tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:/trendingJournal of Brief Ideas: Ideas from the last week2015-02-01T19:23:29Ztag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/192015-02-01T19:23:29Z2024-01-30T22:31:09ZThe Journal of Brief Ideashttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14765One thing slowing down the flow of research information is that the quantum of research, or the smallest publishable amount, is actually quite large, meaning that a lot of good ideas don’t get published (i.e. spread). Ideas stuck in a mind are no use to anybody except that one individual, and that limits the power of the idea.
Furthermore, in some fields it can take five years of work or more for a postdoc to gather enough data and do the analysis for a single strong paper. The quantum is definitely too large in those fields. The idea of a long paper of many pages is an evolved phenomenon with the original “papers”–letters in early journals–often taking half a page or less to print. But those days are long gone.
Ideas which might be important but are small in size don’t have a natural home. So what if there were the equivalent of a journal for these briefly-expressible ideas? It would also be a home for brief negative results, partial results, and plans toward a result.Harris, Davidtag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/412015-02-15T20:57:20Z2024-01-30T22:31:15ZWhy research reputation trumps teaching reputation in universitieshttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15414In humans we see lekking behaviour in the general rule that people like being around successful people. This is why social A-lists exist. More generally as animal behaviour, a lek is a gathering of individuals for the purposes of competitive display - competitive signalling. For universities, A-list researchers attract other high quality researchers and also crucially high quality teachers. Why is this important for attracting high quality teachers? Academics themselves are generally seen to be sensitive to reputational influences of their peer group. High quality teachers will be hesitant to join to a university who's reputation is ambiguous (uncertainty as to rank). The solution is to have an unambiguous reputational signal. However, the signal needs to overcome the problems of asymmetric information associated with the observation ('measurement') of quality. It is for this reason that research reputation trumps teaching reputation. Research reputation is a less ambiguous signal as a result of the strength of external validation - active peer review in both academic and public domains (media). Teaching reputation is harder to validate outside the university in which it occurs, leading to the problem of asymmetric information. Leaver, Seantag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/802015-02-21T08:00:25Z2023-07-14T07:41:07ZEcofriendly Management of Plant Diseases by Biosynthesised Secondary Metabolites of Trichoderma spp.http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15571The status of Trichoderma spp. in established research and industry is in view of its twin focal advantages of plant growth promotion and biological control. However, these features are fully expressed in field conditions primarily when an area-specific strain is applied in its respective region and, secondly, when the whole organism formulation broadcasted has retained ample viability (high spore count). On the contrary, a formulation of biosynthesised antimicrobial secondary metabolites would have a much longer shelf life, a higher efficiency against soil borne phytopathogens particularly against bacteria. In addition, a consortium of antimicrobial metabolites against individual pathogens could be formulated and used regardless of geographic location where the incidence of that particular disease is high. This approach would be unsurpassed by current technology, as here the formulation would specifically target a particular pathogen while remaining soil microbiota would remain unaffected. Our foremost interest is to improve or replace the conventional whole organism formulations of biopesticides so that next-generation biosynthesised antimicrobial secondary metabolites based formulations could be developed for management of phytopathogens.Keswani, Chetantag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/1032015-02-27T08:56:20Z2023-04-22T15:39:45ZDevelop a human-readable formal language for complex scientific modelshttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15700Much modern research is based on complex models for complex systems. Examples are biological macromolecules, climate models, or systems biology. These models are too complex for publishing in journal articles. They currently exist only in the heads of a few experts and embedded in simulation software, inaccessible for inspection by peers. Most users of simulation software have no precise knowledge of the models they are applying. See [here](http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.3978.2) for an in-depth discussion.
Such models should be encoded in [formal languages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_language) designed for this purpose. In contrast to programming languages, these languages are designed for simplicity and readability by humans. Formalized complex models can then be used for testing simulation software, and read as input by future simulation software. They can also be worked on by software tools similar to today's computer algebra systems, and published as datasets.
The idea is similar to the use of [specification languages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification_language) for software. A specification for scientific software would consist of several models plus a task to be performed based on these models. A formal language for scientific models would be a hybrid of a software specification language and a notation like [OpenMath](http://www.openmath.org/).
