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Mathematical Models Out-Perform Doctors in Predicting Cancer Patients’ Responses to Treatment (Science Daily)

22/04/2013UncategorizedEnquadramento, Incerteza, Matemática, Mediação tecnológica, medicina, Previsão, Saúderenzotaddei

Apr. 19, 2013 — Mathematical prediction models are better than doctors at predicting the outcomes and responses of lung cancer patients to treatment, according to new research presented today (Saturday) at the 2nd Forum of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO).

These differences apply even after the doctor has seen the patient, which can provide extra information, and knows what the treatment plan and radiation dose will be.

“The number of treatment options available for lung cancer patients are increasing, as well as the amount of information available to the individual patient. It is evident that this will complicate the task of the doctor in the future,” said the presenter, Dr Cary Oberije, a postdoctoral researcher at the MAASTRO Clinic, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands. “If models based on patient, tumour and treatment characteristics already out-perform the doctors, then it is unethical to make treatment decisions based solely on the doctors’ opinions. We believe models should be implemented in clinical practice to guide decisions.”

Dr Oberije and her colleagues in The Netherlands used mathematical prediction models that had already been tested and published. The models use information from previous patients to create a statistical formula that can be used to predict the probability of outcome and responses to treatment using radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy for future patients.

Having obtained predictions from the mathematical models, the researchers asked experienced radiation oncologists to predict the likelihood of lung cancer patients surviving for two years, or suffering from shortness of breath (dyspnea) and difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) at two points in time:

1) after they had seen the patient for the first time, and

2) after the treatment plan was made. At the first time point, the doctors predicted two-year survival for 121 patients, dyspnea for 139 and dysphagia for 146 patients.

At the second time point, predictions were only available for 35, 39 and 41 patients respectively.

For all three predictions and at both time points, the mathematical models substantially outperformed the doctors’ predictions, with the doctors’ predictions being little better than those expected by chance.

The researchers plotted the results on a special graph [1] on which the area below the plotted line is used for measuring the accuracy of predictions; 1 represents a perfect prediction, while 0.5 represents predictions that were right in 50% of cases, i.e. the same as chance. They found that the model predictions at the first time point were 0.71 for two-year survival, 0.76 for dyspnea and 0.72 for dysphagia. In contrast, the doctors’ predictions were 0.56, 0.59 and 0.52 respectively.

The models had a better positive predictive value (PPV) — a measure of the proportion of patients who were correctly assessed as being at risk of dying within two years or suffering from dyspnea and dysphagia — than the doctors. The negative predictive value (NPV) — a measure of the proportion of patients that would not die within two years or suffer from dyspnea and dysphagia — was comparable between the models and the doctors.

“This indicates that the models were better at identifying high risk patients that have a very low chance of surviving or a very high chance of developing severe dyspnea or dysphagia,” said Dr Oberije.

The researchers say that it is important that further research is carried out into how prediction models can be integrated into standard clinical care. In addition, further improvement of the models by incorporating all the latest advances in areas such as genetics, imaging and other factors, is important. This will make it possible to tailor treatment to the individual patient’s biological make-up and tumour type

“In our opinion, individualised treatment can only succeed if prediction models are used in clinical practice. We have shown that current models already outperform doctors. Therefore, this study can be used as a strong argument in favour of using prediction models and changing current clinical practice,” said Dr Oberije.

“Correct prediction of outcomes is important for several reasons,” she continued. “First, it offers the possibility to discuss treatment options with patients. If survival chances are very low, some patients might opt for a less aggressive treatment with fewer side-effects and better quality of life. Second, it could be used to assess which patients are eligible for a specific clinical trial. Third, correct predictions make it possible to improve and optimise the treatment. Currently, treatment guidelines are applied to the whole lung cancer population, but we know that some patients are cured while others are not and some patients suffer from severe side-effects while others don’t. We know that there are many factors that play a role in the prognosis of patients and prediction models can combine them all.”

At present, prediction models are not used as widely as they could be by doctors. Dr Oberije says there are a number of reasons: some models lack clinical credibility; others have not yet been tested; the models need to be available and easy to use by doctors; and many doctors still think that seeing a patient gives them information that cannot be captured in a model. “Our study shows that it is very unlikely that a doctor can outperform a model,” she concluded.

President of ESTRO, Professor Vincenzo Valentini, a radiation oncologist at the Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Rome, Italy, commented: “The booming growth of biological, imaging and clinical information will challenge the decision capacity of every oncologist. The understanding of the knowledge management sciences is becoming a priority for radiation oncologists in order for them to tailor their choices to cure and care for individual patients.”

[1] For the mathematicians among you, the graph is known as an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC).

[2] This work was partially funded by grants from the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), the European Fund for Regional Development (INTERREG/EFRO), and the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM).

SunEdison e Petrobras firmam acordo para planta de energia solar no Brasil (Yahoo! Notícias)

22/04/2013UncategorizedEnergia solar, Enquadramento, Mudanças climáticas, Opinião pública, Petrobrásrenzotaddei

Reuters – qui, 18 de abr de 2013

18 Abr (Reuters) – A SunEdison, provedora global de serviços de energia solar e subsidiária da MEMC Electronic Materials assinou um acordo com a Petrobras para construir uma das maiores plantas de energia solar no Brasil, informou a empresa norte-americana em um comunicado nesta quinta-feira.

A planta, que será localizada em Alto do Rodrigues, no Rio Grande do Norte, terá uma capacidade instalada de 1,1 megawatt.

Leia o comunicado original, em inglês, em: http://pdf.reuters.com/pdfnews/pdfnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&u=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20130418:nPnNY97027

(Por Laiz de Souza)

The Tangle of the Sexes (N.Y.Times)

22/04/2013Uncategorizedciência, Cognição, Gênero, Psicologiarenzotaddei

GRAY MATTER

By BOBBI CAROTHERS and HARRY REIS

Published: April 20, 2013

MEN and women are so different they might as well be from separate planets, so says the theory of the sexes famously explicated in John Gray’s 1992 best seller, “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.”

Jonny Negron

Indeed, sex differences are a perennially popular topic in behavioral science; since 2000, scientific journals have published more than 30,000 articles on them.

That men and women differ in certain respects is unassailable. Unfortunately, the continuing belief in “categorical differences” — men are aggressive, women are caring — reinforces traditional stereotypes by treating certain behaviors as immutable. And, it turns out, this belief is based on a scientifically indefensible model of human behavior.

As the psychologist Cordelia Fine explains in her book “Delusions of Gender,” the influence of one kind of categorical thinking, neurosexism — justifying differential treatment by citing differences in neural anatomy or function — spills over to educational and employment disparities, family relations and arguments about same-sex institutions.

Consider a marital spat in which she accuses him of being emotionally withdrawn while he indicts her for being demanding. In a gender-categorical world, the argument can quickly devolve to “You’re acting like a typical (man/woman)!” Asking a partner to change, in this binary world, is expecting him or her to go against the natural tendency of his or her category — a very tall order.

The alternative, a dimensional perspective, ascribes behavior to individuals, as one of their various personal qualities. It is much easier to imagine how change might take place.

But what of all those published studies, many of which claim to find differences between the sexes? In our research, published recently in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we shed an empirical light on this question by using a method called taxometric analysis.

This method asks whether data from two groups are likely to be taxonic — a classification that distinguishes one group from another in a nonarbitrary, fundamental manner, called a “taxon” — or whether they are more likely to be dimensional, with individuals’ scores dispersed along a single continuum.

The existence of a taxon implies a fundamental distinction, akin to the difference between species. As the clinical psychologist Paul Meehl famously put it, “There are gophers, there are chipmunks, but there are no gophmunks.”

A dimensional model, in contrast, indicates that men and women come from the same general pool, differing relatively, trait by trait, much as any two individuals from the same group might differ.

We applied such techniques to the data from 13 studies, conducted earlier by other researchers. In each, significant differences had been found. We then looked more closely at these differences to ask whether they were more likely to be of degree (a dimension) or kind (a taxon).

The studies looked at diverse attributes, including sexual attitudes and behavior, desired mate characteristics, interest in and ease of learning science, and intimacy, empathy, social support and caregiving in relationships.

Across analyses spanning 122 attributes from more than 13,000 individuals, one conclusion stood out: instead of dividing into two groups, men and women overlapped considerably on attributes like the frequency of science-related activities, interest in casual sex, or the allure of a potential mate’s virginity.

Even stereotypical traits, like assertiveness or valuing close friendships, fell along a continuum. In other words, we found little or no evidence of categorical distinctions based on sex.

To some, this is no surprise; the psychologist Janet Hyde has argued repeatedly that men and women are far more similar than different. Yet to many others, the idea that men and women are fundamentally different beings persists. The Mars/Venus binary aside, it is all too easy to reify observed behavioral differences by associating them with the categories of the people doing the behaving, be it their sex, race or occupation.

It is important to keep in mind what we did not study. We looked only at psychological characteristics, qualities often associated with the behavior of women and men. We did not look at abilities or skills, and we did not directly observe behavior.

Just to be safe, we repeated our analyses on several dimensions where we did expect categorical differences: physical size, athletic ability and sex-stereotyped hobbies like playing video games and scrapbooking. On these we did find evidence for categories based on sex.

The Mars/Venus view describes a world that does not exist, at least here on earth. Our work shows that sex does not define qualitatively distinct categories of psychological characteristics. We need to look at individuals as individuals.

Bobbi Carothers is a senior data analyst at Washington University in St. Louis. Harry Reis is a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.

How Science Can Predict Where You Stand on Keystone XL (Mother Jones)

22/04/2013UncategorizedCapitalismo, Cidadania, Cognição, discurso ambiental, Política, Psicologiarenzotaddei

Want to make sense of the feud between pipeline activists and “hippie-punching” moderates? Talk to the researchers.

—By Chris Mooney | Wed Apr. 17, 2013 3:00 AM PDT

Washington monument with protestors around it

The anti-Keystone “Forward on Climate” rally in Washington DC, February 17th, 2013. Jay Mallin/ZUMA Press

On February 17, more than 40,000 climate change activists—many of them quite young—rallied in Washington, DC, to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, which will transport dirty tar sands oil from Canada across the heartland. The scornful response from media centrists was predictable. Joe Nocera of the New York Times, for one, quickly went on the attack. In a column titled “How Not to Fix Climate Change,” he wrote that the strategy of activists “who have made the Keystone pipeline their line in the sand is utterly boneheaded.”

Nocera, who accepts the science of climate change, made a string of familiar arguments: The tar sands will be exploited anyway, the total climate contribution of the oil that would be transported by Keystone XL is minimal, and so on. Perhaps inspired by Nocera-style thinking, a group of 17 Democratic senators would later cast a symbolic vote in favor of the pipeline, signaling that opposing industrial projects is not the brand of environmentalism that they, at least, have in mind.

The Keystone activists, not surprisingly, were livid. Not only did they challenge Nocera’s facts, they utterly rejected his claims as to the efficacy of their strategy: Opponents of the pipeline have often argued that it is vital to push the limits of the possible—in particular, to put unrelenting pressure on President Obama to lead on climate change. Van Jones, the onetime Obama clean-energy adviser and a close supporter of 350.org founder and Keystone protest leader Bill McKibben, has put it like this: “I think activism works…The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement kept pushing on the question of marriage equality, and the president came out for marriage equality, which then had a positive effect on public opinion and helped that movement win at the ballot box and in a number of states, within months.”

This article is about the emotionally charged dispute between climate activists and environmental moderates, despite their common acceptance of the science of climate change. Why does this sort of rift exist on so many issues dividing the center from the left? And what can we actually say about which side is, you know, right?

Does Joe Nocera really have a sound basis for calling the pipeline opponents’ strategy boneheaded—or is that just his gut feeling as a centrist? Does Van Jones have any basis for claiming that activism works—or is it just his gut feeling as someone favorably disposed towards activism?

This line of inquiry should prove duly humbling to both activists and moderates—and help to unite them.

It’s high time we considered the science on these questions. There is, after all, considerable scholarly work on whether activists, by pushing the boundaries of what seems acceptable, create the conditions for progress or, instead, bring about backlashes that can complicate the jobs of sympathetic policymakers.

There’s also data that may shed light on why these rifts between “moderates” and “activists” are more the rule than the exception—across the ideological spectrum. “I can’t really think of any movement where there isn’t some internal dissent about goals and tactics,” says Carleton College political scientist Devashree Gupta, who studies social movements. The recurrence of this pattern on issues from civil rights to gun control to abortion suggests that there is something here that’s well worth understanding, preferably before the next rhetorical bloodbath around Keystone.

A chief benefit of this line of inquiry: It should prove duly humbling to activists and moderates alike—and thus might help to unite them.

FROM THE OUTSET, I think we can agree on one fundamental point: Over the past several years, driven by the failure of cap and trade and a worsening climate crisis, America’s environmental movement has become considerably more activist in nature—some might even say “radical.” Exhibit A is the successful attempt by 350.org inspirer-in-chief McKibben (who has written extensively about climate for Mother Jones) to create a grassroots protest movement rather than simply to work within the corridors of power.

“What Bill is doing is actually quite impressive—he’s the first one to create a social movement around climate change, and he’s done it by creating a common enemy, the oil industry, and a salient target, which is Keystone,” says Andrew Hoffman, a professor at the University of Michigan who studies environmental politics.

There’s really little doubt that the “dark greens” are on the ascendant.

One crucial aspect of this shift is a growing reluctance by environmentalists to work hand in hand with big polluters. The latter was a central feature of the US Climate Action Partnership, the industry-environmental collaboration that led an unsuccessful cap-and-trade push a few years back. Nowadays, the environmental movement is moving toward a more oppositional relationship with industry, as evidenced by its attempts to block a major industrial project (Keystone) and to get universities and cities to drop their investments in fossil fuel companies (another of McKibben’s goals).

