Human Behavior

How AI Can Help Us Understand The Way We Think and Learn – AI Daily

When we think of artificial intelligence in education we think of robot teachers, adaptive intelligent tutors and smart essay marking software, and while these developments have significant impacts in the classroom, they are only a small part of the huge potential artificial intelligence has in the future of education.

Perhaps a more significant power that AI brings to education is connecting the way we learn in an intelligent way to make us humans essentially better at learning, whether it be about ourselves, the world, or how we convey this information to others. But the development of AI also has huge capacities in helping us to develop and measure the complexity of human intelligence - something that no AI system could ever match, but by trying to model it, we begin to understand the foundations of decision making done by humans.

These decisions may be small, insignificant ones that we dont notice much in our daily activity, whether it be deciding what to wear for the day, conversing in a foreign language, or even expressing emotions such as joy, sadness or anxiety. It is only when we attempt to compute these human actions that we realize the depth and complexity they hold and just how much intelligence they require.

As with any form of AI, the development of this intelligence comes with its costs. We need to acknowledge the potential threat of such an interconnected intelligence infrastructure if it were ever to be misused or abused. However, if we do get the ethics right, the AI systems will power our learning needs, and completely transform the way we teach younger generations and assess students, instead of focussing on what we teach them.

For example, a school student could explain to a friend how much they understand about a concept they have recently learned. Their explanation can then be captured and analyzed, and the feedback collected can be offered to the student in an immersive augmented reality experience that corrects their mistakes and misconceptions. Their performance can also be relayed to the teacher, who may go over their original explanation and help them identify mistakes. This gives both the teacher and the student a clearer idea of their progress in a current activity, whether it be Maths, English, or any other subject on the curriculum.

How do we build this intelligence infrastructure for education, to be used for more than just effective marking? By utilizing the integration of big data based on human behavior, deep learning, and our own intelligence to understand the algorithms. We are essentially combining the science behind the way we think and make decisions with our knowledge of machine learning and its foundations. Through this close examination of human behavior, we also begin to understand metacognition, where one has an awareness and understanding of their thought processes.

The potential for this technology is immense. We can collate and analyze large sets of data concerning what we say, what we do, how we dress, what problems and questions we can solve. The analysis of this information will holistically look at our progress as humans and the way we think, instead of just monitoring how well we do in a certain subject or if our test scores have improved. It has the capabilities to even improve the way we behave, whether we work well in a team or not, and how resilient, self-aware, motivated and disciplined we are. Yet the capabilities of this technology can only be positively utilized if there are suitable ethics and security precautions put in place.

While we all have imagined a future where we have robots as teachers and invigilators, papers graded by software, we have to expand our horizons to start understanding the complexity of what AI can offer us, not just as a machine that repeats the same monotonous action over and over again, but as an intelligent network that can help us self-evaluate our own personality traits and capabilities, but also understand human intelligence in a way we never have before.

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How AI Can Help Us Understand The Way We Think and Learn - AI Daily

Human Behavior

Coach Kim: Is staying at home creating conflict in your family? – KSL.com

SALT LAKE CITY One concern during this pandemic and the subsequent stay-at-home directives is the inevitable conflict that being cooped up together for long periods of time can create.

Too much time and close quarters with anyone, even people we love, will result in getting on each others nerves. It will help if we understand why these conflicts start, what they are really about, and how to navigate out of them and preserve our relationships.

First: It's important to distinguish domestic violence from run-of-the-mill conflict. Officials in some areas have seen an uptick in domestic violence because many businesses are closed, so more families are home now and are facing uncertainty and stress. There are many resources available if you experience abuse or violence in your home. The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition and the National Domestic Violence Hotline along with others online, are here to help.

Next: I want to address why the most common conflicts at home happen and how you can curtail them. When a conflict between two people happens, it usually starts because someone feels offended, either diminished or disregarded in some way, and this triggers their two core fears.

The two core fears, which I believe create all bad human behavior, are:

I have found that we all suffer from both these fears to some degree every day. But I've noticed each person also has one of these two core fears that is their primary bad behavior trigger. If a person ever behaves badly or starts a fight, it is usually their same core fear that has been triggered. I call this your dominant core fear.

It is helpful to understand each family members dominant fear so you can avoid triggering it and understand whats really happening when they get upset. See if you can tell which sounds like you.

