Uhm hi

All Things Considered editor and children’s book maven Justine Kenin is VERY excited about They All Saw a Cat – a new picture book that depicts all the many ways various creatures perceive a cat out on a stroll. Here’s her review:

 A great picture book’s magic sneaks up on you. 

It becomes the book you want to read again and again.  The story may seem simple at first pass – it’s for the non-reading set after all – but then you hear it in your head, and see the images in your mind. 

Each picture takes long minutes to absorb, and reveals new details each time you open the book. And a great picture book  –like Brendan Wenzel’s new They All Saw a Cat – reveals a secret about life itself.

Wenzel both wrote and illustrated Cat. His words bring a steady rhythm and repetition so perfect for the picture book reader – the words build, the reader anticipates, the beat is the same as you turn each page. 

The book opens with a picture of a lanky, striped feline headed off for adventure: “The cat walked through the world, with its whiskers, ears, and paws …”  

And the great surprise is the “They” of the title. What and who will the cat encounter?  A dog, a mouse, a flea – the cat encounters friends, mortal enemies, and possible meals. But how does each creature see the cat?

My personal favorites are the bee, seeing the cat with all of its eyes.  And the fish, for whom the cat is oh so big and watery.

But I don’t want to give too much away.

Just know that as you read this book your two-year-old will understand that we all see a cat. That each animal sees the cat differently – but it’s still a cat, and our perspective shapes how we it, whether we’re hungry to eat it or view it from high in the sky.

And does that cat see himself?  Yes, and that perspective is also perfect.

See on Scoop.it - Philosophy everywhere everywhen

Look around you. What do you see? Other people going about their business? Rooms with tables and chairs? Nature with its sky, grass and trees? All that stuff, it’s really there, right? Even if you were to disappear right now — poof! — the rest of the world would still exist in all forms you’re seeing now, right? Or would it? This kind of metaphysical question is something you’d expect in a good philosophy class — or maybe even a discussion of quantum physics. But most of us wouldn’t expect an argument denying the reality of the objective world to come out of evolutionary biology. After all, doesn’t evolution tell us we’ve been tuned to reality by billions of years of natural selection? It makes sense that creatures that can’t tell a poisonous snake from a stick shouldn’t last long and, therefore, shouldn’t pass their genes on to the next generation. That is certainly how the standard argument goes. But Donald Hoffman, a cognitive scientist, isn’t buying it. For decades, Hoffman, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, has been studying the links between evolution, perception and intelligence (both natural and machine). Based on that body of work, he thinks we’ve been missing something fundamental when it comes to fundamental reality. Fundamentally, Hoffman argues, evolution and reality (the objective kind) have almost nothing to do with each other. Hoffman’s been making a lot of news in recent months with these claims. His March 2015 TED talk went viral, gaining more than 2 million views. After a friend sent me the video, I was keen to learn more. I called Dr. Hoffman, and he graciously set aside some time for us to talk. What followed was a delightful conversation with a guy who does, indeed, have a big radical idea. At the same time, Hoffman doesn’t come off as someone with an ax to grind. He seems genuinely open and truly curious. At his core, Hoffman says, he’s a scientist with a theory that must either live or die by data. So, what exactly is Hoffman’s big radical idea? He begins with a precisely formulated theorem: “Given an arbitrary world and arbitrary fitness functions, an organism that sees reality as it is will never be more fit than an organism of equal complexity that sees none of reality but that is just tuned to fitness.”

 So don’t stop moving, simple.

Stopping Exercise Decreases Brain Blood Flow

We all know that we can quickly lose cardiovascular endurance if we stop exercising for a few weeks, but what impact does the cessation of exercise have on our brains? New research led by University of Maryland School of Public Health researchers examined cerebral blood flow in healthy, physically fit older adults (ages 50-80 years) before and after a 10-day period during which they stopped all exercise. Using MRI brain imaging techniques, they found a significant decrease in blood flow to several brain regions, including the hippocampus, after they stopped their exercise routines.

“We know that the hippocampus plays an important role in learning and memory and is one of the first brain regions to shrink in people with Alzheimer’s disease,” says Dr. J. Carson Smith, associate professor of kinesiology and lead author of the study, which is published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in August 2016. “In rodents, the hippocampus responds to exercise training by increasing the growth of new blood vessels and new neurons, and in older people, exercise can help protect the hippocampus from shrinking. So, it is significant that people who stopped exercising for only 10 days showed a decrease in brain blood flow in brain regions that are important for maintaining brain health.”

“Hippocampal and Cerebral Blood Flow after Exercise Cessation in Master Athletes” by Alfonso J. Alfini, Lauren R. Weiss, Brooks P. Leitner, Theresa J. Smith, James M. Hagberg and J. Carson Smith in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Published online August 5 2016 doi:10.3389/fnagi.2016.00184

Body Positivity Win! It Seems Like No One Cares What Anyone’s Palms Look Like

Body-shaming remains a pervasive problem in our society, but if you want proof that we’re on the path to open-mindedness, here’s something that should lift your spirits: It seems like pretty much no one cares what anyone’s palms look like.

Historian Mary Beard has spent her career working through the texts and source materials of ancient Rome. She has written several books on the subject — including her most recent work, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. Beard busted some of the myths of Ancient Rome with Fresh Air’s Dave Davies back in November. Her book is now out in paperback.

Beard on the assassination of Julius Caesar