The rival environmental factions are sometimes described as “dark greens” (the purists who want to force radical change) and “bright greens” (those who seek compromise and accept tradeoffs). There’s really little doubt that dark greens are on the ascendant. “He’s pulling the flank out,” Hoffman says of McKibben. “I do think he has a valuable role in creating a space where others can create a more moderate role.”

Then along come the moderates, unleashing flurries of “hippie punching” under the guise of being more rational than the activists they are criticizing.

It’s also fair to say that McKibben—the charismatic journalist-turned-organizer—lies a good way to the political left. Its centrist biases notwithstanding, a recent paper by American University communications professor Matthew Nisbet does capture McKibben’s “romantic” ideology: Like most people, he’s unhappy about environmental degradation, but he also seems opposed, in a significant sense, to the economic growth engine that drives it. He believes in living smaller, in going back to nature, in consuming less—not a position many politicians would be willing to espouse. (Indeed, President Obama’s comments about climate change often contain an explicit rejection of the idea that environmental and economic progress are mutually exclusive.)

So environmentalists are moving left and becoming more activist in response to political gridlock and scary planetary rumblings. Then along come the moderates, unleashing flurries of what Grist‘s David Roberts calls “hippie punching” under the guise of being more rational and reasoned than those they are criticizing. For example, Nisbet writes: “McKibben’s line-in-the-sand opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, his skepticism of technology, and his romantic vision of a future consisting of small-scale, agrarian communities reflects his own values and priorities, rather than a pragmatic set of choices designed to effectively and realistically address the problem of climate change.”

You can see how an activist might find this just a tad irritating. For what is Nisbet’s statement if not a reflection of his own values and priorities? Words like “pragmatic” and “realistic” give away the game.

Carbon bubble will plunge the world into another financial crisis – report (The Guardian)

22/04/2013UncategorizedClima, Desastre, Enquadramento, Incerteza, Mídia, Mediação tecnológica, Meteorologia, Mudanças climáticas, Opinião pública, Política, Políticas públicas, Previsão, Sensacionalismorenzotaddei

Trillions of dollars at risk as stock markets inflate value of fossil fuels that may have to remain buried forever, experts warn

Damian Carrington – The Guardian, Friday 19 April 2013

Carbon bubble : carbon dioxide polluting power plant : coal-fired Bruce Mansfield Power Plant

Global stock markets are betting on countries failing to adhere to legally binding carbon emission targets. Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

The world could be heading for a major economic crisis as stock marketsinflate an investment bubble in fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars, according to leading economists.

“The financial crisis has shown what happens when risks accumulate unnoticed,” said Lord (Nicholas) Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics. He said the risk was “very big indeed” and that almost all investors and regulators were failing to address it.

The so-called “carbon bubble” is the result of an over-valuation of oil,coal and gas reserves held by fossil fuel companies. According to a report published on Friday, at least two-thirds of these reserves will have to remain underground if the world is to meet existing internationally agreed targets to avoid the threshold for “dangerous” climate change. If the agreements hold, these reserves will be in effect unburnable and so worthless – leading to massive market losses. But the stock markets are betting on countries’ inaction on climate change.

The stark report is by Stern and the thinktank Carbon Tracker. Their warning is supported by organisations including HSBC, Citi, Standard and Poor’s and the International Energy Agency. The Bank of England has also recognised that a collapse in the value of oil, gas and coal assets as nations tackle global warming is a potential systemic risk to the economy, with London being particularly at risk owing to its huge listings of coal.

Stern said that far from reducing efforts to develop fossil fuels, the top 200 companies spent $674bn (£441bn) in 2012 to find and exploit even more new resources, a sum equivalent to 1% of global GDP, which could end up as “stranded” or valueless assets. Stern’s landmark 2006 reporton the economic impact of climate change – commissioned by the then chancellor, Gordon Brown – concluded that spending 1% of GDP would pay for a transition to a clean and sustainable economy.

The world’s governments have agreed to restrict the global temperature rise to 2C, beyond which the impacts become severe and unpredictable. But Stern said the investors clearly did not believe action to curb climate change was going to be taken. “They can’t believe that and also believe that the markets are sensibly valued now.”

“They only believe environmental regulation when they see it,” said James Leaton, from Carbon Tracker and a former PwC consultant. He said short-termism in financial markets was the other major reason for the carbon bubble. “Analysts say you should ride the train until just before it goes off the cliff. Each thinks they are smart enough to get off in time, but not everyone can get out of the door at the same time. That is why you get bubbles and crashes.”

Paul Spedding, an oil and gas analyst at HSBC, said: “The scale of ‘listed’ unburnable carbon revealed in this report is astonishing. This report makes it clear that ‘business as usual’ is not a viable option for the fossil fuel industry in the long term. [The market] is assuming it will get early warning, but my worry is that things often happen suddenly in the oil and gas sector.”

HSBC warned that 40-60% of the market capitalisation of oil and gas companies was at risk from the carbon bubble, with the top 200 fossil fuel companies alone having a current value of $4tn, along with $1.5tn debt.

Lord McFall, who chaired the Commons Treasury select committee for a decade, said: “Despite its devastating scale, the banking crisis was at its heart an avoidable crisis: the threat of significant carbon writedown has the unmistakable characteristics of the same endemic problems.”

The report calculates that the world’s currently indicated fossil fuel reserves equate to 2,860bn tonnes of carbon dioxide, but that just 31% could be burned for an 80% chance of keeping below a 2C temperature rise. For a 50% chance of 2C or less, just 38% could be burned.

Carbon capture and storage technology, which buries emissions underground, can play a role in the future, but even an optimistic scenario which sees 3,800 commercial projects worldwide would allow only an extra 4% of fossil fuel reserves to be burned. There are currently no commercial projects up and running. The normally conservativeInternational Energy Agency has also concluded that a major part of fossil fuel reserves is unburnable.

Citi bank warned investors in Australia’s vast coal industry that little could be done to avoid the future loss of value in the face of action on climate change. “If the unburnable carbon scenario does occur, it is difficult to see how the value of fossil fuel reserves can be maintained, so we see few options for risk mitigation.”

Ratings agencies have expressed concerns, with Standard and Poor’s concluding that the risk could lead to the downgrading of the credit ratings of oil companies within a few years.

Steven Oman, senior vice-president at Moody’s, said: “It behoves us as investors and as a society to know the true cost of something so that intelligent and constructive policy and investment decisions can be made. Too often the true costs are treated as unquantifiable or even ignored.”

Jens Peers, who manages €4bn (£3bn) for Mirova, part of €300bn asset managers Natixis, said: “It is shocking to see the report’s numbers, as they are worse than people realise. The risk is massive, but a lot of asset managers think they have a lot of time. I think they are wrong.” He said a key moment will come in 2015, the date when the world’s governments have pledged to strike a global deal to limit carbon emissions. But he said that fund managers need to move now. If they wait till 2015, “it will be too late for them to take action.”

Pension funds are also concerned. “Every pension fund manager needs to ask themselves have we incorporated climate change and carbon risk into our investment strategy? If the answer is no, they need to start to now,” said Howard Pearce, head of pension fund management at the Environment Agency, which holds £2bn in assets.

Stern and Leaton both point to China as evidence that carbon cuts are likely to be delivered. China’s leaders have said its coal use will peak in the next five years, said Leaton, but this has not been priced in. “I don’t know why the market does not believe China,” he said. “When it says it is going to do something, it usually does.” He said the US and Australia were banking on selling coal to China but that this “doesn’t add up”.

Jeremy Grantham, a billionaire fund manager who oversees $106bn of assets, said his company was on the verge of pulling out of all coal and unconventional fossil fuels, such as oil from tar sands. “The probability of them running into trouble is too high for me to take that risk as an investor.” He said: “If we mean to burn all the coal and any appreciable percentage of the tar sands, or other unconventional oil and gas then we’re cooked. [There are] terrible consequences that we will lay at the door of our grandchildren.”

Politicians Found to Be More Risk-Tolerant Than the General Population (Science Daily)

22/04/2013UncategorizedAversão a risco, Incerteza, Política, Previsão, Psicologia, Riscorenzotaddei

Apr. 16, 2013 — According to a recent study, the popularly elected members of the German Bundestag are substantially more risk-tolerant than the broader population of Germany. Researchers in the Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion” at Freie Universität Berlin and at DIW Berlin (German Institute for Economic Research) conducted a survey of Bundestag representatives and analyzed data on the general population from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). Results show that risk tolerance is even higher among Bundestag representatives than among self-employed people, who are themselves more risk-tolerant than salaried employees or civil servants. This was true for all areas of risk that were surveyed in the study: automobile driving, financial investments, sports and leisure activities, career, and health. The authors interpret this finding as positive.

The full results of the study were published in German in the SOEPpapers series of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).

The authors of the study, Moritz Hess (University of Mannheim), Prof. Dr. Christian von Scheve (Freie Universität Berlin and DIW Berlin), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schupp (DIW Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin), and Prof. Dr. Gert G. Wagner (DIW Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin) view the above-average risk tolerance found among Bundestag representatives as positive. According to sociologist and lead author of the study Moritz Hess: “Otherwise, important societal decisions often wouldn’t be made due to the almost incalculable risks involved. This would lead to stagnation and social standstill.” The authors do not interpret the higher risk-tolerance found among politicians as a threat to democracy. “The results show a successful and sensible division of labor among citizens, voters, and politicians,” says economist Gert G. Wagner. Democratic structures and parliamentary processes, he argues, act as a brake on the individual risk propensity of elected representatives and politicians.

For their study, the research team distributed written questionnaires to all 620 members of the 17th German Bundestag in late 2011. Twenty-eight percent of Bundestag members responded. Comparisons with the statistical characteristics of all current Bundestag representatives showed that the respondents comprise a representative sample of Bundestag members. SOEP data were used to obtain a figure for the risk tolerance of the general population for comparison with the figures for Bundestag members.

The questions posed to Bundestag members were formulated analogously to the questions in the standard SOEP questionnaire. Politicians were asked to rate their own risk tolerance on a scale from zero (= not at all risk-tolerant) to ten (= very risk-tolerant). They rated both their general risk tolerance as well as their specific risk tolerance in the areas of driving, making financial investments, sports and leisure activities, career, health, and trust towards strangers. They also rated their risk tolerance in regard to political decisions. No questions on party affiliation were asked in order to exclude the possibility that results could be used for partisan political purposes.

References:

Hess, M., von Scheve, C., Schupp, J., Wagner. G. G. (2013): Members of German Federal Parliament More Risk-Loving Than General Population, in: DIW Economic Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 4, 2013, pp. 20-24.

Hess, M., von Scheve, C., Schupp, J., Wagner. G. G. (2013): Sind Politiker risikofreudiger als das Volk? Eine empirische Studie zu Mitgliedern des Deutschen Bundestags, SOEPpaper No. 545, DIW Berlin.

Índios isolados, trabalhadores em fuga: um encontro amazônico (Yahoo Notícias)

19/04/2013UncategorizedÍndios, Diferença, Discriminação, Políticas públicas, Racismo, Violênciarenzotaddei

Por Ana Aranha | Reportagem 3 por 4 – 18.abr.2013

Os seis trabalhadores da construção civil estavam perdidos em meio à floresta amazônica, no norte de Rondônia. Algumas horas antes, eles tinham corrido mato a dentro para fugir do caos que tomara o canteiro de obras da usina hidrelétrica de Jirau, onde a Polícia Militar reprimia o movimento grevista, em 2011. Depois de andar cerca de seis quilômetros, o grupo tentava encontrar o caminho de volta à obra, ou a estrada, ou qualquer sinal de urbanidade. Sem sucesso.

Ao invés disso, foram encontrados.

Sem perceber que estavam sendo cercados, os trabalhadores uniformizados se viram rodeados por oito índios nus. Eles tinham o rosto e corpo pintados, flechas em punho e “murmuravam” palavras em uma língua que os trabalhadores não conheciam. Mas logo interpretaram o sentido: estavam rendidos.

Índios isolados no Acre, fotografados pela Funai em 2008

Hoje, excepcionalmente, esse espaço não será dedicado a um retrato, mas a um encontro. Encontro que pode servir de pista para compor o retrato dos povos indígenas que habitam o nosso país e os quais temos tanta dificuldade de entender.

Assustados, os trabalhadores da usina se comportaram como prisioneiros dos índios. Seguiram seus passos e pararam quando eles sinalizaram. O coração disparava a cada vez que os índios se reuniam em círculo. Observaram a construção de uma espécie de churrasqueira com gravetos, onde um porco do mato foi assado. Disfarçando o mal estar, comeram cada pedaço de carne que lhes foi oferecido. À noite, um dos trabalhadores foi repreendido pelos colegas por espiar os seios da índia mais nova, a regra era olhar para o chão.

A madrugada avançou, alguns índios deitaram e adormeceram. Os trabalhadores ficaram alertas. Pela manhã, caminharam até chegar a um local onde se ouvia um barulho familiar. Os índios sinalizaram em direção ao som, disseram algumas frases que ninguém entendeu e foram embora. Os trabalhadores correram na direção indicada até que, exaustos, chegaram à rodovia federal BR 364.

Esse relato foi registrado pela historiadora Ivaneide Bandeira Cardozo, da ONG indigenista Kanindé, que entrevistou um dos trabalhadores na presença de um funcionário da Funai (Fundação Nacional do Índio). Ela acredita que os homens e mulheres descritos sejam parte de um grupo que a entidade e a Funai tentam rastrear há anos. “Pela descrição, parecem ser Kawahiba isolados”.

“Isolados” são os índios que não têm contato com a nossa sociedade, ou porque nunca cruzaram com um não-índio (casos cada vez mais raros) ou porque recusam o contato.

