Monthly Archives: May 2016

Alzheimers

The amyloid-beta peptide forms insoluble clumps in the brains of patients with AD, and may be responsible for neuronal death (the amyloid hypothesis) . There have been many efforts to treat Alzheimers, most based on the dominant amyloid hypotheses. None … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 55 Comments

Bad Teacher

I just read “The Battle For Room 314”, Ed Boland’s account of a year teaching at a NYC high school. Boland had been an admissions officer, done fundraising for nonprofits – but wanted to DO GOOD, and of course go … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Education | Tagged | 149 Comments

Economists and biology

Naturally, economists know a lot about human biology and evolution, just as civil engineers have to know about the properties of timber, concrete and steel. They have a good grounding in psychometrics, behavioral genetics, and quantitative genetics – how else … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Genetics | 134 Comments

Public intellectuals, pundits, and all that

In principle, public intellectuals should have something interesting to say, ideally not just interesting because ridiculous or incredibly stupid. The ideal P.I. might have a special area of expertise and apply that to current events and questions, or whatever struck … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 134 Comments

You don’t need a weatherman

This is very nice, very interesting new paper out by Yair Field, Evan Boyle et al: they present a new method that can detect human adaptation over the past couple of thousand years. And there is some, of course. They … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 116 Comments

Post-Columbian Evolution – Holes

At this point, we have some decent examples of post-Columbian evolution, genetic changes in New World populations after 1492. There is evidence for selection for increased fertility in Quebec, along with increased mutational load due to relaxed selection. Something similar … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 83 Comments

the cards fall

People are doing GWAS studies on alleles that influence educational achievement – IQ alleles, more or less – and are finding some. Once you find them, the natural question is how the frequencies of those vary in different populations. Do … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 200 Comments