A fear-of-failure dominant person:

A fear-of-loss dominant person:

Can you tell which sounds more like you? Your spouse? Each of your kids? We usually marry someone who has the opposite fear we have apparently, opposites do attract. Which means we may marry the person who will be the best teacher for us. They teach us by triggering our fears (pushing our buttons) and bringing them to the surface so we can work on them.

Imagine if Dad were fear-of-loss dominant and Mom were fear-of-failure dominant. Dad could start to feel neglected because he felt that all moms attention was on the children and their needs. He could start to feel mistreated or that he lacks what he needs. Because he is fear-of-loss dominant, he would probably speak up and let her know that hes bothered.

Mom, because she is fear-of-failure dominant, could immediately see this feedback as criticism and even attack. She would be really hurt and upset that he couldnt see how hard she tried to make everyone happy. In this insulted state, Mom wouldnt feel safe with Dad. So, she might pull back and want to spend even less time with him. This would only trigger more fear of loss in Dad and possibly more criticism from him, which would further trigger her. Can you see how this vicious cycle could happen?

This would create a miserable stay at home experience.

The trick to breaking this cycle is to recognize that when someone is upset, one or both of their fears has been triggered. The problem isnt really about you; it is about their own fear issues and their need for something to make them feel safer. Knowing this can be a game-changer. Suddenly, you can see bad behavior and attacks as signs that the person is scared. They are not just a jerk or being mean. Remember, it is often people who are hurting who hurt other people. When you can understand that they don't feel safe in the world (and this is a problem they had long before this situation happened, so they own it) you won't take things as personally and you can respond with what they actually need.

If Mom could recognize that Dads being upset was not about her not being good enough, but about his fear of lack and loss, she could choose to not get offended by it. This is hard and will take some practice, but you can get this mature and not let attacks hurt you. Mom might say, "Honey, what do you feel you are lacking or losing here? What has you feeling unsafe in the world? Tell me how that feels? What can I do to help you feel more secure or loved?

Being able to avoid getting triggered when someone else is upset with you is hard, though. It requires mindfulness, maturity and practice. It helps if you keep reminding yourself of these two things:

These two simple beliefs are the secret to not getting your fear triggered. I try to walk around all day every day with these two thoughts in my mind. If any conflict happens, I quickly remind myself of these two things and they make me feel safe. I no longer need the other person to fix my sense of unsafety. I can do that myself.

When you are bothered with someones behavior and want to speak up for yourself about it, just remember you are not better or more perfect than they are. You both have the same value and you both make mistakes.

Do not talk down to others. See them as equal and talk to them with love and respect. Try to use "I" statements, not "you" statements. "You are making me feel unloved" is an attack; "I am feeling unloved" is the truth.

Talk about your fear issues and feelings, and ask if the other person might be willing to help you by changing some behavior moving forward. Focus totally on the future behavior you want to see, not past behavior that they cannot change.

I realize being this mature and wise is hard, especially when we are all functioning with a terrible fear of loss right now because of the pandemic. But this situation is going to give us some wonderful chances to grow and be better. Be patient with yourself and just keep trying.

You can do this.

Authors note: Master Coach Kimberly Giles is offering a free Zoom call for any who are struggling during this quarantine time or want to spend it doing some personal development. Join her Monday nights at 7p.m. MDT at https://zoom.us/meeting/8187971392, or call #253-215-8782. She will be offering this FREE Coach Kim Clarity Call each week until we are past this challenging time.

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Coach Kim: Is staying at home creating conflict in your family? - KSL.com

Human Behavior

A global perspective is needed to act on the root causes of Covid-19 – Middle East Monitor

Most plagues in human history were followed by remarkable cultural, economic and social renaissances. The post-Covid-19 era might follow a similar pattern, but only if we are ready and willing to grasp the root causes of the ongoing crisis and act on them.

Lets start by pointing out that US President Donald Trump whose administration is responsible for the rollback of 95 environmental rules has had no qualms about calling Covid-19 the Chinese Virus. This is not only a racist concept and a recipe for xenophobic violence, but also an utterly misleading expression.

The authorities in China, where the virus most likely emerged in the first half of November 2019, initially suppressed information about its discovery. As a result, China bears precise responsibilities for what Italy, Spain and other countries are currently facing. Yet, it would be an illusion to search for the seeds and the essence of Covid-19 in the mistakes made by Beijing in its handling of the crisis.

