International Beauty Contestants of Blended Photographs

Image Source (via iSteve)
What if they gave an international beauty contest and the only ones showing up were blended photographs from each country? Who would win?

Describing someone as average-looking is rarely seen as a compliment. But most of us would be quite happy to look like a computer-generated depiction of the 'average' English woman, Welsh woman, or even the average Burmese. More than 100 women of 41 different nationalities and ethnicities were photographed in cities all over the world in an effort to find common regional features.

The photos were carefully laid over each-other using a computer program to create an individual image for each area - and the biggest surprise is that the 'common' faces are all quite beautiful. There are, of course, regional differences in face shapes, colours and features.
Peruvians and Iranians have bigger mouths, Ethiopians and Samoans have curlier hair, and fringes seem to be big in Latvia and Poland.

South African Photographer Mike Mike - who inspired the images with a web project called The Face of Tomorrow compiling the faces of various cities - explains: 'Blonde hair gets lost pretty quickly when you start averaging. 'You'd need a population 75 per cent blonde to get it visibly remaining. You'd probably have to go to Iceland for that result.' Mike, who lives in Istanbul, travels the world taking photos of the first 100 people he can persuade to pose in each place - noting their nationality every time. _DailyMail

He got the idea for his website while studying at Goldsmiths College, London.

"Sitting on the Underground train, I was intrigued by the sheer diversity of the place - Somalis, Indians, Americans, Zimbabweans, Scandinavians...," he said.

"I thought 'What is this place? What is a Londoner?' The patterns I see are an underlying connectedness between all people," Mike added. _BritainNews

Al Fin is most drawn to the Polish, Puerto Rican, and Peruvian faces, although several of the other blends are startlingly attractive as well. Obviously these blended-photos are not actually representative of most of the countries represented, just as beauty contestants in a beauty meet are not representative of their own home populations.

A lot of lessons on statistics and epidemiology could be taught, using these blended photos. In fact, most male students would prefer such an approach, I believe.

Modifying Staple Crops to Raise Intelligence of Third World People

Golden Rice
One of the many problems contributing to low intelligence and low productivity of billions of impoverished third world people, is their dependency on staple food crops which lack key nutrients. Staple crops often grow well in local soils and climates, but are lacking in nutritional components which the human body requires for optimal development and functioning.

On a per acreage basis, corn yield exceeds that of the other two major crops, wheat and soybean, by 2- to 3-fold. However, the nutritional quality of corn protein in these high yielding hybrids remains relatively poor due to its deficiency in essential amino acids, such as lysine. The focus of corn breeding on yield, which has resulted in a shift in grain composition from protein to starch1, has compounded this nutritional deficiency. As a major food and feed staple crop, corn is a poor protein source in both quality and quantity. Advancements in agricultural biotechnology may help improve the nutritional quality of corn protein, starting with lysine enhancement. _isb.vt.edu

Understand that the promotion of yield most often occurs through selective breeding by indigenous farmers, and has resulted in the ability to support more people from the same amount of land. But if protein quality is diminished through indigenous farming practises, persons who are dependent upon such staples will not reach their peak levels of development or performance.

Besides maize, other staples being genetically modified include cassava:

Although cassava is a major source of carbohydrates for 700 million people, mostly in Africa, it normally contains only small amounts of protein. Claude Fauquet of the Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, and his team bumped up the protein content to 12.5 per cent by adding bean and maize genes to make a protein called zeolin. They were surprised to find that the plant used its natural supply of cyanide to provide the building blocks of the new protein. "Cyanide is a source of nitrogen within the plant," explains Fauquet.

While non-modified cassava supplies just one-fifth of daily protein requirements, the extra protein is enough to supply the needs of infants on a typical cassava-based diet (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016256). Fauquet says his root could save 1 in 4 African children from a potentially fatal condition called protein-energy malnutrition. _NS

PLoSONE article with details on cassava modification

Another staple starch crop being modified to produce more protein, is the "protato."

