Monthly Archives: July 2017

Story and photo by Matt Wood

The study of human evolution here has very deep roots. Continuing that legacy and thinking into the future is exciting. Prof. Zeray Alemseged on UChicago's reputation in paleontology research

In 2000 Zeresenay (Zeray) Alemseged unearthed a 3.3 million-year-old, nearly complete skeleton of a 2 year-old girl in Dikika, Ethiopia. In the years that followed, the paleoanthropologist and fellow researchers slowly chipped away the sandstone surrounding the delicate fossil, using advanced imaging tools to analyze its structure.

Alemseged first revealed the Australopithecus afarensisfossil, known as Selam, to the world in a landmark publication in Nature in 2006. At the time, he was a senior scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, before moving to the California Academy of Sciences two years later.

In the fall of 2016, Alemseged left the California coast to join the University of Chicago faculty, where he quickly made international news. This past May, Alemseged co-authored a landmark study about Selam, which showed portions of the human spine that enable efficient walking motions were established millions of years earlier than previously thought.

The study, which Alemseged said shed new light on one of the hallmarks of human evolution, is the kind of impactful research that adds to UChicagos storied reputation in paleontologyone that includes some of the most famous names in the field, both present and past.

The study of human evolution here has very deep roots, said Alemseged, the Donald N. Pritzker Professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy. Continuing that legacy and thinking into the future is exciting, but when you leverage that with the ability to work with some of the brightest students in the world, the opportunity to collaborate with them is one of the great legacies a scientist could have.

Alemseged filled a niche in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy as its resident paleoanthropologist, studying human origins and the environmental context of human evolution. The other senior researchers on the faculty occupy key branches on the evolutionary tree of life. Prof. Michael Coates, studies the origins of early vertebrates and fish. Prof. Neil Shubin studies the first tetrapods and their transition to land. Prof. Paul Sereno covers dinosaurs and the emergence of flight, and Prof. Zhe-Xi Luo, studies the origins of mammals.

Alemseged extends this expertise to the species that dominates our planet today, with a new breed of research that combines high-tech imaging analysis of fossils with traditional geology and fieldwork. Using these tools, he explores the milestone events in human evolution since our split from the apes.

Hes a top-notch scientist who can use geology, biology and the latest technology in his work, and has a very good sense of public outreach, said Sereno. Im so happy he chose to come here, putting UChicago at the cutting edge of the newest research in human evolution.

Alemseged returns to his native Ethiopia every year for several months to continue work in the Afar, a paleoanthropological hotspot, collaborating with researchers from across the globe, including the National Museum of Ethiopia, where the fossils are prepared and curated.

You can say that one-half of my lab is back there, he said. What I enjoy the most is the quiet moments that I have in my lab in the process of making the little incremental discoveries that, when combined, will allow me to tackle questions pertaining to those milestone events.

Originally published on July 28, 2017.

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Paleoanthropologist explores roots of evolution - UChicago News

The decentralized currency Bitcoin has grown incredibly popular over of the past year. In parallel with this increased interest in cryptocurrency, the technology is also affecting pop culture and the art world. In 2017 there are a lot of artists incorporating the concept of bitcoin culture into their mediums.

Also read:The Curious Cases of the Alphabay Kingpin and Hansa Takedowns

Bitcoin is an incredible technology that has changed the way the world looks at money. The protocol has spawned lots of innovation and a revolutionary spirit among those who use the cryptocurrency. This spirit has invoked a lot of artists that are tethering the bitcoin concept into their creative activities. This week were going to look at a few designers bringing cryptocurrency to the visual arts.

Block Bills

The Los Angeles-based artist Matthias Drfelt has created a new type physical bitcoin that looks similar to the paper fiat notes people use every day. Drfelt uses the hashes from 64 random blocks and turns them into an eccentric design that was created by his own software. Further, Drfelt created his own symbols for the hexadecimal numbers that he uses along the bottom of every bill. There are numbers in a typeface that Drfelt generatedto represent the time the bitcoin was mined. The artist says every bill is created entirely with code except for the signature he signs that says Satoshi. In contrast to traditional fiat where theres a number that tells people how much the bill is worth, Drfelt uses the number of transfers stored in each block.

Each digital print is 5.9 X 3.3 inches, and Drfelt has created a series of 64 banknotes from the blockchain.

