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If Wishes Were Horses: Thomas Tracy Beatie Lagondino Revisited
Springfield, VA, USA. A previous column, The Woman Who Became A Man Who Became A Woman (http://ts-si.org/content/view/3122/995/#pc_836), discussed Thomas Beatie who was born female, underwent full breast removal (top surgery), and now lives as a male — except that he was pregnant [N1]. I concluded that of all the things Thomas Beatie might be, a man was not one of them [N2].
Transgendered, Yes; Male, obviously no.
A few months after the column was published, TS-Si received a comment from a person who identifies as a transman (female to male HBS man) even though his choice of an email identity, trannyboy, would suggest he is only transgendered. For the purposes of discussion, a brief excerpt from his comment follows:
I apologize if this offends you but you should be basing your opinions on the truth in this and all matters. I am a FTM transsexual, that is my label …
First this is not the first case of FTM pregnancy, though I agree it is unusual. I personally know of 4 cases including Thomas's. …
I am also aware of many FTMs who would be very insulted to hear that because they choose to keep their organs for personal reasons they wouldn't be considered FTM. I choose to get rid of mine first because that was the surgery I could get but not everyone is me. There will always be men who don't choose surgery because they feel the risks are too high …
I know nothing of the man's process of transitioning but I do know that he has stated his identity and you and I must respect it if we wish others to respect us … Firstly that he has not yet had surgery doesn't mean anything to his identity....
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Does Biology Influence Political Activities And Electoral Participation?
San Diego, CA, USA. There have been intermittent claims for the genetic basis of specific behaviors, such as anger and heterosexuality. These efforts have been overtaken by events, most prominently by an advanced understanding of the difference between the human genome (all DNA) and its subset, the specific genes (packets of coded information extracted from DNA).
Behavior is now known to have a physiological basis with certain adaptive flexibilities that derive from non-genetic sources. As a result, the identification of specific genes must be treated as observational, pending a more detailed analysis of the genomic context.
[C1] Genetic Variation in Political Participation. James H. Fowler, Laura A. Baker, Christopher T. Dawes. American Political Science Review. 102(2) 233-248. doi: 10.1017 / S0003055408080209. [ Download PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/APSRMay08Fowler_etal.pdf) ]
[C2] Two Genes Predict Voter Turnout. James H. Fowler and Christopher T. Dawes. Journal of Politics 70(3) 579–594. doi: 10.1017 / S0022381608080638. ISSN 0022-3816. [ Download PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/06-08GenesAndVoting.pdf) ]
For the first time, research has linked specific genes to political behavior. The new findings suggest that a decision to vote is partly influenced by genes that influence participation in elections and in a wide range of political activities. Investigators identified a link between two specific genes and political participation.
The baseline research was conducted by James H. Fowler and Christopher T. Dawes (University of California, San Diego (http://www.ucsd.edu/portal/site/ucsd)) and Laura A. Baker University of Southern California - USC (http://www.usc.edu/)). Their findings appear in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (http://www.nber.org/~kling/surveys/AddHealth.html) (1994-2002). This data has been utilized in a wide variety of genetic studies, but this is the first time it was used to show that participatory political behavior is heritable.
For example, among identical twins, the researchers conclude that 72 per cent of...
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Locating The Make Everything Better Button
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How Our Mental Imagery Influences Visual Perception
Nashville, TN, USA. When you and another person see one another, how each of you unleash your imagination may actually influence how you see the world.
Research has found that mental imagery — what we see with the mind's eye — directly impacts our visual perception.
It is well known that a powerful perceptual experience can change the way a person sees things later. Just think of what can happen if you discover an unwanted pest in your kitchen, such as a mouse. Suddenly you see mice in every dust ball and dark corner — or think you do.
The Functional Impact of Mental Imagery on Conscious Perception. Joel Pearson, Colin W.C. Clifford and Frank Tong. Current Biology, 2008; doi: 10.1016 / j.cub.2008.05.048.
