Science of babies

First breath is a transformation. Hugely important.

We are born when we are due to the brain size and the size of the birth canal passage. in humans, babies need to be rotated to pass through; other mammals can do it on their own.

Humans have some pre-programmed reflexes
Rest is learned behaviour

we are born with about a hundred billion neurons. this stays about the same during the lifetime. What develops is connections. Which can become as many as a quadrillion in the first year..

Much of the philosophy is use it or lose it.
 If one eye develops cataract, the good eye blocks off connections of the bad eye to the brain; so, if you fixed the cataract after the baby is a little older, it will not restore vision, because the eye has been blocked off by the brain. After fixingg the eye early, the good eye is shut off for a period to help the operated eye catchup to the good eye. Visual cortexes.

Humans are the only bipedal creatures.


http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/National_Geographic_Science_of_Babies/70144620?trkid=2361637

Netflix night out

Today I did nothing. Fixed dinner and lunch for tomorrow and rest of the evening was all tv shows on Netflix. Found many a show from way back when - Ally McBeal, 3rd rock from the sun, Malcolm in the middle, Mr. Bean, Scrubs to name a few. It seems like getting rid of cable was a good call. Feels great to not waste the limited minutes on the myriad ads. Totally worthwhile. Having the shows by season helps with the goal-setting also - like I need motivation to be entertained.

Wild target

Funny. Entertaining.

Life in day

Creative. You get a peek into the lives of several others. Time flies by watching this one.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT_UmBHMYzg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Free full movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT_UmBHMYzg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Imdb:
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1687247/

Crows

Today, after having relinquished my cable and forced to look into alternate sources of entertainment, I wandered onto the nature section of the PBS website. I learned a little bit about crows and was fascinated by it.
Here are a few tidbits to help me recall:

• Crows live up to 20 years and care for their young ones for as many as five.
• They like to be close to each other. They are social. They have one kind of calling for the community and the family communicates in a different, much softer dialect.
• They can recognize faces and associate them as good or bad and remember a face for up to 2 years. They are great at communicating and learn from the misfortunes of fellow crows.
• They are great at using tools. They are one of the handful of creatures that make tools. Their intelligence in this respect is comparable to apes. They demonstrate capability to chain together multiple steps to accomplish a goal. In an experiment, the crow used a small stick to draw the longer stick out and used the longer stick to get the food out.
• Parrots have the biggest brain among birds; but crows prove to be more intelligent. They are able to communicate things like whom to be cautious of to their young ones, in addition to other adults.
• The nest is designed to accommodate the female. In Japan, they often use clothing hangers for building their nests. They shape it with their bodies forcing it outward to get the correct shape.
• Here is a link to the video: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/introduction/5838/

Of Martians and Venusians

The book has been around for quite a bit but I never really looked at it one way or another. I picked it up recently and is proving to be an interesting read. We may love ourselves so much that we often would want people close to us, people whom we love and care about to be more like us. This is a pitfall and can very quickly sour relationships with those that often matter the most. It is important to realize and accept that two people are different. It is even more important to realize that two people of the opposite sex have very different wants from life and that they look at the same things quite differently. It is important to be aware of this and understand where the generic differences lie. This will not only eliminate some of the needless stress, but you will start to enjoy your interactions even more. This book seems to shed light on the how men and women are different, and how they have different expectations, different philosophies, different everything(well, not everything, but certainly many things).