Satoshi Gallery

The artist Valentina Picozzi decided to bring cryptocurrency to the masses with Satoshi Gallery, a collection of crypto infused images and wearables. The Italian artist based out of London says that Bitcoin needed art and thats why Satoshi Gallery was created. Satoshi Gallerys work includes images of the most expensive slice of pizza, dollar bills saying oh no, and an iconographic landscape of other crypto-related subjects. We need to bridge the gap between technical developers, experts/insiders and everyday people Thats why we need art.

Art for Crypto

The well known visual artist, Vesa Kivinen, the founder of Artevo Contemporary has recently started a new cryptocurrency infused platform called ArtForCrypto.com. Vesas work uses various mediums such as digital photography mixed with oil and canvas paintings. The mixed media artists paintings consist of visual depictions of the bull and bear, Satoshi Nakamoto, and one called the Split among many others. Vesa also has a few altcoin paintings for tokens like ethereum, litecoin, and steemit. Additionally, the artist covers subjects like the Silk Road and the possible August 1 fork as well.

Phneep

Phneep is a popular crypto-artist that calls himself a pixel bender and is well-known among the bitcoin community for manipulating movie covers, logos, and other images from pop-culture with bitcoin-related imagery. The artist got into bitcoin in 2012,and in 2014 decided to focus on bitcoin satire because he wanted to contribute to the crypto-ecosystem but couldnt code. Phneep has worked with a lot of community members within the bitcoin economy including the host of the Youtube show Mad Bitcoins, Thomas Hunt.

As long as the core devs are kicking and making successful changes to the protocol itself, and as long as Hollywood keeps crapping out these blockbusters, then Im going to keep finding ways of mashing them together, explains Phneep.

Friends of Satoshi

Friends of Satoshi is a resource for bitcoin artists and creators that aimto empower a decentralized collective of individuals. The organization says that its focus is dedicated to promoting Bitcoin through media and art. Just recently on the 9th anniversary following Zimbabwes hyperinflation, five artists from five different countries collaborated on the Friends of Satoshi Zimnote. The crypto artists who helped with the project include Qrypto (India), Zoran Kutuzovi (Croatia), Satoshi Gallery (U.K), Crypto Imperator (Spain) and The Bitcoin Penny Co. (USA). The Zimnote series consists of ten notes hand painted or drawn, says Friends of Satoshi. Each note contains a fractional amount of Bitcoin, and only four notes will be publicly released, explains the artist collective.

The Rare Pepe Blockchain Community

The Rare Pepe blockchain trading card community is a very vibrant and energetic group of meme artists. Since last year the Rare Pepe community has created a large assortment of collectible cards that are tethered to the bitcoin blockchain. Only the dankest Pepes make the cut into the series, and the Rare Pepe Foundation votes on each entry. We were the first to link Pepes and cryptography to bring you the first truly Rare Pepes secured by the Bitcoin blockchain. The Rare Pepe community also has its own token called Pepe Cash which has a $9.9 million market cap.

Cryptograffiti

The artist Cryptograffiti is a well-known designer within the crypto-community that creates art through the lens of the blockchain challenging the status quo. Cryptograffiti is an early bitcoin adopter and was the first artist to utilize a public-facing cryptocurrency wallet to receive donations for street art. His work has been seen all over the crypto-circuit, shared by luminaries, and featured in online publications.

What do you think about the bitcoin artwork these crypto-artists create? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Cryptograffiti, Art for Crypto, Block Bills, Phneep, the Rare Pepe blockchain, Satoshigallery, and Friends of Satoshi.

Show the world how cutting-edge you are with abitcoin T-shirt, hoodie, bag, key-ring, even a Trezor hardware wallet.Shipping all over the world, quality merchandise and, of course, a payment system that makes people say wow!

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The Evolution of Cryptocurrency Visuals, Memes, and Bitcoin Street ... - Bitcoin News (press release)

An opinion piece was recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine with the provocative title: No wonder no one trusts us.The writer, a doctor, imagines a dialogue with a patient- Mr. Jones- based on the shifting recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force about prostate cancer screening.Mr. Jones, receiving updated advice from his doctor that differs from the updated advice he received last time, grows predictably exasperated.(In case you are wondering, the current Task Force position on prostate cancer screening is: Grade C.This means there is a close balance between potential benefits and harms, and clinicians should discuss prostate cancer screening with patients, and reach individualized decisions together.)

