# s-age-brain: negative age stereotypes vs Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers

<< holding negative attitudes towards the elderly (ageism) is correlated with the later development of neurobiological changes, or biomarkers, linked to Alzheimer’s >>

<< scores on the Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (AOPS) questionnaire predicted later hippocampal atrophy, as measured with structural MRI (n=52), and with the levels of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques present in the brain post mortem (n=74) >>

<< the authors don’t discuss the possibility that both of these phenomena are caused by a third, confounding factor – a covariate that wasn’t controlled for >>

<< For example, socioeconomic status or income could explain these results >>

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2016/01/06/7291/

Levy BR, Ferrucci L, et al. (2015). A Culture-Brain Link: Negative Age Stereotypes Predict Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers. Psychology and Aging PMID: 26641877

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26641877

# e-sec: please, what time is it (among other)?

<< By their very nature of being wearable, these devices [wristband and armband devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers], however, provide a new pervasive attack surface threatening users privacy, among others >>

Tony Beltramelli, Sebastian Risi. Deep-Spying: Spying using Smartwatch and Deep Learning. (Submitted on 17 Dec 2015)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1512.05616

also:

David Glance,  New ways your smartwatch (and phone) may be spying on you. University Of Western Australia, The Conversation. January 6, 2016

http://m.phys.org/news/2016-01-ways-smartwatch-spying.html

# s-age: lifespan among offspring of older parents

<< offspring produced by older parents often do not live as long, but little is known about why that occurs >>

<< Individuals with longer telomeres or slower rates of telomere loss have been shown to have greater longevity in a wide range of species. There also is evidence the offspring of older parents have shorter telomeres >>

http://m.phys.org/news/2016-01-offspring-older-parents-longevity.html

Britt J. Heidinger, Katherine A. Herborn, et al. Parental age influences offspring telomere loss.  Functional Ecology (2015). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12630

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12630/abstract

# rmx-s-brain: entities who know how to manage noise

<< pale spear-nosed bats (Phyllostomus discolor) (..) adapts its echolocation calls to the surrounding noise level >>

http://m.phys.org/news/2016-01-echolocation-noise.html

Jinhong Luo, Holger R. Goerlitz  et al. Linking the sender to the receiver: vocal adjustments by bats to maintain signal detection in noise. Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 18556 (2015)
doi:10.1038/srep18556

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep18556

# rmx-s-gst: inside a chaotic, fuzzy 'active matter' ...

<< From flocking birds to swarming molecules, physicists are seeking to understand 'active matter' — and looking for a fundamental theory of the living world >>

<< We're still kind of astonished at what can happen >>

Gabriel Popkin. The physics of life. Nature 529, 16–18 (07 January 2016) doi:10.1038/529016a

http://www.nature.com/news/the-physics-of-life-1.19105

# s-acad: after a 'chemical pope': where the devil insists ...

<< If science and religion are beginning to walk together, the devil remains in the politics >>

Daniel Sarewitz. Constructive engagement is the key to climate action. Nature 529, 6 (07 January 2016) doi:10.1038/529006a

http://www.nature.com/news/constructive-engagement-is-the-key-to-climate-action-1.19103?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

# s-eye: the myopia boom: an environmental effect

<< East Asia has been gripped by an unprecedented rise in myopia, also known as short-sightedness. Sixty years ago, 10–20% of the Chinese population was short-sighted. Today, up to 90% of teenagers and young adults are. In Seoul, a whopping 96.5% of 19-year-old men are short-sighted >>

<< children need to spend around three hours per day under light levels of at least 10,000 lux to be protected against myopia. This is about the level experienced by someone under a shady tree, wearing sunglasses, on a bright summer day. (An overcast day can provide less than 10,000 lux and a well-lit office or classroom is usually no more than 500 lux.) >>

<< But what scientists really needed was a mechanism: something to explain how bright light could prevent myopia. The leading hypothesis is that light stimulates the release of dopamine in the retina, and this neurotransmitter in turn blocks the elongation of the eye during development >>

Elie Dolgin. The myopia boom
Short-sightedness is reaching epidemic proportions. Some scientists think they have found a reason why. Nature 519, 276–278 (19 March 2015) doi:10.1038/519276a

http://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews