Is a highly-evolved ‘supermind’ the stuff of science fiction?

Humans cannot achieve greater mental functions – such as attention, memory, or intelligence – without trade-offs elsewhere, according to research by the University of Warwick.

Researchers wanted to know why we are not getting smarter than we are given the adaptive evolutionary process. Their findings suggested that for every gain in cognitive functions, there is a price to pay elsewhere.

For instance, among individuals with enhanced cognitive abilities – such as savants, people with photographic memories, and even genetically segregated populations of individuals with above average IQ – these individuals often suffer from related disorders, such as autism, debilitating synaesthesia, and neural disorders linked with enhanced brain growth.

Also included in the research was the use of drugs like Ritalin, which only help people with lower attention spans, whereas people who don’t have trouble focusing can actually perform worse when they take attention-enhancing drugs.

University of Warwick psychology researcher Thomas Hills said: “If you enhance your ability to focus too much, and end up over-focusing on specific details, like the driver trying to hide in your blind spot, then you may fail to see another driver suddenly veering into your lane from the other direction.”

The research, entitled ‘Why Aren’t We Smarter Already: Evolutionary Trade-Offs and Cognitive Enhancements,’ is published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Genetically modified corn losing resistance to major pest

Bt corn, one of the nation’s most widely produced crops, is thought to be losing its natural resistance to the western corn rootworm, a pest that feeds on the roots of corn and could potentially wreak economic havoc if it continues to spread.

Currently the infestations remain isolated, but concerns have been growing ever since Bt corn infestations have been discovered in four Midwestern states, a sign that the repeated planting of the corn strain – instead of being rotated with other crops – is enabling the insects’ resistance to the crop’s pest-fighting powers. Many farmers are foregoing rotation in order to cash in on the high corn prices.

Bt corn was introduced to farmers in 2003 and allowed growers to bring in bountiful harvests using fewer chemicals because the corn naturally produces a toxin that poisons the common pest.

Because of the corn farmers’ current – and most likely ongoing – practices, some scientists fear it could already be too late to prevent the rise of resistance. In addition, they’re also concerned about the problem becoming more widespread due to the rootworm larvae growing into adult beetles that can fly and migrate into new areas.

If rootworms do become resistant to Bt corn, it “could become the most economically damaging example of insect resistance to a genetically modified crop in the U.S.,” said Bruce Tabashnik, an entomologist at the University of Arizona. “It’s a pest of great economic significance — a billion-dollar pest.”

Cognitive abilities linked to diet and nutrients

Elderly people who had diets higher in levels of vitamins B, C, D & E and Omega-3 fatty acids did better on mental acuity tests and showed less brain shrinkage than those who ate a diet consisting of junk food, according to research by scientists from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

Brain shrinkage is typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies hinted at the role that nutrition may play in staving off the disease, but this study, the first of its kind, measured 30 different blood nutrient levels, reflecting a much wider range of nutrients, and adds specificity to the findings.

“This approach clearly shows the biological and neurological activity that’s associated with actual nutrient levels, both good and bad,” said Maret Traber, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute and co-author on the study.

“The vitamins and nutrients you get from eating a wide range of fruits, vegetables and fish can be measured in blood biomarkers,” Traber said. “I’m a firm believer these nutrients have strong potential to protect your brain and make it work better.”

The study group included elderly people with an average age of 87 with no special risk factors for memory or mental acuity.

The most favorable cognitive outcomes and brain size measurements were associated with two dietary patterns – high levels of marine fatty acids, and high levels of vitamins B, C, D and E. Trans-fatty foods were associated with the worst cognitive performance.

Gulf of Mexico dead zone predicted to be the largest ever recorded due to Mississippi River flooding

The dead zone area in the Gulf of Mexico is forecasted to grow to the size of New Hampshire, approximately 8,500 to 9,421 square miles, due to major flooding on the Mississippi river this spring. If this happens, it will be the largest recorded dead (hypoxic) zone in the Gulf of Mexico since it was first measured in 1985, according to NOAA scientists.

Hypoxic areas in seas and oceans is caused by excessive nutrient pollution, usually from agriculture run-off. This results in too little oxygen to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water. These dead zone areas, such as the Gulf one growing just off the coast of Louisiana and Texas,  are a threat to commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries.

“This ecological forecast is a good example of NOAA applied science,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “While there is some uncertainty regarding the size, position and timing of this year’s hypoxic zone in the Gulf, the forecast models are in overall agreement that hypoxia will be larger than we have typically seen in recent years.”

Researchers should know more about its size following a NOAA-supported monitoring survey led by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium between July 25 and August 6.

NOAA has been funding investigations and forecast development for the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico since 1990 and currently oversees the two national hypoxia programs authorized by the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act.

Many doctors over-prescribing instead of using drug-free conservative approaches

With almost half of all Americans using a prescription in the past month according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, experts are worried about the rampant practice of over-prescribing.

And other statistics related to the issue are of grave concern:

• The majority of patients under age 65 years receive at least one prescription drug annually.
• Four million prescriptions for long-acting painkillers are written every year; painkillers are the most commonly prescribed drugs in America.
• In 2007 there were 11,500 deaths related to painkillers; experts say the drugs do not always deliver substantial pain relief, and carry a high risk of addiction, side effects, and death.

Gordon D. Schiff, M.D., from Harvard Medical School, Boston, with colleagues in the medical and pharmacy divisions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, outlines a series of steps in their published report that appeared Archives of Internal Medicine,one of the JAMA/Archives journals, that can be taken to rein in prescription writing. “Although others have used labels such as healthy skepticism, more judicious, rational, careful, or cautious prescribing,” they write, “we believe that the term conservative prescribing conveys an approach that goes beyond the oft-repeated physician’s mantra, ‘first, do no harm.’”