The writer is not so much complaining about the Task Force as about the challenges of turning the evolving state of medical evidence into guidance patients can both understand, and trust.The piece is tongue-in-cheek in any case.But still, there is a complaint being lodged, and fundamentally, its about the nature of science and the publics relationship with it.

Science evolves.And maybe thats a particular problem for Mr. Jones, and Mrs. Smith, and their countless counterparts in our culture- because we so blithely, selectively dismiss science and replace it with GOOP as the spirit moves us. Maybe we cant disparage, dismiss, and deny the science of climate change, immunization, nutrition, and evolution for that matter- and appreciate the evolution of science.

Science is something of an in for a penny, in for a pound proposition.What I mean is, you either accept the value of the scientific method, and the voluminous evidence that it works, and thus pay attention to it even when you dont like what it has to say- or you really should disavow the voluminous evidence that it works.Lets be clear about that choice: disavowal means no planes, or trains, or automobiles; products of science, all.It means no antibiotics or microwaves; it means no radio, television, or Internet.It means, quite simply, that it should not be possible for you to be reading this now.

Science works, and we all know it- because we are beneficiaries of its effectiveness every day.You really cant beam well-behaved electrons through cyberspace and throw shade at science while doing it.Pick one!How easy it is, though, to embrace the products of science we like, and renounce the conclusions we dont.

The result of that is calamitous.The same stance that allows for the denial of evolution despite incontrovertible evidence has forestalled our collective response to climate change for decades.I hate to say it, but perhaps it has forestalled our response for too long.As glaciers melt, species die, floods rage, aquifers desiccate, Antarctica falls apart, and ever more trees in these New England forests I love so much sicken and die- I shudder to think how inconvenient this truth may prove to be for us, and especially our children.We may have walked in a blinkered trance right past inconvenient, to devastating.

That same, convenient dismissal of facts we happen not to like perpetuates pseudo-debate about vaccines, when the reality of monumental net benefit is as clear as it is robustly evidence-based.

In a display of serendipity, a deadly serious opinion piece in the Annals of Internal Medicine followed the facetious one in JAMA Internal Medicine by a mere day.This one was entitled Statin Denial: An Internet-Driven Cult With Deadly Consequences, and was aboutthe deadly consequences of statin denial.Statins are the most popular drugs for lowering LDL cholesterol, are highly effective, and when used appropriately- decisively reduce mortality.In other words, they save lives.

As the commentary suggests, there are all sorts of alternative realities on-line, raising doubts about the benefits of statins, the value of lowering LDL, and the relevance of elevated LDL to heart disease risk.One readily finds debate about the cholesterol hypothesis on-line, but finds virtually no such debate among cardiologists.These alternative realities are alternatives to reality, and the commentator is right to point this out as an urgent matter of life and death.As a Lifestyle Medicine expert, I hasten to note that diet and lifestyle can do the job that statins do, and there are strong arguments for a lifestyle approach- but thats a topic for another day.The effectiveness of lifestyle in preventing and treating heart disease does not obviate the corresponding effectiveness of statins.

We mishandle science in several fundamental ways.For starters, science does evolve; it is incremental, listing toward truth in a series of small additions to, and frequent corrections of, what we thought we knew before.We treat every study as a replacement of all we knew until yesterday at the peril of our perennial ignorance.

For another, we treat science as a circus, hawking hyperbolic headlines as a matter of routine.In reality, the findings of science make for good sound bites only very rarely.Often, the findings of studies are nuanced, the conclusions qualified and provisional.

For yet another, there is almost never unanimity- if only because many people favor their own ideology over any other kind of ology, and because human beings are good enough at being wrong that you can invariably find someone who is prominently so, on any given topic.That some dissenting voice can be found- such as on the topic of climate change- does not a legitimate controversy make.I was recently invited to debate vaccines on a podcast, and I declined, not wanting to pretend that there was a legitimate controversy on that topic left to debate.

That more Americans believe in angels than evolution may seem a matter of inner philosophical convictions, disconnected from real world consequences.But that is not so.Selective disrespect for science poisons the well of it, and proves toxic in surprising and intimate ways; as intimate as ones prostate, or uterus.

Medicine is ineluctably a bit of art, but is- or should be- a whole lot of science.There is no way for patients to participate as they must- as key partners in the stewardship of their own health- if they dont understand the basis for important decisions.