READ: Coronavirus cases surpass 600,000 globally

Instead, the roots of the pandemic are to be found mainly in the impoverishment of biodiversity. Forests and many now-endangered species served for centuries as natural barriers against epidemics. Historically, the presence of many animal species have forced viruses to face the so-called dilution effect, that is the association between wide species diversity and a reduced risk of disease.

Both forests and species including wild animals, whose consumption and farming are widespread in a number of countries, China and Thailand among them are today at their lowest point in history: 100 million hectares of tropical forest were lost from 1980 to 2000, and about 1 million species are now threatened with extinction.

True, pandemics are not new phenomena. The Black Death in the 1340s, for instance, originated in north-west China and was introduced to Europe via Genoese traders. From what is now Italy, the disease spread across Europe. After killing an estimated 400 million people worldwide, it was followed by an impressive cultural period known as the European Renaissance that erased the remains of feudal society and helped take Europe towards modernity.

Since then, medicine relying mainly on ancient or early modern Indian, Greek, Persian and Arab traditions has made huge leaps forward. And yet, viruses are today unprecedented in their current scale and spread. Plenty of studies have in fact confirmed the increasing frequency of pandemics occurring over the last few decades.

Apart from globalisation and its effects, the reason is once again deeply entrenched within climate change and the impoverishment of biodiversity. It is enough to mention that, since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions have doubled and that about 85 per cent of wetlands the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems present in 1700 had been lost by the year 2000.

This and a wide number of other related phenomena such as a 40 per cent rise in the carbon footprint from tourism between 2009 and 2013 have weakened what for centuries have been the first natural barriers against the spreading of zoonotic diseases, that is any disease that can be passed from animals to humans or vice versa.

READ: Iran can help US fight COVID-19 but we dont need their help, says commander

The solutions implemented by airlines and a wide range of other stakeholders such as Shell, Total and BP consist mainly (although not only) in offsetting their climate polluting activities with tree planting. In truth, their monoculture tree plantations cause havoc to biodiversity, and are aggravating, not improving, the climate and biodiversity crises.

Thanks also to these profitable practices, nature is today declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. This has prompted many to adopt the concept of Anthropocene from the Greek anthropos, man to describe the geological era in which we are living. The term aims to underline the way in which the terrestrial environment, in all its physical, chemical and biological characteristics, is shaped by the effects of human action.

The concept of Anthropocene, however, is not only largely inaccurate, but also unfair. A problem of human behavior is no doubt present, but this is linked to a few societies and certain specific economies, located in particular in Northern Europe, on the Atlantic coast of the United States and in Eastern China. Most of the rest of the world and its inhabitants bear little responsability for the causes and dynamics related to Anthropocene, if not the fact of sharing its dramatic effects.

Although Anthropocene is a largely inaccurate concept, ongoing debates surrounding this term are nonetheless igniting a few positive effects. The most important is the reaffirmation of the centrality of human beings and their actions.

The marginal centrality of our planet and its inhabitants had been confirmed by many discoveries made in modern times. Think about Copernicus, who confirmed that the Earth revolves around the Sun and that therefore the former is not positioned at the centre of our solar system; or Kepler, whose telescopes confirmed for the first time that the Earth is only one planet among billions of others. The same applies to dozens of others scholars and scientists, including Charles Darwin, who contended that monkeys, apes and humans must share a common ancestor and are therefore part of a broader and more complex process connected to life on Earth.

READ: G20 online summit commits to $5 trillion economic boost to combat coronavirus

After many centuries, the concept of Anthropocene is making a decisive contribution towards tackling what has long appeared as an inherent perception of marginality of humanity, giving new strength to the positive and negative impact that we can all exert on our surroundings and planet.

We are back at centre stage: it is up to all of us to question and reshape our way of dealing with the environment and the species which inhabit our planet. If we do not learn the lesson, we must be ready to face plenty of other and possibly more lethal epidemics and natural calamities.

Some might have the impression that the continent which is suffering the most from the current pandemic Europe has indeed learnt the lesson. In fact, the EUs Green Deal, released in December 2019 by the new president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, set out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

To this end, the deal aims to make it mandatory for EU member-states to implement measures to reduce carbon emissions as per the European Green Deal (EGD). It does not, however, tackle many of the main interests at stake, and by itself will not offer in its present form a major contribution to improve the climate and biodiversity crises.