Na região que foi alagada pela usina de Jirau, havia rastros de um grupo isolado e nômade. A empresa repassou dinheiro para que a Funai mapeasse esses rastros. Depois de identificados, eles deveriam ganhar uma área de proteção. Mas o investimento não foi suficiente para encontrar ou proteger os índios.

Ao contrário, foram eles que encontraram e salvaram os funcionários da usina. “É difícil entender o que passou na cabeça dos índios quando viram os trabalhadores perdidos”, reflete Ivaneide. “Por que decidiram ajudar? Nunca vamos saber”.

O encontro ocorrido em 2011 é o reflexo oposto do desencontro que se deu na Câmara dos Deputados essa semana. Na terça dia 16, em uma cena inédita, os deputados federais correram pelo plenário como uma manada assustada. Fugiam de homens seminus, pintados de urucum e que balançavam seus chocalhos para protestar contra a mudança da lei que define como as terras indígenas são demarcadas.

Se o comportamento dos índios isolados e dos deputados deixa alguma pista, é que continuamos longe de entender os povos que habitam a nossa terra.

Quando retornaram à usina, os trabalhadores contaram sobre o encontro, mas o supervisor deu risada, chamando-os de mentirosos. Como se fosse impossível haver índios nas proximidades da obra, cravada no meio da floresta amazônica.

Para Ivaneide, a precisão dos detalhes é a maior evidência da veracidade da história. “Os trabalhadores eram de outros estados, uma pessoa sem convivência com indígenas não poderia saber tanto. Ele descreveu a pintura no peito, os traços no rosto dos homens, diferente das mulheres, a pena do gavião real, como tratavam a ponta das flechas. Até os detalhes de como montaram o moquém, que é onde assam a carne”. Segundo ela, o relato bate com hábitos comuns a etnias que vivem ou viveram na região, algumas consideradas extintas.

Existem 82 pistas de grupos indígenas isolados no Brasil, é a maior concentração de povos isolados do mundo. Em março desse ano, os funcionários da Funai fizeram uma carta aberta com um “pedido de socorro”. Nela, escrevem que não há equipe para proteger esses grupos, cujos territórios estão sendo invadidos pelas grandes obras, madeireiros e traficantes.

Como lidar com índios isolados é um dos temas mais complexos dentro da política indigenista. Talvez a pequena mensagem deixada pelo grupo que resgatou os trabalhadores e pelos que invadiram o congresso seja justamente sobre os nossos limites. Os índios tem um modo diferente de ser, nem sempre seremos capazes de entende-los. Talvez esses encontros sejam os momentos para refletir sobre os impactos das nossas escolhas. E fazer um esforço para, a partir dessa nova realidade, respeitar as escolhas deles.

Female Anthropologists Harassed (The Scientist)

19/04/2013UncategorizedAcademia, Antropologia, Antropologia física, ciência, Gênero, Machismo, Violência sexualrenzotaddei

[Why the photo of Maasai people? -RT]

A new survey finds a high incidence of sexual harassment and rape among women doing anthropological field work.

By Jef Akst | April 15, 2013

The Maasai tribe in Kenya. WIKIMEDIA, MATT CRYPTO

More than 20 percent of female bioanthropologists who took part in a new survey are victims of “physical sexual harassment or unwanted sexual contact” in the course of their scientific research, primarily at the hand of superior professional colleagues, even their own mentors.

After talking to a friend that had been raped by a colleague, anthropologist Kathryn Clancy of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign decided to look into the matter further. “It was like a slap in the face to learn that this was happening to my friends,” Clancy told ScienceInsider.

She began posting anonymous stories of sexual harassment, shared with her by her female colleagues, on the Scientific American blog Context and Variation. The stories began to draw comments of other researchers’ harassment stories. “This is definitely not limited to just my discipline,” Clancy told ScienceInsider—nor is it limited to females, she found.

To get a better handle on the frequency with which such harassment occurs, Clancy and colleagues conducted a (still ongoing) online survey, asking scientists to report on their field-work experiences. Preliminary results, presented Saturday (April 13) at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) annual meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee, indicated that about 30 percent of both men and women reported the occurrence of verbal abuse “regularly” or “frequently” at field sites. And 21 percent of women reported having experienced physical sexual harassment or unwanted sexual contact; one out of 23 men also reported such abuse.

Notably, fewer than 20 percent of the reported cases of harassment involved the local community; rather, most of the abuse came from other researchers, primarily those further along in their careers. But why are such experiences so rarely reported?

“Quitting a field site, not completing and publishing research, and/or loss of letters of recommendation can have potent consequences for academic careers,” collaborator Katie Hinde of Harvard University told ScienceInsider. “Taken together, these factors result in a particularly vulnerable population of victims and witnesses powerless to intervene. As a discipline, we need to recognize and remedy that an appreciable non-zero number of our junior colleagues, particularly women, are having to endure harassment and a hostile work environment in order to be scientists.”

Brazil accused of not protecting isolated indigenous group (AP)

19/04/2013UncategorizedAntropologia, Índios, Discriminação, Políticas públicas, Violênciarenzotaddei

By Associated Press, Published: April 18

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s government has failed to comply with a court order to protect the Awa indigenous people in the Amazon jungles, a British-based Indian rights group said Thursday.

Survival International said in a statement that authorities have ignored a federal judge’s deadline “to evict all invaders from the heartland of Earth’s most threatened tribe by the end of March.” It said the deadline passed and not a single illegal logger or settler has been evicted.

On March 12, 2012, judge Jirair Aram Meguerian ordered that all the loggers and settlers should be removed within 12 months.

The organization said the Awa tribe “is at extreme risk of extinction.”

It added that Funai, Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency was “still waiting for support from the Justice Ministry, the federal police and central government to evict the invaders.”

Funai’s press office said it had no immediate comment. Calls to the Justice Ministry and federal police went unanswered.

Survival International said that more than 30 percent of Awa territory has been deforested and that loggers are “rapidly closing in on their communities and have already been marking trees for deforestation.

It quotes an Awa Indian called Haikaramoka’a, as saying: “The loggers are ruining our forest. They have built roads. We are scared; they could go after the uncontacted Indians. We are scared because the loggers could kill us, and the uncontacted Indians.”

About 100 of the 450 Awa remain uncontacted and are at particular risk of diseases brought in by the outsiders. Survival International said.

Zonas costeiras em debate (Ministério do Meio Ambiente)

16/04/2013UncategorizedÁreas costeiras, Ecologia, Ecologia marinha, Litoral, Políticas públicasrenzotaddei

http://www.mma.gov.br/informma/item/9239-zonas-costeiras-em-debate

Martim Garcia/MMA. Leila Swerts aponta problemas das áreas litorâneas

Ações do Programa Nacional de Gerenciamento Costeiro são apresentadas em seminário realizado nesta quinta-feira na Câmara dos Deputados

LUCAS TOLENTINO

A proteção dos ecossistemas marinhos e das áreas costeiras do país está em pauta no Congresso Nacional. A Câmara dos Deputados realiza, nesta quinta-feira (11), o seminário “25 Anos da Constituição Federal e a Proteção dos Ecossistemas Costeiros e Marinhos”. O encontrou tem o objetivo de promover o diálogo entre os diversos órgãos governamentais e a sociedade civil sobre os impactos e alterações que a zona litorânea do país tem sofrido, além de propor alternativas e soluções para o problema.

Muitas das ações relativas ao tema são definidas no âmbito do Grupo de Integração do Programa Nacional de Gerenciamento Costeiro (GI-Gerco), formado por representantes do governo federal, da academia, do Ministério Público Federal (MPF) e do terceiro setor. Segundo a coordenadora da Gerência Costeira da Secretaria de Extrativismo e Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável do MMA, Leila Swerts, a participação de segmentos diferenciados garante a efetividade do processo.

Os riscos à zona costeira foram mencionados pela coordenadora durante o debate realizado na manhã desta quinta-feira. De acordo com a coordenadora, 24% da população do país vivem nessas regiões e os problemas vão desde o crescimento desordenado aos efeitos causados pelas mudanças climáticas. “Está havendo um adensamento dessas áreas e, por isso, estamos trabalhando pelo aumento de pautas relacionadas à gestão costeiras dentro do colegiado”, explicou Leila, que integra o comitê executivo do GI-Gerco.

MONITORAMENTO

Entre os projetos do MMA para a preservação da zona costeira está o Sistema de Modelagem Costeira (SMC), desenvolvido em parceria com a Espanha. Criado originalmente pelo país europeu, a iniciativa consiste em uma base de dados que permite o monitoramento das linhas de praias. O objetivo é fazer uma plataforma nos mesmos moldes em território nacional para qualificar o planejamento e a tomada de decisões destinadas ao litoral brasileiro.

O diretor do Programa Marinho da Conservação Internacional (CI), Guilherme Dutra, destacou a importância do uso da tecnologia nesse processo. “É necessário medir e estudar o que está ocorrendo com os oceanos e precisamos ter acesso a essas informações, ou seja, de pactos pela governança, pelo planejamento e pela sustentabilidade”, defendeu Dutra, que representou a sociedade civil no Painel Governamental do evento.

Ocean’s Future Not So Bleak? Resilience Found in Shelled Plants Exposed to Ocean Acidification (Science Daily)

16/04/2013UncategorizedEcologia, Ecologia marinha, Ecologia Política, Incerteza, Meio ambiente, Mudanças climáticas, Previsãorenzotaddei

Apr. 12, 2013 — Marine scientists have long understood the detrimental effect of fossil fuel emissions on marine ecosystems. But a group led by a UC Santa Barbara professor has found a point of resilience in a microscopic shelled plant with a massive environmental impact, which suggests the future of ocean life may not be so bleak.

This shows cells of the coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi strain NZEH under present-day, left, and future high, right, carbon dioxide conditions. (Credit: UCSB)

As fossil fuel emissions increase, so does the amount of carbon dioxide oceans absorb and dissolve, lowering their pH levels. “As pH declines, there is this concern that marine species that have shells may start dissolving or may have more difficulty making calcium carbonate, the chalky substance that they use to build shells,” said Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez, a professor in UCSB’s Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology.

Iglesias-Rodriguez and postdoctoral researcher Bethan Jones, who is now at Rutgers University, led a large-scale study on the effects of ocean acidification on these tiny plants that can only be seen under the microscope. Their research, funded by the European Project on Ocean Acidification, is published in the journal PLoS ONE and breaks with traditional notions about the vitality of calcifiers, or creatures that make shells, in future ocean conditions.

“The story years ago was that ocean acidification was going to be bad, really bad for calcifiers,” said Iglesias-Rodriguez, whose team discovered that one species of the tiny single celled marine coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi, actually had bigger shells in high carbon dioxide seawater conditions. While the team acknowledges that calcification tends to decline with acidification, “we now know that there are variable responses in sea corals, in sea urchins, in all shelled organisms that we find in the sea.”

These E. huxleyi are a large army of ocean-regulating shell producers that create oxygen as they process carbon by photosynthesis and fortify the ocean food chain. As one of Earth’s main vaults for environmentally harmful carbon emissions, their survival affects organisms inside and outside the marine system. However, as increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide causes seawater to slide down the pH scale toward acidic levels, this environment could become less hospitable.

The UCSB study incorporated an approach known as shotgun proteomics to uncover how E. huxleyi‘s biochemistry could change in future high carbon dioxide conditions, which were set at four times the current levels for the study. This approach casts a wider investigative net that looks at all changes and influences in the environment as opposed to looking at individual processes like photosynthesis.

Shotgun proteomics examines the type, abundance, and alterations in proteins to understand how a cell’s machinery is conditioned by ocean acidification. “There is no perfect approach,” said Iglesias-Rodriguez. “They all have their caveats, but we think that this is a way of extracting a lot of information from this system.”

To mirror natural ocean conditions, the team used over half a ton of seawater to grow the E. huxleyi and bubbled in carbon dioxide to recreate both present day and high future carbon levels. It took more than six months for the team to grow enough plants to accumulate and analyze sufficient proteins.

The team found that E. huxleyi cells exposed to higher carbon dioxide conditions were larger and contained more shell than those grown in current conditions. However, they also found that these larger cells grow slower than those under current carbon dioxide conditions. Aside from slower growth, the higher carbon dioxide levels did not seem to affect the cells even at the biochemical level, as measured by the shotgun proteomic approach.

“The E. huxleyi increased the amount of calcite they had because they kept calcifying but slowed down division rates,” said Iglesias-Rodriguez. “You get fewer cells but they look as healthy as those under current ocean conditions, so the shells are not simply dissolving away.”

The team stresses that while representatives of this species seem to have biochemical mechanisms to tolerate even very high levels of carbon dioxide, slower growth could become problematic. If other species grow faster, E. huxleyi could be outnumbered in some areas.

“The cells in this experiment seemed to tolerate future ocean conditions,” said Jones. “However, what will happen to this species in the future is still an open question. Perhaps the grow-slow outcome may end up being their downfall as other species could simply outgrow and replace them.”

Journal Reference:

Bethan M. Jones, M. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez, Paul J. Skipp, Richard J. Edwards, Mervyn J. Greaves, Jeremy R. Young, Henry Elderfield, C. David O’Connor. Responses of the Emiliania huxleyi Proteome to Ocean Acidification. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e61868 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0061868

Mathematics Provides a Shortcut to Timely, Cost-Effective Interventions for HIV (Science Daily)

16/04/2013UncategorizedAIDS, África do Sul, Epidemiologia, Matemática, Mediação tecnológica, Saúderenzotaddei

Apr. 15, 2013 — Mathematical estimates of treatment outcomes can cut costs and provide faster delivery of preventative measures.

South Africa is home to the largest HIV epidemic in the world with a total of 5.6 million people living with HIV. Large-scale clinical trials evaluating combination methods of prevention and treatment are often prohibitively expensive and take years to complete. In the absence of such trials, mathematical models can help assess the effectiveness of different HIV intervention combinations, as demonstrated in a new study by Elisa Long and Robert Stavert from Yale University in the US. Their findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer.

