01 Jun 2005
Lactose intolerance linked to ancestral environment

Well, I suppose that some people would find this new and amazing, given that evolution is only a "theory", after all. The doctors are even pretty explicit about their purposes:

Sherman's study concludes that adults from Europe can drink milk because their ancestors lived where dairying flourished and passed on gene mutations that maintain lactase into adulthood. The research, he said, is an example of Darwinian medicine, a new interdisciplinary field of science that takes an evolutionary look at health, and considers why, rather than how, certain conditions or symptoms develop. Sherman, for example, recently investigated why spices are used and why morning sickness occurs.

I wonder how long it'll take the protesters to show up at Cornell? I wonder if Cornell will accept aspiring physicians from Kansas into the program?

People whose ancestors came from where dairy herds could be raised safely can digest milk as adults. Most people in extreme climates or where deadly cattle diseases were historically present can't digest milk, finds a Cornell University study by Paul Sherman in a forthcoming issue of Evolution and Human Behavior.

(link) [EurekAlert! - Breaking News]

00:00 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

Hard salary numbers for offshoring

How can I compete? Not only would I be living in a cardboard box and starving were I to try and match these wage rates, my employer would be arrested. The Federal minimum wage is $10,712 per year.

Blog: Entry-level workers at Vietnamese tech outsourcing operations earn an average of $3,276 a year, compared to $5,443 for such workers in India, $5,616 in Romania ...

(link) [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

A boost for religious practice

A victory for minority religion, and indeed, all religious practice. The ruling, by the way, was 9-0. But it seems these days that even silver clouds have dark linings - note well some of the strange reasoning used by Justice Thomas: that the Federal Government cannot interfere with a State established religion!

Are we freaking out yet?

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that accommodations do not violate the Constitution's prohibition of government endorsement of religion.

(link) [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Stress, mood and other factors may affect mom's diet during pregnancy

What would you care to bet that if they repeated this study on non-pregnant women the results would be the same? I'd go so far as to broaden the category studied to all of humanity and expect the same results.

This is nothing but an exercise in publishing the obvious - of course psychosocial factors influence our food choices. I just wonder who paid how much to whom for this sterling piece of research, sure to revolutionize human food consumption patterns?

I'm gonna put this under my humor category, even though it really deserves it's own special place. Perhaps I'll set one up someday. How about "Studies in Stupidity" for a category heading?

Stress, anxiety, fatigue and other psychosocial characteristics may influence the food choices women make during pregnancy, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is the first to examine the affect of psychosocial factors on diet during pregnancy.

(link) [EurekAlert! - Breaking News]

00:00 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

Study: Shoppers Naive About Online Prices

It's true: most people believe that merchants charge the same price to all and sundry. But they obviously don't if you think about it even a little bit. There's the wholesale/retail price difference, for example, and the various breakdowns on quantity, not to mention the various "sales events". The market is still the bazaar, after all, even though the haggling is hidden.

I do believe that there is a place for the Uniform Commercial Code to step in here, though, as many of these practices are borderline deception. There's always going to be haggling, but it should be as transparent as possible, and always with an opportunity for a true give and take negotiation.

A more controversial thought I've had is that contracts shouldn't be able to specify the exclusion of other products. For example, a bar that sells Coca-Cola products should also be able to sell Pepsi - the soft drink companies are notorious for using supply contracts to exclude their competitors. Don't know how that would work in practice, however.

AP - Most American consumers don't realize Internet merchants and even traditional retailers sometimes charge different prices to different customers for the same products, according to a new survey.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link