Is it possible that imagining something, just once, might also change how you perceive things? The study authors say that These findings are important because they suggest a potential mechanism by which top-down expectations or recollections of previous experiences might shape perception itself.
We found that imagery leads to a short-term memory trace that can bias future perception, says Joel Pearson, research associate in the Vanderbilt University (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/) Department of Psychology, and lead author of the study. This is the first research to definitively show that imagining something changes vision both while you are imagining it and later on.
You might think you need to imagine something 10 times or 100 times before it has an impact, says Frank Tong, associate professor of psychology and co-author of the study.
Our results show that even a single instance of imagery can tilt how you see the world one way or another, dramatically, if the conditions are right.
To...
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Duh: Men Who Have Frequent Intercourse Have Less Erectile Dysfunction
Tampere, Finland. Delivering what may prove to be a decided mixed blessing to post-op women (and others) everywhere, researchers have shown that having intercourse more often may help prevent the development of erectile dysfunction (ED). The findings of a new baseline study were published in Download IIEF-5 PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/IIEF-5ScoringSystem.pdf) ]
Writing in the article, Juha Koskimäki, MD, PhD, Tampere University Hospital (http://www.uta.fi/tiedekunnat/laak/english/index_eng.html), Department of Urology (Tampere, Finland), states:
Regular intercourse has an important role in preserving erectile function among elderly men, whereas morning erection does not exert a similar effect. Continued sexual activity decreases the incidence of erectile dysfunction in direct proportion to coital frequency.
The study clearly indicates that regular intercourse protects men from the development of erectile dysfunction, which may, in turn, impact general health and quality of life.
The investigators advise clinicians to support the sexual activity of their patients.
Regular Intercourse Protects Against Erectile Dysfunction: Tampere Aging Male Urologic Study. Juha Koskimäki, Rahman Shiri, Teuvo Tammela, Jukka Häkkinen, Matti Hakama, and Anssi Auvinen. The American Journal of Medicine, 121(7) 592-596. ISSN: 0002-9343
Abstract
Background. Erectile dysfunction is common among men aged more than 60 years. Its cause involves both physiologic and psychosocial factors.
Methods. To evaluate the effects of coital frequency on subsequent risk of erectile dysfunction, data were analyzed from a population-based 5-year follow-up study that was conducted in Pirkanmaa, Finland, using postal questionnaires. Assessment was based on the 5-item version of the validated International Index of Erectile Function. Men with erectile dysfunction at entry were excluded from the analysis. The study sample consisted of 989 men aged 55 to 75 years (mean 59.2 years). The most common comorbidities were hypertension (32%), heart disease (12%), depression (7%), diabetes (4%,) and cerebrovascular disorder (4%).
Results. The overall incidence of moderate or complete erectile dysfunction was 32 cases...
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I Am Not Good With Boomerangs
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The United States Declaration Of Independence
Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Declaration of Independence
The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of...
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Why We Ostracise: The Failing Cat’s Cradle
Melbourne, Victoria, AUS. Anyone who has been a leader, who has tried to make large workplace changes, who doesn’t speak English, who has a mental illness or is a teenage girl, knows the power of ostracism. The social webs of friends, of clubs, community and in the workplace are becoming stretched for a variety of complex reasons.
One of the perverse by-products of living in a post industrial society is the frequent use of ostracism, especially among the middle class, as a form of punishment.
How many patterns of life were based on kindred misconceptions, how many wolves do we feel on our heels, while our real enemies go in sheepskin by? — Under the Volcano (http://www.amazon.com/Under-Volcano-Novel-Perennial-Classics/dp/0060955228), Malcolm Lowry.
I first became interested in ostracisation in the early 1980s while reading Colin Turnbull’s book, The Mountain People (http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-People-Colin-M-Turnbull/dp/0671640984). It’s a harrowing anthropological study of the Ik people of northern Kenya.
