3 Questions. 3 Hints. 3 Answers. Every Tuesday.
1. Babies + bad weather = ?
Hint:
Answer: Researchers in Canada have discovered that the number of days pregnant women were without electricity during the grisly 1998 Quebec Ice Storm resulted in specific alterations to their offspring’s T cells (a type of white blood cell that plays a key role in immune response). The scientists assessed the emotional distress experienced by each study subject and determined that the degree of experienced anxiety was not a determinative factor in the epigenetic changes. Rather, according to a recent article, the modifications were attributed to factors external to participants’ emotional state at the time. A review of the study itself is warranted in order to determine exactly how the scientists separated the objective factors from the subjective to arrive at their conclusions. For instance, more time spent without electricity would indicate an elevated stress response (with variations) — leaving one with the impression that the objective and subjective are inexorably intertwined, despite the fact that the degree of stress is said not to have played a role in the genetic outcome. Is it possible that the test subjects, interviewed five months after the storm, downplayed or exaggerated their actual emotional state such that stress levels were, in actuality, closer in sync and as such, did engineer the results?
2. How might it be possible to see your past in your future?
Hint:
Answer: it’s all about “telegony” — the ancient theory that offspring may inherit the characteristics of a female parent’s former lover. Hogwash? For years many scientists said yes, yet a new study may just prove the naysayers wrong, at least when it comes to fruit flies. According to researchers in Australia, “the size of the young was determined by the size of the first male the mother mated with” rather than the biological fruit-fly father. The suggested reason? Molecules in the semen of the first male are absorbed by the female’s immature eggs, thereby influencing later offspring. It is uncertain, and scientists are skeptical, whether the findings are applicable to human beings…but take a closer look at your children and ask yourself whether they remind you of anyone in particular? Read the details here.
3. What appears to be the easiest way to access private information?
Hint:
Answer: best advice: don’t disable your cookies — the freshly baked kind that is. It seems that a yummy cookie can go a long way in disarming people’s inclination to guard their personal information, including addresses, fingerprints and phone numbers. Read more here.