I was raised in the house where TV was all the time on, even when nobody watched it. I was so used to having it in the background that even when I was studying I also kept it on (not the most efficient way of studying, you have to agree).
I was very happy when I finally moved out of my parents' place and could decide myself when TV should be on and when not. Still, I remember that I had it on much more than it was necessary - again using it as a background noise rather than watching it.
The final liberation from television came when I moved to Germany. There was no point in watching TV when you did not (fully) understand it. I did not even want to own a TV, but that was unimaginable for my father and he insisted on buying one for me (which again shows how important role television plays in lives of my parents...). So for a short period of time before falling asleep I would switch it on and try to watch some stupid program hoping that in this passive way I would somehow manage to learn German. Since that did not work, I moved the TV to the basement (where it stayed until I moved out of Dresden).
Strangely enough, whenever I went back to Poland I was actually interested in watching TV. I think the reason for that was mostly curiosity - I wanted to see how the programs changed since I moved out of Poland and I wanted to see at least one episode of any soap opera/entertainment program/news edition that everybody else talked about to see for myself what's the fuss about.
Here, in SF, we again have a TV, but luckily, nobody watches it. Moreover, I would have difficulties naming a friend that watches TV. So I wonder what is it about the generation of my parents that they are so addicted to it? Is it because when they were children there was no TV? Or because during most of their youth it was black and white and full of communist propaganda and now when it is is in color and full of different programs they just can't resist it?
Moreover, I sometimes wonder if internet is not for us what TV is for our parents (both are in the end source of education and entertainment)? Maybe the time will come that our kids will look down on us, as we do on our parents, shaking their heads in disapproval at the amount of time that we are wasting browsing the web?
When I used to watch TV, I did like watching this:
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
body fat distribution
I guess it is the first time in my life that I am grateful that my body fat is accumulating preferentially in my hips:
"Fat that accumulates around your waist seems to be more biologically active as it secretes inflammatory proteins that contribute to atherosclerotic plaque build-up, whereas fat around your hips doesn't appear to increase risk for cardiovascular disease at all."
"Fat that accumulates around your waist seems to be more biologically active as it secretes inflammatory proteins that contribute to atherosclerotic plaque build-up, whereas fat around your hips doesn't appear to increase risk for cardiovascular disease at all."
the game called life
Philosophy is going in strange direction these days. There are people who believe that idea presented in the movie "The Matrix", that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation, is true: NYT link. My take on that: so what? Does it matter if what we experience is real or not? As long as I have my freedom of choices (or maybe: my illusion of freedom*), I am going to live this life the best way I can.
I also find it funny that nowadays we go away from religion and concept of God, but instead we come up with theories of "designer" and even reincarnation (just this time in stricte technological sense):
"You should try to be as interesting as possible, on the theory that the designer is more likely to keep you around for the next simulation".
* It's amusing that this article came up in Science section of NYT at the same time as an article that describes how light switch in the brain can control behavior of fruity fly, mice and worms.
I also find it funny that nowadays we go away from religion and concept of God, but instead we come up with theories of "designer" and even reincarnation (just this time in stricte technological sense):
"You should try to be as interesting as possible, on the theory that the designer is more likely to keep you around for the next simulation".
* It's amusing that this article came up in Science section of NYT at the same time as an article that describes how light switch in the brain can control behavior of fruity fly, mice and worms.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
mind works in strange ways
Sebastian, Anne, Imke, Thomas and I played taboo tonight after dinner. Sometimes I found it very surprising what kind of connotations people were making.
Few examples that I remember:
S: Nowadays it's everywhere, mass...
I: Destruction!
(proper answer: media)
T: If there is constructions on the road...
We: Traffic jam...
T: then you need it...
We: Detour...
T: You need it more when it is cold...
We: Wheel chains...
T: It's kind of protection...
We: ?
T: You can also eat it...
We: ???
Time is out and Thomas reveals that he tried to explain "ear muffins".
I: I guess we all are it.
We: Scientists!
I: And how others would call us?
We: Nerd! Geek!
(answer: geek)
T: It's something that will grow soon in our garden...
We: Apples, plums, carrots, salad....
T: But it will not grow very well.
We: Pineapple, watermelon, grapes (and 1000 other things)
Time is out and we find out that it was "pepper".
Few examples that I remember:
S: Nowadays it's everywhere, mass...
I: Destruction!
(proper answer: media)
T: If there is constructions on the road...
