tingilinde

ios and oss planetarium apps on sale - free in some cases

To celebrate Curiosity the folks who do SkySafari for iPads and iPhones have the app marked down - the basic app is more than enough for most people and is now FREE.  The more advanced versions have healthy markdowns, but you'll only need them if you are a regular sky watcher.

They also have a big sale on the OS X normal and Plus versions for your iMac or MacBook.  The basic version is free.  The Pro version is also discounted, but only as a download from them.

 

These are descendants of the Voyager planetarium program from 1989 and it is still one of the best - highly recommended!  I've been a user since the early beginning.

do novel things and engage your mind to lose weight

An interesting question raised by some research at Yale .. perhaps engaging in more novel activities a useful way to fight overweight.

Even if it doesn't work, you won't be bored...

 

protecting yourself from cognitive decline

For a long time people have noted that musicians seem to remain sharp for a long time.  It turns out there may be something behind the observation (thanks for the link Sukie)

Abstract

Recent and past musical activity predicts cognitive aging variability: direct comparison with general lifestyle activities

Brenda Hanna-Pladdy¹* and Byron Gajewski²

• ¹ Departments of Neurology, and Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
• ² Departments of Biostatistics and Nursing, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA

Studies evaluating the impact of modifiable lifestyle factors on cognition offer potential insights into sources of cognitive aging variability. Recently, we reported an association between extent of musical instrumental practice throughout the life span (greater than 10 years) on preserved cognitive functioning in advanced age. These findings raise the question of whether there are training-induced brain changes in musicians that can transfer to non-musical cognitive abilities to allow for compensation of age-related cognitive declines. However, because of the relationship between engagement in general lifestyle activities and preserved cognition, it remains unclear whether these findings are specifically driven by musical training or the types of individuals likely to engage in greater activities in general. The current study controlled for general activity level in evaluating cognition between musicians and nomusicians. Also, the timing of engagement (age of acquisition, past versus recent) was assessed in predictive models of successful cognitive aging. Seventy age and education matched older musicians (>10 years) and non-musicians (ages 59–80) were evaluated on neuropsychological tests and general lifestyle activities. Musicians scored higher on tests of phonemic fluency, verbal working memory, verbal immediate recall, visuospatial judgment, and motor dexterity, but did not differ in other general leisure activities. Partition analyses were conducted on significant cognitive measures to determine aspects of musical training predictive of enhanced cognition. The first partition analysis revealed education best predicted visuospatial functions in musicians, followed by recent musical engagement which offset low education. In the second partition analysis, early age of musical acquisition (<9 years) predicted enhanced verbal working memory in musicians, while analyses for other measures were not predictive. Recent and past musical activity, but not general lifestyle activities, predicted variability across both verbal and visuospatial domains in aging. These findings are suggestive of different use-dependent adaptation periods depending on cognitive domain. Furthermore, they imply that early age of musical acquisition, sustained and maintained during advanced age, may enhance cognitive functions and buffer age and education influences.

 

a link to the paper

 

 

The New York Times on rebooting a near extinct language.

 

possible evolution of the edison 2

The Edison 2 dominated the Automotive X-Prize event by paying careful attention to basic physics.  Keep the vehicle light and aerodynamic, while still being mostly practical.  The result was a bit odd looking and now there is a design challenge to condier evolutions.  From their blog.

people are soft - cars are hard

Volvo's passenger airbags that try to address pedestrian fatalities - in China 25% of automotive fatalities are pedestrian... in the US it is about 12%

vegetarians in the olympics

Contrary to popular belief, it is possible...

 

progression at the olympics

Swimming has seen some of the greatest innovation in sport over the past century - the NY Times has a nice info graphics showing winning times in tha 100 meter freestyle.

 

bittman and the usda

A sane food person talks to the USDA - a government agrency that serves the cattlemen of America rather than the citizens..

 

if you are math curious...

really pretty!

 

Tip 'o the hat to Thom