Its bad, in other words, that people dont know, or respect the incontrovertible science of evolution.But that problem tends to be at least somewhat remote. Its arguably worse that people dont know, or respect the incontrovertible fact that science evolves- and that the evolution of science will cause medical practice and advice to drift and shift over time.Doubt and discomfort born of that is consequential up close, quite personally, and in our most intimate parts.

Senior Medical Advisor, Verywell.com

Continued here:

Science, Evolution And Our Intimate Parts - HuffPost

The 80s were such a polarising decade, politically, culturally so its not surprising that the fashions still split the jury. In the week of Princes Williams and Harrysdocumentary about their mother Diana, the fault lines have clarified: those who look back on the decades clothes fondly tend not to have been around when it was actually unfolding.

Those who shudder at the clunky proportions, unsophisticated footwear and mullet-ant hair tendencies are generally those who had to live through them first hand. I hated fashion in the 80s and I still do. But that could just be me.

It does raise the question of what makes an era classic the 1950s and what leaves it in the dung-heap of curiosity. Time is a huge factor. In 1937, James Laver, the art historian and V&A curator, worked out a 150 year timeline for fashion. To prcis, he suggested that a design that was ten years ahead of its time is generally considered indecent, while ten years after its moment, its usually regarded as hideous. Twenty years after, its dismissed as ridiculous; 50 years makes it appear quaint, 70 years charming, 150 years, and its back to being beautiful

Laver was evidently onto something, even if his time line has itself, suffered from time warp. Revisions happen much faster now.

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Princess Diana's style evolution, and why some decades are just better at fashion than others - Telegraph.co.uk

During his first practice at Penn State, tight end Mike Gesicki was told by his coach to get into a three-point stance. His reaction was one of confusion.

"I was kind of like, 'Uh, what?'" Gesicki recalled.

Twenty years ago, such an answer would have been absurd and likely met with a coach's profanity-filled order to run laps. But in the current era of college football, it's not unusual for an incoming tight end to be somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of blocking on the line of scrimmage. As offenses have evolved, so have tight ends.

It's an ever-changing position, which used to be largely considered an extension of the offensive line and now is among the most useful receiving threats in the game, even for spread offenses that once favored the four-wide-receiver formations.

Ask coaches what they recall from the tight ends of yesteryear and the answers are pretty common.

"It was a tackle, an extra tackle that you put in the game," SMU coach Chad Morris said.

Said Baylor co-offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon: "A typical tight end back then was a 6-5, 260-pound guy who was probably mainly a blocker."

That has changed. While their sizes are similar, perhaps slightly smaller, what today's tight ends are asked to do is dramatically different.

"Really, people are playing where their tight end is a big high school receiver," Penn State coach James Franklin said, referring to recruiting the position. "You're recruiting tight ends based on their size, their dimensions, their measurables and their skill set. You have to feel like you're going to be able to teach that aspect [blocking]."

The ideal size is still the same as it was a decade ago. The average tight end drafted into the NFL in 2007 was 6 feet 4, 256 pounds. In the 2017 draft, it was 6-4, 252 pounds, a sign that tight ends are still big but getting lighter.

James Casey, a former college and NFL tight end who is now coaching the position for the University of Houston, said it's difficult to find players who are big enough, fast enough and strong enough to do everything coaches ask of tight ends.

"You have to be able to block at the line of scrimmage," Casey said. "You have to know all the run game calls, some pass protection stuff, all the route concepts and have that mindset that's like an offensive lineman. You have to be that meathead, aggressive type guy, that kind of 'punk' almost, like a lot of really good offensive linemen are, but then you also have to be able to go out there and split out be in the slot and run all the routes."

The scarce nature of the perfect player for the position is why Washington State coach Mike Leach, one of the pioneers of the air raid offense that relies largely on four-wide-receiver sets, doesn't use tight ends. Over the past five years, no school in a Power 5 conference has used a tight end on fewer plays than the Cougars, who have employed one on only 2.5 percent of their offensive snaps since 2012.

"Tight ends are a blast if you have them," Leach said. "If you have a true tight end -- and I mean a true tight end -- then life is good. God didn't make very many true tight ends. Just go to the mall and the big long-armed guys you see at the mall -- you'll see a couple, but most of them can't run fast and those that can probably can't catch. So there's not very many of them."

Other coaches agree; bodies that make quality tight ends often make good defensive ends, too. Leach said he needs those defensive ends, thus, the players on his roster who fit the perfect tight end profile often end up on defense. The problem for others, Leach says, is some coaches want one so much that they're willing to compromise in order to work one into their offense.