We: Traffic jam...
T: then you need it...
We: Detour...
T: You need it more when it is cold...
We: Wheel chains...
T: It's kind of protection...
We: ?
T: You can also eat it...
We: ???
Time is out and Thomas reveals that he tried to explain "ear muffins".
I: I guess we all are it.
We: Scientists!
I: And how others would call us?
We: Nerd! Geek!
(answer: geek)
T: It's something that will grow soon in our garden...
We: Apples, plums, carrots, salad....
T: But it will not grow very well.
We: Pineapple, watermelon, grapes (and 1000 other things)
Time is out and we find out that it was "pepper".
Saturday, August 11, 2007
John Muir Wilderness
Unfortunately, my hiking holidays are already over. I came back on Tuesday night dirty, smelly, sun-burned, swollen, bruised, scratched, absolutely in love with Sierra Nevada mountains and with a strong resolution to go back there as soon as possible.
The part of the Sierras where I hiked is called John Muir Wilderness. As I learned, by law wilderness areas are even more protected from human influence than national parks are (e.g. even biking is not allowed within them).
I am mentioning this because my hiking expedition was part of a geological field trip. One of my friends' (Mike's) father is a geology professor at Stanford University interested in structural geology and geomechanics. Once a year he organizes a trip to High Sierras to find experimental evidence and collect samples that will support the theoretical models of rock movements and deformations that he and his students are creating in the lab. Several months before each of his trips to the Sierras he has to apply to US National Park Services for a special permission that will enable him bringing (and using) heavy-duty scientific equipment (like gas and electric drills) up the mountains.
That means that each such trip is a big deal for them and is always extremely carefully and well organized. As Mike said to me: "Imagine that you could do only one experiment a year. Wouldn't you like to prepare it very well and wouldn't you be extremely enthusiastic about it?" Of course I would and I was. I was also extremely grateful both to Mike and his father for giving me an opportunity of joining them during their field trip.
Being part of their geological team definitely added a lot to my experience in the Sierras. It was so great to see all of them (Dave - Mike's father, Ashley and Betsy - Dave's PhD students, and Georgio - a visiting Italian professor) looking at some cracks (proper geological name: fault or joint depending on the filling...) with such enthusiasm as you would expect from a 3-year-old child when she/he gets her/his first toy ever. They could spend hours starring at those faults and other geological features discussing in detail what they could mean for their model(s).
I think mountains will never be the same for me anymore. It's like a completely new dimension was added to my hiking experience. So far during hiking I was marveling at the beauty of landscape and mightiness of forces of nature, or I was looking for animals and I was trying to recognize different plants. From now on I will also look for faults, joints and pseudotachylytes (100 points for the person that knows what that is).
Now few photos and a short day-by-day description of our hiking activities.
Day 1:
A car trip from Stanford to John Muir Wilderness (around 7h including lunch break). Dinner at VVR restaurant. Setting up the camp at Edison Lake.
Day 2:
Visit at the packing station to arrange for mulls to bring some of our equipment to the camp high in the mountains. Breakfast at VVR. Hike from Edison Lake (located at 7600ft) up to Bear Ridge (9840ft). This section of the trail was pretty much constantly going steeply uphill until we reached a crossing with Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail/John Muir Trail. From there we hiked in direction of Selden Pass down to Bear Creek. This part of the trail had many switchbacks going steeply down to around 9000ft. Then we hiked along Bear Creek until we reached Hilgard Branch. We stopped few hundred meters after it at around 9400ft and there we finally set up the base camp. All in all it took us around 6h (with many breaks to eat and look at outcrops) to hike 10 miles, 2600ft up, 900ft down.
We started our hike at Lake Edison:
As soon as we were high up in the mountains (at Bear Ridge) we encountered first interesting geological features which were - of course - carefully examined by our geological team:
While they were all gazing at the rocks I made friends with this nice Alligator Lizard:
Our camp was located at the east side of Bear Creek:
Day 3:
First few hours of that day Mike and I spent following geologists at their quest to find pseudotachylytes. Here you can see them again gazing at some crack:
Then we decided to separate from them and take advantage of very low levels of Bear Creek to cross it and explore lakes located in the mountains on its west side. First we followed a nameless creek going up to Orchid Lake (10600ft). That part of the hike was very steep and all the time uphill, but it did not take us too much time.