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Consuming olive oil may prevent strokes

If you, or someone you know, is 65 or older, researchers are now suggesting the inclusion of more olive oil in your diet to help prevent stroke.

In a study by the University of Bordeaux of 7,625 people aged 65 and older, those who regularly used olive for cooking and as a dressing had a 41 percent lower risk of stroke compared with those who never consumed olive oil.

“Our research suggests that a new set of dietary recommendations should be issued to prevent stroke in people 65 and older,” said study author Cécilia Samieri, PhD, with the University of Bordeaux and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Bordeaux, France. “Stroke is so common in older people and olive oil would be an inexpensive and easy way to help prevent it.”

Olive oil is associated with other proven health benefits as well, such as protective effects against diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

Rate of carbon release 10 times faster than previous period of rapid global warming

Based on core samples from 55.9 million years ago, when the earth last experienced a rapid period of global warming, our current rate of carbon release is nearly 10 times as fast. According to geologists, rate matters and this current rapid change may not allow sufficient time for the biological environment to adjust.

The past warming period, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), experienced a rapid increase in global temperatures over a time span of 20,000 years. Based on models developed at Penn State University, the outcome was a warming of from 9 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit and an acidification event in the oceans.

“Rather than the 20,000 years of the PETM which is long enough for ecological systems to adapt, carbon is now being released into the atmosphere at a rate 10 times faster,” said Lee R. Kump, professor of geosciences at Penn State. “It is possible that this is faster than ecosystems can adapt.”

Hypnosis helps the healing process after surgery

In Belgium, anesthesiologists who used a combination of hypnosis and local anesthesia, vs. only general anesthesia, found that patients’ opioid drug use was greatly diminished, as well as time spent in the recovery room and the length of their hospital stay.

The hypnosis was performed on breast cancer and thyroid patients. ”In all of these procedures local anaesthesia is feasible but not, on its own, sufficient to ensure patient comfort,” says Professor Roelants from the Department of Anaesthesiology at the Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc, UCL, Brussels, Belgium.

“In addition to reducing drug use and hospital stay time, being able to avoid general anaesthesia in breast cancer surgery is important because we know that local anaesthesia can block the body’s stress response to surgery and could therefore reduce the possible spread of metastases,” said Professor Roelants.

The anesthesiologists use eye fixation, progressive muscle relaxation, or the retrieval of a pleasant memory to focus a patient’s attention on one particular point, enabling a modified state of consciousness, with a different perception of the world.

“There is still a lot of debate around the exact mechanism that allows hypnosis to reduce pain perception,” said Professor Roelants,” but what it absolutely clear is that it does so. The result is that one third of thyroidectomies and a quarter of all breast cancer surgery carried out at the UCL hospital are performed under local anaesthetic with the patient under hypnosis.”

The anesthesiologists have confirmed that, regardless of sex or age, and if the patient is motivated, ready to co-operate, and trusts the doctors, hypnosis will work. It can also be applied to surgical patients who undergo carotid artery surgery, inguinal hernia, knee arthroscopy, gynaecological surgery, ophthalmology, ear nose and throat, plastic surgery and egg retrieval for fertility treatment.

The research findings were presented June 12, 2011 at the European Anaesthesiology Congress in Amsterdam.

“Self-talk” works to improves one’s performance

The link between one’s thoughts and improving performance, specifically in sports, is thought to be activated by the use of “self-talk”  - a psychic strategy that triggers a desired behavior through the use of self-addressed cues – words and phrases - mostly by focusing attention and psyching-up.

“We know this strategy works, and it works in sports,” says sports psychologist Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis. But Hatzigeorgiadis and fellow researchers wanted to know more – specifically, what makes it work better, and in what circumstances.

Researchers at the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Thessaly found that different self-talk cues work differently in different situations.

For tasks requiring fine skills or for improving technique “instructional self-talk,” such as a technical instruction (“elbow-up” which Hatzigeorgiadis coaches beginner freestyle swimmers to say) is more effective than “motivational self-talk” (e.g., “give it all”), which seems to be more effective in tasks requiring strength or endurance, boosting confidence and psyching-up for competition.

Also, probably because it improves concentration, self-talk has a greater effect on tasks involving fine skills (such as sinking a golf ball) rather than gross skills (e.g., cycling). The researchers also found that self-talk is more effective for learning new tasks rather than well-learned tasks, because it is easier to improve at the early steps of learning.

The main goals behind self-talk—like other techniques such as visualization to “rehearse” a performance or meditation to improve focus and relaxation—are twofold, says Hatzigeorgiadis: “to enhance your potential; and to perform during competition in terms of your ability and not less.”

Apples linked with keeping muscles strong into old age

A component of apple peels just might keep the doctor away. Ursolic acid, a natural compound found in the peel, is believed to correct gene signatures that lead to muscle atrophy, according to findings from the University of Iowa.

When ursolic acid was added to the food of normal mice for a period of weeks, their muscles grew. The animals also became leaner and had lower blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides.

“Muscle wasting is a frequent companion of illness and aging,” said Christopher Adams of The University of Iowa, Iowa City. “It prolongs hospitalization, delays recoveries and in some cases prevents people from going back home. It isn’t well understood and there is no medicine for it.”

It has not been determined whether the findings in mice will happen the same effect in human patients, Adams says, but his goal now is to “figure out if this can help people.” If so, the next step is determining how much needs to be consumed to have the same health benefits.