Strange Machines

Most recently I finished reading Gregory Benford’s The Sunborn, a hard SF novel about life on Pluto (and other wildcards).

He introduced a new form of life which never occurred to me before and I felt so enthralled about the abundance and diversity of life itself (read Deep-Sea Alien Abode Discovered for starters).

Even though we haven’t found anything alive outside our planet yet doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Now this translates into probabilities rather than concrete proof in the form of Drake Equation. But Benford’s novel does raise an interesting issue – that perhaps other forms of life may be in a form that we are unable to detect with our instruments after all.

My own theory, is that we’re so far in the corner of the Universe, so far from the excitement of the centre that no one has detected us nor us them. The Universe is a huge place, but the laws of physics does limit travel (even as planet-sized beings) through its vastness.

Still, when I think about the magnitude and grandeur of this place we live in, I am grateful to exist even for this microsecond to breathe it in and know that I am a part of it.

Today Wolf discovered that he could stick his head between the bars on Grandma’s bed and see the other side. He was so tickled he kept giggling and repeating it.

Last night we stayed over at my Mom’s because I had an early interview with Nobel Laureate Dr Richard Roberts. Not used to the new bedtime place, Wolf woke after an hour and a half and refused to sleep again till midnight.

He associates the room with play time so it was hard getting him back to bed while he was rolling around, trying to stand, and looking here and there.

He finally woke up for good at 7am when my Mom found him standing above my head clutching the rails gleefully while I held his legs semi-comatose.

The whole thing wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t sick with a bad cold (which may actually turn out to be the flu).

Tonight he was out like a night in our own bed.

New findings on an old argument. Essentially parenting still matters most. They emphasise quality parenting.

Do note that the study has only tracked the children till they are 12 so far. It still cannot tell us how they will be when they are adults.

“Parenting quality significantly predicted all the developmental outcomes and much more strongly than did any of the child-care predictors,” the researchers wrote.

The source of the fuss is the latest installment of a long-running $200 million effort by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Since 1991, a team of researchers has been tracking more than 1,300 children, following them from infancy through various child-care settings (home with mother, home with another relative, home with nanny, or at day care) and into elementary school. In the March/April issue of Child Development, the team asks “Are There Long-Term Effects of Early Child Care?”

To answer that question, the researchers report their findings about the kids’ academic achievement and behavior through sixth grade. The study controls for a host of variables, like socioeconomic status, quality of parenting (annoyingly, this measure involves only mothers), quality of child care, and quality of the elementary-school classroom. It’s all very well-done and careful.

The higher-than-average incidence of bad behavior showed up only among kids who spent three or four years in day care before the age of 4½.

The kids with more reported behavior problems in elementary school were the ones who spent three or four years in day care and whose care was, on average, of lower quality.

“We found that more time in day-care centers correlates to higher problem behavior scores,” (the study’s author, Margaret) Burchinal said. “This raises the question whether it could be the quality within those centers” that accounts for the effect.

Burchinal points out that on average, day care for infants and toddlers is worse than for preschoolers. It’s more expensive because states require more staff for babies. And the littlest kids don’t get much out of being in a group like the older ones do. The youngest thrive on one-on-one attention, and it takes considerable skill and experience to deftly juggle the needs of a bunch of them. So maybe the real lesson here is a reminder: Day care for infants and toddlers is the hardest to do well. And lower-quality care, coupled with three or four years spent at a center, doesn’t appear to serve kids quite as well as other arrangements (though the difference in slight).

Still, the study’s results, properly explained, do not suggest that kids who spent a year or two in day care when they are 3 and 4—or, in my opinion at least, kids who go to excellent day care for longer periods—will talk back to their teachers and throw more than their share of spitballs when they get older. These kids will behave themselves just fine. As long as their parents don’t screw them up.

(Source and full article: The Kids Are Alright on Slate)

More evidence surfaces to reinforce the fact that:

1. We mirror the people we are with.
2. Angry and negative people sap the happiness out of you.

I’ve read about toxic relationships years ago and make it a point to avoid them.

So what are toxic relationships? Basically they are one-sided, negative relationships where there is little or no reciprocity, and which serve to make you feel bad about yourself or the things you care about. And they bring you down.

This doesn’t mean we’re not there for friends who are sad or having a bad time. That’s the basis of friendship. But when they resolutely want you to be unhappy by their words and actions, that is the time to cut all ties, albeit gradually and gently.

I have made it a resolution to be happy and positive and be a joy to the people around me (and if I fail, do let me know). Everything is about perspective. I choose to see things in a positive light. Note that even the title of this post focuses on the positive.

Life is too short to dwell on unhappiness. Find a solution and work through it if you are. How happy you are is really up to you. Remember, you can’t please everyone. Sit up, smell the roses, and hug your pet, baby, or parent today.

