# behav: the social / antisocial flexibility of yellow-bellied marmots (M. flaviventer)

<< Humans in strong social relationships are more likely to live longer because social relationships may buffer stressors and thus have protective effects. However, a shortcoming of human studies is that they often rely on self-reporting of these relationships. >>

AA << focused on socially flexible yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) and asked whether female longevity covaries with the specific nature of social relationships. >>

AA << found a significant negative phenotypic correlation between affiliative social relationship strength and longevity; marmots with greater degree, closeness and those with a greater negative average shortest path length died at younger ages. >>

<< sociality plays an important role in longevity, but how it does so may depend on whether a species is obligately or facultatively social. >>

Daniel T. Blumstein, Dana M. Williams, et al.   Strong social relationships are associated with decreased longevity in a facultatively social mammal. Proc Royal Soc B. Biol Sci. Jan 17, 2018. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1934.

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/285/1871/20171934

Douglas Quenqua. Being Antisocial Leads to a Longer Life. For Marmots. NYTimes. Jan. 17, 2018.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/science/marmots-antisocial-lifespan.html

# acad: Prometheus vs Pandora interplay

<< Some of the most important rules we need to discover are about how to use technology and, just as importantly, how not to use it. >>

<< The great institutional economist Clarence Ayres wrote about how technology becomes incorporated into our lives in a way that is roughly equivalent to the way tribal societies use totems to interact with each other. >>

<< Every inventor is both a Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, and a Pandora unwittingly releasing a swarm of potential evils on the world. The competition of ideas between hype and doomsaying allows us to discover helpful rules which deal with both. >>

<< Technology doesn't come with a ready-made rulebook for how to use it. We have to discover this in a process of trial, error and argument. And for this the doomsayer is just as vital as the visionary. >>

Brendan Markey-Towler. Doomsaying about new technology helps make it better. Jun 21, 2018.

https://theconversation.com/doomsaying-about-new-technology-helps-make-it-better-98623  

# life: Hopeful Entities are waiting at La Martella Railway Station

La Martella Railway Station, Ferrandina, Matera, Italy, 2017.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/slideshow/2018/06/25/t-magazine/italys-abandoned-buildings-in-photographs/s/14tmag-sicily-slide-EKIB.html  

Merrell Hambleton. An Ode to Italy's Absurdly Beautiful Modern Ruins. NYT. Jun 25, 2018.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/t-magazine/travel/italy-sicily-unfinished-architecture-ruins-photos.html

# gene: the genetic stochastic kernel inside A. asiatica

AA << report the first example of dual coding: Ascoidea asiatica stochastically encodes CUG as both serine and leucine in approximately equal proportions >>

Stefanie Muhlhausen, Hans Dieter Schmitt, et al.  Endogenous Stochastic Decoding of the CUG Codon by Competing Ser- and Leu- tRNAs in Ascoidea asiatica. Current Biology 28, 1–12 Jul 9, 2018 doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.085

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30557-8

Microbe breaks 'universal' DNA rule by using two different translations. University of Bath. Jun 14, 2018

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-06-microbe-universal-dna.html

# life: i tremiti (vortici?) previsionali di Giancarlo, by Alessandra Paola

<< Giancarlo Giorgetti, sottosegretario di Palazzo Chigi nel governo di Giuseppe Conte, pare abbia detto ai leghisti presenti nell' esecutivo di tenere una foto di Matteo Renzi come monito sulla scrivania. Per non dimenticare che quattro anni fa il Pd aveva conseguito il 40%, pari a 11 milioni di voti, alle elezioni europee >>

SOGNO O SONDAGGIO? PARLA PAOLA GHISLERI (..). Dagospia. 21.06.2018.

http://m.dagospia.com/salvini-la-lega-che-cresce-fi-e-pd-privi-di-strategie-berlusconi-fede-parla-paola-ghisleri-176827

# gst: to model a system that can "collapse without warning"

<< Volcanoes progressively weaken and may collapse without warning through hydrothermal alteration. These dangerous mass wasting processes occur less-frequently than eruptions or lahars but the resultant mass flows can be large in size, posing risk to local residents, and businesses. >>

<< Collapses are often multi-hazard events, with even small-scale landslides capable of triggering eruptions or creating break-out lahars. >>

<< These kind of events demonstrated the greater need to understand and assess this process >>

Gabor Kereszturi. Modelling volcanoes that "collapse without warning". Massey University. Jun 21, 2018.

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=972F6ACF-2667-451E-BDCC-2CC37FD26056

# health: International Classification of Diseases #ICD11, with the traditional medicine package included

<< For the first time, traditional medicine is included in the International Classification of Diseases #ICD11, which allows it to be better counted. >> Jun 18, 2018 05:06

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1008727563001266176

http://www.who.int/health-topics/international-classification-of-diseases

https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en