Sorry Mom, but you were wrong...

...video games actually improve your eyesight.
We gamers have known this for years, but good luck getting your mother to believe it. Now, you can just point her to good old peer-reviewed research to close the case. In Science, no less:

The Keen Eyes of a Gamer

By John Bohannon
ScienceNOW Daily News
30 March 2009

Video games, long maligned for promoting violence, may also have a good side: improving eyesight. Gory "first-person shooter" games, in which players must act quickly to kill their virtual opponents, seem to have lasting effects on a key aspect of vision, a new study shows.

In 2002, Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Rochester in New York state, found that playing action video games improved visual attention skills (ScienceNOW, 18 April 2002). This time she compared avid gamers with nongamers on a type of visual perception called contrast sensitivity. It allows people to make out objects in dim lighting and to distinguish objects from a busy background.

Male gamers in their late teens and 20s, Bavelier found in a pilot study, performed significantly better than nongamers in the same demographic. To determine whether video games explained this difference, she and colleagues designed a video game boot camp in which 50 adult volunteers each played 50 hours of video games over a 9-week period. Half of the participants played two first-person-shooter action games, Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty 2, in which players must quickly detect and kill enemies to avoid being killed themselves. Meanwhile, the control group played The Sims 2, a "casual" simulation game that requires a great deal of observation and strategy but at a very leisurely pace. The subjects were tested for contrast sensitivity before and after the training.

Those who played the action video games showed a roughly 50% improvement in performance on the contrast-sensitivity test, whereas the control group showed no significant improvement, the team reports this week in Nature Neuroscience. Later testing of 18 of the subjects showed that the improvement had not disappeared after several months--even though these subjects said they had not changed their video game habits. Bavelier chalks up the change to "neural plasticity"--the ability of our brains to rewire themselves to more efficiently visually process the life-or-death scenes in action video games.

"The results are convincing," says Dennis Levi, dean of the School of Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley. "While we don't yet understand how playing action video games enhances visual processing, the very promising aspect of this is that it may provide a new method for treating patients." People with amblyopia--or "lazy eye"--suffer a severe loss of contrast sensitivity, and a regimen of action video games could complement other treatments, Levi says. The next step will be to test action video games that do not involve guns and mayhem.

Go ahead and secede, Texas. We all want you to, as well...

This is a few days old, but I haven't had a chance to post it yet. It seems a proposition to include creationism in science class put forth by the Texas Board of Education did not pass... BARELY.

This sort of thing really infuriates me. There is no debate about evolution in the science community. This shouldn't even be an issue. We don't teach numerology in math class, or astrology in astronomy class. So why should we teach creationism in biology?

I think if I was a teacher, and these types of standards were put in place, I would choose to teach all the "other" alternative theories besides Young Earth theory. The Yuga mythology, for example. I wonder how Ms. Cargill would like that...

I am ranting. Things could have turned out worse, of course -- they could have added subtle language questioning specific aspects of evolu-- OH WAIT, THEY DID.

I'd like to believe that the three people who read this a rational folks, and you're probably thinking, "So what? When did anyone with a useful opinion care about what Texans think?" Well, Texas is a big player in textbook production, so what ends up in Texas education standards will probably show up in your school, too.

AWESOME!

Full of win and christmas lights...

I'd hate to get in the habit of posting every interesting video that's on the web, but this is just too awesome:

My laboratory schtick...

While in Germany, I stopped at H&M and bought a nice shirt. I have discovered that when I wear it to work, I look like a mime:

What I made at school today...

Yeah, I was bored, so I took a photo of some DNA I isolated today.

I hate Macs, part 2...

Following up on my misbehavin' Macbook, I brought it in to the Genius Bar at the Rosedale Apple store. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to stuff one of these stores into a typical mall space, but it didn't work. Trying to sell and service computers, iPods, and iPhones in a space the size of Games by James just isn't a good idea. And nobody had any idea how things worked: you don't purchase items at the counter (that's the genius bar) -- instead the employees all carry little credit card machines. But no one knew this, so there was always a queue at the Genius Bar. Even if you DID know what to do, typically all the employees were talking to someone who doesn't know how to email, ala Best Buy, so you just had to stand around until someone could suck your money into the little machines attached to their hip like some emo cyborg.

