19th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-scientists-neurological-due-social-status.html
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Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
Distinct 'God spot' in the brain does not exist
Scientists have speculated that the human brain features a "God spot," one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality. Now, University of Missouri researchers have completed research that indicates spirituality is a complex phenomenon, and multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences. Based on a previously published study that indicated spiritual transcendence is associated with decreased right parietal lobe functioning, MU researchers replicated their findings. In addition, the researchers determined that other aspects of spiritual functioning are related to increased activity in the frontal lobe.
"We have found a neuropsychological basis for spirituality, but it's not isolated to one specific area of the brain," said Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions. "Spirituality is a much more dynamic concept that uses many parts of the brain. Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals' spiritual experiences."
In the most recent study, Johnstone studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries affecting the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain situated a few inches above the right ear. He surveyed participants on characteristics of spirituality, such as how close they felt to a higher power and if they felt their lives were part of a divine plan. He found that the participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe showed an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power.
"Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one's focus on the self," Johnstone said. "Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self. This is consistent with many religious texts that suggest people should concentrate on the well-being of others rather than on themselves."
Johnstone says the right side of the brain is associated with self-orientation, whereas the left side is associated with how individuals relate to others. Although Johnstone studied people with brain injury, previous studies of Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns with normal brain function have shown that people can learn to minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains to increase their spiritual connections during meditation and prayer.
In addition, Johnstone measured the frequency of participants' religious practices, such as how often they attended church or listened to religious programs. He measured activity in the frontal lobe and found a correlation between increased activity in this part of the brain and increased participation in religious practices.
"This finding indicates that spiritual experiences are likely associated with different parts of the brain," Johnstone said.
The study, "Right parietal lobe 'selflessness' as the neuropsychological basis of spiritual transcendence," was published in the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion.
Provided by University of Missouri-Columbia
"Distinct 'God spot' in the brain does not exist." April 19th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-distinct-god-brain.html
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
Scientists show how social interaction and teamwork lead to human intelligence
The researchers constructed computer models of artificial organisms, endowed with artificial brains, which played each other in classic games, such as the 'Prisoner's Dilemma', that encapsulate human social interaction. They used 50 simple brains, each with up to 10 internal processing and 10 associated memory nodes.
The brains were pitted against each other in these classic games. The game was treated as a competition, and just as real life favours successful individuals, so the best of these digital organisms which was defined as how high they scored in the games, less a penalty for the size of their brains were allowed to reproduce and populate the next generation of organisms.
By allowing the brains of these digital organisms to evolve freely in their model the researchers were able to show that the transition to cooperative society leads to the strongest selection for bigger brains. Bigger brains essentially did better as cooperation increased.
The social strategies that emerge spontaneously in these bigger, more intelligent brains show complex memory and decision making. Behaviours like forgiveness, patience, deceit and Machiavellian trickery all evolve within the game as individuals try to adapt to their social environment.
"The strongest selection for larger, more intelligent brains, occurred when the social groups were first beginning to start cooperating, which then kicked off an evolutionary Machiavellian arms race of one individual trying to outsmart the other by investing in a larger brain. Our digital organisms typically start to evolve more complex 'brains' when their societies first begin to develop cooperation." explained Dr Andrew Jackson.
The idea that social interactions underlie the evolution of intelligence has been around since the mid-70s, but support for this hypothesis has come largely from correlative studies where large brains were observed in more social animals. The authors of the current research provide the first evidence that mechanistically links decision making in social interactions with the evolution of intelligence.
This study highlights the utility of evolutionary models of artificial intelligence in answering fundamental biological questions about our own origins.
"Our model differs in that we exploit the use of theoretical experimental evolution combined with artificial neural networks to actually prove that yes, there is an actual cause-and-effect link between needing a large brain to compete against and cooperate with your social group mates."
"Our extraordinary level of intelligence defines mankind and sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. It has given us the arts, science and language, and above all else the ability to question our very existence and ponder the origins of what makes us unique both as individuals and as a species," concluded PhD student and lead author Luke McNally.
Provided by Trinity College Dublin
"Scientists show how social interaction and teamwork lead to human intelligence." April 19th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-04-scientists-social-interaction-teamwork-human.html
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
How thinking about death can lead to a good life
Thinking about death can actually be a good thing. An awareness of mortality can improve physical health and help us re-prioritize our goals and values, according to a new analysis of recent scientific studies. Even non-conscious thinking about death – say walking by a cemetery – could prompt positive changes and promote helping others.