It is enough to mention that the EU governments continue to provide massive, long-term, subsidies to new fossil fuels, and that plenty of natural resources of African countries including cobalt, needed for our tablets and computers are still being syphoned off through offshore companies that, to a large extent, are linked to European (and American) companies and businessmen. As the Panama Papers confirmed, anonymous companies (about 1400 of them) and tax havens are used to exploit the natural wealth of some of the worlds poorest countries.

READ: Its time for Iran to work with world leaders to halt the coronavirus body count

On top of this, Europe is the second largest global producer of plastics (after China), dumping from 150,000 to 500,000 tons of macroplastics in the Mediterranean Sea and other European seas every year.

Last but not least, it is important to keep in mind that the EU is the sum of its member states: dozens of meaningful examples show how single European states think for instance of France, whose arms sales to Egypt jumped from 39.6 million in 2010 to 1.3 billion in 2016 are polluting and acting on a global scale.

It is relatively easy to set medium and long-term strategies in order to clean your own home. Much less so is to counter the structural interests connected to the exploitation of the natural resources of others, and the pollution of their environment.

All of this reminds us that the lesson is still far from being learnt, although some actors and particularly the ones whose policies are affecting the planet the most will continue to portray themselves as more civilised and enlighted than the others.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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A global perspective is needed to act on the root causes of Covid-19 - Middle East Monitor

Human Behavior

The "COVID-19 Communications Pallet For Government Leaders, Healthcare And Policy Professionals" Tool Is Launched To Combat The Coronavirus…

ATLANTA, March 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Created by Solomon Carter, architect of the Performance Improvement Ethics Risk & Communication Enhancement Model known as The PIERCE Model, Carter has migrated many of the core concepts of PIERCE, enhanced and then integrated them into the emergency management and underlying communications requirements needed to surge performance efforts in "bending the curve."

"A surge in infections should be met with a surge in more communication because it is through effective communications that we can bend human behavior the best. If we don't 'bend the behavior,' then we can't 'bend the curve.' And it all starts with communication. It is one of the foundational tenants of PIERCE and why it immediately occurred to me that I had to release the model and create this additional tool, six months early to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic," Carter states.

"The COVID-19 Communications Pallet" streamlines critical data and provides easy to use and easy to understand guidelines to stakeholders on how to marshal local resources and allow other stakeholders in other jurisdictions/states to see and glean from standardized solutions that already work. And then activate those exact same resources in their own respective geographical areas. It helps leaders create and implement a call to action and serves as an idea factory at the same time.

To view "The COVID-19 Communication Pallet for Government Leaders, Policy and Healthcare Professionals," you can go here.

Solomon Carter leads Emory Healthcare's, Physician Group Practices, Patient Financial Services, Office of Professional Development. He also serves as an executive leader with All Power in His Hands Christian Mission which is an aid organization that operates in Haiti. There, Solomon overseas the organization's food distribution and children's medicine programs among other Church mission- based initiatives. Some of his work is created in part, by his work in Haiti during the cholera outbreak. [emailprotected]

SOURCE Solomon Carter

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The "COVID-19 Communications Pallet For Government Leaders, Healthcare And Policy Professionals" Tool Is Launched To Combat The Coronavirus...

Human Behavior

Moving toward a circular economy – Inside Indonesia

This article is part of a mini-series featuring the work of journalism students from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) who travelled to Indonesia in November 2019 as part of the Australian government's New Colombo PlanMobility schemeGrace Desoe, Mathew Perry and Yi Peng

Plastic waste is a significant environmental issue in Indonesia, deeply impacting the whole country. Indonesia is second only to China as the worlds largest contributor to ocean plastic pollution. Four of its rivers Brantas, Solo, Serayu and Progo are on a list of the worlds dirtiest rivers, carrying the most waste into our oceans.

A 2016 World Economic Forum report estimated there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. Experts agree that a global shift toward a circular economy is needed; one that aims to eliminate waste and encourages continual use and re-use of resources.

In September 2018 the Indonesian governmentannounced its plan to be on the front lines of this global shift towards circular models of waste management and to reduce plastic marine debris by 70 percent by 2025.

Deputy for the Coordination of Human Resources, Science and Technology and Maritime Culture Safri Burhanuddin supports this approach, explaining, There is a big opportunity for all communities in Indonesia to implement circular strategies.

If we collect waste properly, we can reuse 60 to 70 per cent of it and it becomes a simple economy, he said.