Hinsen, Konradtag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/362015-02-14T10:19:36Z2023-07-04T22:34:49ZPhylogenetic tools and myths: reconstructing human prehistory.http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15118Similar myths with a sufficiently complex set of traits that could not be the product of many independent inventions can be found around the world. Moreover, certain myths evolve very slowly and their emergence probably date back to the Palaeolithic age. These myths may also spread together with the first human migrations. They carry an unequivocal phylogenetic message and computational methods derived from evolutionary biology have been used to reconstruct phylogenetic trees and protoforms for some of them (e.g. d'Huy 2012a-d, 2013a-j).
We can construct a binary data matrix where the rows correspond to the various cultural areas being analyzed and the columns correspond to different types of complex oral tales that are present in each area. There are numerous extensive motif and tale-type indices to help us in this task, at the local or global level. An effort should be made to exclude recent borrowings. We can then apply phylogenetic methods to extract a signal that could be converted into trees (e.g. Neighbor joining, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood or Bayesian analysis), networks (e.g. Neighbor-net) or clusters. Among other things, this could serve to assess to what extent mythological and genetic histories are congruent, to test hypothesis about human prehistory (e.g. to reconstruct the early human migrations) or to understand what drives mythological diversification and disparity.
--- https://unive-paris1.academia.edu/JuliendHuy/Phylogenetics-of-Myths-and-Folktales
--- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julien_DHuy/contributionsd'Huy, Julientag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/282015-02-12T19:53:14Z2022-09-01T10:08:35ZIs teaching about instruction or selection?http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15082Teaching is commonly associated with instruction, yet in evolution, [immunology] (http://post.queensu.ca/~forsdyke/theorimm0.htm#Introduction), and [neuroscience] (http://www.mindcreators.com/NeuralDarwinism.htm), instructional theories are largely defunct.
We propose a co-immunity theory of teaching, where attempts by a teacher to alter student neuronal structure to accommodate cultural ideas and practices is sort of a reverse to the function of the immune system, which exists to preserve the physical self, while teaching episodes are designed to alter the mental self.
This is a theory of teaching that is based on the [inter-subjective relationship](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersubjectivity) between teacher and learner. This theory posits that teaching does not, as is commonly assumed, take place via instruction from teacher to students, but rather through a process of selection in the learner’s brain, stimulated by materials and activities utilized by the teacher. In this theory, the mechanism that drives the selection process in learners’ brains is [co-regulated emotional signaling](http://www.apadivisions.org/division-39/publications/reviews/first-idea.aspx) between teacher and learner. From this perspective, the power of [formative assessment](http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf) is that it intrinsically carries with it emotional aspects for both learner and teacher, in that it provides a feedback relationship between them both, and so, according to the [Greenspan & Shanker](http://www.amazon.com/First-Idea-Language-Intelligence-Ancestors/dp/0306814498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423770340&sr=8-1&keywords=Greenspan++Shanker) theory of cognitive symbolic development, promotes cognitive development.Davis, Garytag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/712015-02-19T21:11:03Z2021-10-12T15:36:19ZReligion and Terrorism: how to stop their affinity?http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15537Terror attacks sometimes and suicide terror attacks always direct our attention toward religion. It seems that maybe all religions in some sense have dangerous, lethal potential because they suggest another kind of reality which is always this better one. We could avoid this nightmarish application of religion when we changed our thinking about religion. Europe did it through philosophical Enlightenment, especially the French Lumière which ended religious conflicts in Europe. It seems that there is some correlation between critical approach toward religion understood as a fiction and the absence of religiously motivated conflicts. Religion is used to improve mental state of believers. Its aim is not to describe the real world but to provide a symbolic and metaphorical model of the reality for psychological purposes.
