…and you’ll go blind too!

/ Politics

Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) office has come out with a report on The Content of Federally Funded Abstinance-Only Education Programs (pointer via the SJ Mercury News). These are federally-funded (though not federally supervised) programs to teach teenagers the importance of not having sex before marriage — often by scaring the bejesus out of them. I’m all in favor of teaching teenagers (and adults) to think twice and three times before having sex, but it would seem quite a number of the programs have found that it’s easier to scare people with opinion, distortions and outright falshoods than to let kids think for themselves with all the facts on hand.

From the report’s executive summary:

The report finds that over 80% of the abstinence-only curricula, used by over twothirds of SPRANS grantees in 2003, contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health. Specifically, the report finds:

  • Abstinence-Only Curricula Contain False Information about the Effectiveness of Contraceptives. Many of the curricula misrepresent the effectiveness of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. One curriculum says that “the popular claim that ‘condoms help prevent the spread of STDs,’ is not supported by the data”; another states that “[i]n heterosexual sex, condoms fail to prevent HIV approximately 31% of the time”; and another teaches that a pregnancy occurs one out of every seven times that couples use condoms. These erroneous statements are presented as proven scientific facts.
  • Abstinence-Only Curricula Contain False Information about the Risks of Abortion. One curriculum states that 5% to 10% of women who have legal abortions will become sterile; that “[p]remature birth, a major cause of mental retardation, is increased following the abortion of a first pregnancy”; and that “[t]ubal and cervical pregnancies are increased following abortions.” In fact, these risks do not rise after the procedure used in most abortions in the United States.
  • Abstinence-Only Curricula Blur Religion and Science. Many of the curricula present as scientific fact the religious view that life begins at conception. For example, one lesson states: “Conception, also known as fertilization, occurs when one sperm unites with one egg in the upper third of the fallopian tube. This is when life begins.” Another curriculum calls a 43-day-old fetus a “thinking person.”
  • Abstinence-Only Curricula Treat Stereotypes about Girls and Boys as Scientific Fact. One curriculum teaches that women need “financial support,” while men need “admiration.” Another instructs: “Women gauge their happiness and judge their success on their relationships. Men’s happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments.”
  • Abstinence-Only Curricula Contain Scientific Errors. In numerous instances, the abstinence-only curricula teach erroneous scientific information. One curriculum incorrectly lists exposure to sweat and tears as risk factors for HIV transmission. Another curriculum states that “twenty-four chromosomes from the mother and twenty-four chromosomes from the father join to create this new individual”; the correct number is 23.

The report finds numerous examples of these errors. Serious and pervasive problems with the accuracy of abstinence-only curricula may help explain why these programs have not been shown to protect adolescents from sexually transmitted diseases and why youth who pledge abstinence are significantly less likely to make informed choices about precautions when they do have sex.

…and you’ll go blind too! Read More »

Physical differences in ADHD brains

/ Mind and Brain

Also from the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting, by way of PRNewsWire:

Novel Imaging Method Shows Abnormal Brain Anatomy in Children with ADHD (embargoed until 9 a.m. CT, Nov. 29)

Researchers at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York have discovered that children with h Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have abnormalities in the anatomy of their brains. Previously, ADHD was suspected to be a chemical imbalance, but this study shows physical abnormalities in the fiber pathways in three areas of the brain that regulate attention, impulsive behavior, motor activity and inhibition. A second study found that stimulant medications usually prescribed for ADHD actually correct some of these structural abnormalities. The studies will be presented by Manzar Ashtari, Ph.D.

More technical summaries are here and here.

Physical differences in ADHD brains Read More »

Using fMRI to detect a lie

/ Mind and Brain

A new study presented yesterday at the Radiological Society of North America yesterday showed differences in brain patterns when people are lying vs. when they’re telling the truth. It’s a small study (just 9 subjects) and it’s not clear that fMRI would be any more reliable than a polygraph, but it’s an indication of what’s down the road…

Changes were detected in the frontal, temporal and limbic lobes — it’s not clear to me how many of those changes might be detectable by the near-infrared spectral imaging I blogged about earlier, but if possible that might address some of the cost issues associated with fMRI…

Press release, Reuters story

Using fMRI to detect a lie Read More »

Liquid-Nitrogen Ice Cream

/ Uncategorized

Last weekend I threw a house-cooling party, and I figure what can be better to cool a house than liquid-nitrogen ice-cream? I made up a big batch of unflavored ice-cream base, got some lN2 and had people bring whatever flavorings they wanted to try mixing into a micro-batch of ice cream. Having learned from my mistakes the last two times I’ve made it, this stuff was some of the creamiest, best ice cream I’ve had.