Currently, it is impossible to reuse all waste simply because a large proportion is contaminated waste. In July 2019, Indonesia returned 49 containers containing toxic waste to their home countries including Australia and the United States.

Most plastic in Indonesia is non-recyclable and it usually ends up in landfill, but a solution for non-recyclable waste that continues to have government support is the option of burning it to produce energy. According to a February 2019 statement from the Energy Ministry, the government plans to have 12 waste-to-energy plants operating by 2022, burning 16,000 tons of waste every day.

Aliansi Zero Waste is an environmental NGO that advocates for better waste management and promotes reducing, reusing and recycling waste. Mbak Daru, spokesperson for Aliansi Zero Waste Indonesiaargues thatgovernment proposals to turn waste to energy are not in keeping with the concept of the circular economy.

When we burn plastic its gone, so it cannot be recycled over and over again. Its against the real circular economy principle.

We have to try as much to give high priority in a reduction of plastic production [and] increase the capacity of recycling by promoting waste segregation by source, she said.

While sustainability initiatives including plastic collection, recycling plastic to make furniture and decorations for example, are spreading through local communities, coordination of these activities faces challenges due not only to the scale of the problem, but also the politics around waste management.

With ocean plastics gathering global attention, foreign investment in waste has grown in recent times. In 2017 Indonesia received a US$11.8 billion trust fund from Denmark to address marine waste. This has been accompanied by an influx of foreign eco-warriors coming to Indonesia with their sights set on sustainable waste management.

United Kingdom-based company Ministry of Waste has been working to establish a pilot project focusing on island circular economy on Nusa Penida, a diving and eco-tourism hub off Balis coast.

The companys strategic plan involves establishing waste management infrastructure in more than 70 locations throughout Indonesia, which involves taking on responsibility for an areas waste management services and ensuring materials are separated appropriately to regain value as raw input for production.

Part of our strategy is to constantly find innovative methods to recycle or re-use usually hard-to-recycle types of waste. This enables us to give more value to a bigger percentage of waste entering our facilities - from Tetrapak packaging to tyres and diapers, CEO and founder of Ministry of Waste, Samanta Skrivere explained. If the project proves successful, Skrivere hopes that similar initiatives can be rolled out across Indonesia as well as to other countries in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Though there are a growing number of both local and international organisations like Ministry of Waste, their effectiveness is limited unless they involve strong collaboration and coordination said Project Coordinator at Greeneration Foundation, an NGO focusing on changing human behavior to implement sustainable consumption and production, Fahrian (Ryan) Yovantra.

There are a number of actions and initiatives that have been done by local NGOs, communities and government, but they are running individually, they are running independently, they are not synergised among one another There is no centralised platform or law governing circular economy.

For an initiative to be effective, all levels of the community need to be consistently engaged and given funding to enable them to change their consumer behaviour. In short, he added, there needs to be strong commitment, collaboration and legal reform.

Some local governments are attempting to turn the tide, such as in Bali, where single use plastic items such as bags, straws and styrofoam were banned in July 2019. In communities that still rely heavily on plastic, this goal is much harder to reach especially in isolated areas and communities where burning plastic is a primary source of energy. In these situations, Ryan believes that to shift the attitudes about plastic use there needs to be top-down change from government and corporations.

The challenges rely on the system in supporting that ecosystem. Shifting their behaviour, the change should not rely on the user but the top level, the producer of the plastic waste, he said.

Daru agreed. We need companies to be held accountable for the plastic waste they produce, especially big, global companies like Unilever, BNG, Nestle, multinational corporations.

If they say they need to provide small packages or sachets to the poor people, they should also consider how the people will manage that waste. Do they have the capacity to treat their waste? If they dont, the company should not provide single waste packaging to that community, she said.

Despite these barriers, Ryan has a positive outlook on the future of the circular economy in Indonesia.

But there needs to be a stronger commitment from government...Firstly, [we need to] increase the education on circular economy... we need strong leadership and committed leadership [and] we need a governing law on circular economy.

Grace Desoe (grace.desoe@gmail.com), Mathew Perry and Yi Peng, journalism students at Queensland University of Technology travelled to Indonesia with the support of the Australian Governments New Colombo Plan Mobility Scheme.

