| Titanic expedition shows off some crisp new images By 2010-08-30T01:31:49ZST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland (AP) -- An expedition surveying the wreck of the Titanic is showing off some crisp images of the world's most famous shipwreck, but officials said Sunday they are headed back to shore. Officials from Expedition Titanic said in a statement they are now headed back to Newfoundland because high seas and winds brought on by hurricane Danielle are preventing researchers from carrying out their work.... hosted.ap.org |
'Adopted' humpback whale shows off calf A humpback whale called Nala has returned to the Fraser Coast off south-east Queensland with a calf, 20 years after she was first sighted. abc.net.au |
Greens question conversion of coal to fuel The Australian Greens party is vowing to oppose the conversion of Upper Hunter coal reserves into liquid fuels. abc.net.au |
A genetic cause for ADHD won't necessarily reduce the stigma attached | Ben Goldacre Scientists who believe that labelling mental health problems 'an illness' will reduce prejudice may find the opposite is trueWhat does it mean to say that a psychological or behavioural condition has a biological cause? Over the past week more battles have been raging over attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), after a paper published by a group of Cardiff researchers found evidence for a genetic association with the condition. Their study looked for chromosomal deletions and duplications known as copy number variants (CNV) and found that these were present in 16% of the children with ADHD.What many reports did not tell you – including the Guardian – is that this same pattern of CNV was also found in 8% of the children without ADHD. So that's not a massive difference.More interesting were the moral and cultural interpretations heaped on to this finding, not least by the authors themselves. "Now we can say with confidence that ADHD is a genetic disease and that the brains of children with this condition develop differently to those of other children," said Professor Anita Thapar. "We hope that these findings will help overcome the stigma associated with ADHD."Does the belief that such problems have a biological cause really help to reduce stigma?In 2001, Read and Harre explored attitudes among first-year undergraduate psychology students, with questionnaires designed to probe belief about the causes of mental health problems, and responses on six-point scales to statements such as: "I would be less likely to become romantically involved with someone if I knew they had spent time in a psychiatric hospital." People who believed more in a biological or genetic cause were more likely to believe that people with mental health problems were unpredictable and dangerous, more likely to fear them and more likely to avoid interacting with them. An earlier study in 1999 by Read and Law had similar results.In 2002 Walker and Read showed young adults a video portraying a man with psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, then gave them either biogenetic or psychosocial explanations. Yet again, the "medical model" approach significantly increased perceptions of dangerousness and unpredictability.In 2004 Dietrich and colleagues conducted a series of structured interviews with three representative population samples in Germany, Russia and Mongolia. Endorsing biological factors as the root cause for schizophrenia was associated with a greater desire for social distance.Lastly, more compelling than any individual study, a review of the literature to date in 2006 found that overall, biogenetic causal theories, and labelling something as an "illness", are both positively related to perceptions of dangerousness and unpredictability, and to fear and desire for social distance. They identified 19 studies addressing the question. Eighteen found that belief in a genetic or biological cause was associated with more negative attitudes to people with mental health problems. Just one found the opposite, that belief in a genetic or biological cause was associated with more positive attitudes.These findings are at odds with everything that many people who campaign against stigma have assumed for many years, but they're not entirely nonsensical. Jo Phelan, in her paper "Genetic bases of mental illness – a cure for stigma?", said that a story about genetic causes may lead to people being conceived of as "defective" or "physically distinct". It can create an associative stigma for the whole family, who in turn receive labels such as "at risk" or "carrier". This stigma may persist long after ADHD symptoms have receded in adulthood: perhaps a partner will wonder: "Do I really want to risk having a child with this person, given their genetic predisposition?"Perhaps it will go further than that: your children, before they even begin to show any signs of inattentiveness or hyperactivity, will experience a kind of anticipatory stigma. Do they have this condition, just like their father? "It's genetic you know." Perhaps the threshold for attaining a diagnosis of ADHD will be lower for your children: it's a condition, like many others, with a notably flexible diagnostic boundary.Blaming parents is vile. But before reading this research I think I also assumed, unthinkingly, like many people, that a "biological cause" story about mental health problems was inherently valuable for combating stigma. Now I'm not so sure. People who want to combat prejudice may need to challenge their own prejudices, too.I'll be speaking at today's protest against science cuts, 2pm outside the Treasury. See scienceisvital.org.uk/Attention deficit hyperactivity disorderMental healthPsychologyHealthGeneticsBiologyBen Goldacreguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Mystery Bird: Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos The feature that I think is most amazing about this species is its singing ability: it is a talented songster and mimicNorthern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos (formerly, Turdus polyglottos), photographed during the Smith Point Hawk Watch at Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, Texas, USA. Image: Joseph Kennedy, 4 October 2010 [with binoculars].Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400Question: This rather plain-looking North American mystery bird is quite remarkable in many ways. Can you identify this species and tell me what you think is most remarkable about it?Response: This is a Northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, which is a talented songster and mimic -- the feature that I think is most amazing about this species. Both the male and female sing -- and loudly -- and they will do so night and day during most of the year, much to the consternation of humans living nearby. Besides singing, Northern mockingbirds also mimic nearly everything they hear; other birds' songs, animals, humans and even man-made objects, such as car alarms. There is some evidence that suggests that males attract females by having a large song repertoire. The average male Northern mockingbird will have a song repertoire of 50-200 sounds. Embedded below is a 2 minute radio programme about the Northern mockingbird, thanks to my friends at BirdNote Radio:If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and appreciate audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |