PIONEERS, ORIGINAL THINKERS &
GOOD DEED DOERS
NASA"S FEMALE FRONTIERS PROJECT
The New Year is blasting off to a fabulous start. Next week we will kick off our Female Frontiers project with a web chat featuring Nancy Roman, NASA's first chief of Astronomy and the first women to hold an executive level job at NASA. Nancy's chat will begin our series of interactive events featuring women who have achieved firsts in their fields. This series of events honors Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander of STS-93 scheduled for an April launch. More details about this event and registration for chats can be found by linking from the Women of NASA home page at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women and from the Female Frontiers pages
Gene vs Culture Coevolution
Genes give rise to culture, societies with this culture then affect the fitness of its members, and hence culture guides genetic evolution. The product is us.
Culture guides genetic evolution, and in a more immediate way chemical environment (nutrition, toxins), especially of the young and yet unborn, guides the expression of genes.
The evidence for gene-culture coevolution is extremely clear, and the two ideological positions, one that trivializes genes and the other that trivializes culture are obviously wrong and ideological.
Is psychiatry more mindful or brainier than it was a decade ago?
The British Journal of Psychiatry (2000) 176: 1-5 Editorial
Is psychiatry more mindful or brainier than it was a decade ago?
Eisenberg characterizes as "brainless" that style of psychiatry which emphasizes only culture and social setting (trivializing genes, neurochemistry and neural hardware), and as "mindless" that style of psychiatry which does the opposite, emphasizing only genes, neurotransmitters, etc.(while trivializing culture, social context, and so on).
Here's his conclusion, with which I hope we can all whole-heartedly agree:
Biomedical knowledge is essential for providing sound medical care but it is not sufficient;
"The university is the last remaining platform for national dissent."
Academic Psychiatry 26:219, September 2002
2002 Academic Psychiatry Letter
Key Words: Psychiatry, Scientific Foundation Brain and Social Interaction
TO THE EDITOR: The Research Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), a specialty think tank, has addressed psychiatry's need for a unifying scientific foundation. Such a foundation would consider the disorders commonly treated by psychiatrists in terms of the physiological baseline from which they depart, much as heart disease is understood as deviation from normal cardiac function. The relevant physiological focus for
psychiatry is the social brain.
The social brain is defined by its function--namely, the brain is a body organ that mediates social interactions while also serving as the repository of those interactions. The concept focuses on the interface between brain physiology and the individual's environment. The brain is the organ most influenced on the cellular level by social factors across development; in turn, the expression of brain function determines and structures an individual's personal and social experience. The social brain framework may have greater direct impact on the understanding of some psychiatric disorders than others. However, it helps organize and explain all psychopathology. A single gene-based disorder like Huntington's disease is expressed to a large extent as social dysfunction. Conversely, traumatic stress has structural impact on the brain, as does the socially interactive process of psychotherapy.
Brains, including human brains, derive from ancient adaptations to diverse environments and are themselves repositories of phylogenetic adaptations. In addition, individual experiences shape the brain through epigenesis; that is, the expression of genes is shaped by environmental influences. Thus, the social brain is also a repository of individual development. On an ongoing basis, the brain is further refined through social interactions; plastic changes continue through life with both physiological and anatomical modifications.
Thinkers Expain Why Things Are The Way They Are In The World -- WHAT ARE MEMES? Memes
Richard Dawkins invented the term "meme'' in 1976
meme: (pron. 'meem') A contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passed on from mind to mind. Memes function the same way genes and viruses do, propagating through communication networks and face-to-face contact between people. Root of the word "memetics," a field of study which postulates that the meme is the basic unit of cultural evolution. Examples of memes include melodies, icons, fashion statements and phrases.
- (1) construct an eight-layered paleopsychological stratum for displaying levels of consciousness and complexity; and
- (2) use this multilayered scaffolding for defining and dealing with racial, ethnic, economic, religious, political, and nationalistic tension-zones, hot-spots, and potentially dangerous conflicts.
- ALSO READ An Explanation of Spiral Dynamics
Memes and Vmemes What are they? Read about
Spirals Of Ccomplexity: Cultures And Civilization In The 21st Century
David Goldenberg
Record collector and film preservationist who accumulated a trove of more than 10,000 classic recordings.
