The view from my window...Downtown Providence in it's snowy glory

Quick hand at Egyptian Rat Screw predicts long life

Longer Life, Reaction Time and IQ

According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus had 3 daughters who were known as the three Fates. One spun the thread of life, the second measured its length, and the third snipped it off. In our attempt to understand some of the rules of science, researchers have tried to offer a more plausible explanation for why some of us live longer than others. Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland have made a discovery even the Greeks couldn't have imagined - reaction time may be a core indicator of long life. They measured both the IQs and the reaction times of middle-aged subjects and conclude that both tests of mental ability were associated with life span, but reaction time was the stronger indicator.

These findings appear in Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society. This study builds upon earlier studies that show that individuals with lower IQs tend to die at younger ages than those with higher IQs. Investigators built upon this idea by adding what they define as a more fundamental measure of mental ability - efficiency in processing information. They believe that IQ tests might relate to physical health because people with higher IQs typically are more likely to be in occupations with safer environments. Reaction time is moderately related to IQ, but is a simpler assessment of the brain's information-processing ability - one that doesn't bear so much on other, possibly confounding factors like knowledge, education, or background.

They evaluted 412 male and 486 female 54- to 58-year-olds who took both an IQ test measuring their verbal and numeric cognitive abilities and a reaction-time test that measured how quickly they pressed a button after seeing a number on a screen. The researchers also recorded the participants' gender, employment, education, and smoking status. Over a 14 year period 185 participants died, and researchers compared their test results to see if the IQ or reaction-time responses predicted their mortality.

Results showed that those with higher IQ scores lived longer, a result consistent with other studies. The study also showed that characteristics significantly related to death included male gender and smoking. But they also found something new - faster reaction times seemed an even better predictor of long life than IQ.

There are different ways the results could be interpreted. Slow reaction times could reflect a degeneration of the brain, which in turn could reflect degenerating physical health (an obvious possible cause of earlier mortality). But in another study the IQs of 11-year-old subjects also were found to predict life span length, just as accurately as it did for the middle-aged participants in this 14-year study. Future studies of reaction times in younger-aged people may shed more light on the IQ-mortality connection.

An Update?

I haven't written anything here for a while, and for that I beg your pardon. I don't forsee much in the near future either though. This semester is going to be the hardest I'll ever have to endure, methinks.

I leave you something to read, however, from that place of all places, The Onion.

My Reclining Squirrel Kung Fu Stance Is Eminently Defeatable
By Quaking Rodent
Master of Losing at Kung Fu

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Dare you face me? I should think so! Even the most craven cowards of our land shake with laughter at my challenge. The most feeble and infirm peasants shrug with indifference when I pass. Far and wide, my name is known, and no men feel the slightest quaver of fear when they look upon me! For I am the legendary Quaking Rodent, and my Reclining Squirrel stance is eminently defeatable!

Do not stand there looking at your shoes! Prepare to humiliate me! Face me with honor and make ready for the battle that you will win.

I will disgust you as I beg for mercy!

I have journeyed for almost a day, detouring several miles to avoid the frighteningly high bridge over the Yue Jiang river, so that I might challenge the one man in all of China who any girl-child could conquer! The elders told me there was no one worse at kung fu than you. "Ha!" I laughed in their faces. "My technique is infinitely inferior to any he may have learned!" After I apologized and begged the elders for their mercy, I made a vow. "I shall find this man you speak of, wherever he is napping. And, on the day I find him, I will be beaten to a bloody pulp!" Now I stand before you, and we will see who holds the title of Worst Kung Fu Master.

I am down here on the floor, coward! Prepare to beat me! All shall conquer practitioners of the notoriously ineffective Reclining Squirrel stance! You will destroy me!

Many years have I studied in anticipation of this day, laboring under the gentle tutelage of ancient master Breaking Reed, who taught me the Contemptible Way of the Reclining Squirrel. It was said of Breaking Reed that none had ever lost to him, so well trained was he in the arts of the squirrel stance. He remains to this day the only man I have ever defeated in battle. Yes, you heard me correctly—I killed my master! And on this day, you shall annihilate me and avenge his death.

Your superior kung fu shall wreak devastation upon my famous Squirrel-Covering-Nuts maneuver! Your fists will easily overcome my pathetic Skittering-To-Other-Side-Of-Tree defense! I will shatter in the face of your attack as I deploy the Blank-Staring-Face move! No matter how useless your technique, you shall be victorious. The Reclining Squirrel stance can only be defeated!

And, as you stand over me on the field of victory, my master Breaking Reed shall look down from the heavens and laugh with derision at my total annihilation at your hands! Ha ha ha ha, he will laugh!

My death is certain! Face your destiny and break me apart like a clod of dirt!

Nothing cannot defeat Quaking Rodent! The Slightly Twitching-Tail attack leaves no mark! The Relaxing-On-Branch kick has never caused my opponents the slightest bit of damage! And if that's not enough, then you will finish me with my signature move, the one it took me years to hone to perfection: The Bloated-With-Acorns-And-Too-Sleepy-To-Move defense!

Quit your sniveling! I have cowered in fear before hundreds of warriors. You have come face to face with the one man in all of China weaker, dumber, and lazier than yourself! Prepare for battle, Stunted Duckling! For you will live to see the sun rise tomorrow