In addition, the Genuis Bar was packed with people having problems with their Macs. And when you arrive, you're supposed to check in with the "Concierge", although there is no indication of this, nor who the concierge is supposed to be. My favorite was when the concierge told me they would come get me when it was my turn at the bar, and I didn't have to stand there but could go look around the store...

...

...Why would I want to do that, exactly?

To be fair, though, every time I've worked with Apple's service people, they've been very nice, helpful, and accommodating. Of course, when I opened my Macbook, the keyboard worked fine. But they went ahead and replaced the keyboard and faceplate anyway (mostly because they broke it trying to take it off, but whatever...). And they even replaced the two screws that were missing. Nice guys.

One amusing observation I made: the "Geniuses" behind the bar were discussing running Windows on their Macs. One even mentioned that she was happy because a friend was giving her a free copy. One of her coworkers replied that Apple has a program so workers can get free serial numbers. So not only do Apple's technical service folks prefer Windows, Apple actually provides it for them. Confidence-instilling, to be sure.

Currently listening to: Toadies - Sweetness

Own the gates of Neverland...

This is awesome:

Michael Jackson auctions off his stuff

There's some really cool stuff in there. I'd seriously consider buying some of it.
If I wasn't poor.

And I didn't have to attend a posh Michael Jackson auction.

More wins for science...

In an earlier post, I noted an example of Obama's attempts to restore the voice of science in laying out scientific policy in the government.

Here are two more wins for science and common sense:

Scientific consultation for endangered species

First steps for restoring the role of science advisors in gov't agencies

Hopefully you all remember some of the ruckus caused by the Bush administration's attitude toward science advisors.

I'll be quirky...

While driving to Taos, I couldn't help noticing as we passed through Albuquerque that the name of their stadium is "Isotopes Stadium".

Could Albequerqueans be so insanely awesome as to actually adopt "Isotopes" as the name of their minor league baseball team?

Apparently so:

The fictional Springfield Isotopes from the long running TV series The Simpsons were the influence for the new name of the team. In the episode "Hungry Hungry Homer", Homer Simpson attempts to thwart the team's plan to move to Albuquerque. Subsequently, when an Albuquerque Tribune online survey helped the team decide its new name, "Isotopes" received 67 percent of the 120,000 votes."

Lousy Smarch weather...

Rain, then sleet, then snow, then sub-zero temps.

Bah.

Science dictating scientific policy? Unpossible...

Obama reverses the ban on federal funding for stem cell research.

Well done, Mr. President.

I hate Macs...

My spacebar randomly stopped working on my work Macbook today. The only way I am able to write this is by using copy/paste on a text space from an old email. Oh yeah, and the Delete key doesn't work.

Nor does the apostrophe.
Caps Lock? Nope.
Arrowkeys? Nope.

Go ahead and try typing without any of those keys. I dare you. This is what is scienctifically known as "a pain in the ass". Macs are what are scientifically known as "pieces of crap".

I don't want to come across as a PC fanboy, but this is just another in a long list of issues that have plagued this overpriced white brick. For instance, after 2 months of use, the motherboard failed. Fine. It was still under warranty.

After that, it stopped ejecting CDs. It fails when trying to shut down, and it freezes when trying to wake back up. It refuses to register the first two or three keystrokes when I start typing. It is slower than my nine year old Dell. It is unable to multitask three or more programs. And about a month ago, it decided to stop printing in color (it thought the best thing for it to do was to randomly delete my printer drivers — that one I was actually able to resolve).

Computers will have problems; I accept that. But this is getting out of hand. If you pay double the cost of a normal laptop, only to find it sucks horribly you'd be justified in being upset. If you paid double for 10 Macs for your lab, only to have 8 of them break to the point of being unuseable, you'd be forgiven for going into conniptions. And let's be clear: I'm not making that number up. My advisor has a fear of PCs and will ridicule anyone who doesn't use a Mac, yet nearly all of his rigs have failed miserabley.

