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Statements posted on this blog represent the views of individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Center for Law Science & Innovation (which does not take positions on policy issues) or of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law or Arizona State University.

Tuesday Triple Trivia for October 21, 2014

3 Questions. 3 Hints. 3 Answers.  Every Tuesday.

1.  What event is linked to genetic modifications affecting a particular European nation?

Hint:

Answer: researchers have discovered epigenetic modifications in subjects who lived through World War II Nazi Germany, passing behavioral disorders, such as magnified reaction to stress, on to their offspring (just like mice).   Thus, what has been referred to as “German angst” appears to have genetic, albeit altered, roots.   Results from the Uniysis Security Index which, as its title indicates, measures consumer security concerns, show that Germans are ahead of the “concerned” pack of nations.  As noted by one former German Chancellor, “[t]he Germans have a tendency to be afraid.  This has been part of their consciousness since the end of the Nazi period and the war.” The good news is that genes also react to better times so that atypical dispositions eventually even out.  This phenomenon is not limited to Germans or World War II.  Scientists have established similar stress-disorder correlations in other disturbing instances such as 9/11.  Read the details here.

2. “Internet addiction”?  With respect to what?

Hint:

Answer: we are entering (somewhat) new territory: “[s]cientists have treated a man they believe to be the first patient with internet addiction disorder brought on by overuse of Google Glass.”  Let us hope that this is not a widespread reaction to wearing Glass.  After all, the guy was wearing the technology 18 hours a day — a likely red flag.   The patient, undergoing treatment for alcoholism,  was, in connection with that treatment, required to surrender all electronic devices, including his Glass.  Ironically, his Google Glass withdrawal symptoms were greater than his alcohol withdrawal symptoms.   Nonetheless, there is no consensus among psychologists “over whether the addictive use of the technology is a disorder in its own right or simply a symptom of other problems.”    Read more here.

3. What novel discovery could have you living beyond 100 years?

Hint:

Answer: if you carry certain rare variants in the APOB gene you might well be one of the few to live beyond a century.  Read the story here.