17 posts · 9,277 views
The Daily Monthly is Dave Munger's multi-layered exploration of ideas and issues affecting all of us today. One post per day, one topic per month
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- May 14, 2010
- 12:14 PM
- 535 views
The hollow mask gets a nose ring!
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
The hollow face mask illusion is a great three-dimensional effect that’s remarkable because it not only works in movies, it also works in real life. Check this out:
This is a computer-generated image (from the Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik in Tübingen), but it can just as easily be perceived with a real hollow mask. Here’s [...]... Read more »
Papathomas, T. (2007) Art pieces that 'move' in our minds — an explanation of illusory motion based on depth reversal. Spatial Vision, 21(1), 79-95. DOI: 10.1163/156856807782753958
- May 7, 2010
- 12:53 PM
- 707 views
Spinning ellipses perplex the visual system
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Take a look at this video (Click on the image to play, QuickTime required):
Which ellipse is rotating faster?
While at first it seems quite obvious that the ellipse on the right is rotating faster, if you download the movie and play in loop mode, by counting rotations you should be able to convince yourself that they [...]... Read more »
Caplovitz, G., Hsieh, P., & Tse, P. (2006) Mechanisms underlying the perceived angular velocity of a rigidly rotating object. Vision Research, 46(18), 2877-2893. DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2006.02.026
- May 5, 2010
- 05:33 PM
- 469 views
Watch colors disappear and merge right before your eyes
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
One of the most amazing visual illusions is also one of the simplest. It’s called the Troxler effect for Ignaz Troxler, the scientist who discovered it in 1804. To experience it, just stare at the central dot in this figure for 30 seconds or so, with your head about 12 inches from your computer monitor. [...]... Read more »
HSIEH, P., & TSE, P. (2006) Illusory color mixing upon perceptual fading and filling-in does not result in ‘forbidden colors’. Vision Research, 46(14), 2251-2258. DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2005.11.030
- May 4, 2010
- 03:39 PM
- 478 views
May will be a month of illusions
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
For the next month, I’m going to be blogging about illusions and the people who create them. So let’s get started. Take a look at the following short movie, following the on-screen instructions. Just watch it once!
This one is based on an illusion by Stuart Anstis, who in turn based it on a very popular [...]... Read more »
Thompson, P., Anstis, S., Rhodes, G., Jeffery, L., & Valentine, T. (2009) Thompson’s 1980 paper. Perception, 38(6), 921-932. DOI: 10.1068/pmktho
- April 28, 2010
- 05:13 PM
- 450 views
Battle of the diets: Mediterranean versus DASH
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
It seems like every few months we hear about some new diet that is supposed to help us melt away the pounds and add years to our lives. But how different are these diets, really? I’ve already discussed studies suggesting that the DASH diet does indeed appear to decrease risk of heart disease and reduce [...]... Read more »
Trichopoulou, A. (2003) Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet and Survival in a Greek Population. New England Journal of Medicine, 348(26), 2599-2608. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa025039
Sofi, F., Cesari, F., Abbate, R., Gensini, G., & Casini, A. (2008) Adherence to Mediterranean diet and health status: meta-analysis. BMJ, 337(sep11 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.a1344
- April 22, 2010
- 12:27 PM
- 558 views
Helping kids eat better by changing school lunches (Part 2)
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Yesterday I discussed two studies on school lunches in California — one showing that students bring lunches from home tended to eat healthier foods, and one showing that kids will keep buying food at school even when the only option is healthy foods.
But both of these studies had flaws. The first study was conducted before [...]... Read more »
Cullen, K., Watson, K., & Zakeri, I. (2007) Improvements in Middle School Student Dietary Intake After Implementation of the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy. American Journal of Public Health, 98(1), 111-117. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.111765
Schwartz MB. (2007) The influence of a verbal prompt on school lunch fruit consumption: a pilot study. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 6. PMID: 17338812
- April 21, 2010
- 05:16 PM
- 463 views
Helping kids eat better by changing school lunches (Part 1)
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Last year a study was released suggesting that kids who bought lunch at school tended to eat less healthy foods than kids who brought their own lunch from home. Since the National School Lunch Program in the US is supposed to encourage children to eat better, this was quite a blow. If kids don’t eat [...]... Read more »
Hastert TA, & Babey SH. (2009) School lunch source and adolescent dietary behavior. Preventing chronic disease, 6(4). PMID: 19754993
Wojcicki, J., & Heyman, M. (2006) Healthier Choices and Increased Participation in a Middle School Lunch Program: Effects of Nutrition Policy Changes in San Francisco. American Journal of Public Health, 96(9), 1542-1547. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.070946
- April 14, 2010
- 04:57 PM
- 516 views
Can diet be used to control high blood pressure long-term?
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Do a search for “high blood pressure” or “hypertension” and you’ll find that nearly every health website recommends the DASH diet to control blood pressure. It makes some sense: If sodium and saturated fat cause high blood pressure, then removing them from your diet should make it come back down.
But changing your eating habits is [...]... Read more »
Fung, T., Chiuve, S., McCullough, M., Rexrode, K., Logroscino, G., & Hu, F. (2008) Adherence to a DASH-Style Diet and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke in Women. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(7), 713-720. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.168.7.713
- April 9, 2010
- 01:55 PM
- 419 views
Glycemic what?