Okay, I couldn't take it anymore, so I had to finish this on my PC at home. Ahh... it's nice to have something that "just works" for once.

EDIT:I attempted to reset the SMC after shutting down the Macbook. When I tried to put the battery back in, I found it to be obstructed by A SCREW THAT RANDOMLY FELL OUT OF THE CASE FROM SOMEWHERE. I have no idea where it came from, nor whether it is important. That brings my grand total of spontaneously escaping screws up to 2. Three other screws in the battery housing are loose. What a marvel of build quality.

Resurrecting the dream journal...

I'm trying to get back to writing in my dream journal. It's something I did back in college, but I never put more than a few entries into it. It's not profound or pretentious or anything; it's just fun to look back and wonder what sort of crack I was smoking on any particular night.

I found it easy to update in college because I was at liberty to get up at 3 am, tumble from bed into my computer chair, and type some nonsensical ramblings while they were fresh in my mind before drifting back off again. That's not so easy to do when you have to get up for work, get cleaned and dressed, commute 45 minutes, and start work before sitting down to recollect your subconscious musings.

But I'm trying to do it again. My first foray back into my psyche probably won't go so well, though, because even immediately after waking I only remembered about the last 5 minutes of the dream. But it involved trying (and failing) to read aloud the (altered) introduction of "The Drawing of the Three" while driving somewhere with my family, a small lake of water just outside the back door of my parent's house, which housed a headcrab with an interest in attacking Chris (I unsuccessfully tried to shoot it with my transforming cellphone), and a large poo that someone had taken in the bathtub.

For the record, I did not smoke crack last night.

Currently listening to: Tom Waits - Never Let Go

This should please Chox and Vune...

Finally, after years of recommendations, I have read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Vune was right all along: it's fantastically goofy and smart. I still think Douglas Adams doesn't write conversations well, and he bogged himself down a bit in parts, but overall it was a great read. Except perhaps for "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish" -- that one was a bit lame.

Now, to appease the long-suffering Eugene gods, I've picked up Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series. I finished "The Gunslinger" and I have to say, I'm hooked. I'm a little worried that King bit off more than he can chew, but we'll see how it plays out... "The Drawing of the Three" is on its way as I type this...

So I guess I must acknowledge that all this time, Vune and Chox were right, and I should've taken their advice long ago. Once again, my friends are more well-read than I am.

Taos, NM

So many things have happened since I last kept this blog active, I'm not going to bother making a huge update. Instead, I'll probably just mention things as they come up.

Anyway, Jenny and I just returned from Taos, NM; I was there for the Keystone Symposium on B cells, and Jenny came along for a break from the emergency room. It was a good time -- as good as a week-long conference of science lectures can be. Taos was surprisingly warm, so it felt more like a winter escape than anything. We spent some time hiking around and looking at Pueblo ruins and petroglyphs, skiing, and exploring off-grid sustainable housing.

Once again I had to present a poster at the meeting, which went reasonably well despite the 10:00pm desire to go home and sleep instead of explaining the details of murine tumors.

Michelle, Jenny, and I took a trip to the MN Landscape Arboretum on return in order to see their orchid show. It was pretty meh, but the rest of the park looks fabulous. I'm looking forward to checking it out in the spring, and might even consider a membership there.

Anway, pictures from Taos:

Outside our B&B room:


Petroglyph at Tsankawi village in Bandelier Nat'l Monument:


Outside the Earthships sustainable housing community:


Tsankawi ruins again. There were pieces of pottery and obsidian everywhere:


Near the Rio Grande Gorge, looking at the Sangre de Cristo Mts:


Another petroglyph at Bandelier:


A reassuring sign at the top of Taos ski valley:


Ski bums at 10k feet:


At Bandelier:


At Earthships: reading up on the finer points of sustainable pooping:



Currently listening to: Pearl Jam - Tremor Christ