They suffered (and still are suffering) terrible famines. Their life is brutish and the fit and strong survive at the cost of their social structure and friendship groups.
The Ik ostracise each other to survive. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, except the dogs were eaten long ago. Everyday, because the tribe is totally atomised, every member sneaks off alone (the children hunt in packs) to catch quarry that they greedily covert. There’s not much caring or sharing with the Ik.
We like to be liked. It’s nice to be part of a group. It’s comforting when people call us and enquire about our health or invite us out. We’re not like the Ik - or are we?
As a kid I played a string game called Cat’s Cradle. The object of the game was to form a geometric pattern using string held taut between...
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Sour Economy Limits Options For US States In '08
Washington, DC, USA. For many states, 2008 will be remembered for record numbers of home foreclosures, $4-a-gallon gasoline and the beginning of a slide into new fiscal trouble after two years of overflowing coffers.
Stateline.org’s annual state-by-state look at legislative accomplishments, covering 36 states so far, finds lawmakers uneasy over finances and largely shying away from major expansions of public health-insurance programs or free preschool classes. A basket of new worries emerged: homeowners sucked into mortgage scams, the threat of expanding Medicaid rolls as unemployment rises, a looming shortfall in states’ main source of highway funding and predictions of even worse financial woes ahead.
Seeking new ways to replenish its treasury, New York in 2008 became the first state to target billions in Internet sales by requiring out-of-state retailers to start collecting sales taxes on state residents’ purchases, though Amazon.com is challenging the law in court. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) solicited a whopping $12.8 billion bid from a private company to lease the state’s turnpike for 75 years, a proposal still under debate.
While tax increases are usually a last resort for lawmakers, especially in an election year, Minnesota legislators overrode a veto by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) to hike the state’s gasoline tax by 8.5 cents a gallon to raise road and bridge funds in the wake of last year’s deadly Minneapolis bridge collapse. Maryland adopted a new tax on millionaires, and New York upped its tax on cigarettes from $1.50 a pack to $2.75 a pack – highest in the country.
With the race for the White House in full swing, states began waiting out the Bush administration to see whether they’ll fare better with a new president in a host of disagreements with the federal government. Numerous states are pushing for changes...
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Ranking Your Happiness: Where Do You Fit In?
Washington, DC, USA. The respected World Values Survey (WVS) (http://margaux.grandvinum.se/SebTest/wvs/index_html) shows happiness increased worldwide from 1981 to 2007.
Did you know that USA ranks number 16 in world happiness? In fact, the United States ranks ahead of more than 80 countries, but below 15 others in happiness levels.
The World Values Survey (WVS) is the work of a global network of social scientists who perform periodic surveys addressing a number of issues. The latest surveys, taken in the United States and in several developing countries, showed increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries for which substantial time series data was available.
European and World Values Surveys: Four-Wave Integrated Data File, 1981-2004, v.20060423, 2006. The European Values Study Foundation and World Values Survey Association. Aggregate File Producers: ASEP/JDS, Madrid, Spain/Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands. Aggregate File Distributors: ASEP/JDS and ZA, Cologne, Germany. [ Download Country Ranking PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/HappinessData2008pr111725.pdf) ]
[ Download Data Files Zip (http://ts-si.org/files/xwvsevs_1981_2000_v20060423_sav.zip) (SAV Format, 46Mb ]
[ WVS Conditions of Use PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/WVSConditionsOfUse.pdf) ]
The World Values Survey (WVS) (http://margaux.grandvinum.se/SebTest/wvs/index_html) researchers have interviewed more than 350,000 people and measured happiness since 1981. [N1] Researchers responsible for the analysis, from the Institute for Social Research (ISR) (http://www.isr.umich.edu/home/) at the University of Michigan (http://www.umich.edu/), say the overall rise in reported happiness is due to greater economic growth, democratization and social tolerance. The survey data was released in Perspectives on Psychological Science (http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1745-6916 site=1) [N2].