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Moving toward a circular economy - Inside Indonesia

Genetics

The evolutionary mystery of flying may finally be cracked by genetics – New Scientist

Finding out how flight evolved or animals moved onto land is all about a collision of palaeontology and genetics, argue two new books

By Graham Lawton

Phil Degginger/Alamy

Books

IN 1871, a now-obscure biologist called St George Jackson Mivart published On the Genesis of Species. As its title suggests, the book was a riposte to Darwins theory of natural selection, published in 1859. Mivart had been an avid Darwinian, but the more he thought about it, the stronger his doubts

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The evolutionary mystery of flying may finally be cracked by genetics - New Scientist

Genetics

Tracing the Origin of Indonesian People Through Genetics – The Good Men Project

By Herawati Sudoyo, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology

To mark Wallacea Week, a series of public lectures and exhibition on the Wallacea region of Indonesia, The Conversation presents a series of analysis on biodiversity and history of science in Indonesia. This is the third and last article of the series.

In Indonesian society, people often use a dichotomy between pribumi or native and pendatang or migrants. Pribumi means the original settlers while pendatang are foreigners. This dichotomy often creates racism and tension between groups in the society.

However, a research on human genome found all Indonesians are migrants. Indonesian people are a mix of different genetic groups of Homo sapiens who travelled from Africa in waves spanning tens of thousands years via different routes to the archipelago.

I study the diversity of genetics of Indonesian people. I work with anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists, and computer scientists to reconstruct the history of settlement in the archipelago. In short, I try to learn who are the ancestors of Indonesian people through genetics.

Before our research, there was no available data about the genetics of humans in Indonesia within the worlds human genome research. Scientists have data about human migration through mainland Asia and Australia, but the data from the Indonesian archipelago were missing because they had never been investigated.

There are three genetic markers that can be used to study human migration.

First, the Y chromosome, a protein structure consisting of nucleid acid in sperm cells. Y chromosome inherits DNA from father to children.

Second, genetic materials in mitochondria, also called mitochondrial DNA, inherited by mothers to the children. Mitochondria is a structure in cells that transforms food intake into energy in the body.

Human genome researchers categorise humans into genetic populations called haplogroups by looking at the similarities in their Y chromosome or mitochondrial DNA, which are the specific motifs of both DNAs.

The third genetic marker is autosomal DNA, inherited from both parents.

My research colleagues and I in Eijkman Institute collected and analysed around 6,000 samples of DNA from different locations in Indonesia to look at the haplogroups of Indonesian people. We tested more than 3,700 people from 35 ethnic groups for their mitochondrial DNA, and almost 3,000 of them for their chromosome Y.

Using mitocondrial DNA, we found haplogroups M, F, Y2 and B in the western part of Indonesia. The people of these haplogroups are mostly speakers of Austronesia languages, spoken in Southeast Asia, Madagascar and Pacific Islands.

Meanwhile in the eastern part of Indonesia we found haplogroups Q and P. These two haplogroups are unique to people of Papua and Nusa Tenggara. People of haplogroup Q and P are non-Austronesian speakers.

Whats more interesting is Mentawai and Nias, the haplogroup of the people in those islands are grouped with the native people of Formosa, Austronesian speakers who travelled to the south around 5,000 years ago.

Through multidisciplinary research combining genetics research with archaeology and linguistics, we can discover that the ancestors of Indonesian people came in waves.

The history of ancestral migration started 72,000 years ago when a group of Homo sapiens or modern humans travelled south from the African continent to the Arabian peninsula towards India.

The descendants of this first wave of people arrived to what is now the Indonesian archipelago around 50,000 ago. At the time the Malay peninsula, Borneo and Java were still connected as one landmass called Sundaland. Descendants of this group continued to wander to Australia.

Signs that the Indonesian archipelago has been inhabited by modern humans can be seen through archaeological findings. In Sarawak, Malaysias territory of Borneo, scientists found a skull thats around 34,000 to 46,000 years old.

And in the caves of Maros, South Sulawesi, there are 40,000-year-old pre-historic rock arts.

The second migration, around 30,000 years ago, came from the area that is now Vietnam. The third migration is the arrival of Austronesian speakers from Formosa around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.

Lastly, the spread of Hindu and the rise of the Indian empire between the 3rd to 13th century created a variety of haplogroups found in small frequencies in Bali, Java, Borneo, and Sumatra. There was also the spread of Islam from Arabia and the findings of haplogrup O-M7 which is a marker for people from China.

By collecting and analysing the genetics data of Indonesians, we can fill the gap of data about human migration between the Asian mainland and the Pacific Islands.