This is the first lake (not only it did not have a name but also it was not even marked on our not-so-great map) that we encountered during that hike:
On the meadow nearby it we saw many pretty blue butterflies:
Few hundred meters after the first lake we finally found Orchid Lake. We stopped there for lunch and marveled at the beauty of Seven Gables and Gemini (the peaks in the background on the right side of the picture):
Close up of Seven Gables (now in the center of the picture) and Gemini (to the right and slightly behind Seven Gables). Two days later we were just few hundred feet away from Gemini peak:
From Orchid Lake we continued to Apollo and Cirque Lakes. In principle they were located at the same height as Orchid Lake was, but as there was neither trail between them nor we had a decent map of this part of the mountains, we ended up going several times up and down for several hundred feet before we got where we wanted. Moreover, again as a result of not having a good map, we ended up choosing a pretty bad route back to the camp. It was both very long and tiring (with lots of bouldering). We were hurrying up as much as we could and still we only managed to reach our camp few minutes before it became completely dark. After that both Mike and I were pretty exhausted. I was even too tired to eat dinner. I went straight to my tent and I immediately felt asleep waking up only 10h later...
Day 4:
On that day Mike and I packed all our gear and set up for a 2-day hike in high mountains. Our goal was to reach Floating Rock Lake, a lake that Mike named when he was 15 and which he hadn't seen for at least 10 years. First we gradually hiked up along Bear Creek until we reached Rosemarie Meadow (10040ft). There we stopped to resupply water as that was our last water source before our final destination for that day.
From there the trail led us through the forest to beautiful Lou Beverly Lake (10160ft):
After we passed that lake we again started hiking steeply up until we reached Sandpiper Lake (10600ft). From there it was supposed to be relatively easy to get to Three Island Lake as both of these lakes are located at the same height. However, that was the most exhausting part of our hike as we all the time had to climb on the boulders. Moreover, carrying full gear on our backs and being already on pretty high altitude were not helping. Still, we made it to the top in less than 4h. We set up our tent, rested for around 1h and then decided to try to go around Three Island Lake. We were not sure if we would manage to do it as it again involved a lot of bouldering.
Three Island lake:
Surprisingly, we managed without any problems and we even managed to get to Flat Note Lake, which is usually not easily accessible because of snow (which this time was not there):
After we came back from that little trip we ate fast dinner and immediately hide in our tent as all of the sudden the temperature fell drastically and it was freezing cold even though it was only 7 in the evening.
Day 5:
That was pretty tough day for us. We were on tight schedule to get up to Mike's lake, come back down to our tent at Three Island Lake, pack it and get down to the base camp at Bear Creek before sun sets down. Of course there was no trail where we were going, so we again had to do a lot of cross-country and bouldering. But even though it was physically exhausting hike, we enjoyed it a lot as there were many beautiful lakes and creeks all along our route.
One of the creeks on our way to Gemini:
We were also pleased to see several couples of Western Tanagers that were pretty much oblivious to our presence:
The higher we got, the more unmelted snow patches we encountered:
Unfortunately, one of these snow patches prevented us from reaching Mike's lake. On the photo below you can see the highest point to which we got (12200ft) at the footsteps of Gemini Peak:
Still, it was great to get at least there, as it offered spectacular views of Seven Gables and Seven Gables Lakes:
On the way back to our tent we again passed many beautiful small lakes:
Another example:
Taking a break to drink and rest:
We (or actually Mike) also found a very interesting artifact. If you look closer you will realize that what Mike keeps in his hands is actually plane's engine cover...
Because we did not manage to get as far as we planned, we were way ahead of our time schedule. Thanks to that we did not have to hurry back and we could come back to the base camp at relaxed speed. Here, Mike is crossing Bear Creek just few hundred feet away from the camp:
Day 6:
Four of us (Mike, Dave, Betsy and I) packed our stuff and hiked back to our car parked at the south side of Edison Lake (backtracking what we did on day 2). Ashley and Georgio stayed at the camp for another week to continue their research.
On the way back I made friends with another (unidentified) lizard:
From Edison Lake we drove back to Stanford with a stop at Los Banos to eat dinner at the restaurant called "French Basque" (located somewhere on H Street). Los Banos is just 2h of car drive away from SF. I would dare to claim that it is worth to travel for this 2x2h just to eat dinner at this restaurant. It's experience (not only culinary) that you will not forget.
Eh, I want to go hiking again!
The part of the Sierras where I hiked is called John Muir Wilderness. As I learned, by law wilderness areas are even more protected from human influence than national parks are (e.g. even biking is not allowed within them).