Denmark tops the list of surveyed nations, along with Puerto Rico and Colombia. A dozen other countries, including Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden also rank above the United States, which maintains about the same relative position as it did in WVS's 2000 survey.
Political scientist Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the...
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Body Image, Women, And Facial Feminization Surgery
Springfield, VA, USA. Society (the women and men around us) has always been more comfortable if its members fall within certain known, established patterns: this is how we dress, this is what we say, this is what we believe, this is how we look.
These are the standards by which a society defines itself and separates from the non-members (the other societies that may live around it — the proverbial they and them your mother warned you about).
Throughout human history, every society has had intrinsic cultural standards for beauty, especially beauty as it applies to women. Certain images are held up as examples of womanly perfection. Ancient Egypt, which placed a strong emphasis on images (statues, reliefs, wall paintings), provides hundreds, if not thousands of examples of their societal expectation for female beauty. [N1] Cultural emphasis on women's appearance is an ancient and ongoing story, perhaps one that is coded in our genes.
What is beauty? Like pornography, we know beauty when we see it but how shall we define it?
Attempts to reduce beauty down to binary data and mathematical models is nothing new. Two millennium ago, Pythagoras observed connections between math, geometry and beauty. He proposed that features of physical objects (e.g., women, buildings, etc) corresponding to the golden ratio were the most attractive.
Modern researchers, using a computer to processed and mapped the geometric shape of facial features mathematically, have discovered common patterns to societal expectations of beauty. [N2] Additional features such as face symmetry, smoothness of the skin and hair color were fed into the analysis. Based on human preferences, the machine learned the relation between facial features and attractiveness scores and was then put to the test on a fresh set of faces. The computer...
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Brain Mapping Initiative Reaches Core Of Human Brain
Bloomington, IN, USA. An international team of researchers has created the first complete high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex — the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher level thinking — connect and communicate. They have identified a single network core, or hub, that integrates both brain hemispheres.
The map shows a core of brain regions with highly interconnected structures (the brain connectome ). The groundbreaking work also describes a novel application of a non-invasive technique that can be used by other scientists to continue mapping the trillions of neural connections in the brain at even greater resolution, which is becoming a new field of science ( connectomics ).
Mapping the Structural Core of Human Cerebral Cortex. Patric Hagmann, Leila Cammoun, Xavier Gigandet, Reto Meuli, Christopher J. Honey, Van J. Wedeen, Olaf Sporns. PLoS Biology 6(7) e159 doi: 10.1371 / journal.pbio.0060159 [ Download PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/10.1371_journal.pbio.0060159-L.pdf) ]
A map of the human cerebral cortex identifies a single network core that could be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain. Image courtesy of Indiana University.
Until now, scientists have mostly used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to measure brain activity — locating which parts of the brain become active during perception or cognition — but there has been little understanding of the role of the underlying anatomy in generating this activity.
What is known of neural fiber connections and pathways has largely been learned from animal studies, and so far, no complete map of brain connections in the human brain exists.
In this new study, a team of neuroimaging researchers led by Patric Hagmann used state-of-the-art diffusion MRI technology, which is a non-invasive scanning technique that estimates fiber connection trajectories based on gradient maps of the diffusion...
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Bumper Crop Of New US State Laws Sprouts Up In July
Washington, DC, USA. As of July 1, Colorado gamblers who are deadbeat parents will see their winnings diverted to pay unpaid child support, drivers in California and Washington state can no longer use hand-held cell phones in transit and people who attend animal fights in Virginia risk felony charges. And New Mexico targets human traffickers.
This is a sampling of the hundreds of new laws that take effect July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year for 46 states. Among the more widespread issues targeted in these laws are the behavior of young drivers, illegal immigration, registration of sex offenders and the sale of alcohol.