Past research suggests that thinking about death is destructive and dangerous, fueling everything from prejudice and greed to violence. Such studies related to terror management theory (TMT), which posits that we uphold certain cultural beliefs to manage our feelings of mortality, have rarely explored the potential benefits of death awareness.
"This tendency for TMT research to primarily deal with negative attitudes and harmful behaviors has become so deeply entrenched in our field that some have recently suggested that death awareness is simply a bleak force of social destruction," says Kenneth Vail of the University of Missouri, lead author of the new study in the online edition of Personality and Social Psychology Review this month. "There has been very little integrative understanding of how subtle, day-to-day, death awareness might be capable of motivating attitudes and behaviors that can minimize harm to oneself and others, and can promote well-being."
In constructing a new model for how we think about our own mortality, Vail and colleagues performed an extensive review of recent studies on the topic. They found numerous examples of experiments both in the lab and field that suggest a positive side to natural reminders about mortality.
For example, Vail points to a study by Matthew Gailliot and colleagues in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 2008 that tested how just being physically near a cemetery affects how willing people are to help a stranger. "Researchers hypothesized that if the cultural value of helping was made important to people, then the heightened awareness of death would motivate an increase in helping behaviors," Vail says.
The researchers observed people who were either passing through a cemetery or were one block away, out of sight of the cemetery. Actors at each location talked near the participants about either the value of helping others or a control topic, and then some moments later, another actor dropped her notebook. The researchers then tested in each condition how many people helped the stranger.
"When the value of helping was made salient, the number of participants who helped the second confederate with her notebook was 40% greater at the cemetery than a block away from the cemetery," Vail says. "Other field experiments and tightly controlled laboratory experiments have replicated these and similar findings, showing that the awareness of death can motivate increased expressions of tolerance, egalitarianism, compassion, empathy, and pacifism."
For example, a 2010 study by Immo Fritsche of the University of Leipzig and co-authors revealed how increased death awareness can motivate sustainable behaviors when pro-environmental norms are made salient. And a study by Zachary Rothschild of the University of Kansas and co-workers in 2009 showed how an increased awareness of death can motivate American and Iranian religious fundamentalists to display peaceful compassion toward members of other groups when religious texts make such values more important.
Thinking about death can also promote better health. Recent studies have shown that when reminded of death people may opt for better health choices, such as using more sunscreen, smoking less, or increasing levels of exercise. A 2011 study by D.P. Cooper and co-authors found that death reminders increased intentions to perform breast self-exams when women were exposed to information that linked the behavior to self-empowerment.
One major implication of this body of work, Vail says, is that we should "turn attention and research efforts toward better understanding of how the motivations triggered by death awareness can actually improve people's lives, rather than how it can cause malady and social strife." Write the authors: "The dance with death can be a delicate but potentially elegant stride toward living the good life."
More information: Pers Soc Psychol Rev April 5, 2012 . doi: 10.1177/1088868312440046
Provided by Society for Personality and Social Psychology
"How thinking about death can lead to a good life." April 19th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-death-good-life.html
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
A humble fish helps us understand our own brains
Biology professor and chair Günther Zupanc (right) published results in the journal Neuroscience today demonstrating the mechanism by which new neurons find home. Credit: Dominick Reuter
(Medical Xpress) -- Recent findings from the Laboratory of Neurobiology at Northeastern, led by biology professor and chair Günther Zupanc, and published online in the scientific journalNeuroscience, demonstrate the mechanism by which new neurons find their ultimate home — research that Zupanc hopes will offer insight into the regenerative potential of the human brain.
In 1989, scientists discovered that two areas of the human brain — the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb — are capable of generating neurons during adulthood. In the last decade, adult stem-cell research has shown that latent stem cells also exist in other regions.
In principle, this information could be used to help the brain cure itself by replacing neurons lost to injury with new, adult-born neurons. However, despite the work of thousands of research programs, such attempts have failed thus far.
“Key to the development of such replacement therapies is to better understand what limits the regenerative potential of the human brain,” said Zupanc.
His team, which includes Northeastern research associates Ruxandra Sîrbulescu and Iulian Ilies, believes that exploring the regenerative capacities of other species can lend insight into the neurological system of mammals. “If there are certain molecules that are missing in the system, then you can search as much as you want, you will never find them,” said Zupanc.
Bony fish have the ability to grow new brain tissue or part of the spinal cord after a predatory attack. This evolutionary strategy makes them prime candidates for studying neuronal regeneration, he said.
If scientists could induce the mammalian system to mimic the cellular behavior of the fish system, it could allow people to heal from traumatic brain and spinal-cord injuries in a matter of weeks, Zupanc said. But neuronal regeneration, which has been demonstrated in stroke patients, does not itself lead to recovery.
