Agriculture was the spadework (literally so) that not only anticipated but also necessitated the Industrial Revolution. It will be a fatal mistake, or wishful thinking at best, to conjecture that human societies before the Industrial Revolution had little effect on the environment or our planet’s biodiversity — especially if we are dead set about conservation.

So much archaeological evidence has been missing from current debates about conservation priorities. Based on new datasets using ancient DNA, stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical/computational methods, Dr Nicole Boivin has shown that many living species of plants and animals that thrive today are those that were favoured by our ancestors. Large-scale extinctions started thousands of years ago due to overhunting or change of land use by humans.

We need to be more pragmatic in our conservation strategies rather than aiming for ‘pristine’ states. Think more about how we secure clean air and fresh water for future generations. Think less about returning planet Earth to its original condition which in two words is “im possible”, to steal a phrase from Samuel Goldwyn.

SNEAK PEEK

1. Liars’ red herrings

People have some physical ‘tells’ when they lie, and good liars stop these ‘tells’ from being detected by displaying mental countermeasures — physical red herrings. Even the hard-to-beat fMRI technique proved to be 20% less accurate in detecting lies in a test. Who conducted the test?

1. Dr Chun-Wei Hsu (University of Plymouth)

2. Economic resilience

“Much research on economic resilience has focused on regional economic infrastructure”, but the entrepreneurial personality and emotional stability of a city’s residents may be just as important in determining whether the city would bounce back or suffer a major recession. Who said that?

2. Martin Obschonka (Saarland University)

 

3. Following tears

Tears are either absent or they evaporate too quickly. This is dry eye, a common condition without a cure. A treatment for it could come from computer simulations that map tears moving across the eye’s surface — and the dynamics of tear films in a blinking eye. Who is deep into the project?

3. Dr Kara L. Maki (Rochester Institute of Technology)

4. Birth of big gods

One thesis has it that people would cooperate if they believe in gods who will punish them otherwise. In fact, standardized rituals tended to appear 100s of years before gods who cared about human morality. Complex societies gave birth to big gods, not the other way around. Who said it?

4. Harvey Whitehouse (Complexity Science Hub Vienna)

5. Social milling

When Hawaiian Island residents received a false ballistic missile threat in 2018, the result was not panic. Most people didn’t seek immediate shelter; they spent time looking for more information they need to make the best decision about what to do. Who called the behaviour “social milling”?

5. Sarah DeYoung (UGA’s College of Public Health)

6. Enemy gene stolen

As we wage a war against bacteria, bacteria are fighting a nonstop war against their worst enemy — “phages”. A gene (Spam X) once used by phages against bacteria is now used by bacteria to grow and divide correctly. Who likened this to “watching evolution beat a sword into ploughshare”?

6. Amelia Randich, an IU postdoctoral researcher

7. As attitudes shift

Terrorist attacks shift public attitudes towards greater loyalty to the in-group, less concern with fairness, and also greater prejudice against Muslims and immigrants. Who noted that the effect appears to be stronger on those who are politically left-leaning than those who are right-leaning?

7. Julie Van de Vyver (University of Kent)

8. Role models best

“Role models” form one of the four clusters of personality types identified by researchers in a study. They score low in neuroticism and high in all the other traits. “Life is easier if you have more dealings with role models.” More women than men are likely to be role models! Who led the study?

8. Luís Amaral (McCormick School of Engineering)

9. Chatterbox parents

It looks like chatterbox parents boost tots’ intelligence. The amount of words that children hear from adults is positively associated with their cognitive ability, but it could also be the case that more intelligent children evoke more words from adults in their environment. Who made the finding?

9. Katrina d’Apice (University of York)

QUIZ No. 903

1. Who showed that the physicality of cleaning hands causes a shift in people’s goal pursuit?

– Ping Dong
– Charles Gilbert Chaddock
– Robert Bentley Todd

1. Ping Dong

2. Even kids expressing suicidal ideation recognise some concepts of death. Who said it?

– Laura Hennefield
– Francis Ysidro Edgeworth
– Sebastian Edwards

2. Laura Hennefield

3. Who discovered a link between older women’s olfactory ability and their social life score?

– Giovanni Mingazzini
– Otto Ludwig Binswanger
– Sanne Boesveldt

3. Sanne Boesveldt

4. A yellow-haired white doll and a black-haired brown doll. Who used them in race studies?

– Francis Stuart Chapin
– Kenneth Bancroft Clark
– Michel de Certeau

4. Kenneth Bancroft Clark

5. He was not a French writer but he created France’s fictional Sherlock Holmes. Name him.

– Georges Simenon
– Samuel Dashiell Hammett
– Ross Macdonald

5. Georges Simenon