The genetics of Indonesian people are a mix between different groups of humans. Our genetics data shows that the Indonesian archipelago was once a centre of civilisation.

Our research also has provided us with basic information about mutations of specific diseases such as the inherited blood disease thalasemia. Thalasemia is the main genetic disease in Indonesia.

By having the data about the mutations, diagnosis can be targeted to ethnic groups where the mutations are most present. This will help doctors and patients deal with diseases and improve health care.

These investigations into genetics that reveal the population structure of Indonesian people, match with the research that found the clustering of human pathogens such as Hepatitis B or C as well as dengue. So, having genetic data can help us fight diseases more effectively.

How about autosomal DNA? This helps us predict the chances of someone to contract certain diseases. Its always better to prevent than to cure.

Herawati Sudoyo, Deputy for Fundamental Research of Eijkman Institute., Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Tracing the Origin of Indonesian People Through Genetics - The Good Men Project

Genetics

Predictive Genetic Testing And Consumer/Wellness Genomics Market 2020 Status, Growth Rate by Applications, and Future Forecast 2025 |Illumina, BGI,…

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Market Segments Covered:

The key players covered in this study Illumina, BGI, Genesis Genetics, Myriad Genetics, 23andMe, Inc, Color Genomics Inc, Pathway Genomics, ARUP Laboratories

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Predictive Genetic Testing And Consumer/Wellness Genomics Market 2020 Status, Growth Rate by Applications, and Future Forecast 2025 |Illumina, BGI,...

Cell Biology

Professors learn to adapt and innovate with online classes – Harvard Gazette

Because this is a Gen Ed course, it combines studio work with conversations and lectures about painting as a language that engages with the world, said Saunders. One of the [original] assignments was that we would go paint all together in Mount Auburn Cemetery, but now I am asking students to start scouting out where they are, thinking about this dislocation in place, finding themselves suddenly in a different situation, and creating a work about the psychological space of that new location.

In the course An Integrated Introduction to the Life Sciences: Genetics, Genomics, and Evolution, which is required for life sciences concentrators, Hopi Hoekstra and her colleagues revised in-person lab components and recorded some elements of discussion and lecture for wider availability to students scattered across the globe.

We are trying to keep the flow of the course very similar to how it was before spring break, said Hoekstra, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Departments of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular & Cellular Biology, curator of mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. We still have pre-lab quizzes and post-lab assignments. Its a balance between trying to keep everything similar to the rhythm that the students have gotten used to, while making these tweaks to try to keep that rhythm as engaging and interesting as possible.

But how exactly can this done if students dont have access to labs? One assignment called for students to collect biological sample from their environments, extract the DNA, and analyze the resulting data. Instead, Hoekstra and her team collected samples from items including a cellphone, a boot sole, and a dogs toy, and recorded a teaching fellow modeling the DNA extraction process. The team sent the samples to an external lab for sequencing and sent the resulting data to students for analysis. They were then assigned to match each samples DNA profile to one in a database.

Online teaching is very different from face-to-face teaching, and what I love about it is that you can layer in archival and visual materials in a way that is engaging and vibrant.

Elisa New

With remote lab work, even though [students] miss the part of doing the field biology, they still get to do part of the scientific process, which is very fun, because the answer is unknown and theyll get to discover that themselves, said Hoekstra. Were trying to make sure that they get the foundational information that they need [for future courses]. It is also a pretty exciting time to be thinking about genetics and evolution in the middle of a viral outbreak, because what theyre learning is being talked about in the news all the time and theyre learning how it works.

For some, the online classroom was a more familiar environment. Elisa New, Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature, used spring break to retool the syllabus for her course Migrations: Fictions of America to include more of the resources she had developed over the past seven years as creator of the digital platform and TV series Poetry in America and as an instructor at Harvard Extension School and HarvardX.

In my experience of teaching online, I have discovered that making asynchronous learning the foundation of a course, and layering in synchronous learning that is, everybody together on a Zoom session is a much more reliable way to make sure the whole class participates, said New, who will be combining live conversations with videos, recorded lecture content, and Canvas prompts for class discussion. New also incorporated episodes from Poetry in America into weekly course content on topics including Civil War poetry and Midwestern modernism as seen in Willa Cathers novel My ntonia, and other cultural products.