Currently 60 percent of individuals in need of treatment for HIV in South Africa do not receive it. The allocation of scant resources to fight the HIV epidemic means each strategy must be measured in terms of cost versus benefit. A number of new clinical trials have presented evidence supporting a range of biomedical interventions that reduce transmission of HIV. These include voluntary male circumcision — now recommended by the World Health Organization and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS as a preventive strategy — as well as vaginal microbicides and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, all of which confer only partial protection against HIV. Long and Stavert show that a combination portfolio of multiple interventions could not only prevent up to two-thirds of future HIV infections, but is also cost-effective in a resource-limited setting such as South Africa.

The authors developed a mathematical model accounting for disease progression, mortality, morbidity and the heterosexual transmission of HIV to help forecast future trends in the disease. Using data specific for South Africa, the authors estimated the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of a “combination approach” using all three of the above methods in tandem with current levels of antiretroviral therapy, screening and counseling.

For each intervention, they calculated the HIV incidence and prevalence over 10 years. At present rates of screening and treatment, the researchers predict that HIV prevalence will decline from 19 percent to 14 percent of the population in the next 10 years. However, they calculate that their combination approach including male circumcision, vaginal microbicides and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis could further reduce HIV prevalence to 10 percent over that time scale — preventing 1.5 million HIV infection over 10 years — even if screening and antiretroviral therapy are kept at current levels. Increasing antiretroviral therapy use and HIV screening frequency in addition could avert more than 2 million HIV infections over 10 years, or 60 percent of the projected total.

The researchers also determined a hierarchy of effectiveness versus cost for these intervention strategies. Where budgets are limited, they suggest money should be allocated first to increasing male circumcision, then to more frequent HIV screening, use of vaginal microbicides and increasing antiretroviral therapy. Additionally, they calculate that omitting pre-exposure prophylaxis from their combination strategy could offer 90 percent of the benefits of treatment for less than 25 percent of the costs.

The authors conclude: “In the absence of multi-intervention randomized clinical or observational trials, a mathematical HIV epidemic model provides useful insights about the aggregate benefit of implementing a portfolio of biomedical, diagnostic and treatment programs. Allocating limited available resources for HIV control in South Africa is a key priority, and our study indicates that a multi-intervention HIV portfolio could avert nearly two-thirds of projected new HIV infections, and is a cost-effective use of resources.”

Journal Reference:

Long, E.F. and Stavert, R.R. Portfolios of biomedical HIV interventions in South Africa: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2013 DOI:10.1007/s11606-013-2417-1

Photons Run out of Loopholes: Quantum World Really Is in Conflict With Our Everyday Experience (Science Daily)

16/04/2013UncategorizedFísica, Fenomenologia, Laboratório, Mecânica quântica, Percepção da realidaderenzotaddei

Apr. 15, 2013 — A team led by the Austrian physicist Anton Zeilinger has now carried out an experiment with photons in which they have closed an important loophole. The researchers have thus provided the most complete experimental proof that the quantum world is in conflict with our everyday experience.

Lab IQOQI, Vienna 2012. (Credit: Copyright: Jacqueline Godany)

The results of this study appear this week in the journal Nature (Advance Online Publication/AOP).

When we observe an object, we make a number of intuitive assumptions, among them that the unique properties of the object have been determined prior to the observation and that these properties are independent of the state of other, distant objects. In everyday life, these assumptions are fully justified, but things are different at the quantum level. In the past 30 years, a number of experiments have shown that the behaviour of quantum particles — such as atoms, electrons or photons — can be in conflict with our basic intuition. However, these experiments have never delivered definite answers. Each previous experiment has left open the possibility, at least in principle, that the observed particles ‘exploited’ a weakness of the experimental setup.

Quantum physics is an exquisitely precise tool for understanding the world around us at a very fundamental level. At the same time, it is a basis for modern technology: semiconductors (and therefore computers), lasers, MRI scanners, and numerous other devices are based on quantum-physical effects. However, even after more than a century of intensive research, fundamental aspects of quantum theory are not yet fully understood. On a regular basis, laboratories worldwide report results that seem at odds with our everyday intuition but that can be explained within the framework of quantum theory.

On the trail of the quantum entanglement mystery

The physicists in Vienna report not a new effect, but a deep investigation into one of the most fundamental phenomena of quantum physics, known as ‘entanglement.’ The effect of quantum entanglement is amazing: when measuring a quantum object that has an entangled partner, the state of the one particle depends on measurements performed on the partner. Quantum theory describes entanglement as independent of any physical separation between the particles. That is, entanglement should also be observed when the two particles are sufficiently far apart from each other that, even in principle, no information can be exchanged between them (the speed of communication is fundamentally limited by the speed of light). Testing such predictions regarding the correlations between entangled quantum particles is, however, a major experimental challenge.

Towards a definitive answer

The young academics in Anton Zeilinger’s group including Marissa Giustina, Alexandra Mech, Rupert Ursin, Sven Ramelow and Bernhard Wittmann, in an international collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology/NIST (USA), the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (Germany), and the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics (Germany), have now achieved an important step towards delivering definitive experimental evidence that quantum particles can indeed do things that classical physics does not allow them to do. For their experiment, the team built one of the best sources for entangled photon pairs worldwide and employed highly efficient photon detectors designed by experts at NIST. These technological advances together with a suitable measurement protocol enabled the researchers to detect entangled photons with unprecedented efficiency. In a nutshell: “Our photons can no longer duck out of being measured,” says Zeilinger.

This kind of tight monitoring is important as it closes an important loophole. In previous experiments on photons, there has always been the possibility that although the measured photons do violate the laws of classical physics, such non-classical behaviour would not have been observed if all photons involved in the experiment could have been measured. In the new experiment, this loophole is now closed. “Perhaps the greatest weakness of photons as a platform for quantum experiments is their vulnerability to loss — but we have just demonstrated that this weakness need not be prohibitive,” explains Marissa Giustina, lead author of the paper.

Now one last step

Although the new experiment makes photons the first quantum particles for which, in several separate experiments, every possible loophole has been closed, the grand finale is yet to come, namely, a single experiment in which the photons are deprived of all possibilities of displaying their counterintuitive behaviour through means of classical physics. Such an experiment would also be of fundamental significance for an important practical application: ‘quantum cryptography,’ which relies on quantum mechanical principles and is considered to be absolutely secure against eavesdropping. Eavesdropping is still theoretically possible, however, as long as there are loopholes. Only when all of these are closed is a completely secure exchange of messages possible.

An experiment without any loopholes, says Zeilinger, “is a big challenge, which attracts groups worldwide.” These experiments are not limited to photons, but also involve atoms, electrons, and other systems that display quantum mechanical behaviour. The experiment of the Austrian physicists highlights the photons’ potential. Thanks to these latest advances, the photon is running out of places to hide, and quantum physicists are closer than ever to conclusive experimental proof that quantum physics defies our intuition and everyday experience to the degree suggested by research of the past decades.

This work was completed in a collaboration including the following institutions: Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information — Vienna / IQOQI Vienna (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information, Department of Physics (University of Vienna), Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, National Institute of Standards and Technology / NIST, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Berlin.

This work was supported by: ERC (Advanced Grant), Austrian Science Fund (FWF), grant Q-ESSENCE, Marie Curie Research Training Network EMALI, and John Templeton Foundation. This work was also supported by NIST Quantum Information Science Initiative (QISI).

Journal Reference:

Marissa Giustina, Alexandra Mech, Sven Ramelow, Bernhard Wittmann, Johannes Kofler, Jörn Beyer, Adriana Lita, Brice Calkins, Thomas Gerrits, Sae Woo Nam, Rupert Ursin, Anton Zeilinger. Bell violation using entangled photons without the fair-sampling assumption. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature12012

A Radical Anthropologist Finds Himself in Academic ‘Exile’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

15/04/2013UncategorizedAnarquismo, Antropologia, Cidadania, David Graeber, Educação, participatividade, Políticarenzotaddei

April 15, 2013

A Radical Anthropologist Finds Himself in Academic 'Exile' 1

Pete Marovich for The Chronicle. David Graeber, an anthropologist who studies and participates in the radical left, finds fans of his work inside academe and out. Here he speaks with audience members during a talk at a public library in Washington, D.C.

By Christopher Shea

Who’s afraid of David Graeber? Not the dozens of D.C.-area residents who showed up on a recent night at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to hear the anthropologist and radical activist talk about his new book, The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement(Spiegel & Grau). Aimed at the mainstream, the book discusses Mr. Graeber’s involvement in the Occupy Wall Street movement and the idea that principles drawn from anarchist theory—a wholesale rejection of current electoral politics, for starters, in favor of groups operating on the basis of consensus—offer an alternative to our present polity, which he calls “organized bribery” (or “mafia capitalism”).

On this warm spring evening the rumpled scholar was interviewed by a friendly and more conventionally telegenic writer, Thomas Frank. Graying lefties and young liberals and radicals in the crowd alike seemed impressed. Even the token skeptical economist in the audience framed her question respectfully, and C-Span broadcast live.

Mr. Graeber is a star in the left-academic world. Indeed, it’s possible that, given his activism and his writings, he is the most influential anthropologist in the world. He played a part in establishing the nonhierarchical “organization” of the Occupy movement, in its early days in Manhattan, and his 500-plus-page Debt: The First 5,000 Years (Melville House, 2011) struck scholars for its verve and sweep. It made the case that lending and borrowing evolved out of humane, communitarian impulses in premodern societies—out of a free-floating interest in the common weal—and only later became institutionalized actions spawning moral guilt and legal punishment.

The book ranged from discussions of ancient Sumerian economics to analyses of how Nambikwara tribesmen in Brazil settle their affairs to the international monetary system. “An argument of Debt’s scope hasn’t been made by a professional anthropologist for the best part of a century, certainly not one with as much contemporary relevance,” wrote the British anthropologist Keith Hart, of Goldsmiths College, University of London, in a review on his Web site last year. The book won a prize for best book in anthropology from the Society for Cultural Anthropology in 2012 and according to his agent has sold nearly 100,000 copies in English alone.

But strikingly, Mr. Graeber, 52, has been unable to get an academic job in the United States. In an incident that drew national attention, Yale University, in 2005, told him it would not renew his contract (which would have promoted him from assistant professor to “term associate” professor). After a fight, he won a reprieve—but only for two years. He never came up for tenure.

Foreign universities immediately sent out feelers, he says. From 2008 through this spring, Mr. Graeber was a lecturer and then a reader at Goldsmiths College and, just last month, he accepted a professorship at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

But no American universities approached him, he says, and nearly 20 job applications in this country (or Canada) have borne no fruit. The applications came in two waves: directly after the Yale brouhaha and a couple of years later, when he concluded he wanted to return to the States for reasons that were partly personal (a long-distance romantic relationship, the death of his mother and older brother).

His academic “exile,” as he calls it, has not gone unnoticed. “It is possible to view the fact that Graeber has not secured a permanent academic position in the United States after his controversial departure from Yale University as evidence of U.S. anthropology’s intolerance of political outspokenness,” writes Jeff Maskovsky, an associate professor of anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, in the March issue of American Anthropologist.

That charge might seem paradoxical, given anthropology’s reputation as a leftist redoubt, but some of Mr. Graeber’s champions see that leftism as shallower than it might first appear. Anthropology “is radical in the abstract,” says Laura Nader, a professor in the field at the University of California at Berkeley. “You can quote Foucault and Gramsci, but if you tell it like it is,” it’s a different story, she says.

Mr. Graeber “talks about possibilities, and God, if there’s anything we need now it’s possibilities,” she says. “We are in tunnels. We are turned in. We are more ethnocentric than ever. We’ve turned the United States into a military zone. And into this move-to-the-right country comes David Graeber.”

When he applied to Berkeley in the early 2000s and the department failed to hire him, “we really missed the boat,” she says.

Jonathan Marks, a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who had no direct experience with any Graeber job search, agrees: “Whoever had a chance to hire him and didn’t missed out on having the author of one of the most important books in recent memory on their faculty,” he wrote in an e-mail.

‘Incredibly Conformist’

Mr. Graeber was at first reluctant to talk about his failed job searches, for fear of coming across as bitter and souring future chances, but he decided to open up after the LSE job became official. As he recalled, the places to which he applied twice were the City University of New York Graduate Center, the New School, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago. The others were Hunter College, Emory, Duke, Columbia, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins—as well as the University of Toronto. He heard indirectly of colleagues at other universities trying to secure him a position, to no avail.

Responding to anthropologists’ frequent claim that they embrace activist scholarship, he echoes Ms. Nader: “They don’t mean it”—at least when it comes truly radical activism.

“If I were to generalize,” Mr. Graeber says, “I would say that what we see is a university system which mitigates against creativity and any form of daring. It’s incredibly conformist and it represents itself as the opposite, and I think this kind of conformism is a result of the bureaucratization of the university.”

He and his allies also suspect that false information emanating from his public fight with Yale, garnered secondhand, has hurt him.

When Yale announced it was not renewing his contract, students and some professors rallied behind him, and he gave interviews suggesting that the decision was politically motivated. (The story made The New York Times.) He had spent part of a sabbatical working with the Global Justice Movement, which has mounted protests against such groups as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Perhaps surprisingly, he did not take much part in the heated Yale debate over graduate-student unionization. He was, he likes to say, “a scholar in New Haven and an activist in New York.”

During the dispute over his Yale position, he said, he’d been accused of not doing service work (though he did all he was asked, he said), of being late for classes, and of being ill prepared to teach. Yancey Orr, a graduate student in religion at the time who took courses from Mr. Graeber and is now an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta, says that charge is absurd: “He was easily the most helpful seminar leader you could ask for.”