I am mentioning this because my hiking expedition was part of a geological field trip. One of my friends' (Mike's) father is a geology professor at Stanford University interested in structural geology and geomechanics. Once a year he organizes a trip to High Sierras to find experimental evidence and collect samples that will support the theoretical models of rock movements and deformations that he and his students are creating in the lab. Several months before each of his trips to the Sierras he has to apply to US National Park Services for a special permission that will enable him bringing (and using) heavy-duty scientific equipment (like gas and electric drills) up the mountains.
That means that each such trip is a big deal for them and is always extremely carefully and well organized. As Mike said to me: "Imagine that you could do only one experiment a year. Wouldn't you like to prepare it very well and wouldn't you be extremely enthusiastic about it?" Of course I would and I was. I was also extremely grateful both to Mike and his father for giving me an opportunity of joining them during their field trip.
Being part of their geological team definitely added a lot to my experience in the Sierras. It was so great to see all of them (Dave - Mike's father, Ashley and Betsy - Dave's PhD students, and Georgio - a visiting Italian professor) looking at some cracks (proper geological name: fault or joint depending on the filling...) with such enthusiasm as you would expect from a 3-year-old child when she/he gets her/his first toy ever. They could spend hours starring at those faults and other geological features discussing in detail what they could mean for their model(s).
I think mountains will never be the same for me anymore. It's like a completely new dimension was added to my hiking experience. So far during hiking I was marveling at the beauty of landscape and mightiness of forces of nature, or I was looking for animals and I was trying to recognize different plants. From now on I will also look for faults, joints and pseudotachylytes (100 points for the person that knows what that is).
Now few photos and a short day-by-day description of our hiking activities.
Day 1:
A car trip from Stanford to John Muir Wilderness (around 7h including lunch break). Dinner at VVR restaurant. Setting up the camp at Edison Lake.
Day 2:
Visit at the packing station to arrange for mulls to bring some of our equipment to the camp high in the mountains. Breakfast at VVR. Hike from Edison Lake (located at 7600ft) up to Bear Ridge (9840ft). This section of the trail was pretty much constantly going steeply uphill until we reached a crossing with Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail/John Muir Trail. From there we hiked in direction of Selden Pass down to Bear Creek. This part of the trail had many switchbacks going steeply down to around 9000ft. Then we hiked along Bear Creek until we reached Hilgard Branch. We stopped few hundred meters after it at around 9400ft and there we finally set up the base camp. All in all it took us around 6h (with many breaks to eat and look at outcrops) to hike 10 miles, 2600ft up, 900ft down.
We started our hike at Lake Edison:
As soon as we were high up in the mountains (at Bear Ridge) we encountered first interesting geological features which were - of course - carefully examined by our geological team:
While they were all gazing at the rocks I made friends with this nice Alligator Lizard:
Our camp was located at the east side of Bear Creek:
Day 3:
First few hours of that day Mike and I spent following geologists at their quest to find pseudotachylytes. Here you can see them again gazing at some crack:
Then we decided to separate from them and take advantage of very low levels of Bear Creek to cross it and explore lakes located in the mountains on its west side. First we followed a nameless creek going up to Orchid Lake (10600ft). That part of the hike was very steep and all the time uphill, but it did not take us too much time.
This is the first lake (not only it did not have a name but also it was not even marked on our not-so-great map) that we encountered during that hike:
On the meadow nearby it we saw many pretty blue butterflies:
Few hundred meters after the first lake we finally found Orchid Lake. We stopped there for lunch and marveled at the beauty of Seven Gables and Gemini (the peaks in the background on the right side of the picture):
Close up of Seven Gables (now in the center of the picture) and Gemini (to the right and slightly behind Seven Gables). Two days later we were just few hundred feet away from Gemini peak:
From Orchid Lake we continued to Apollo and Cirque Lakes. In principle they were located at the same height as Orchid Lake was, but as there was neither trail between them nor we had a decent map of this part of the mountains, we ended up going several times up and down for several hundred feet before we got where we wanted. Moreover, again as a result of not having a good map, we ended up choosing a pretty bad route back to the camp. It was both very long and tiring (with lots of bouldering). We were hurrying up as much as we could and still we only managed to reach our camp few minutes before it became completely dark. After that both Mike and I were pretty exhausted. I was even too tired to eat dinner. I went straight to my tent and I immediately felt asleep waking up only 10h later...