Two states are introducing first-in-the-nation laws to crack down on deadbeat parents and delinquent taxpayers — if they also happen to be lucky gamblers. Several states already have laws to seize lottery winnings from parents delinquent on their child-support payments, but Colorado is the first to take earnings from slots (if winnings reach at least $1,200) and from racetracks (at least $600).
Iowa is going after those who win at least $10,000 from slots or racetracks to also recoup back taxes, court debts and other payments.
Other laws taking effect July 1 will bring more states in line with national trends. Iowa, for example, becomes the 28th state to ban smoking in almost all indoor public places, including bars and restaurants.
Colorado will become the 35th state to end its blue law regarding liquor sales and allow liquor stores to open on Sundays, ending a ban that dates back to Prohibition. Georgia will become the 37th state to let residents buy wine online from wineries (although it is not one of the 13 states that allow residents to buy from Internet wine retailers). Georgia restaurant-goers can now take home...
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Complex Synapses Drive Evolution Of The Human Brain
Edinburgh, UK. New research into the brain puts us one step closer to understanding it's evolutionary origins and basic design principles. The findings suggest that size alone does not dictate brain power. The evolution of sophisticated molecular processing of nerve impulses allowed the development of animals with increasingly complex behaviors.
The study shows that two waves of increased sophistication in the structure of nerve junctions could have been the force that allowed complex brains - including our own - to evolve. The big building blocks evolved before big brains.
Evolutionary expansion and anatomical specialization of synapse proteome complexity. Richard D Emes, Andrew J Pocklington, Christopher N G Anderson, Alex Bayes, Mark O Collins, Catherine A Vickers, Mike D R Croning, Bilal R Malik, Jyoti S Choudhary, J Douglas Armstrong Seth G N Grant. Nature Neuroscience 11, 799 - 806 (2008). doi: 10.1038 / nn.2135.
Current thinking suggests that the protein components of nerve connections - called synapses - are similar in most animals from humble worms to humans and that it is increase in the number of synapses in larger animals that allows more sophisticated thought.
Our simple view that 'more nerves' is sufficient to explain 'more brain power' is simply not supported by our study, explained Professor Seth Grant, Head of the Genes to Cognition Programme (http://www.genes2cognition.org/) at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Teams/Team32/) and leader of the project.
Although many studies have looked at the number of neurons, none has looked at the molecular composition of neuron connections. We found dramatic differences in the numbers of proteins in the neuron connections between different species .
We studied around 600 proteins that are found in mammalian synapses and were surprised to find that only 50 percent of...
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US State Workers Give Thanks For Thursday
Washington, DC, USA. As fuel and energy costs continue to soar to record highs, a growing number of states are offering more of their public employees compressed workweeks to hold down states’ energy spending and give long-distance commuters some relief from paying high gas prices.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.(R), announcing on June 26 the most comprehensive plan in the country, ordered about 17,000 state employees to a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. work schedule Mondays through Thursdays — a plan set to begin the first week of August and continue for at least a year. Essential services, such as highway patrols, courts, public schools and colleges, will not be affected by the changes, which are expected to save the state $3 million, Lisa Roskelley, the governor’s spokeswoman, said.
Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina already have offered optional compressed workweeks to a handful of its state employees, while a smattering of other states — Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Vermont among them — are considering expanding existing programs to more state agencies.
Utah stands alone as the only to state to make four-day workweeks mandatory for agencies and shut down offices on Fridays. About 1,000 of the 3,000 state buildings will be closed that day under the new plan.
Departments in other states with similar programs remain open five days a week, but stagger workers’ schedules, although many have for years offered flex-time and four-day schedules to some employees.
Supporters say four-day workweeks help commuter-clogged roads, give people access to government services for longer hours, reduce emissions and conserve energy at state facilities — a residual benefit that saves taxpayers money. Keeping workers home once a week also appeals to rural states where mass transit is limited or nonexistent.
Critics...
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