Being denied tenure at Yale is hardly unusual, but not getting rehired at Mr. Graeber’s stage is. Some professors Mr. Orr has talked to at institutions that failed to hire Mr. Graeber were under the impression that he went nuclear over a tenure denial, but the situation was more complex, more unorthodox, says Mr. Orr.

The chairs of the departments to which Mr. Graeber applied who could be reached all cited confidentiality in declining to talk about the decisions—or, typically, even to confirm he’d applied. But several denied that politics would affect such decisions. “I can say without hesitation,” wrote James Ferguson, the chair of anthropology at Stanford, in an e-mail, “that I personally would not regard Graeber’s political orientation as in any way disqualifying, nor would I expect such views to be held by my colleagues.”

“As is known throughout the world,” wrote Janet Roitman, chair of anthropology at the New School, “the New School prides itself for its longstanding tradition of radical politics; David would not have been the first hire or tenured faculty member to pursue ‘radical’ political positions or to engage in activism.”

Some anthropologists, including Alex Golub, a contributor to the popular blog Savage Minds and an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, suggested that a general dearth of jobs in the field would be enough to explain Mr. Graeber’s run of bad luck—especially because the book that brought him fame, Debt, had not been published at the time of the searches. (Though he’d published four others by 2009, as well as a much-read pamphlet, “Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology,” with Prickly Paradigm.) But Mr. Graeber scoffs at that: “Gee, I applied for 17. Somebody got those jobs.” Moreover, Britain is not brimming with anthropology jobs, either, yet he’s had little problem there.

“I believe it’s possible that his politics have helped him in some cases and hurt him in others,” says Mr. Maskovksy, of CUNY, who in his American Anthropologist essay raised the issue of what Mr. Graeber’s academic exile to England meant for the profession . “He has a huge following among graduate students because of his protest work and because he links his protest work to the kind of anthropology he wants to do. But there’s a huge gap between generating that kind of interest and respect, on the one hand, and job-hiring decisions. I don’t know what makes people hire and what makes them not.”

On Collegiality

One charge that has dogged Mr. Graeber is that he is “difficult,” an attribute that’s obviously hard to gauge. Ms. Nader says she urged him to soften his rough edges—to send thank-you cards, even, when protocol suggested it. (Mr. Graeber does not recall that counseling session on manners and says he always sends thank-you notes.) But she finds it deplorable that scholars would value superficial clubbability over originality of thought; she decries the “‘harmony ideology’ that has hit the academy.” She also thinks the fact that he “writes in English,” eschewing jargon, hasn’t helped him.

There is some evidence of Mr. Graeber’s contentiousness. During an online seminar about Debt on the blog Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell, an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, said Mr. Graeber had—for example—provided insufficient evidence that in the first Gulf War the United States had attacked Iraq partly because Iraq had stopped using dollars as its reserve currency and turned to the euro. In Mr. Graeber’s response, he accused Mr. Farrell of “consummate dishonesty” and said he had failed to engage with the argument and instead sought to show its maker was a “lunatic.” Mr. Farrell responded that he was “very unhappy” with Mr. Graeber’s charges and tone.

From February to April 1, J. Bradford DeLong, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, baited Mr. Graeber by setting up an automated Twitter stream that sarcastically recounted dozens of alleged (or actual) errors of fact in Debt. For example: “Learned that 12 Regional Fed Banks not private banks like Citi or Goldman Sachs? Stay away until you do! #Graebererrors.” Mr. Graeber responded aggressively. At one point he wrote, on Twitter, referring to Mr. DeLong’s work in the Clinton Treasury Department on the North American Free Trade Agreement: “I bet the poor guy had a rough time at 14. Tried to compensate by gaining power, then look—destroyed Mexico’s economy.”

Mr. Graeber calls some of Mr. DeLong’s postings “libelous”—a virtual campaign of harassment. “He has been on a crusade to hurt me in every way,” he says, growing angry.

“Yet these guys are considered mainstream and I’m the crazy guy who can’t get a job.” He adds, “I don’t even write negative book reviews.”

Mr. Graeber, who says he gets along just fine with his colleagues in London—and, indeed, with most of his former colleagues at Yale—has his own take on what scholars mean by “collegiality”: “What collegiality means in practice is: ‘He knows how to operate appropriately within an extremely hierarchical environment.’ You never see anyone accused of lack of collegiality for abusing their inferiors. It means ‘not playing the game in what we say is the proper way.'”

In his American Anthropologist essay, CUNY’s Mr. Maskovsky said that the many graduate students who took part in Occupy Wall Street might view Mr. Graeber’s difficulty finding a job as a cautionary tale. Would their advisers see their activism as, at the least, a distraction from their research?

Manissa Maharawal is one such student, at CUNY, a participant in Occupy now studying the activist projects that emerged from it. She says she has received nothing but support from her advisers and doesn’t understand the politics of academic hiring, but finds the Graeber situation perplexing—in a bad way. “His work is really good, he’s well reviewed, he’s become pretty famous in the last year,” she says. “I’m not sure what’s going on. You can have all the boxes you’re supposed to check checked and still not get a job. It’s scary, for sure.”

Atual projeto de nação não tem lugar para povos indígenas, diz indígena e doutor em antropologia (EBC)

15/04/2013UncategorizedÍndios, Discriminação, participatividade, Políticas públicas, Projeto de nação, Violênciarenzotaddei

Thiago Pimenta – Portal EBC 12.04.2013 – 14h28 | Atualizado em 13.04.2013 – 17h09

Gersem Baniwa (Daiane Souza/UnB Agência)

Após manifesto de funcionários da Funai por um plano de indigenismo brasileiro, o Portal EBC entrevistou o indígena e doutor emantropologia Social, Gersem Baniwa, que atualmente é professor da Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM).

Na opinião de Gersem, que é originário do grupo indígena Baniwa (localizado normalmente no noroeste do Amazonas), um plano indigenista passa previamente por um projeto de nação do país, não podendo acontecer de forma dissociada: “Quando observamos a difícil situação de vida dos povos indígenas, pelas permanentes violações de seus direitos básicos, como o direito ao território e à saúde, podemos acreditar que ou o Brasíl ainda não definiu seu projeto de nação; ou já definiu e neste projeto não há lugar para os povos indígenas”, destaca.

O pesquisador, que já trabalhou em projetos no Ministério da Educação, reconhece alguns avanços das ações do governo na área escolar e na saúde indígena. O pesquisador reforça os esforços de gestores e técnicos que tentam avançar nas políticas indigenistas, mas denuncia as pressões sofridas pelos índios brasileiros por outros setores.

PLANO INDIGENISTA

Portal EBC: Antes de tudo, em que consiste um plano indigenista?
Gersem: Um plano indigenista para o Brasil passa pela existência de um Projeto de Nação do Brasil. Quando observamos a difícil situação de vida dos povos indígenas, pelas permanentes violações de seus direitos básicos, como o direito ao território e à saúde, podemos acreditar que ou o país ainda não definiu seu projeto de nação; ou já definiu e neste projeto não há lugar para os povos indígenas.

Portal EBC: O texto da Constituição de 88 reconhece aos indígenas o direito à organização social, costumes, línguas, crenças e tradições e dá a eles os direitos originários sobre as terras que ocupam. Jà a União é responsável por demarcar essas terras, proteger e fazer respeitar todos os seus bens. Não seria esse o começo desse projeto?

Gersem: A sociedade brasileira tentou dar sua contribuição por ocasião da Constituinte de 1988, assegurando direitos básicos que garantissem a continuidade étnica e cultural dos povos indígenas, por meio dos direitos sobre suas terras tradicionais e o reconhecimento de suas culturas, tradições e organização social, além do reconhecimento da plena capacidade civil e de cidadania. Minha hipótese é de que essas conquistas legais tinham relação com sentimento de culpa pelos séculos de massacres e mortes impostos aos índios pelos colonizadores, portanto, como medidas reparadoras do ponto de vista moral.

Mesmo reconhecendo alguns avanços pontuais no campo da educação (acesso à educação básica e superior ampliado), do direito à terra principalmente na Amazônia Legal e de participação política (06 prefeitos e 76 vereadores indígenas), o Estado continua passando por cima das cabeças e de caveiras dos povos indígenas como acontece de forma escancarada e vergonhosa no Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, onde os índios Guarani-Kaiowá continuam sob fogo cruzado por fazendeiros e políticos da região. Para as elites econômicas e políticas do país, os povos indígenas continuam sendo percebidos e tratados como empecilhos para o desenvolvimento econômico do país (que na verdade é o enriquecimento desses grupos). Portanto, um plano indigenista brasileiro depende necessariamente da clareza de que nação, sociedade e país se quer construir. Os povos indígenas só terão chance se o Brasil assumir com seriedade a construção de um projeto de nação baseada em uma sociedade pluriétnica, multicultural e solidária.

Portal EBC: Quais seriam os pontos são mais importantes para um bom plano indigenista para o país?

Gersem: O ponto mais importante de um plano indigenista é garantir as condições reais para a garantia plena dos direitos indígenas, baseadas no protagonismo e na cidadania dos indivíduos e coletividades indígenas. Somente a garantia desses direitos pode garantir a continuidade étnica e cultural desses povos, por meio de segurança territorial, segurança econômico-alimentar, política de educação adequada e política de saúde eficiente. Isso também daria sinal de que os povos indígenas podem ter seu espaço na sociedade brasileira. Percebemos uma grande contradição na política indigenista atual: uma parte minoritária do Estado (governo) que tenta adotar o discurso e a prática em favor dos povos indígenas e a outras majoritária que ao contrário, adota discursos e práticas anti-indígenas.

SITUAÇÃO ATUAL DOS ÍNDIOS BRASILEIROS

Portal EBC: Como você vê a atual situação dos indígenas brasileiros? O que precisa mudar?

Gesem: Hoje os povos indígenas do Brasil passam por uma situação muito difícil e ruim, com violações constantes aos seus direitos e com a crescente violência física e de morte que sofrem. Os dez anos seguintes à promulgação da CF de 1988 foram de gradativo processo de conquistas de direitos concretos (demarcação de terras, educação escolar, organização social e participação política) mas, os últimos três anos foram de estagnação com forte tendência de retrocesso sem precedentes para os povos indígenas. A leitura que faço é que o Estado (comandado pelas elites políticas e econômicas) se arrependeu de reconhecer os direitos indígenas e agora faz de tudo para, em primeiro plano, violar esses direitos e em segundo plano, anular ou reduzir esses direitos. Ou é isso, ou o Estado está assumindo sua incapacidade e incompetência para garantir os direitos dos povos indígenas. As políticas existentes são completamente insatisfatórias. Estão sempre voltadas para resolver ou minimizar problemas acumulados. As políticas indigenistas continuam sendo autoritárias, paternalistas e tutelares. Embora o Brasil tenha adotado a Convenção 169 da OIT, há anos, até hoje ela não foi regulamentada. Neste sentido, um plano indigenista moderno precisa superar seriamente a visão imediatista, autoritária e de descaso institucional. Precisa ser construído um plano transparente e participativo de curto, médio e longo prazo, com metas, objetivos e condições claros de implementação. O mais importante é o plano indigenista ser do Estado e não apenas de um governo ou do órgão indigenista.

Portal EBC: Que ações merecem destaque na atual política indigenista?

Gersem: É importante reconhecer que nos últimos houve esforços e tentativas do governo federal em avançar nas políticas de atendimento voltadas para os povos indígenas, principalmente após o fim do monopólio da política indigenista pela Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), no início da década de 1990. O Ministério da Saúde tem se esforçado para tentar responder às demandas indígenas. O Ministério do Meio Ambiente iniciou experiências inovadoras ainda no final da década de 1990 em apoio técnico e financeiro para projetos socioeconômicos alternativos e autossustentáveis de comunidades indígenas na Amazônia. O Ministério da Educação empreendeu esforços junto aos estados e municípios em busca de melhorias no atendimento escolar às aldeias indígenas. Sem dúvida que essas experiências das últimas duas décadas lograram avanços e êxitos parciais e de algum modo contribuíram para a recuperação da autoestima e de esperança no futuro dos povos indígenas, expressa por meio do crescimento demográfico desses povos que está se aproximando de um milhão de indígenas no país (considerando que na década de 1960 chegaram à cifra de 200.000 indígenas) e da presença cidadã dos indígenas na vida do país. As experiências revelaram também questões preocupantes, como as limitações do Estado no atendimento aos direitos e anseios indígenas. Os gestores e técnicos de ministérios bem que tentaram avançar nas políticas voltadas aos povos indígenas, mas percebe-se atualmente o limite dessas possibilidades, diante do contexto político e econômico do país. Essas possibilidades esbarram na falta de vontade política dos dirigentes maiores em dar relevância às questões indígenas. Sem determinação política o tema nunca entra na lista de prioridades do governo e, por isso, as instâncias e estruturas que atuam junto a esses povos estão sempre esvaziadas, desestruturadas e desqualificadas, sem recursos financeiros, sem equipes e sem condições administrativas. Deste modo fica difícil assegurar os direitos indígenas que ficam a mercê dos interesses econômicos anti-indígenas. Muitas vezes parece que o governo se presta a servir aos interesses desses grupos.

Portal EBC: Como você avalia o trabalho da Funai hoje?

Gersem: Nos últimos dez anos a Funai tem se esforçado para estar ao lado dos povos indígenas no enfrentamento dos problemas existentes nas aldeias, mas é um órgão do Estado e dos governos, portanto, dominada pela incapacidade e ineficiência institucional. É um órgão com eminência de falência institucional, por ausência de força e crédito político, falta de recursos humanos, equipe reduzida e mal preparada, e com infraestrutura arcaica. É evidente o processo de sucateamento e enfraquecimento do órgão nos últimos anos, na mesma proporção em que as oligarquias econômicas e políticas nos municípios e Estados se organizaram e se fortaleceram contra os direitos indígenas. O enfraquecimento da Funai é o mais claro exemplo do descompromisso do governo e do Estado para com a defesa e garantia dos direitos indígenas no país. Com isso, os povos indígenas cada vez mais estão à mercê e se tornam reféns de municípios, estados e grupos políticos e econômicos hostis aos direitos indígenas. Isso deixa claro também a necessidade de reorganização e fortalecimento do papel do governo federal na defesa e garantia desses direitos.

