# lang: surface tension dynamics at boundaries to understand dialect spread and extinction

<< It has recently been proposed that the spatial evolution of dialects can be understood using surface tension at linguistic boundaries >>

J.B. << shows that the inclusion of long-range interactions in the surface tension model generates both wave-like spread, and hierarchical diffusion, and that it is surface tension that is the dominant effect in deciding the stable distribution of dialect patterns >>

J.B. << generalizes the model to allow population mixing which can induce shrinkage of linguistic domains, or destroy dialect regions from within >>

James Burridge. Unifying models of dialect spread and extinction using surface tension dynamics. R Soc Open Sci. 2018 Jan; 5(1): 171446.
doi:  10.1098/rsos.171446. Jan 3, 2018.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5792924/

# brain: strong signals to connect to consciousness

<< Unexpectedly, our model reveals that only when the signal is strong enough, above a threshold level, the signal reaches a large set of areas of the brain region called the prefrontal cortex, which plays a critical role in high-level cognition >> Madhura Joglekar.

James Devitt. From Signal Propagation to Consciousness: A Potential Connection Discovered. Neuroscience News. Mar 22, 2018.

http://neurosciencenews.com/consciousness-signal-propagation-8674/amp/  

Madhura R. Joglekar, Jorge F. Mejias, et al. Inter-areal Balanced Amplification Enhances Signal Propagation in a Large-Scale Circuit Model of the Primate Cortex. Neuron.
doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.02.031.
Mar 22, 2018.

http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30152-1

# zen: compassionate neanderthal

AA << review evidence for Neanderthal healthcare, drawing on a bioarchaeology of care approach and relating healthcare to other realms of Neanderthal social life. The authors argue that Neanderthal medical treatment and healthcare was widespread and part of a social context of strong pro-social bonds which was not distinctively different from healthcare seen in later contexts >>

AA << suggest that the time has come to accept Neanderthal healthcare as a compassionate and knowledgeable response to injury and illness, and to turn to other questions, such as cultural variation or the wider significance of healthcare in an evolutionary context >>

Penny Spikins, Andy Needham, et al.
Calculated or caring? Neanderthal healthcare in social context.  World Archaeology. doi: 10.1080/ 00438243.2018.1433060. Feb 22, 2018.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2018.1433060

University of York. Compassion helped Neanderthals to survive, new study reveals. Mar 13, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-03-compassion-neanderthals-survive-reveals.html

Also

# s-ethnomed: ancient flexible eat; self-medication among Neanderthals with aspirin and penicillin like.  Mar 18, 2017.

https://flashontrack.blogspot.it/2017/03/s-ethnomed-ancient-flexible-eat-self.html

# gst: booting

<< In computing, booting (or booting up) is the initialization of a computerized system. The system can be a computer or a computer appliance. The booting process can be "hard", e.g., after electrical power to the CPU is switched from off to on (in order to diagnose particular hardware errors), or "soft", when those power-on self-tests (POST) can be avoided. On some systems a soft boot may optionally clear RAM to zero. Both hard and soft booting can be initiated by hardware such as a button press, or by software command. Booting is complete when the normal, operative, runtime environment is attained >>

Jackfork. Booting. Mar 16, 2018.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting

# gst: transitions among metastabilities

<< Metastability, as well as the transition processes between metastable states, is ubiquitous in nature, but challenges our tools to describe such complex quantum systems >>

<< A comparison with a theoretical model confirms that the metastability originates in the competition between short- and global- range interactions >>

Lorenz Hruby, Nishant Dogra, et al. Metastability and avalanche dynamics in strongly correlated gases with long-range interactions. PNAS.  201720415; doi: org/10.1073/pnas.1720415115. Mar 8, 2018.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/03/07/1720415115

<< Several aspects of metastability are well understood, but in particular, the switching dynamics from one state to another remain unknown, as few tools are available to directly monitor such processes >>

ETH Zurich. Mastering metastable matter.  Mar 12, 2018

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-03-mastering-metastable.html

# evol: the early bird Archaeopteryx was an incidental, short-distance, active flyer

<< The wing bones of Archaeopteryx were shaped for incidental active flight, but not for the advanced style of flying mastered by today's birds >>

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The early bird got to fly: Archaeopteryx was an active flyer. Mar 13, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-03-early-bird-archaeopteryx-flyer.html

AA << analyses reveal that the architecture of Archaeopteryx's wing bones consistently exhibits a combination of cross-sectional geometric properties uniquely shared with volant birds, particularly those occasionally utilising short-distance flapping >>

Dennis F. A. E. Voeten, Jorge Cubo, et al.  Wing bone geometry reveals active flight in Archaeopteryx. Nature Communications. 2018; 9 (923). doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03296-8.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03296-8  

# age: E3-ubiquitin ligases, the 'garbage disposal system' and the cell immortality

<< Human embryonic stem cells are considered to be immortal: they do not age, they can proliferate indefinitely >>

<< One of the mechanisms underlying immortality is the 'garbage disposal system' known as the proteasome >>

<< Of key relevance in the proteasome system are the so-called E3-ubiquitin ligases >>

AA << screened more than 600 proteins systematically and narrowed it down to 30 E3 ligases of special interest >>

AA << found that a global reduction in the proteolytic activity affects many intrinsic characteristics of embryonic stem cells, providing a link between immortality and up-regulated protein degradation >>

University of Cologne. On the immortality of stem cells. Mar 7, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-03-immortality-stem-cells.html

Isabel Saez, Seda Koyuncu, et al. Insights into the ubiquitin-proteasome system of human embryonic stem cells. Scientific Reports. 2018; 8 (4092). doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-22384-9.     Mar 6, 2018.
   
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22384-9