The Alan Lomax Website
In the early 1930s, Alan Lomax and his father, pioneering folklorist John A. Lomax, first developed the Library of Congress’ Archive of American Folksong as a major national resource.
Gordon Moore
Multifaceted individual who has made enduring contributions to our chemical and scientific heritage through exceptional activity in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, research, education, public understanding, legislation, or philanthropy.
Akre & Wilson - Reporters
Their award was for their investigation of rBGH, a genetically modified bovine growth hormone produced by the Monsanto Corp. To some environmental and science groups rBGH can be linked to human breast, prostate and colon cancer although it is widely employed by the American dairy industry while being banned in Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Japan. FOX Television, their employer, refused to run their four-part series, because the network had been threatened with a lawsuit by Monsanto Co., the manufacturer of rBGH. FOX instead insisted the pair air a report distinctly biased to Monsanto's point of view. Akre and Wilson, however, continued to press FOX to run their original story, and were subsequently fired by the network in 1997.
Corporate Crime Reporter
The death penalty should be applied to corporations convicted of defrauding the federal government, according to a report released today by the Corporate Crime Reporter.
Lowell Bergman
"60 Minutes" journalist who fought censorship and got Jeffrey Wigands' information.
Al Pacino played his character in "The Insider"
Jeffrey Wigand, Ph.D.
Tobacco Whistleblower whose story is featured in the major motion picture "The Insider" Contact Dr. Wigand
Dr. John Chittick
Walked the earth spreading information and founded TeenAIDS-PeerCorps
John Glen and Chuck Yeager
Oct. 14, 1947 first supersonic flight
Elliot M. Katz
D.V.M. graduate of Cornell University, is the founder and president of In Defense of Animals, a national non-profit organization dedicated to ending the institutionalized exploitation and abuse of nonhuman animals by working for, and defending the rights, welfare, and habitat of these individuals. Now 15 years old, IDA has made ending the property status of animals one of its primary goals. For more info go to http://www.idausa.org
The Dollywood Foundation Web site URL
http://www.dollywood./foundation.com
The time spent reading is probably the most important minutes spent every single day. Hats off to Dolly and to all those who recognize the importance of starting early and in building families of readers. It is those families who will comprise cities of readers, counties of readers, states of readers, and finally we may have a nation of readers. "Dolly Parton gives 5,200 kids a book a month. Every one of the 5,200 children in Doly Parton's native Sevier County are eligible to receive a top-quality, hand-picked children's book every month, from birth until his or her fifth birthday, plus a special bookcase to hold the 60 volumes. These books are being given to the children free by the nonprofit Dollywood Foundation. Since the program began three years ago, some 91,000 books have been distributed. The foundation estimates 70 percent of the preschoolers in the county are enrolled. Last month, the National Council of Teachers of English gave the program its 1998 Literacy Award. The cost for a full library, including bookcase, is $350 per child. The Dollywood Foundation, supported principally by Dolly Parton's annual fund-raising concerts, has raised more than $200,000 for the program since its inception and has committed to spend $1 million over the next five years. Jerome Harste, and Indiana University professor specializing in early childhood education, said he wished public figures in every county would follow Dolly Parton's example and support public literacy and public education."
My Father Truman R. Clark is a Amazing man still! He was a Professor of American History at Pepperdine University and one of the 1st. endurance Runners of the 1970's sponsored by "Nike". He also was a Southern California Strider. He worked for the Pentagon in the 1990's as a Historan and wrote some books for the U.S. Government. In the 1970's -80's he wrote for the Los Angeles Times, Runners World 1970's-1990's, Houston Chronicle 1980-1990's, and others.
George Mason University - The Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies is for students who seek master's degrees that integrate knowledge from several disciplines. The program addresses the rapidly evolving demand for unique graduate study by promoting advanced scholarship that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
MAIS offers eight structured interdisciplinary tracks: Anthropology, Community College Teaching (in Communication, Information Systems , English, Math, Psychology, Spanish,and Teaching English as a Second Language [TESL]), Folklore, Higher Education Administration, Religion, Culture and Values , Video-Based Production, Women's Studies, and Zoo & Aquarium Leadership.