Portal EBC: Como você vê a atual atenção à saúde prestada aos indígenas?

Gersem: A política de saúde indígena no Brasil é a que mais se esforçou na busca por um plano mais adequado para o atendimento aos povos indígenas que teve início com a implantação dos Distritos Sanitários Especiais Indígenas (DSEI´s), enquanto uma etnoterritorialização do atendimento, o que é uma ideia inovadora com grandes possibilidades. No entanto, tem sofrido como todas as demais políticas indigenistas das profundas contradições e irracionalidades da política e da administração pública brasileira. Recentemente foi criada a Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena, como resultado de décadas de luta dos povos indígenas, mais uma iniciativa relevante e, no entanto, foi neutralizada pelos gargalos administrativos homogêneos da burocracia estatal pensada para atender as realidades dos centros urbanos. Sem equipes e sem condições logísticas adequadas, a política de saúde indígena está sendo um pesadelo para a saúde dos povos indígenas. O mesmo acontece no campo das políticas de educação escolar indígena, principalmente em regiões da Amazônia e do Nordeste, onde construções de infraestrutura e transporte logístico básicas não são possíveis de serem resolvidas pelos irracionais procedimentos licitatórios. O mesmo acontece com a falta de recursos humanos qualificados para atuar nas aldeias ou próximo às aldeias, pois as formas de contratação, temporárias ou de carreira, não são adequadas, pois dificilmente profissionais qualificados se dispõem a trabalhar nas aldeias com baixos salários pagos pelo poder público.

Portal EBC: Como você vê a situação dos indígenas isolados e recém-contatados?
Gersem: Entendo que esses povos apresentam consciência sobre a situação de não estabelecerem contato permanente com a sociedade nacional e por isso devem ser respeitados nessa decisão. Neste sentido, cabe ao Estado protegê-los, criar condições de proteção sem ação interventiva ou esforço para estabelecer contato, pois estes povos fazem parte da nação brasileira, ainda que desconhecidos da população majoritária.

PRESSÕES SOFRIDAS POR POVOS INDÍGENAS

Portal EBC: Quais são as maiores pressões sofridas pelos indígenas brasileiros? Quais são os agentes dessas pressões?

Gersem: Na atualidade, as maiores pressões aos povos indígenas vêm dos grupos ruralistas e mineradores do país além, é claro, dos próprios agentes do Estado e das grandes construtoras interessados pelos territórios indígenas e principalmente pelos recursos naturais neles existentes. As principais ameaças vêm das elites econômicas, principalmente ruralistas, na medida em que estão, a todo custo, espoliando as terras indígenas. É importante afirmar que não é possível garantir a continuidade etnocultural dos povos indígenas sem a garantia territorial. Mas não podemos esquecer a outra ameaça que vem das igrejas religiosas, que estão realizando, verdadeiros massacres culturais por meio de suas imposições doutrinárias em detrimento das culturas e valores indígenas.

Portal EBC: De que forma essas pressões podem ser aliviadas?

Gersem: Primeiro, a partir de um ordenamento territorial, respeitando-se os direitos constitucionais dos povos indígenas. No Brasil, é necessário se criar o hábito e a cultura de se respeitar as leis e o Estado ou governos precisam criar vontade e capacidades para exerceram o poder para zelar pelo cumprimento das leis, indistintamente de classes, grupos sociais ou credos. Segundo, é necessário respeitar a legislação nacional e internacional que asseguram a participação e a consulta prévia e qualificada aos povos indígenas em qualquer projeto ou programa governamental que lhes afetem. Em terceiro lugar, o que é mais importante é a superação do preconceito histórico sobre os povos indígenas de que são empecilhos para o desenvolvimento do país e a superação do racismo que considera os povos indígenas como atrasados ou não civilizados. Não é possível pensar o Brasil desenvolvido e civilizado enquanto não aprender a respeitar e valorizar um dos seus três pilares étnicos, que formaram o povo e a nação brasileira, que são os povos indígenas ou povos originários.

Portal EBC: As grandes obras como a construção de hidrelétricas e rodovias também ameaçam os povos indígenas?

Gersem: Sem dúvida, depois da luta pela terra as construções de grandes obras ameaçam seriamente a vida presente e futura dos povos indígenas, na medida em que afetam diretamente os ecossistema dos territórios indígenas que são fundamentais para a sobrevivência física e cultural. É importante destacar que os povos indígenas precisam integralmente de seus territórios, enquanto ecossistemas integrados e abrangentes para perpetuarem suas culturas, tradições, seus conhecimentos e seus modos de vida.

Portal EBC: Qual a sua opinião sobre a recente militarização nessas grandes obras, como a presença da Força Nacional no Complexo Tapajós?

Gersem: Acho completamente desnecessária e mostra claramente a atitude arbitrária e autoritária do governo. Mostra ainda total falta de sensibilidade e capacidade de diálogo com o movimento social indígena. E o que mais assusta com essa atitude do governo é a possibilidade de que o governo esteja radicalmente decidido a seguir o discurso de em nome do “relevante interesse público” passar por cima dos povos indígenas, ou seja, mais uma vez os povos indígenas podem pagar com suas vidas o suposto bem estar da sociedade majoritária e pode no futuro próximo estimular instabilidade social nas regiões e no país. Um diálogo franco, transparente e democrático com os interessados deveria ser instituído para mediar e solucionar conflitos de interesses. Nem sempre a força física e militar é a melhor solução para muitos casos.

Portal EBC: A lei 5.371 diz que a Funai deve exercer o poder de polícia nas áreas reservadas e nas matérias atinentes à proteção do índio. Como você vê a questão do poder de polícia conferido à Funai? A instituição deve ter autonomia ou deve recorrer a outros órgãos de segurança pública?

Gersem: Em primeiro lugar não tenho nada contra o poder de polícia da Funai, mas acho isso completamente inviável pelas condições em que o órgão se encontra: enfraquecido, desestruturado e principalmente sem equipe qualificada. Em segundo lugar, é importante considerar o papel do estado brasileiro na defesa e proteção dos direitos dos povos indígenas e, para isso, dispõe de vários instrumentos e mecanismos institucionais, como Ministério Público, a Polícia Federal e a Força Nacional e outros órgãos. Não acredito que somente uma Funai armada irá resolver os problemas dela e dos povos indígenas, mas sim um plano indigenista sério, forte e eficiente, com o peso e a responsabilidade do Estado e dos governos.

Portal EBC: Um delegado da Polícia Federal da Delegacia Vilhena, em Rondônia, sugeriu que a Funai fizesse a regularização quanto ao porte de armas de fogo por parte dos servidores. Você é contra ou a favor do porte de armas por funcionários da instituição?

Gersem: Em primeiro lugar sou contra porte de armas para qualquer cidadão que não represente órgãos de segurança pública, de modo que os funcionários da Funai só deveriam portar armas caso eles exerçam poder de polícia, caso contrário sou completamente contra.

PERSPECTIVAS PARA O INDIGENISMO BRASILEIRO

Portal EBC: Na sua opinião, qual é a maior urgência do indigenismo brasileiro?

Gersem: A maior urgência é a definição clara de uma política indigenista para o país com metas de curto, médio e longo prazo. Uma política que estabeleça com clareza o lugar dos povos indígenas na nação brasileira. E para mostrar compromisso e seriedade com esta política é fundamental a aprovação do Estatuto dos Povos Indígenas que expresse este plano indigenista de curto, médio e longo prazo de forma articulado. O governo federal precisa assumir a responsabilidade pela defesa e proteção dos direitos desses povos, conforme determina a Constituição Federal. Só uma atuação exemplar do governo federal pode tirar os povos indígenas das mãos sanguinárias das elites econômicas, principalmente ruralistas.

Portal EBC: Quais são as perspectivas futuras para o indigenismo brasileiro?

Gersem: De muita angústia, muita dúvida e muita luta na tentativa de evitar que mais uma onda de genocídios volte a ser executada no Brasil. A esperança está em uma geração de jovens indígenas que estão se formando nas academias brasileiras e que ao longo dos próximos anos vão estar assumindo a liderança de suas aldeias e seus povos e, em muitos casos, também ocupando espaços nos órgãos da administração pública e nos poderes constituídos do país e que podem propor e construir novas alternativas de resistência e sobrevivência dos povos indígenas do Brasil. O grande desafio dessa nova geração de lideranças indígenas é domesticar a hostilidade, a ambição, a vaidade e o senso de tirania dos grupos políticos e econômicos que dominam as estruturas e as políticas do Estado e dos governos. Mas tenho certeza que os povos indígenas continuarão sua histórica luta de resistência mas também de fé por dias melhores em mundos melhores.

Edição: Leyberson Pedrosa

Stephen Hawking Says Humans Won’t Survive Another 1,000 Years On Earth (PosSci)

14/04/2013UncategorizedDistopia ambiental, Espaço sideral, Física, Futuro, Vida fora da Terrarenzotaddei

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/stephen-hawking-says-we-have-get-rock-within-1000-years

By Colin LecherPosted 04.12.2013 at 2:30 pm

Stephen Hawking Wikimedia Commons

Physicist Stephen Hawking, speaking at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said if humans don’t migrate from the planet Earth to colonize other planets, they’ll face extinction in 1,000 years. So, phew, we’re good, guys. We’ve got like 900-plus years to just sit on this. That’s a relief. [RT]

Self-Medication in Animals Much More Widespread Than Believed (Science Daily)

13/04/2013UncategorizedAnimais, Inteligência animalrenzotaddei

Apr. 11, 2013 — It’s been known for decades that animals such as chimpanzees seek out medicinal herbs to treat their diseases. But in recent years, the list of animal pharmacists has grown much longer, and it now appears that the practice of animal self-medication is a lot more widespread than previously thought, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues.

A parasite-infected monarch butterfly lays her eggs on medicinal tropical milkweed that will help to protect her offspring from disease. (Credit: Image credit Jaap de Roode)

Animals use medications to treat various ailments through both learned and innate behaviors. The fact that moths, ants and fruit flies are now known to self-medicate has profound implications for the ecology and evolution of animal hosts and their parasites, according to Mark Hunter, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

In addition, because plants remain the most promising source of future pharmaceuticals, studies of animal medication may lead the way in discovering new drugs to relieve human suffering, Hunter and two colleagues wrote in a review article titled “Self-Medication in Animals,” to be published online today in the journal Science.

“When we watch animals foraging for food in nature, we now have to ask, are they visiting the grocery store or are they visiting the pharmacy?” Hunter said. “We can learn a lot about how to treat parasites and disease by watching other animals.”

Much of the work in this field has focused on cases in which animals, such as baboons and woolly bear caterpillars, medicate themselves. One recent study has suggested that house sparrows and finches add high-nicotine cigarette butts to their nests to reduce mite infestations.

But less attention has been given to the many cases in which animals medicate their offspring or other kin, according to Hunter and his colleagues. Wood ants incorporate an antimicrobial resin from conifer trees into their nests, preventing microbial growth in the colony. Parasite-infected monarch butterflies protect their offspring against high levels of parasite growth by laying their eggs on anti-parasitic milkweed.

Hunter and his colleagues suggest that researchers in the field should “de-emphasize the ‘self’ in self-medication” and base their studies on a more inclusive framework.

“Perhaps the biggest surprise for us was that animals like fruit flies and butterflies can choose food for their offspring that minimizes the impacts of disease in the next generation,” Hunter said. “There are strong parallels with the emerging field of epigenetics in humans, where we now understand that dietary choices made by parents influence the long-term health of their children.”

The authors argue that animal medication has several major consequences on the ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions. For one, when animal medication reduces the health of parasites, there should be observable effects on parasite transmission or virulence.

For example, when gypsy moth caterpillars consume foliage high in certain toxic compounds, transmission of viruses between the caterpillars is reduced, facilitating moth outbreaks.

In addition, animal medication should affect the evolution of animal immune systems, according to Hunter and his colleagues. Honeybees are known to incorporate antimicrobial resins into their nests. Analysis of the honeybee genome suggests that they lack many of the immune-system genes of other insects, raising the possibility that honeybees’ use of medicine has been partly responsible — or has compensated — for a loss of other immune mechanisms.

The authors also note that the study of animal medication will have direct relevance for human food production. Disease problems in agricultural organisms can worsen when humans interfere with the ability of animals to medicate, they point out.

For example, increases in parasitism and disease in honeybees can be linked to selection by beekeepers for reduced resin deposition by their bees. A reintroduction of such behavior in managed bee colonies would likely have great benefits for disease management, the authors say.

The first author of the Science paper is Jacobus de Roode of Emory University. The other author is Thierry Lefevre of the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in France.

Journal Reference:

J. C. de Roode, T. Lefevre, M. D. Hunter. Self-Medication in Animals. Science, 2013; 340 (6129): 150 DOI:10.1126/science.1235824

Carbon Dioxide Removal Can Lower Costs of Climate Protection (Science Daily)

13/04/2013UncategorizedClima, Desastre, discurso ambiental, Economia, Enquadramento, Geoengenharia, Incerteza, Mediação tecnológica, Mudanças climáticas, Política, Políticas públicas, Previsãorenzotaddei

Apr. 12, 2013 — Directly removing CO₂ from the air has the potential to alter the costs of climate change mitigation. It could allow prolonging greenhouse-gas emissions from sectors like transport that are difficult, thus expensive, to turn away from using fossil fuels. And it may help to constrain the financial burden on future generations, a study now published by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows. It focuses on the use of biomass for energy generation, combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS). According to the analysis, carbon dioxide removal could be used under certain requirements to alleviate the most costly components of mitigation, but it would not replace the bulk of actual emissions reductions.

