Good news! Unexploded landmines and ordnance are horrible reminders long after a war has ended. How many children have been maimed in the past?
"Croatia is officially free of landmines set during its 1990s war of independence."
Sunday, March 08, 2026
New gene-sequencing system can read an entire human genome for about $100.
Good news!
"A San Diego biotech startup claims its new gene-sequencing system can read an entire human genome for about $100."
Aurora Innovation, a self-driving truck company, has expanded its network to 10 routes in Texas and Arizona
Good news!
"Aurora Innovation, a self-driving truck company, has expanded its network to 10 routes, including a 1,000-mile circuit between Fort Worth, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona. On such long routes, the company says its trucks can cut transit times in half by avoiding regulations that limit the number of hours a human trucker can drive continuously."
Remote work by couples may help boost fertility
Closeness makes a difference! Just one touch away! :-)
Governments of so many countries around the world are struggling to get the birth rate up of their population to counteract e.g. aging populations. How about tax incentives for couples to work from home and their employers? :-)
"A new working paper suggests that remote work may help boost fertility. Using survey data from 38 high- and middle-income countries, the researchers found that couples who work from home at least one day a week have about 0.32 more children on average than those who don’t."
Amygdala volume linked to increased social tolerance in macaques
Amazing stuff! A very interesting study!
"Researchers have found that the size of the amygdala—a region of the brain involved in processing emotions—could be linked to social tolerance in macaque monkeys. Their research ... is described by the editors as important work with a convincing methodological approach, offering new insights into the neural basis of social and emotional processing. ..."
From the editor's summary:
"This important work compares the size of two brain areas, the amygdala and the hippocampus, across 12 species belonging to the Macaca genus. The authors find, using a convincing methodological approach, that amygdala - but not hippocampal - volume varies with social tolerance grade, with high tolerance species showing larger amygdala than low tolerance species of macaques. Interestingly, their findings also suggest an inverted developmental effect, with intolerant species showing an increase in amygdala volume across the lifespan, compared to tolerant species exhibiting the opposite trend. Overall, this paper offers new insights into the neural basis of social and emotional processing."
From the abstract:
"The macaque genus includes 25 species with diverse social systems, ranging from low to high social tolerance grades. Such interspecific behavioral variability provides a unique model to tackle the evolutionary foundation of primate social brain. Yet, the neuroanatomical correlates of these social tolerance grades remain unknown.
To address this question, we expressed social tolerance grades within a novel cognitive framework and analyzed post-mortem structural scans from 12 macaque species. Our results show that amygdala volume is a subcortical predictor of macaques’ social tolerance, with high tolerance species exhibiting larger amygdala than low tolerance ones.
We further investigated the developmental trajectory of amygdala across social grades and found that intolerant species showed a gradual increase in relative amygdala volume across the lifespan. Unexpectedly, tolerant species exhibited a decrease in relative amygdala volume across the lifespan, contrasting with the age-related increase observed in intolerant species—a developmental pattern previously undescribed in primates. Taken together, these findings provide valuable insights into the cognitive, neuroanatomical, and evolutionary basis of primates’ social behaviors."
Saturday, March 07, 2026
Blogging from behind the Great Firewall of China
Since I arrived in China on 2/26/2026, I have only a very spotty Internet access. Some webpages are not rendered properly in the Chrome browser etc.
Thus, I have a hard time to write my usual blog posts. A lot of my sources etc. are censored and not accessible.
My sincere apologies!
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