Making sense of taste-test results is difficult. MIT researchers using ‘genetic programming’ to crossbreed algorithms randomly generate mathematical functions that predict scores according to the concentrations of different flavors. Each function is assessed according to two criteria: accuracy and simplicity. A function that, for example, predicts a subject’s preferences fairly accurately using a single factor — say, concentration of butter — could prove more useful than one that yields a slightly more accurate prediction but requires a complicated mathematical manipulation of all seven variables. The Swiss flavor company Givaudan asked CSAIL principal research scientist Una-May O’Reilly, postdoc Kalyan Veeramachaneni and the University of Antwerp’s Ekaterina Vladislavleva to help interpret the results of tests in which 69 subjects evaluated 36 different combinations of seven basic flavors, assigning each a score according to its olfactory appeal.View full size

Making sense of taste-test results is difficult. MIT researchers using ‘genetic programming’ to crossbreed algorithms randomly generate mathematical functions that predict scores according to the concentrations of different flavors.

Each function is assessed according to two criteria: accuracy and simplicity. A function that, for example, predicts a subject’s preferences fairly accurately using a single factor — say, concentration of butter — could prove more useful than one that yields a slightly more accurate prediction but requires a complicated mathematical manipulation of all seven variables.

The Swiss flavor company Givaudan asked CSAIL principal research scientist Una-May O’Reilly, postdoc Kalyan Veeramachaneni and the University of Antwerp’s Ekaterina Vladislavleva to help interpret the results of tests in which 69 subjects evaluated 36 different combinations of seven basic flavors, assigning each a score according to its olfactory appeal.

Great article on the research of musics effect on the mind-body: enough time has passed to prove that the study of the brain on music yields beneficial results. Improvements in childhood education and mitigation of certain brain and body disorders are among the benefits. The goal of the field is also clear now: to study what makes us human so we can better understand each other and the world.View full size

Great article on the research of musics effect on the mind-body: enough time has passed to prove that the study of the brain on music yields beneficial results. Improvements in childhood education and mitigation of certain brain and body disorders are among the benefits. The goal of the field is also clear now: to study what makes us human so we can better understand each other and the world.

Call Your Doctor About a Cold If: You notice an inability to swallow. You have a sore throat for more than two or three days, particularly if it seems to be worsening. You have an earache. You have a stiff neck or sensitivity to bright lights. Your are pregnant or nursing. Your newborn or infant has cold symptoms. Your throat hurts and your temperature is 101 degrees F or higher. Your cold symptoms worsen after the third day. You may have a bacterial infection. View full size

Call Your Doctor About a Cold If:

  • You notice an inability to swallow.
  • You have a sore throat for more than two or three days, particularly if it seems to be worsening.
  • You have an earache.
  • You have a stiff neck or sensitivity to bright lights.
  • Your are pregnant or nursing.
  • Your newborn or infant has cold symptoms.
  • Your throat hurts and your temperature is 101 degrees F or higher.
  • Your cold symptoms worsen after the third day. You may have a bacterial infection.
Frequent hand-washing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading illness. Hand-washing requires only soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.View full size

Frequent hand-washing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading illness. Hand-washing requires only soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

The average human hand harbors 150 species of bacteria, some harmless and even beneficial, others capable of causing serious illness. Any number of those bacteria can be left behind every time you touch something – and considering that in the United States, Americans actually touch about 300 different surfaces every 30 minutes, there are a lot of germs being spread around. In fact, regular contact with household items is thought to be the trigger for over 65 percent of colds, 50 percent of all cases of diarrhea and 50 percent to 80 percent of food-borne illnesses. Among the worst offenders are those objects you touch often but rarely clean, such as your kitchen faucet, TV remote control, doorknobs, refrigerator door handles, computer keyboards, mice and trackballs, and light switches.View full size

The average human hand harbors 150 species of bacteria, some harmless and even beneficial, others capable of causing serious illness. Any number of those bacteria can be left behind every time you touch something – and considering that in the United States, Americans actually touch about 300 different surfaces every 30 minutes, there are a lot of germs being spread around.

In fact, regular contact with household items is thought to be the trigger for over 65 percent of colds, 50 percent of all cases of diarrhea and 50 percent to 80 percent of food-borne illnesses.

Among the worst offenders are those objects you touch often but rarely clean, such as your kitchen faucet, TV remote control, doorknobs, refrigerator door handles, computer keyboards, mice and trackballs, and light switches.

Cold and flu germs generally remain active longer on stainless steel, plastic and similar hard surfaces than on fabric and other soft surfaces. On any surface, though, flu viruses seem to live longer than cold viruses do. Other factors, such as the amount of virus deposited on a surface and the temperature and humidity of the environment, also have effects on how long cold and flu germs stay active outside the body.View full size

Cold and flu germs generally remain active longer on stainless steel, plastic and similar hard surfaces than on fabric and other soft surfaces. On any surface, though, flu viruses seem to live longer than cold viruses do.

Other factors, such as the amount of virus deposited on a surface and the temperature and humidity of the environment, also have effects on how long cold and flu germs stay active outside the body.

Common cold symptoms usually start between one and three days after you are infected by a cold virus.Typically, they last for about three to seven days. During the first three days that you have common cold symptoms, you are contagious. This means you can pass the cold virus to those you come in contact with.View full size

Common cold symptoms usually start between one and three days after you are infected by a cold virus.Typically, they last for about three to seven days. During the first three days that you have common cold symptoms, you are contagious. This means you can pass the cold virus to those you come in contact with.

Ride a bus or tram and you’re six times more likely to end up at the doctor’s office with cold symptoms. The findings from the University of Nottingham justify the need to practice good respiratory and hand hygiene when using public transport during periods when winter viruses are circulating and where possible to avoid situations where you might spread your germs to others when you have a respiratory illness.View full size

Ride a bus or tram and you’re six times more likely to end up at the doctor’s office with cold symptoms. The findings from the University of Nottingham justify the need to practice good respiratory and hand hygiene when using public transport during periods when winter viruses are circulating and where possible to avoid situations where you might spread your germs to others when you have a respiratory illness.

Exercise can cut the duration of a cold in half and reduce the intensity of the awful symptoms. Exercise causes a temporary rise in immune system cells circulating around the body and this little surge may be enough to reduce overall upper respiratory tract infection by the common cold bug and decrease the stuffy nose, sore throat and overall misery of having a cold.View full size

Exercise can cut the duration of a cold in half and reduce the intensity of the awful symptoms. Exercise causes a temporary rise in immune system cells circulating around the body and this little surge may be enough to reduce overall upper respiratory tract infection by the common cold bug and decrease the stuffy nose, sore throat and overall misery of having a cold.

Researchers at Brown found that it requires conscious reasoning to decide that active and passive behaviors that are equally harmful are equally wrong.Obvious wrong is usually understood automatic, but when a person allows harm that they could easily prevent, that actually requires more carefully controlled deliberative thinking [to view as wrong], or HIGHER intelligence.Is this what parenting is all about, raising kids of higher intelligence? Really interesting study. Fiery Cushman and his co-authors, who were at Harvard University at the time, tracked the blood flow in the volunteers’ brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging scans.View full size

Researchers at Brown found that it requires conscious reasoning to decide that active and passive behaviors that are equally harmful are equally wrong.

Obvious wrong is usually understood automatic, but when a person allows harm that they could easily prevent, that actually requires more carefully controlled deliberative thinking [to view as wrong], or HIGHER intelligence.

Is this what parenting is all about, raising kids of higher intelligence? Really interesting study. Fiery Cushman and his co-authors, who were at Harvard University at the time, tracked the blood flow in the volunteers’ brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging scans.