Liquid-nitrogen ice-cream

A few lessons learned:

  • Whenever the recipe calls for milk, half-and-half or cream, use whipping cream. Depending on how hard you mix it, this’ll make soft ice cream anywhere from creamy to frozen-mousse.
  • It’s really hard to hand-stir quickly enough to keep hard chunks from forming (and besides, hand-stirring is so last-century). I expect egg-beaters would work, but I really like the results we got with my cordless drill and the the quart-capacity McMaster coil-spring mixing attachment (part #35325K51, halfway down the page). If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing with power tools.
  • Liquid nitrogen is deceptively safe-looking, at least unless something goes wrong. Safety goggles are a must, and long gloves are recommended. It’s fairly safe if it splashes on your skin because you’re protected by an insulating layer of nitrogen vapor, but don’t let it pool against your skin (duh) or super-cool metal or other material that then touches skin. Also be sure you’ve got good ventilation.
  • Wasabi &amp Mexican mole ice-cream is better than it sounds, but still not good. Balsamic vinegar & olive-oil ice-cream is nasty on its own, but is OK on crackers.

The winning flavor of the night, by my taste at least, was the orange-raspberry sorbet. In the interests of posterity (and so I can find it when I want it next time), here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup baker’s sugar (aka fine granulated sugar)
  • 3/4 pint water
  • zest of 2 oranges
  • 1/2 pint fresh-squeezed orange juice
  • juice from a whole lemon
  • 3/4 cup raspberry lambic
  • about 2 pints liquid nitrogen1

Mix sugar, water and orange zest together in a saucepan, stirring under low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring to a boil and and let boil until you have a syrup — roughly 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. When cool, stir in orange juice, lemon juice and raspberry lambic. This is your sorbet base. (You could put this in an ice-cream maker at this point, should you want to make it the old-fashioned way.)

Put base in a large bowl, and don safety glasses. If the bowl is metal, you’ll probably want those gloves as well. Slowly pour liquid nitrogen into center of bowl, mixing all the while with electric mixer. (We use a tough plastic mug with a handle to pour the lN2 — don’t use a metal cup.) Stop every few seconds to blow the fog away and to break up any solid ice-patches that have formed. Keep adding lN2 until sorbet is completely frozen. Sorbet will still be soft-serve, that’s OK.

I hear that for best results you should put the sorbet (or ice cream) into the freezer for about 15 minutes to even out the ice crystals and “set,” but I’ve never had the patience for that. Do make sure all the lN2 has boiled away though before putting any in your mouth, or else you might get a rude surprise.

Enjoy!

1 Ask your local lab-supply store or physics grad student for food- or medical-grade liquid nitrogen, or follow these three easy steps to make your own! 1) Collect about 1000 pints of air for every 1 pint lN2 desired. 2) Chill air until nitrogen condenses (around -320 degrees Fahrenheit). 3) Skim off liquid nitrogen and keep in insulated container. Should any liquid oxygen sublimate, save for making flambé!

Liquid-Nitrogen Ice Cream Read More »

Remapping human sensation

/ Wearable Computing

There’s a good article in today’s NYTimes about Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita’s work in remapping human sensation — allowing the blind to “see” via tactile feedback on the tongue for example. Sounds like there have been some breakthroughs recently in terms of miniaturization and wearability (no surprise there), plus some good results in allowing people with damaged vestibular systems to regain normal balance unaided.

Remapping human sensation Read More »

Papers please… part, oh, 52

/ Big Brother

Amtrack is now starting to perform random ID checks on their trains, “as part of a broader program to improve security.” As Bruce Schneier points out, “this works because, somehow, terrorists don’t have IDs.”

From the article: The security program is the result of a federal directive, issued in May, to protect rail passengers from terrorism. I wonder if this is an expansion of the same secret, need-to-know-basis directives that John Gilmore is suing over.

Papers please… part, oh, 52 Read More »