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Yesterday I posted an analysis of my food intake for the first week of April. I did so because I wanted to get a sense of what I’m eating and how that compares to the “ideal” diet, if there is such a thing. I want to know if I should try to lose weight, maintain [...]... Read more »
Radulian, G., Rusu, E., Dragomir, A., & Posea, M. (2009) Metabolic effects of low glycaemic index diets. Nutrition Journal, 8(1), 5. DOI: 10.1186/1475-2891-8-5
- April 8, 2010
- 03:21 PM
- 534 views
My nutrition and fitness update: Week 1
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
When I started this month of posts on fitness and nutrition, I promised that I’d be using myself as a bit of a guinea pig, recording all my food and beverage intake, as well as my exercise. You can see my record here, but the MyFitnessPal site doesn’t do a very good job of summing [...]... Read more »
Hsieh, S., Yoshinaga, H., & Muto, T. (2003) Waist-to-height ratio, a simple and practical index for assessing central fat distribution and metabolic risk in Japanese men and women. International Journal of Obesity, 27(5), 610-616. DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0802259
- March 25, 2010
- 11:08 AM
- 559 views
What is the impact of strict population control?
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
We’ve discussed some of the problems with increasing population, particularly in poorer countries. But what do attempts to deal with those problems look like?
China has implemented a notorious “one-child” policy since 1979 — over thirty years. While most people agree that this policy is a serious violation of human rights, the example of China is [...]... Read more »
Hesketh T, Lu L, & Xing ZW. (2005) The effect of China's one-child family policy after 25 years. The New England journal of medicine, 353(11), 1171-6. PMID: 16162890
Zhu, W., Lu, L., & Hesketh, T. (2009) China's excess males, sex selective abortion, and one child policy: analysis of data from 2005 national intercensus survey. BMJ, 338(apr09 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b1211
- March 18, 2010
- 11:19 AM
- 669 views
When population booms in poor nations
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, population isn’t growing evenly across the world. While some areas are growing quickly, other places are stagnating. In nearly every case, population growth is slowest in rich countries and faster in poor countries. These two maps from the UN Population Division perhaps show the trend most dramatically:
As you can [...]... Read more »
Nikos Alexandratos. (2005) Countries with Rapid Population Growth and Resource Constraints: Issues of Food, Agriculture, and Development. Population and Development Review, 31(2), 237-258. info:other/
- March 6, 2010
- 01:22 AM
- 492 views
Booming world population doesn’t mean growth everywhere
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Population changes don’t affect all nations equally at once. While population in some countries is increasing rapidly, in others it’s slowing or even declining. Take a look at the case of Japan and Nigeria:
Nigeria
Japan
1950
2005
1950
2005
Population (Millions)
32.8
131.5
83.6
127.7
Lifetime births per woman
6.9
5.9
2.8
1.3
Annual births (Millions)
1.7
5.6
2.1
1.1
Annual deaths (Millions)
1.0
2.5
0.8
1.0
Populat........ Read more »
Kent, M.M., & Haub, C. (2005) Global Demographic Divide. Population Bulletin, 60(4), 3-24. info:/
- March 5, 2010
- 05:20 PM
- 611 views
Booming world population doesn’t mean growth everywhere
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Population changes don’t affect all nations equally at once. While population in some countries is increasing rapidly, in others it’s slowing or even declining. Take a look at the case of Japan and Nigeria:
Currently Nigeria and Japan have nearly equal populations, but in [...]... Read more »
Kent, M.M., & Haub, C. (2005) Global Demographic Divide. Population Bulletin, 60(4), 3-24. info:/
- March 2, 2010
- 05:26 PM
- 598 views
How can we predict world population growth?
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Predicting the future is always difficult. Who could have known in the year 1775 that 100 years from then, ships and trains powered by coal would allow people to circle the earth in weeks rather than years? Who could have predicted that in another 100 years, the human voice—and moving images—would be able travel that [...]... Read more »
Puliafito, S., Puliafito, J., & Grand, M. (2008) Modeling population dynamics and economic growth as competing species: An application to CO2 global emissions. Ecological Economics, 65(3), 602-615. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.08.010
- February 23, 2010
- 04:51 PM
- 513 views
How close are we to a cure for HIV / AIDS?
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
When I began work on this month’s project, I contacted a clinician, a case manager, and a scientist to get their perspectives on how we’re making progress fighting HIV and AIDS. I’ve introduced you to the clinician and the case manager, but not the scientist.
Dave Wessner doesn’t actually study AIDS, but he’s written a textbook [...]... Read more »
Goff SP. (2003) Death by deamination: a novel host restriction system for HIV-1. Cell, 114(3), 281-3. PMID: 12914693
Rerks-Ngarm S, Pitisuttithum P, Nitayaphan S, Kaewkungwal J, Chiu J, Paris R, Premsri N, Namwat C, de Souza M, Adams E.... (2009) Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to prevent HIV-1 infection in Thailand. The New England journal of medicine, 361(23), 2209-20. PMID: 19843557
- February 9, 2010
- 03:15 PM
- 706 views
Study reveals importance of adhering to the drug regimen for AIDS patients
by Dave in The Daily Monthly
Yesterday I mentioned that a key aspect of fighting AIDS is staying on the drug regimen. Charles pointed out that this is more difficult than it might seem: the drugs are constant reminder of your condition, and taking them can revive horrible memories.
But how important is it to maintain adherence to the regimen? A 2008 [...]... Read more »
Bisson, G., Gross, R., Bellamy, S., Chittams, J., Hislop, M., Regensberg, L., Frank, I., Maartens, G., & Nachega, J. (2008) Pharmacy Refill Adherence Compared with CD4 Count Changes for Monitoring HIV-Infected Adults on Antiretroviral Therapy. PLoS Medicine, 5(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050109
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