Directly removing CO2 from the air has the potential to alter the costs of climate change mitigation. It could allow prolonging greenhouse-gas emissions from sectors like transport that are difficult, thus expensive, to turn away from using fossil fuels. And it may help to constrain the financial burden on future generations, a new study shows. It focuses on the use of biomass for energy generation, combined with carbon capture and storage. (Credit: © Jürgen Fälchle / Fotolia)

“Carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere allows to separate emissions control from the time and location of the actual emissions. This flexibility can be important for climate protection,” says lead-author Elmar Kriegler. “You don’t have to prevent emissions in every factory or truck, but could for instance plant grasses that suck CO₂ out of the air to grow — and later get processed in bioenergy plants where the CO₂ gets stored underground.”

In economic terms, this flexibility allows to lower costs by compensating for emissions which would be most costly to eliminate. “This means that a phase-out of global emissions by the end of the century — that we would need to hold the 2 degree line adopted by the international community — does not necessarily require to eliminate each and every source of emissions,” says Kriegler. “Decisions whether and how to protect future generations from the risks of climate change have to be made today, but the burden of achieving these targets will increase over time. The costs for future generations can be substantially reduced if carbon dioxide removal technologies become available in the long run.”

Balancing the financial burden across generations

The study now published is the first to quantify this. If bioenergy plus CCS is available, aggregate mitigation costs over the 21st century might be halved. In the absence of such a carbon dioxide removal strategy, costs for future generations rise significantly, up to a quadrupling of mitigation costs in the period of 2070 to 2090. The calculation was carried out using a computer simulation of the economic system, energy markets, and climate, covering a range of scenarios.

Options for carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere include afforestation and chemical approaches like direct air capture of CO₂ from the atmosphere or reactions of CO₂ with minerals to form carbonates. But the use of biomass for energy generation combined with carbon capture and storage is less costly than chemical options, as long as sufficient biomass feedstock is available, the scientists point out.

Serious concerns about large-scale biomass use combined with CCS

“Of course, there are serious concerns about the sustainability of large-scale biomass use for energy,” says co-author Ottmar Edenhofer, chief-economist of PIK. “We therefore considered the bioenergy with CCS option only as an example of the role that carbon dioxide removal could play for climate change mitigation.” The exploitation of bioenergy can conflict with land-use for food production or ecosystem protection. To account for sustainability concerns, the study restricts the bioenergy production to a medium level, that may be realized mostly on abandoned agricultural land.

Still, global population growth and changing dietary habits, associated with an increased demand for land, as well as improvements of agricultural productivity, associated with a decreased demand for land, are important uncertainties here. Furthermore, CCS technology is not yet available for industrial-scale use and, due to environmental concerns, is controversial in countries like Germany. Yet in this study it is assumed that it will become available in the near future.

“CO₂ removal from the atmosphere could enable humankind to keep the window of opportunity open for low-stabilization targets despite of a likely delay in international cooperation, but only under certain requirements,” says Edenhofer. “The risks of scaling up bioenergy use need to be better understood, and safety concerns about CCS have to be thoroughly investigated. Still, carbon dioxide removal technologies are no science fiction and need to be further explored.” In no way should they be seen as a pretext to neglect emissions reductions now, notes Edenhofer. “By far the biggest share of climate change mitigation has to come from a large effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions globally.”

Journal Reference:

Elmar Kriegler, Ottmar Edenhofer, Lena Reuster, Gunnar Luderer, David Klein. Is atmospheric carbon dioxide removal a game changer for climate change mitigation? Climatic Change, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0681-4

A ontogênese e o aprender (O Estado de São Paulo)

13/04/2013UncategorizedAntropologia, Educação, Epigenética, Evolução, Políticas públicasrenzotaddei

[A despeiro das boas intenções do autor, esse artigo é um retrocesso. Se acumulam evidências e contribuições da antropologia – ver Clifford Geertz, Tim Ingold, Bruno Latour, pra citar apenas alguns – em sentido oposto: desenvolvimento biológico e cultural estão relacionados diretamente; na genética, todo o campo da epigenética se desenvolve também na direção oposta. O discurso do artigo se funda mais em argumentos burocráticos, de organização do conhecimento e da atividade estatal de educação, do que numa discussão verdadeiramente ontológica. RT]

JC e-mail 4703, de 11 de Abril de 2013.

Artigo de Fernando Reinach publicado no jornal O Estado de São Paulo

O uso da palavra aprender não acompanhou o progresso científico. O resultado é que ainda usamos a mesma palavra para descrever dois fenômenos distintos. Considere a seguinte frase: “Meu filho aprendeu a andar com 1 ano e aprendeu a escrever com 6”. Esses dois processos, descritos como “aprender”, são fenômenos muito diferentes. Não reconhecer essa diferença atrapalha nossa concepção de educação.

Todas as pessoas, de qualquer origem, nascidas em qualquer sociedade nos últimos milhares de séculos, começaram a andar na infância. Por outro lado, somente uma pequena fração das pessoas sabe escrever – e essa capacidade apareceu entre os humanos faz alguns milhares de anos. A razão é simples e conhecida dos biólogos há muito tempo. Andar faz parte de nossa ontogênese; escrever faz parte de nossa herança cultural.

Ontogênese é o nome dado ao processo de formação de um ser vivo. Descreve a transformação de uma semente em árvore ou o surgimento de uma pessoa a partir de um óvulo fecundado. Inicialmente, o conceito de ontogênese era usado para descrever as mudanças de forma durante o desenvolvimento de um ser vivo. Descrevia a formação da espinha vertebral, do coração, o aparecimento dos dedos, o crescimento do cabelo, e todas as mudanças que ocorrem antes do nascimento. Mas o processo de ontogênese continua após o nascimento. O corpo cresce, atingimos a maturidade sexual, paramos de crescer e finalmente começamos a envelhecer. São as etapas inevitáveis de nossa ontogênese.

A ontogênese se caracteriza por uma sequência de eventos que ocorrem de maneira precisa e semelhante em todos os seres vivos de uma espécie. Ela é determinada por nossos genes e modulada pelo meio ambiente. Todas as crianças crescem, mas, se bem alimentadas, crescem mais rápido.

Não é usual utilizarmos a palavra aprender para descrever processos que fazem parte da ontogênese. É por isso que afirmar que “minha filha aprendeu a menstruar aos 13 anos” soa estranho. Ao longo de todo o século XX houve uma melhor compreensão dos processos que fazem parte de nossa ontogênese e se descobriu que um número crescente de etapas pelas quais passamos durante a vida é parte de nossa ontogênese.

É o caso do andar e do falar, cujos aparecimentos estão codificados em nossos genes da mesma maneira que a capacidade de crescer pelos pubianos. É muito difícil, e é necessário um ambiente muito hostil, para evitar que uma criança desenvolva o andar e a capacidade de falar. No caso da fala, sabemos que a língua que a pessoa vai utilizar depende unicamente do ambiente ao qual ela está exposta, mas o surgimento, nos primeiros anos, da capacidade de falar alguma língua faz parte de nossa ontogênese.

Aos poucos, os cientistas descobriram que um número crescente de características que desenvolvemos em alguma fase de nossa vida faz parte de nossa ontogenia. Hoje sabemos que nascemos com a capacidade de fazer adições e subtrações de pequenos números (até três ou quatro). Sabemos que parte de nossa capacidade de julgamento moral, de convivência social, de comunicação por meio de expressões faciais e inúmeras outras características comportamentais também fazem parte de nosso processo ontogenético.

Nossa ontogênese surgiu à medida que nossa espécie e a de nossos ancestrais foi moldada pelo processo de seleção natural. Cada etapa e cada característica de nossa ontogênese foram incorporadas ao longo de milhões de anos e agora fazem parte das características de nossa espécie. O surgimento de um dedo durante nossa vida no útero e de nossa capacidade de somar números pequenos ao nascer é o resultado de um único e longo processo de seleção natural. É por isso que essas capacidades surgem aparentemente de forma espontânea durante as diferentes fases de nossa vida. Como são programadas para ocorrer, seu aparecimento é difícil de ser evitado e, caso seu aparecimento seja inibidos violentamente, as consequências podem ser nefastas para o indivíduo.

A distinção entre esses dois fenômenos seria mais fácil se a palavra aprender fosse restrita à aquisição de novas características e habilidades que não fazem parte de nosso processo ontogenético. Fazer operações matemáticas com números grandes, escrever, andar de bicicleta, calcular a órbita de um satélite e programar um computador são capacidades que podemos adquirir porque nosso corpo e cérebro têm a flexibilidade para incorporar novos comportamentos e conhecimentos, mas não foram moldadas pela seleção natural nem incorporadas à nossa ontogênese.

Essas habilidades foram descobertas muito recentemente pelo homem e derivam da evolução cultural. Esses aprendizados podem ser incluídos no repertório de cada um de nós de maneira opcional, num processo que chamamos de educação. E, como todos sabemos, sua incorporação depende de um grande esforço e dedicação de quem ensina e de quem aprende, leva um longo tempo e consome muita energia dos indivíduos e da sociedade.

Reconhecer as mudanças que fazem parte de nossa ontogênese e separar e cultivar de maneira distinta as mudanças ontogenéticas das induzidas pelo processo educacional podem gerar seres humanos mais felizes. Mas para isso não podemos confundir os dois fenômenos que hoje chamamos de “aprender”.

Fernando Reinach é biólogo.

Líder indígena brasileiro ganha prêmio ‘Herói da Floresta’ da ONU (G1;Globo Natureza)

13/04/2013UncategorizedÍndios, Ecologia, Floresta Amazônica, Google, Mediação tecnológicarenzotaddei

JC e-mail 4703, de 11 de Abril de 2013.

Almir Suruí, de Rondônia, fez parceria com Google para monitorar floresta. Ele está na Turquia para receber o título internacional

Almir Suruí, líder indígena de Rondônia, é um dos vencedores do prêmio “Herói da Floresta” este ano. O título é concedido pelas Nações Unidas.

A cerimônia oficial de entrega estava prevista para acontecer na noite desta quarta-feira (10) em Istambul (hora local), onde acontece o Fórum sobre Florestas da ONU, que congrega representantes de 197 país.

Os outros quatro “Heróis da Floresta” deste ano são dos Estados Unidos, Ruanda, Tailândia e Turquia. Almir é o vencedor pela América Latina e o Caribe. Líder dos índios paiter suruí, Almir criou diferentes iniciativas para proteger e desenvolver a Terra Indígena Sete de Setembro, em Rondônia, onde mora.

O projeto mais conhecido usa a internet para valorizar a cultura de seu povo e combater o desmatamento ilegal. A partir de uma parceria com o Google e algumas ONGs, os suruí colocaram à disposição dos usuários da rede um “mapa cultural” que dá informações sobre sua cultura e história.

Eles também usam telefones celulares para tirar fotos da derrubada ilegal de floresta, determinando com o GPS o local exato do crime ambiental e enviando denúncias a autoridades competentes.

No ano passado, outros brasileiros já haviam sido premiados como “Heróis da Floresta” pela ONU: Paulo Adário, diretor do Greenpeace para a Amazônia, e o casal de ativistas José Cláudio Ribeiro e Maria do Espírito Santo, assassinado no Pará em maio de 2011, que foi nomeado como uma homenagem póstuma.

Research Holds Revelations About an Ancient Society’s Water Conservation, Purification (Science Daily)

13/04/2013UncategorizedArqueologia, água, Maiasrenzotaddei

Apr. 9, 2013 — University of Cincinnati research at the ancient Maya site of Medicinal Trail in northwestern Belize is revealing how populations in more remote areas — the hinterland societies — built reservoirs to conserve water and turned to nature to purify their water supply. Jeffrey Brewer, a doctoral student in the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Geography, will present his findings on April 11, at the Association of American Geographers’ annual meeting in Los Angeles.

Jeffrey Brewer, screening soil from the depression for lithic, ceramic or faunal (bone) material. (Credit: Provided by Jeffrey Brewer and Jason Whitaker)

Brewer’s research, titled “Hinterland Hydrology: Mapping the Medicinal Trail Community, Northwest Belize,” continues a UC exploration of the ancient Maya civilization that has spanned decades. The site for Brewer’s research, which was primarily occupied during the Classic Period (AD 250-900), functioned as a rural architectural community on the periphery of the major ancient Maya site of La Milpa.

Brewer says this smaller, remote settlement lacks the monumental architecture and population density typically associated with the major Maya sites, but shows similar, smaller-scale slopes, artificial terraces and water reservoirs that would have been utilized for farming and water management.

Brewer ‘s discovery of artificial reservoirs — topographical depressions that were lined with clay to make a water-tight basin — addressed how the Maya conserved water from the heavy rainfall from December to spring, which got them through the region’s extreme dry spells that stretched from summer to winter. “They also controlled the vegetation directly around these reservoirs at this hinterland settlement,” says Brewer. “The types of lily pads and water-borne plants found within these basins helped naturally purify the water. They knew this, and they managed the vegetation by these water sources that were used for six months when there was virtually no rainfall.”

Without that system, Brewer says the smaller, more remote settlement would have been more dependent on the larger Maya sites that ran a larger water conservation system.

Brewer has conducted research at the site since 2006, including spending two years of intensive surveying and mapping of the region. Future research on the project will involve the completion of computerized mapping of up to 2,000 points of topography — distances and elevations of the region in relation to water sources, population and structures. Brewer says he also wants to continue exploring the construction and management of these hinterland water systems and, if possible, gain a better understanding of what knowledge about them might have passed back and forth between settlements.

Funding for the research project was supported by the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences and UC International.

David M. Hyde, professor of anthropology at Western State Colorado University, was secondary researcher on the project.

