10/20/2019

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Recommended Reading

Early exposure to TV implicated in new study

Excerpts:

  • Scientists investigating the dramatic increase in the number of autistic children have said the rise coincided with the use of cable television and videos.
  • Researchers investigating autism in the US said that, as recently as 30 years ago, it was thought one in 2,500 people had the condition. Today the figure is one in 166, a 15-fold increase.
  • The Cornell study looked at the results of an investigation into the Amish community. Based on the autism rates across the US, there should be several hundred autistic Amish, but fewer than 10 were found.

Note:

  • Certain genes have also been linked to autism. This fact, coupled with the massive spike in the number of cases of autism that have been cropping up in recent years, seems to suggest that the condition arises from a combination of both environmental and genetic factors. It may well be that genes predispose a person to develop the condition, but do not guarantee that it will manifest unless a child is exposed to some type of external agent or stimulus.

 

Greener School Buses = Better Student Health and Improved Test Scores

Excerpt:

  • A March 2019 study from researchers at Georgia State University found that students did significantly better on standardized English tests and marginally better in math when they spent their commutes riding in school buses retrofitted to reduce emissions by 95 percent as compared to students riding in non-upgraded buses. The researchers conclude that “engine retrofits can have meaningful and cost-effective impacts on health and cognitive functioning.”

 

AI bests humans in medical diagnosis

Excerpt:

  • The researchers found that AI was able to correctly pinpoint illnesses 87% of the time. That’s compared to 86% for healthcare pros. The AI was also right in clearing people of diseases 93% of the time, in contrast to 91% of human experts.

 

Documentary Recommendation: The Game Changers (Currently the most downloaded documentary on iTunes)

I can’t recommend this film highly enough. It’s currently available for free on Netflix.

Executive producers:

 

Scott Galloway Presentation at Code 2019

I’m a big fan of videos that impart a lot of important information and perspective in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, I really like the video attached below. It gets a little hard to follow in the middle but it’s worth watching to till the end.

 

Sad News

I recently learned of the passing of one of my favorite college professors: Andrew Price-Smith. He was brilliant, funny, kind, and an all around excellent person. His fascinating lectures profoundly influenced my thinking on the topics of global public health, energy, and the environment.

If you’d like to read his obituary, click here. Attached below is a lecture he gave on the on the effects that ecological changes can have on human health.

Click here for summaries of Andrew’s most influential published works.

 

Quotes: 

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

(Probably not the case with all truth, but certainly the case with much of it)

– Arthur Schopenhauer

“I feel we don’t really need scriptures. The entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food. If you can’t learn from your daily activities, how are you going to understand the scriptures?”

– Swami Satchidananda

 

Deep Dream Image

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