Older Fathers Linked to Kids’ Autism and Schizophrenia Risk

If you are a woman, you are familiar with all the pressures and challenges attached to your reproductive system. Especially in particular, your biological clock and the increasing risks to your health and your childs developmental health the later in life you decide to have kids.

However, I was surprised to learn recently that now they have now discovered a link between older fathers and a risk of Autism and Schizophrenia in children. It has been shown that older men are more likely to have children with autism or schizophrenia than younger ones. This is due to the fact that older fathers pass on significantly more random genetic mutations onto their children increasing the risk of their children having these conditions.

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The sound of colour

Hi guys,

Its been a while since I posted. I decided to put up a quick post of an interesting video I came across a couple of weeks ago.

The video below is of a man called Neil Harbisson who was born completely colour blind. He suffers from a condition called achromatopsia causing him to see no colour at all, only black and white. That was until he was fitted with an eyeborg. This is a headmounted camera that picks up colours and translates them to real time soundwaves. The eyeborg consists of a camera, an antenna and a computer chip that converts light into sound. The chip is mounted in the back of his head transmitting the vibrations directly into his skull. He memorized the different frequencies and now is able to tell the difference between colours very easily. It’s fascinating that different colours emit different frequencies. Neil even produces art! He calls himself a cyborg because it’s a ‘union between the software and his brain’. He has created the CyborgFoundation, an organization to help humans become cyborgs by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body. He has donated eyborgs to blind communities and taught colour blind children to use the device.

Science never ceases to surprise me and it makes me curious of what is yet to come especially with how quickly technology is advancing.

Have a peep at the video, and his cool colour clashing fashion sense. He is truly and interesting human being.

Lukeki

The Science of Happiness

What is happiness?  What makes people happy? The answers to these questions are still heavily debated because it is still uncertain what conditions and interventions improve happiness or quality of life. On the 29th May 2012, I attended a talk at UCL on behalf of Dr Eyman, entitled ‘The Science of Happiness’.

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The power of scent

Hey world, So this is my first post. Here goes. Hope you enjoy.

These days, body odour is something most people shy away from. Just taking a walk around the cosmetics section of any supermarket and you’ll be overwhelmed by the abundance of deodorants that all claim to combat sweat and keep you smelling fresh for even up to 72 hours. If this actually truly works we’ll never know but when you look at the perfume industry, and the various products all offering to give you the smell of sophistication, fun, mystery or any other random buzz word they can come up with and you can understand why the way we smell is so important in society. To put it simply, there is a lot of money in scent.

However, it is thought that these perfume companies might be getting it wrong. Instead of masking our odour, enhancing our natural odour or elements of it in order to attract member of the opposite sex is something that is being researched. As well as the obvious body odour that we all associate with heavy exercise or stress, like mammals in the wild we all have a unique scent that we may not be aware of but those outside of house are. This distinctive scent has subconscious effects on not only the opposite sex but everyone we come into contact with in our day to day lives. Our sense of smell is extremely sensitive, more so the female sense of smell than males and it is thought that our noses can even decode messages in other people’s odours. Recent research suggests that the scents we make could relay information about our personalities. But why would perfume companies be interested in our body scents?

Research has found that women prefer the smell of dominant men, especially during the most fertile stage of their menstrual cycle. Dominance is seen as an attractive characteristic as it could be linked to higher levels of testosterone and the ability of the man to provide and protect offspring. Men however find women more attractive during ovulation and least attractive during menstruation. These are very subtle scents, yet they can be picked up by men. If perfume manufacturers are able to determine and isolate the natural compounds that make men more attractive to women and vice versa, these could be added to women’s perfumes or men’s aftershaves. To find more click on this link.

Nowadays, our natural inclination is to hide our natural scent. These artificial scents have a profound influence on our behaviour and how other people perceive us. It is thought that we feel more confident and more attractive with artificial fragrances as opposed to our own natural scent. Socially it is not acceptable to smell of body odour, but to those who are concerned with attracting the opposite sex with their grooming habits perhaps going au natural might be the way forward. But clean au natural, there is a difference. In the words of Jill Scott, your scent is exclusive

Please share the knowledge 🙂

Lukeki