Day 4:
On that day Mike and I packed all our gear and set up for a 2-day hike in high mountains. Our goal was to reach Floating Rock Lake, a lake that Mike named when he was 15 and which he hadn't seen for at least 10 years. First we gradually hiked up along Bear Creek until we reached Rosemarie Meadow (10040ft). There we stopped to resupply water as that was our last water source before our final destination for that day.
From there the trail led us through the forest to beautiful Lou Beverly Lake (10160ft):
After we passed that lake we again started hiking steeply up until we reached Sandpiper Lake (10600ft). From there it was supposed to be relatively easy to get to Three Island Lake as both of these lakes are located at the same height. However, that was the most exhausting part of our hike as we all the time had to climb on the boulders. Moreover, carrying full gear on our backs and being already on pretty high altitude were not helping. Still, we made it to the top in less than 4h. We set up our tent, rested for around 1h and then decided to try to go around Three Island Lake. We were not sure if we would manage to do it as it again involved a lot of bouldering.
Three Island lake:
Surprisingly, we managed without any problems and we even managed to get to Flat Note Lake, which is usually not easily accessible because of snow (which this time was not there):
After we came back from that little trip we ate fast dinner and immediately hide in our tent as all of the sudden the temperature fell drastically and it was freezing cold even though it was only 7 in the evening.
Day 5:
That was pretty tough day for us. We were on tight schedule to get up to Mike's lake, come back down to our tent at Three Island Lake, pack it and get down to the base camp at Bear Creek before sun sets down. Of course there was no trail where we were going, so we again had to do a lot of cross-country and bouldering. But even though it was physically exhausting hike, we enjoyed it a lot as there were many beautiful lakes and creeks all along our route.
One of the creeks on our way to Gemini:
We were also pleased to see several couples of Western Tanagers that were pretty much oblivious to our presence:
The higher we got, the more unmelted snow patches we encountered:
Unfortunately, one of these snow patches prevented us from reaching Mike's lake. On the photo below you can see the highest point to which we got (12200ft) at the footsteps of Gemini Peak:
Still, it was great to get at least there, as it offered spectacular views of Seven Gables and Seven Gables Lakes:
On the way back to our tent we again passed many beautiful small lakes:
Another example:
Taking a break to drink and rest:
We (or actually Mike) also found a very interesting artifact. If you look closer you will realize that what Mike keeps in his hands is actually plane's engine cover...
Because we did not manage to get as far as we planned, we were way ahead of our time schedule. Thanks to that we did not have to hurry back and we could come back to the base camp at relaxed speed. Here, Mike is crossing Bear Creek just few hundred feet away from the camp:
Day 6:
Four of us (Mike, Dave, Betsy and I) packed our stuff and hiked back to our car parked at the south side of Edison Lake (backtracking what we did on day 2). Ashley and Georgio stayed at the camp for another week to continue their research.
On the way back I made friends with another (unidentified) lizard:
From Edison Lake we drove back to Stanford with a stop at Los Banos to eat dinner at the restaurant called "French Basque" (located somewhere on H Street). Los Banos is just 2h of car drive away from SF. I would dare to claim that it is worth to travel for this 2x2h just to eat dinner at this restaurant. It's experience (not only culinary) that you will not forget.
Eh, I want to go hiking again!
Friday, August 10, 2007
list of unfinished posts
3/17: marriage
4/18: the marsh - a breeding ground of new performance
4/21: 2: arrival in Nairobi
5/15: Mission Bay Campus of UCSF
5/16: MPI-CBG
5/19: The Rape of Europa
5/24: movies - recommendations
6/26: June - where did you go?
6/26: dudes
6/26: television
7/22: earthquake
7/26: men: constant source of entertainment
7/26: men are sensitive
7/31: tattoo
8/08: John Muir Wilderness
most of these posts are 50 to 70% ready, but somehow I can not get myself to finish and post them; I guess it has something to do with their length: the longer they are, the more probable it is that they will not be finished
4/18: the marsh - a breeding ground of new performance
4/21: 2: arrival in Nairobi
5/15: Mission Bay Campus of UCSF
5/16: MPI-CBG
5/19: The Rape of Europa
5/24: movies - recommendations
6/26: June - where did you go?