Online teaching is very different from face-to-face teaching, and what I love about it is that you can layer in archival and visual materials in a way that is engaging and vibrant, she said, noting that even if other faculty dont have established online teaching resources to use in their courses, flexibility in content and schedule can be useful in successfully adapting courses to a digital environment.

Professor of the Practice of Molecular and Cellular Biology Robert Lue echoed this sentiment. Lue, who is also faculty director of the Harvard Ed Portal, UNESCO chair on life sciences and social innovation, Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, and faculty director and principal investigator of LabXchange, combines live and recorded class meetings for his course Cell Biology in the World. He estimated that, so far, the Bok Center has reached more than 350 faculty members through online seminars and individual consultations to prepare for online teaching.

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Professors learn to adapt and innovate with online classes - Harvard Gazette

Cell Biology

Inhaling steam will not treat or cure novel coronavirus infection – AFP Factcheck

A video viewed more than 2.4 million times on Facebook urges people to inhale steam to kill the novel coronavirus. But experts say that doing so will not treat or cure the viral infection, and could in fact be harmful.

The video -- a more than 40-minute Facebook live from March 15, 2020 -- features a man whose page identifies him as a sound technician and songwriter. He urges people to boil water in a pot with sea salt and citrus peels, then inhale the steam from it for 15 to 20 minutes.

Im here today to tell yall that I have a cure for the coronavirus, he says, before adding: Well, I wouldnt say a cure, but I, yeah, I have something that kills the coronavirus.

Im giving a coronavirus treatment today. Im helping as many people as I can help. I want yall to share this, I want yall to make this go viral -- Im trying to help some people live, the speaker later says.

The video is accompanied by a disclaimer: THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE OR A PRESCRIPTION BUT SIMPLY A PERSONAL CLEANSE THAT I USED BASE ON MY CONCLUSION OF THE STUDIES THAT WERE PUBLISHED.

But the video has inspired other people to believe they can cure the disease via this method. A clip viewed tens of thousands of times, archived here and here, shows a woman inhaling steam from a pot that contains orange peels, onion, garlic and iodine salt.

Shes doing the steaming method for the coronavirus, and it is actually working, a person says in the video, adding: So this is the cure for the coronavirus.

The person says the treatment is based on another video playing on a phone -- the Facebook live mentioned above.

But inhaling steam will not cure a novel coronavirus infection.

At the current time, the only way to kill a virus is through antimicrobial cleaning solutions, which should NEVER be inhaled or introduced into the body in any way, Dr. Jason McKnight, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Primary Care and Population Health at Texas A&M University, told AFP by email.

In general, people may find that inhaling steam during any sort of respiratory illness helps with their symptoms, such as cough, nasal congestion and chest congestion. However, this is only symptomatic relief and it is not a treatment for any viral infection, he said.

And you have the potential to cause real harm to yourself through burns from the heated water vapor to your eyes, face and airways, which if severe enough could cause serious and long-term complications, McKnight said.

Dr. Benjamin Neuman, an expert in coronaviruses who chairs the Biological Sciences department at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, agreed.

The lungs are delicate, and steam is very hot -- not a good mix. Hot steam can and does damage the lungs, and the idea that it could fight a virus that also damages the lungs is just really bad advice, he said by email.

And Dr. Karine Le Roch -- a professor of cell biology at the University of California, Riverside -- said: I really dont think that inhaling steam will treat or cure the infection.

There is no miracle cure, she said by email. Researchers are doing their best to find something quickly but it will take time.

Steam inhalation does not appear on the World Health Organizations page offering advice to the public about the virus, nor on the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventions page on how to protect against the virus, or its page about caring for yourself if you are sick.

The speaker in the Facebook live video also says that heat kills the virus, and that Ill take a blow dryer and put it in my nose to target it -- a method that AFP Fact Check previously found will not treat or cure the virus.

Its really SARS -- theyre not telling yall, the man says at one point. Text accompanying the video refers to the temperature at which heat killed SARS-CoV, but that is another coronavirus that was first reported in 2003.

The novel coronavirus originated in China in late 2019 but it has spread globally, killing 21,000 people, wreaking economic havoc from Asia to Europe and the United States in a public health crisis that governments are struggling to halt.

AFP Fact Check has debunked more than 180 examples of false or misleading information about the novel coronavirus. A complete list of our fact checks on the topic in English can be found here.

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Inhaling steam will not treat or cure novel coronavirus infection - AFP Factcheck