(Source: Angry/negative people can be bad for your brain)

An increased risk of bad eyesight, obesity, premature puberty, and autism. Isn’t that reason enough to drag your child kicking and screaming away from the TV right now?

(Source: PhysOrg.com – Television poses risk to childrens’ health: study)

Because I usually work late at night, sometimes I hear Wolf crying for me from the next room. Now the interesting thing is, out of every 5 times, at least twice it is just my imagination. I definitely have baby on the brain…

If you’re feeling down or sad for apparently no reason, look around and see if the negativity is coming from somewhere nearby. Is it a well-meaning relative commenting on the neatness of your home, or your neighbour wondering about your ability to parent? All these gentle put-downs can be detrimental to your confidence as a mother and set you on the road to depression.

When this happens, identify the toxic comments and acknowledge them for what they are: someone’s opinion. You cannot change the words people choose to spew from their mouths but you can choose not to be physically close enough to hear them, or if it is not possible, choose to mark that person’s word as invalid (mind exercise: imagine everytime that person talks, place a mental stamp across his or her forehead).

You are your child’s best mother and you should not allow anyone to spoil that relationship. It is easy to believe someone else when you’re unsure, tired, and simply exhausted from parenting, whether or not you are working. If you allow that person to destroy your confidence as a mother, only you and your child will suffer for it. Not the commentor.

So give yourself a pat on the shoulder for being a great Mom. Trust your Mommy instincts. Yes, your Mommy radar is tuned. You know what your baby needs and you are confident to provide him with what he needs: love, food, warmth, comfort, and play. Your baby agrees too. Just look at his face light up when he sees you.

Unfortunately for us humans (and cats too, sorry) we’re unable to regenerate any of our parts with our stem cells like our invertebrate relative, the sea squirt. Not yet at least but scientists are working on it.

… regeneration (for the sea squirt) began from dozens of tiny compartments loaded with stem cells, which the researchers dubbed regeneration niches. “In mammals, many adult organs and tissues contain specific stem cells that are involved in repair and some restricted regeneration abilities,” biologist Ram Reshef at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa said.

Regenerating our bits would mean a longer life as we turn in our old parts for new ones. It’s one of the touted killer apps for longevity and anti-aging advocates. Right now, all we have is calorie restriction and it’s often a tough one to follow (think: pineapple tarts).

While the stem cells the researchers looked at are much like stem cells in adult mammals that give rise to our tissues and organs, “the huge difference is that they culminate in an entire organism,” Reshef said. The most important implication of their finding is the possibility that vertebrate adult tissue stem cells may exhibit the same capabilities to generate any cell in the body, he added.

Reshef and his colleagues are currently teasing apart the molecular mechanisms by which the sea squirt accomplishes its whole body regeneration and to compare that process with similar mechanisms in other invertebrates and vertebrates. “We speculate that vertebrates altered or suppressed parts or all of this ability,” Reshef said.

Hope for us, no?

(Source: LiveScience – Sea Squirt Regrows Entire Body from One Blood Vessel)

From LiveScience.com today:

Warmer temperatures promised by climate change researchers could affect children more than adults in the form of more frequent fevers.

An Australian researcher compared emergency room visits for children under age six to climate data. Higher temperatures outside were related to more visits by children with fevers and gastroenteritis.

‘We showed that maximum daily temperature is strongly associated with emergency presentations of fever and gastroenteritis among young children, with UV index negatively associated with gastroenteritis,” said Lawrence Lam, a pediatrics lecturer at Sydney University.

The possible reason: Children’s bodies can’t cope with extreme changes in temperature as well as adults.

“The results from this study suggest a detrimental effect from climatic changes, particularly in terms of maximum temperature, on children’s health,” Lam said. “As global warming is becoming more apparent, there is an urgent need for more in-depth and thorough investigation of climatic factors on human health, especially in early childhood.”

The study, announced today, is detailed in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research.

Lam found no connection between climate and emergency visits due to respiratory problems. Other researchers have speculated that global warming will fuel increased allergies.

This basically means Wolf should be kept out of the sun (or wear sunblock) and be hydrated while outside.

I’ve been thinking a lot about flow lately and what sort of activities I do get immersed in, some practical, some not, and that explains why sometimes I get annoyed when interrupted midway of the activity.

* Organising pix of my cats and Wolf
* Meddling with my blog or website
* Playing any RPG
* Oil painting
* Reading an engaging book
* Watching an engaging movie
* Watching a happy scene in my mind’s eye

Flow is a sort of play for adults and kids alike which has been proven to bring happiness and fulfillment.

One route to more happiness is called “flow,” an engrossing state that comes during creative or playful activity, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has found. Athletes, musicians, writers, gamers, and religious adherents know the feeling. It comes less from what you’re doing than from how you do it.

(Source: The Keys to Happiness, and Why We Don’t Use Them)

For me, it is very therapeutic to immerse myself into something for a while.

Happiness is within our reach. We just have to stretch out and grasp it.