6/26: dudes
6/26: television
7/22: earthquake
7/26: men: constant source of entertainment
7/26: men are sensitive
7/31: tattoo
8/08: John Muir Wilderness
most of these posts are 50 to 70% ready, but somehow I can not get myself to finish and post them; I guess it has something to do with their length: the longer they are, the more probable it is that they will not be finished
bash/basz
in English:
[Desann] I have XP since one year and I do not have ANY problems.
[Globi666] But did you install it?
po polsku:
[Desann] Mam XP od roku i nie mam ŻADNYCH problemów.
[Globi666] A zainstalowałeś go?
[Desann] I have XP since one year and I do not have ANY problems.
[Globi666] But did you install it?
po polsku:
[Desann] Mam XP od roku i nie mam ŻADNYCH problemów.
[Globi666] A zainstalowałeś go?
blogging in Polish vs English
I am kind of thinking about switching writing my blog to Polish.
Pros:
1. my father would understand what I am writing (related con: maybe my father should not know everything as then he might be worrying too much about me, and there is really no reason to worry)
2. I can express myself so much better in Polish and finally I would be able to play with words/language as much as I like
3. anyway around 90% of comments are from my Polish speaking friends who initially made an effort to write them in English, but recently drifted into using Polish only, suggesting that Polish would be a preferred way of communication for them
Cons:
1. there is a small but important group of my friends that occasionally check out my blog who do not speak Polish - but maybe they do not have to understand everything that I write? maybe just photos would be enough for them as they are enough now for my father?
2. in principle forcing myself to write in English should improve my writing in this language - actually I already realized that it takes me now much less time to write something than it took at the beginning of blog-writing (but maybe I am simply more careless now)
3. this blog is sort of diary of my life; what if my children/grandchildren would not be able to understand Polish and would like to read it?
Pros:
1. my father would understand what I am writing (related con: maybe my father should not know everything as then he might be worrying too much about me, and there is really no reason to worry)
2. I can express myself so much better in Polish and finally I would be able to play with words/language as much as I like
3. anyway around 90% of comments are from my Polish speaking friends who initially made an effort to write them in English, but recently drifted into using Polish only, suggesting that Polish would be a preferred way of communication for them
Cons:
1. there is a small but important group of my friends that occasionally check out my blog who do not speak Polish - but maybe they do not have to understand everything that I write? maybe just photos would be enough for them as they are enough now for my father?
2. in principle forcing myself to write in English should improve my writing in this language - actually I already realized that it takes me now much less time to write something than it took at the beginning of blog-writing (but maybe I am simply more careless now)
3. this blog is sort of diary of my life; what if my children/grandchildren would not be able to understand Polish and would like to read it?
foot surgery
Either I am insane, or the rest of the world. Apparently some people have too much time and too much money and waste them on worrying about looks of their feet and their correction: link.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
evolutionary anthropology: altruism
Recent study conducted at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, in Uganda, by Felix Warneken and colleagues of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, published in July's edition of PloS Biology, provides unambiguous experimental evidence that chimpanzees act altruistically toward genetically unrelated individuals (even outside of their own specie). That is in contrary to the previous studies that argued that altruism is unique to humans (or that only humans would help others, not only without personal gain, but even at a cost to themselves).
Warneken study clearly demonstrates that the evolutionary roots of human altruism reach at least as far back as the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. It also raises an important question of how altruism could have evolved in the world of selfish genes? Frans de Waal tries to give the answer to this and other questions in PLoS Biology primer.
Streszczenie po polsku: link
Warneken study clearly demonstrates that the evolutionary roots of human altruism reach at least as far back as the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. It also raises an important question of how altruism could have evolved in the world of selfish genes? Frans de Waal tries to give the answer to this and other questions in PLoS Biology primer.
Streszczenie po polsku: link
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
paleoanthropology: our origins
Another spectacular finding from the Leakey family: unlike what we believed before H. habilis and H. erectus have co-occurred in eastern Africa for nearly half a million years. Links: in English i po polsku.
For the ones with access to Nature: original research article.
For the ones with access to Nature: original research article.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
closed for holidays
Ciao Amici,
I am gone hiking in Sierra Nevada. Will be back around 8/9th of August with lots of pictures. In meantime take care and do not do anything that I wouldn't do!
Deine Liebe,
Monika
I am gone hiking in Sierra Nevada. Will be back around 8/9th of August with lots of pictures. In meantime take care and do not do anything that I wouldn't do!
Deine Liebe,
Monika
Les Marionettes
movie: La doble vida de Verónica - Krzysztof Kieslowski
music: Les Marionettes - Zbigniew Preisner
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