New neurons must migrate to a different area of the brain to become functional, Zupanc explained. His recent investigations with teleost fish explore the process of neuronal migration, which only occurs with proper guidance, he said. Until now, researchers have not known how new neurons in the adult fish brain find their way to their target areas, where they integrate into the network of existing neurons and become functional.
The team found that a different cell type — the radial glia — guides new neurons along a scaffold from their birthplace to their ultimate home. The same phenomenon has been observed in human embryonic development. But while teleost fish retain this ability into adulthood, humans do not.
Without a full understanding of how neurons develop functionality, these findings will remain in the lab as interesting research results. Zupanc hopes his investigations with fish will add important insights required to help human patients with neurological injuries and diseases.
Provided by Northeastern University
"A humble fish helps us understand our own brains." April 19th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-humble-fish-brains.html
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Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
Belief in God rises with age, even in atheist nations
A survey by NORC at the University of Chicago found that belief in God is strongest among Catholic societies, especially in the developing world, with the highest levels of belief held among the elderly. Credit: iStockphoto.com
(Phys.org) -- International surveys about the depth of people’s belief in God reveal vast differences among nations, ranging from 94 percent of people in the Philippines who said they always believed in God, compared to only 13 percent of people in the former East Germany. Yet the surveys found one constant—belief in God is higher among older people, regardless of where they live.
A new report on the international surveys, “Belief About God Across Time and Countries,” was issued by the General Social Survey of the social science research organization NORC at the University of Chicago. It is based on a comprehensive, international study of belief in God and includes information from the International Social Survey Program, a consortium of the world’s leading opinion survey organizations. Tom W. Smith, director of the General Social Survey, wrote the report.
The data came from 30 countries in which surveys about belief in God have been taken, in some cases, since 1991. Researchers asked questions to determine people’s range of beliefs, from atheism to strong belief in God; their changing beliefs over their lifetime; and their attitude toward the notion that God is concerned with individuals.
Belief in God varies widely across nations, cultures
Countries with the strongest belief in God tended to be Catholic societies, especially in the developing world, such as the Philippines. The people of the United States stood out for their high in belief in God among developed countries with large Protestant populations. Competition among denominations may account for that interest in religion, Smith said.
The surveys found:
• Atheism is strongest in northwest European countries such as Scandinavia and the former Soviet states (except for Poland). The former East Germany had the highest rate of people who said they never believed in God (59 percent); in comparison, 4 percent of Americans had that response.
• The country with the strongest belief is the Philippines, where 94 percent of those surveyed said they always had believed in God. In the United States, that response came from 81 percent of people surveyed.
• Although by most measures, belief in God is gradually declining worldwide, it is increasing in Russia, Slovenia and Israel. In Russia, comparing the difference between those who believe in God but hadn’t previously, and those who don’t believe in God but used to, researchers found a 16 percent change in favor of belief.
• Support for the concept that God is concerned with people in a personal way ranged from 8 percent in the former East Germany to 82 percent in the Philippines. In the United States, 68 percent of people surveyed held that view.
“Belief in God has decreased in most countries, but the declines are quite modest especially when calculated on a per annum basis,” Smith said.
The constant: Belief in God grows with age
Belief is highest among older adults. On average, 43 percent of those aged 68 and older are certain that God exists, compared with 23 percent of those 27 and younger, according to the report.
Many sociologists who have studied people's beliefs in God over time contend that there is a cohort effect; young people who are more likely to doubt God's existence carry their disbelief with them as they age, meaning that societies as a whole are tending to become more secular. But the NORC study suggests it's possible instead that people change their beliefs over time.
“Looking at differences among age groups, the largest increases in belief in God most often occur among those 58 years of age and older. This suggests that belief in God is especially likely to increase among the oldest groups, perhaps in response to the increasing anticipation of mortality,” Smith said. He noted that the higher level of belief does not appear to be simply a cohort effect.
In the United States, for instance, 54 percent of people younger than 28 said they were certain of God’s existence, compared with 66 percent of the people 68 and older.
In countries with low overall belief in God, the difference in belief between age groups is also strong. In France, for example, 8 percent of younger people said they were certain that God exists, compared with 26 percent of the people 68 and older. In Austria, 8 percent of the younger generation said they were certain in their belief, while 32 percent of people 68 and older were confident of God’s existence.
The surveys were taken in 1991, 1998 and 2008, when 42 countries were surveyed. The study was done on countries that had been surveyed at least twice.
Provided by University of Chicago
"Belief in God rises with age, even in atheist nations." April 19th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-04-belief-god-age-atheist-nations.html
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Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
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