• La « technosphère » sur Terre pèse actuellement 30 millions de millions de tonnes (30×10¹⁵ kg).
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161130085021.htm

    Si les technophossiles pouvaient être classés comme les paléontologues le font avec les fossiles classiques (basé sur leur forme et leur texture), l’étude suggère que le nombre de types de « technofossile » actuellement sur la planète atteint probablement plus d’un milliard - ce qui dépasse le nombre d’espèces biotiques découvertes actuellement.

    If technofossils were to be classified as palaeontologists classify normal fossils — based on their shape, form and texture — the study suggests that the number of individual types of ’technofossil’ now on the planet likely reaches a billion or more — thus far outnumbering the numbers of biotic species now living.

    #facts #technofossile #technofossil

  • Actualidad | Universidad de Zaragoza
    https://www.unizar.es/noticias/existen-cuatro-tipos-basicos-de-personalidad-pesimista-optimista-envidiosa-y-

    Un estudio sobre el comportamiento humano revela que el 90% de la población se puede clasificar en cuatro tipos básicos de personalidad: optimista, pesimista, confiado y envidioso. Sin embargo, este último patrón, el de envidioso, es el más numeroso, con un 30% frente al 20% de cada uno de los grupos restantes.
     
    Esa es una de las principales conclusiones de un trabajo publicado recientemente en la revista Science Advances por investigadores de las Universidades de Zaragoza, Carlos III de Madrid, Rovira i Virgili y de Barcelona. El estudio analizó el comportamiento de 541 voluntarios ante un centenar de dilemas sociales, con opciones de colaborar o de entrar en conflicto con los demás, en función de intereses individuales o colectivos.
     
    Los resultados obtenidos van en contra de ciertas teorías como la que apunta que los humanos actúan de manera puramente racional y, por lo tanto, deberán tenerse en cuenta a la hora de rediseñar políticas económicas, sociales y de cooperación”. Así lo indica Yamir Moreno, coordinador del Grupo de Redes y Sistemas Complejos (Cosnet) del Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos (BIFI) de la Universidad de Zaragoza y presidente de la Sociedad de Sistemas Complejos, para quien “este tipo de estudios son importantes porque mejoran las teorías existentes sobre comportamiento humano, pues las dotan de una base experimental”.

    • Le résumé de l’étude (l’article est accessible en ligne)

      Humans display a reduced set of consistent behavioral phenotypes in dyadic games | Science Advances
      http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/8/e1600451

      Abstract
      Socially relevant situations that involve strategic interactions are widespread among animals and humans alike. To study these situations, theoretical and experimental research has adopted a game theoretical perspective, generating valuable insights about human behavior. However, most of the results reported so far have been obtained from a population perspective and considered one specific conflicting situation at a time. This makes it difficult to extract conclusions about the consistency of individuals’ behavior when facing different situations and to define a comprehensive classification of the strategies underlying the observed behaviors. We present the results of a lab-in-the-field experiment in which subjects face four different dyadic games, with the aim of establishing general behavioral rules dictating individuals’ actions. By analyzing our data with an unsupervised clustering algorithm, we find that all the subjects conform, with a large degree of consistency, to a limited number of behavioral phenotypes (envious, optimist, pessimist, and trustful), with only a small fraction of undefined subjects. We also discuss the possible connections to existing interpretations based on a priori theoretical approaches. Our findings provide a relevant contribution to the experimental and theoretical efforts toward the identification of basic behavioral phenotypes in a wider set of contexts without aprioristic assumptions regarding the rules or strategies behind actions. From this perspective, our work contributes to a fact-based approach to the study of human behavior in strategic situations, which could be applied to simulating societies, policy-making scenario building, and even a variety of business applications.

      #Théorie_des_Jeux

    • Pour les non hispanisants

      Four basic personality types identified : Pessimistic ; optimistic ; envious and trusting — ScienceDaily
      https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160915085719.htm

      Are you basically envious? A computer algorith organized 90% of people into four groups: the largest group, accounting for 30%, being the Envious — those who don’t actually mind what they achieve, as long as they’re better than everyone else; next are the Optimists — who believe that they and their partner will make the best choice for both of them — on 20%. Also on 20% are the Pessimists — who select the option which they see as the lesser of two evils — and the Trusting group — who are born collaborators and who will always cooperate and who don’t really mind if they win or lose.

  • Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer’s proteins from brain cells — ScienceDaily
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629095609.htm

    Brain cells have switches known as receptors that can be activated by endocannabinoids, a class of lipid molecules made by the body that are used for intercellular signaling in the brain. The psychoactive effects of marijuana are caused by #THC, a molecule similar in activity to endocannabinoids that can activate the same receptors. Physical activity results in the production of endocannabinoids and some studies have shown that exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

    Schubert emphasized that his team’s findings were conducted in exploratory laboratory models, and that the use of THC-like compounds as a therapy would need to be tested in clinical trials.

    #Alzheimer #cannabis #santé