When religion is understood in terms of truth and false about the world, it may cause lethal conflicts. This approach is a basic one among nations without Enlightenment period. The better one is a functional approach in terms of psychotherapeutic utility. Religion understood as a private psychotherapeutic tool, not as a source of the true knowledge about the world, will lose its lethal potential.
szocik, konradtag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/862015-02-22T11:38:48Z2018-02-18T07:03:29ZExplaining and Overcoming Intellectual Segregationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15589Among the many insights of Nobel prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling is his model of racial segregation. Observing urban dynamics in the United States in the late 1960s, Schelling modeled how individual preferences can lead to collectively unwanted outcomes. Schelling argued that, even if people do not mind living next to a person with a different skin color, a slight preference of individuals concerning the racial composition of their neighborhoods will result, after some “turns” of people moving, in areas that are completely segregated. A small preference for next-door neighbors of the same skin color leads to a stable equilibrium of complete segregation. In Schelling’s words, “collective results […] bear no close relation to individual intent” (1971:488).
Schelling’s model may be fruitfully applied to a completely different subject matter, namely, intellectual segregation in the social sciences.
Academics have a slight preference to cite, interact, and associate with colleagues that are like-minded, and who broadly belong to their own intellectual tradition. Yet they probably agree that social scientific inquiry is most rewarding if there is a diversity of thought. Schelling provides a justification for why even well-meaning individual action cannot bring about this diversity – institutional intervention is required to ensure intellectual diversity.Lepenies, Roberttag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/202015-02-04T22:08:51Z2018-02-19T06:00:28ZThe Galactic Astigmatism: Constraining the Milky Way Dark Matter Halo Using Ultra-Weak Lensinghttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14841An astigmatism is defined as an asymmetry of the front of the eye, causing light to not focus on a single point. Because the Sun is located ~8kpc off-center in the Milky Way, the integrated mass density of galactic dark matter varies significantly along different lines of sight. As a result, the Milky Way's own DM halo will act as a gravitational lens, magnifying background sources more along lines of sight toward the bulge, and less towards the anti-center. While such lensing may be very weak, it is decidedly non-zero. This ultra-weak lensing may be detected in the number density or apparent brightness of (for example) distant galaxies.
I note also, this effect has been mentioned only once in the literature that I am aware of, by [Xu and Wu (1987)](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987IAUS..124..771X), who speculate the brightness amplification signal may as large as 1e-6 to 1e-5, and possibly detectable in precision CMB data.Davenport, Jamestag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/272015-02-12T13:46:24Z2019-11-20T09:39:50ZRepurposing antipsychotic and sleep disorder drugs as anti-parasiticshttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15066Antipsychotic and sleep disorder drugs represent a rapidly growing, global market [(1)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21476952). Novel drugs targeting melatonin [(2)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+20577266), serotonin [(3)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23757185), dopamine [(4)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+19909227), and GABA [(5)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24357084) receptors are being developed. Historically, related compounds have been identified as demonstrating activity against flatworms and the model nematode _Caenorhabditis elegans_, but nothing has been done to reconcile the recent growing diversity of chemical derivatives with potential activity against parasitic worms [(6)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25516827).
Melatonin is a well-known regulator of circadian rhythms in mammals, and Prazosin, an agonist of the mammalian melatonin 3 receptor, triggers various defects in _C. elegans_ [(7)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+17573073). Melatonin has also been shown to promote protective effects in mice infected with _Schistosoma mansoni_ [(8)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11841922).
Ivermectin is a potent anti-parasitic which agonizes GABA receptors, causing flaccid paralysis and parasite death. Benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine GABA receptor agonists could therefore prove effective anthelmintics. Ivermectin exposure has also been found to enhance binding of certain benzodiazepine-derivatives in rats [(9)]( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+6319606) providing some rationale for exploring combinatorial therapies. Benzodiazepine derivatives have historically proven effective as anti-schistosomals [(10)]( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+714190), providing further evidence of anti-parasitic efficacy within the family.
Serotonin impacts motility and carbohydrate metabolism in flatworms [(11)]( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+156397), and nematodes [(12)]( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+6805073). Dopamine impacts various behaviours in nematodes [(13)]( http://www.wormbook.org/chapters/www_monoamines/monoamines.html), and reduces motility in flatworms [(14)]( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Ribeiro+et+al.+(2005)+Parasitology+131%3A+S19-40).
Dalzell, Johnathan