"You desperately want that big-body guy that can block but also catch balls and is big enough that he's a mismatch on the strong safety but nifty enough that he's a better athlete than the linebacker," Leach said. "So you're constantly looking for those guys and the trouble is, as you're sitting there pushing it too far, pretty soon you end up playing the third-team guard that can sort of catch, but all he is the third-team guard. Well if he's the third-team guard, what business does he have playing tight end? In my opinion, none."

As Leach had success in his time at Texas Tech, it sprouted a generation of coaches who ran a similar offense and who eschew tight ends for the small, fast receiver. Now that trend seems to be changing.

Take Oklahoma State. According to ESPN Stats & Information, as the Cowboys developed what Mike Gundy calls their "Cowboy Backs" (a tight end/fullback hybrid), that use has increased dramatically. In 2015, they used a tight end on 43.2 percent of their offensive snaps. In 2016, they employed one 35.7 percent of the time.

"It's turned a full circle," Gundy said. "Years ago, you never saw an offense without one. Then, nobody was using one. You couldn't even find [high] schools in Texas [where you could] evaluate a tight end because they weren't even using them. And for us, now it's worked its way back in. We started using them in different ways."

The benefit, Gundy says, is "you have the ability to run a seven-man running play and a five-man passing play," with those players in the game. The Cowboys, like many others, use a tight end in the backfield where a fullback -- a position that has gone the way of the dodo bird -- used to be.

Texas A&M and West Virginia are also teams that, like Oklahoma State, rarely used tight ends five years ago but do so frequently now (the Aggies used one less than 10 percent of snaps in 2012 and 2013, but that rose to 32.8 percent of the time in 2016, while West Virginia has increased its rate tenfold in that span). The reason, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said, is simply change.

"Because everybody was doing the same stuff religiously," he said. "I like the idea of having some of those guys to be able to scheme and change some things up a little bit."

It's a national trend, too. In 2012, Power 5 teams averaged 491 offensive snaps per season using at least one tight end. In 2016, that number was up to 500, per ESPN Stats & Information.

The result, in some offenses, is that the tight end has become basically a big receiver who plays in the slot and doesn't block as often as 20th century tight ends did. Speed is now more in demand at the position. In 2007, the average NFL scouting combine 40-yard dash times for drafted tight ends was 4.75 seconds. In 2017, that time was all the way down to 4.62 seconds.

Gesicki, who said he initially wanted to be recruited as a receiver out of high school, was advised by a recruiter to embrace tight end because "receivers come a dime a dozen, but if you can be a big, fast, athletic tight end, they don't come around as often so you can be extremely valuable." Last season, Gesicki led all Big Ten tight ends in receiving yards (679).

"It seems to me, in the last four or five years, that they're looking for that hybrid guy that they can flex out and get into different personnel looks," Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. If they're big and athletic, then the guys that they're running up the field on -- which are normally safeties -- they can get into them and create separation or they can just box them out and that becomes a pain in the butt."

If a coach finds the right guy -- basically someone like former Alabama tight end O.J. Howard or the New England Patriots' Rob Gronkowski, few of which exist -- it's a headache. But even lacking that kind of ability, players at the position can still create issues for defenses. A versatile tight end can allow an up-tempo offense to change formations without switching personnel, creating communication problems for defenses that aren't ready for it.

"There's different things we would call vs. four-receiver sets than we would three-receiver sets, Orlando said. "So when you make it either/or [with a tight end], it's kind of a crapshoot for us. That's why I think offenses do it all the time."

Nebraska coach Mike Riley noted that increased run-pass option plays have created another useful way to use tight ends.

"The old 'pop pass,' from years ago has become a new thing for the tight end because of the zone-read stuff that's going on," Riley said.

While the old-school blocking tight ends may seem like a relic of the past, they do exist. Take Kansas State's Dayton Valentine, who had the lowest reception-to-snap ratio of any tight end nationally (he started all 13 games but had only two receptions, catching the ball on 0.4 percent of his snaps).

Valentine joked that his friends ask why he doesn't request the ball more often, and he responds "because we're averaging 6 yards a carry." While receiving tight ends are en vogue, Valentine is happy to put get in a three-point stance and hit someone.

"It's an attitude," Valentine said. "I personally take a lot of pride in being one of those guys who as a tight end is willing to put my hand down and get in the trenches and block for my guys."

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The evolution of the tight end in college football - ESPN.com - ESPN