LINKS - August 16th, 2023
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
What Is Narcissism? Science Confronts a Widely Misunderstood Phenomenon
By Diana Kwon, Scientific American
“Most psychologists who treat patients say that grandiosity and vulnerability coexist in the same individual, showing up in different situations. Among academic psychologists, however, many contend that these two traits do not always overlap. This debate has raged for decades without resolution, most likely because of a conundrum: vulnerability is almost always present in a therapist's office, but individuals high in grandiosity are unlikely to show up for treatment. Psychologist Mary Trump deduces, from family history and close observation, that her uncle, Donald Trump, meets the criteria for narcissistic as well as, probably, antisocial personality disorder, at the extreme end of which is sociopathy. But “coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests that he'll never sit for,” she notes in her book on the former president.”
A new look at Ötzi the Iceman’s DNA reveals new ancestry and other surprises
By Tina Hesman Saey, Science News
“The Iceman’s new genome also reveals he had male-pattern baldness and much darker skin than artistic representations suggest. Genes conferring light skin tones didn’t become prevalent until 4,000 to 3,000 years ago when early farmers started eating plant-based diets and didn’t get as much vitamin D from fish and meat as hunter-gathers did, Krause says.”
We know almost nothing about thousands of proteins in the human body
By Michael Le Page, New Scientist
“A database of proteins, dubbed the “unknome”, that ranks proteins according to how much we have learned about them has revealed that we still know next to nothing about thousands of human proteins. The team behind the database has also shown that at least some of these proteins are essential for survival.”
Revealing The Smithsonian's ‘Racial Brain Collection’
By Nicole Dungca & Claire Healy, The Washington Post
“The remains are the unreconciled legacy of a grisly practice in which bodies and organs were taken from graveyards, battlefields, morgues and hospitals in more than 80 countries. The decades-long effort was financed and encouraged by the taxpayer-subsidized institution. The collection, which was mostly amassed by the early 1940s, has long been hidden from view. The Washington Post has assembled the most extensive analysis and accounting of the holdings to date.”
Scientists Recreate Pink Floyd Song by Reading Brain Signals of Listeners
By Hana Kiros, The New York Times
“The findings offer a first step toward creating more expressive devices to assist people who can’t speak. Over the past few years, scientists have made major breakthroughs in extracting words from the electrical signals produced by the brains of people with muscle paralysis when they attempt to speak.”