The Association of American Geographers (AAG) is a nonprofit scientific and educational society that is dedicated to the advancement of geography. The annual meeting features more than 6,000 presentations, posters, workshops and field trips by leading scholars, experts and researchers in the fields of geography, environmental science and sustainability.

Brewer is presenting at a conference session that focuses on geospatial and geotechnical tools and methods that can be used to address questions of archaeological significance.

Environmental Change Triggers Rapid Evolution (Science Daily)

13/04/2013UncategorizedEcologia, Evolução, Mudanças climáticasrenzotaddei

Apr. 8, 2013 — Environmental change can drive hard-wired evolutionary changes in animal species in a matter of generations. A University of Leeds-led study, published in the journal Ecology Letters, overturns the common assumption that evolution only occurs gradually over hundreds or thousands of years.

Female soil mite. (Credit: Umeå universitet.)

Instead, researchers found significant genetically transmitted changes in laboratory populations of soil mites in just 15 generations, leading to a doubling of the age at which the mites reached adulthood and large changes in population size. The results have important implications in areas such as disease and pest control, conservation and fisheries management because they demonstrate that evolution can be a game-changer even in the short-term.

Professor Tim Benton, of the University of Leeds’ Faculty of Biological Sciences, said: “This demonstrates that short-term ecological change and evolution are completely intertwined and cannot reasonably be considered separate. We found that populations evolve rapidly in response to environmental change and population management. This can have major consequences such as reducing harvesting yields or saving a population heading for extinction.”

Although previous research has implied a link between short-term changes in animal species’ physical characteristics and evolution, the Leeds-led study is the first to prove a causal relationship between rapid genetic evolution and animal population dynamics in a controlled experimental setting.

The researchers worked with soil mites that were collected from the wild and then raised in 18 glass tubes. Forty percent of adult mites were removed every week from six of the glass tubes. A similar proportion of juveniles were removed each week in a further six tubes, while no “harvesting” was conducted in the remaining third of the tubes.

Lead author Dr Tom Cameron, a postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Biological Sciences at Leeds at the time of the research and now based in Umeå University, Sweden, said: “We saw significant evolutionary changes relatively quickly. The age of maturity of the mites in the tubes doubled over about 15 generations, because they were competing in a different way than they would in the wild. Removing the adults caused them to remain as juveniles even longer because the genetics were responding to the high chance that they were going to die as soon as they matured. When they did eventually mature, they were so enormous they could lay all of their eggs very quickly.”

The initial change in the mites’ environment — from the wild into the laboratory — had a disastrous effect on the population, putting the mites on an extinction trajectory. However, in every population, including those subjected to the removal of adults or juveniles, the trajectory switched after only five generations of evolution and the population sizes began to increase.

The researchers found that the laboratory environment was selecting for those mites that grew more slowly. Under the competitive conditions in the tubes, the slow growing mites were more fertile when they matured, meaning they could have more babies.

Dr Cameron said: “The genetic evolution that resulted in an investment in egg production at the expense of individual growth rates led to population growth, rescuing the populations from extinction. This is evolutionary rescue in action and suggests that rapid evolution can help populations respond to rapid environmental change.”

Short-term ecological responses to the environment — for instance, a reduction in the size of adults because of a lack of food — and hard-wired evolutionary changes were separated by placing mites from different treatments into a similar environment for several generations and seeing whether differences persisted.

Professor Benton said: “The traditional idea would be that if you put animals in a new environment they stay basically the same but the way they grow changes because of variables like the amount of food. However, our study proves that the evolutionary effect — the change in the underlying biology in response to the environment — can happen at the same time as the ecological response. Ecology and evolution are intertwined,” he said.

Unpicking evolutionary change from ecological responses is particularly important in areas such as the management of fisheries, where human decisions can result in major changes to an entire population’s environment and life histories. The size at which cod in the North Sea mature is about half that of 50 years ago and this change has been linked to a collapse in the cod population because adult fish today are less fertile than their ancestors.

“The big debate has been over whether this is an evolutionary response to the way they are fished or whether this is, for instance, just the amount of food in the sea having a short-term ecological effect. Our study underlined that evolution can happen on a short timescale and even small 1 to 2 per cent evolutionary changes in the underlying biology caused by your harvesting strategy can have major consequences on population growth and yields. You can’t just try to bring the environment back to what it was before and expect everything to return to normal,” Professor Benton said.

The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and involved researchers from the University of Leeds and Professor Stuart Piertney of the University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences.

Journal Reference:

Tom C. Cameron, Daniel O’Sullivan, Alan Reynolds, Stuart B. Piertney, Tim G. Benton. Eco-evolutionary dynamics in response to selection on life-history. Ecology Letters, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/ele.12107

Major Depression: Great Success With Pacemaker Electrodes, Small Study Suggests (Science Daily)

13/04/2013UncategorizedDepressão, Mediação tecnológica, neurociências, Psiquiatria, Saúde mentalrenzotaddei

Apr. 9, 2013 — Researchers from the Bonn University Hospital implanted pacemaker electrodes into the medial forebrain bundle in the brains of patients suffering from major depression with amazing results: In six out of seven patients, symptoms improved both considerably and rapidly. The method of Deep Brain Stimulation had already been tested on various structures within the brain, but with clearly lesser effect.

The medial forebrain bundle is highlighted in green. (Credit: Volker Arnd Coenen/Uni Freiburg)

The results of this new study have now been published in the international journal Biological Psychiatry.

After months of deep sadness, a first smile appears on a patient’s face. For many years, she had suffered from major depression and tried to end her life several times. She had spent the past years mostly in a passive state on her couch; even watching TV was too much effort for her. Now this young woman has found her joie de vivre again, enjoys laughing and travelling. She and an additional six patients with treatment resistant depression participated in a study involving a novel method for addressing major depression at the Bonn University Hospital.

Considerable amelioration of depression within days

Prof. Dr. Volker Arnd Coenen, neurosurgeon at the Department of Neurosurgery (Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie), implanted electrodes into the medial forebrain bundles in the brains of subjects suffering from major depression with the electrodes being connected to a brain pacemaker. The nerve cells were then stimulated by means of a weak electrical current, a method called Deep Brain Stimulation. In a matter of days, in six out of seven patients, symptoms such as anxiety, despondence, listlessness and joylessness had improved considerably. “Such sensational success both in terms of the strength of the effects, as well as the speed of the response has so far not been achieved with any other method,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas E. Schläpfer from the Bonn University Hospital Department of Psychiatry und Psychotherapy (Bonner Uniklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie).

Central part of the reward circuit

The medial forebrain bundle is a bundle of nerve fibers running from the deep-seated limbic system to the prefrontal cortex. In a certain place, the bundle is particularly narrow because the individual nerve fibers lie close together. “This is exactly the location in which we can have maximum effect using a minimum of current,” explains Prof. Coenen, who is now the new head of the Freiburg University Hospital’s Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (Abteilung Stereotaktische und Funktionelle Neurochirurgie am Universitätsklinikum Freiburg). The medial forebrain bundle is a central part of a euphoria circuit belonging to the brain’s reward system. What kind of effect stimulation exactly has on nerve cells is not yet known. But it obviously changes metabolic activity in the different brain centers.

Success clearly increased over that of earlier studies

The researchers have already shown in several studies that deep brain stimulation shows an amazing and-given the severity of the symptoms- unexpected degree of amelioration of symptoms in major depression. In those studies, however, the physicians had not implanted the electrodes into the medial forebrain bundle but instead into the nucleus accumbens, another part of the brain’s reward system. This had resulted in clear and sustainable improvements in about 50 percent of subjects. “But in this new study, our results were even much better,” says Prof. Schläpfer. A clear improvement in complaints was found in 85 percent of patients, instead of the earlier 50 percent. In addition, stimulation was performed with lower current levels, and the effects showed within a few days, instead of after weeks.

Method’s long-term success

“Obviously, we have now come closer to a critical structure within the brain that is responsible for major depression,” says the psychiatrist from the Bonn University Hospital. Another cause for optimism among the group of physicians is that, since the study’s completion, an eighth patient has also been treated successfully. The patients have been observed for a period of up to 18 month after the intervention. Prof. Schläpfer reports, “The anti-depressive effect of deep brain stimulation within the medial forebrain bundle has not decreased during this period.” This clearly indicates that the effects are not temporary. This method gives those who suffer from major depression reason to hope. However, it will take quite a bit of time for the new procedure to become part of standard therapy.

Journal Reference:

Thomas E. Schlaepfer, Bettina H. Bewernick, Sarah Kayser, Burkhard Mädler, Volker A. Coenen. Rapid Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Major Depression. Biological Psychiatry, 2013; DOI:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.01.034

Mind Over Matter? Core Body Temperature Controlled by the Brain (Science Daily)

13/04/2013UncategorizedCérebro, Corpo, Intencionalidade, Meditação, neurociências, Yogarenzotaddei

Apr. 8, 2013 — A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Maria Kozhevnikov from the Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences showed, for the first time, that it is possible for core body temperature to be controlled by the brain. The scientists found that core body temperature increases can be achieved using certain meditation techniques (g-tummo) which could help in boosting immunity to fight infectious diseases or immunodeficiency.

Published in science journal PLOS ONE in March 2013, the study documented reliable core body temperature increases for the first time in Tibetan nuns practising g-tummo meditation. Previous studies on g-tummo meditators showed only increases in peripheral body temperature in the fingers and toes. The g-tummo meditative practice controls “inner energy” and is considered by Tibetan practitioners as one of the most sacred spiritual practices in the region. Monasteries maintaining g-tummo traditions are very rare and are mostly located in the remote areas of eastern Tibet.

The researchers collected data during the unique ceremony in Tibet, where nuns were able to raise their core body temperature and dry up wet sheets wrapped around their bodies in the cold Himalayan weather (-25 degree Celsius) while meditating. Using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and temperature measures, the team observed increases in core body temperature up to 38.3 degree Celsius. A second study was conducted with Western participants who used a breathing technique of the g-tummo meditative practice and they were also able to increase their core body temperature, within limits.

Applications of the research findings

The findings from the study showed that specific aspects of the meditation techniques can be used by non-meditators to regulate their body temperature through breathing and mental imagery. The techniques could potentially allow practitioners to adapt to and function in cold environments, improve resistance to infections, boost cognitive performance by speeding up response time and reduce performance problems associated with decreased body temperature.

The two aspects of g-tummo meditation that lead to temperature increases are “vase breath” and concentrative visualisation. “Vase breath” is a specific breathing technique which causes thermogenesis, which is a process of heat production. The other technique, concentrative visualisation, involves focusing on a mental imagery of flames along the spinal cord in order to prevent heat losses. Both techniques work in conjunction leading to elevated temperatures up to the moderate fever zone.

Assoc Prof Kozhevnikov explained, “Practicing vase breathing alone is a safe technique to regulate core body temperature in a normal range. The participants whom I taught this technique to were able to elevate their body temperature, within limits, and reported feeling more energised and focused. With further research, non-Tibetan meditators could use vase breathing to improve their health and regulate cognitive performance.”

Further research into controlling body temperature

Assoc Prof Kozhevnikov will continue to explore the effects of guided imagery on neurocognitive and physiological aspects. She is currently training a group of people to regulate their body temperature using vase breathing, which has potential applications in the field of medicine. Furthermore, the use of guided mental imagery in conjunction with vase breathing may lead to higher body temperature increases and better health.

Journal Reference:

Maria Kozhevnikov, James Elliott, Jennifer Shephard, Klaus Gramann. Neurocognitive and Somatic Components of Temperature Increases during g-Tummo Meditation: Legend and Reality. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58244 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0058244

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Mathematical Models Out-Perform Doctors in Predicting Cancer Patients’ Responses to Treatment (Science Daily)

SunEdison e Petrobras firmam acordo para planta de energia solar no Brasil (Yahoo! Notícias)

The Tangle of the Sexes (N.Y.Times)

How Science Can Predict Where You Stand on Keystone XL (Mother Jones)

Carbon bubble will plunge the world into another financial crisis – report (The Guardian)

Politicians Found to Be More Risk-Tolerant Than the General Population (Science Daily)

Índios isolados, trabalhadores em fuga: um encontro amazônico (Yahoo Notícias)

Female Anthropologists Harassed (The Scientist)

Brazil accused of not protecting isolated indigenous group (AP)

Zonas costeiras em debate (Ministério do Meio Ambiente)

http://www.mma.gov.br/informma/item/9239-zonas-costeiras-em-debate

Ocean’s Future Not So Bleak? Resilience Found in Shelled Plants Exposed to Ocean Acidification (Science Daily)

Mathematics Provides a Shortcut to Timely, Cost-Effective Interventions for HIV (Science Daily)

Photons Run out of Loopholes: Quantum World Really Is in Conflict With Our Everyday Experience (Science Daily)

A Radical Anthropologist Finds Himself in Academic ‘Exile’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

‘Incredibly Conformist’

On Collegiality

Atual projeto de nação não tem lugar para povos indígenas, diz indígena e doutor em antropologia (EBC)

Stephen Hawking Says Humans Won’t Survive Another 1,000 Years On Earth (PosSci)

Self-Medication in Animals Much More Widespread Than Believed (Science Daily)

Carbon Dioxide Removal Can Lower Costs of Climate Protection (Science Daily)

A ontogênese e o aprender (O Estado de São Paulo)

Líder indígena brasileiro ganha prêmio ‘Herói da Floresta’ da ONU (G1;Globo Natureza)

Research Holds Revelations About an Ancient Society’s Water Conservation, Purification (Science Daily)

Environmental Change Triggers Rapid Evolution (Science Daily)

Major Depression: Great Success With Pacemaker Electrodes, Small Study Suggests (Science Daily)

Mind Over Matter? Core Body Temperature Controlled by the Brain (Science Daily)