A team of Indian scientists have grown for the first time, a genetically modified spud called ‘protato’ that makes up to 60 per cent more protein per gram than ordinary potatoes.

Apart from that, the new crop created by Subra Chakraborty and colleagues at India's Central Potato Research Institute in Shimla also yielded more potato per hectare, reports New Scientist.

The team gave the potatoes a gene from the grain amaranth, a South American plant widely eaten across the tropics, including India. It was linked to a DNA code that turns on production of the storage protein in tubers. _IndianExpress

There is no question that such modifications hold one of the keys to successful colonisation of low-gravity space and other planets such as Mars or Luna. The ability to engineer a hardy staple crop which grows in moon gravel or air (aeroponics), and provides virtually all the nutrients and fiber persons need -- including children and pregnant females -- would clearly simplify the food aspect of adaptation to life off Earth.

One of the more famous GM modifications of a staple crop is "golden rice" -- a form of rice engineered to produce high levels of Beta Carotene. In populations suffering chronic Vitamin A deficiencies, such a crop could make a significant improvement in quality of life throughout the human life cycle. Publications detailing the Golden Rice project

Clearly the crop scientists creating the genetically modified foods mentioned above are attempting to create staple crops which the indigenous people will recognise and accept as familiar. But for true pioneers -- such as space colonists -- who are willing to put up with a bit of unfamiliarity initially, a far more radical GM food creation will be required.

What is needed is foods with minimal roots and stems, and maximum edible food. The crop's environment can be structured around its genetic requirements, by design. The food could not have a repellent taste or odour -- probably better for it to have a mild, minimal taste. Space chefs can season the staple to taste like just about anything, as long as the texture and appearance was acceptable.

High Alcohol Tolerance in Yeast Yields Rocket Powered Homebrew

Every beer homebrewer likes to tweak his brew from time to time, to maximise certain flavours or effects. Now scientists from the US and South Korea have found 4 genes in yeast that can be tweaked to create a highly alcohol-tolerant yeast. This means that instead of brewing a homebrew with 6% or 8% ethanol, you will soon be able to brew a beer at home with 30% or more ethanol. With yeast that powerful, I may have to get better at making wine and cider!

Researchers from S. Korea and the US have developed a strain of yeast with increased alcohol tolerance that could lead to more efficient and economical production of alcohol-based biofuels.

Yeast produces alcohol through microbial fermentation; however, at a certain concentration, the biofuels that are being created become toxic to the yeast used in making them, said Yong-Su Jin, an assistant professor of microbial genomics in the U of I Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and a faculty member in the U of I’s Institute for Genomic Biology. “Our goal was to find a gene or genes that reduce this toxic effect.”

The team worked with Saccharomyces cerevisiae to identify four genes (MSN2, DOG1, HAL1, and INO1) that improve tolerance to ethanol and iso-butanol when they are overexpressed.

...Overexpression of any of the four genes remarkably increased ethanol tolerance, but the strain in which INO1 was overexpressed elicited the highest ethanol yield and productivity, with increases of more than 70% for ethanol volume and more than 340% for ethanol tolerance when compared to the control strain.

According to Jin, the functions of the identified genes are very diverse and unrelated, which suggests that tolerance to high concentrations of iso-butanol and ethanol might involve the complex interactions of many genetic elements in yeast.

For example, some genes increase cellular viability at the expense of fermentation. Others are more balanced between these two functions. Identification of these genes should enable us to produce transportation fuels from biomass more economically and efficiently. It’s a first step in understanding the cellular reaction that currently limits the production process.

—Yong-Su Jin

Further study of these genes should increase alcohol tolerance even further, and that will translate into cost savings and greater efficiency during biofuel production, he added. _GCC

Sure, they talk about alcohol as biofuel, but we really know what this is about, right (wink, wink)? Take a girl out for a drink, pour her a glass of beer, and before you know it she's become quite agreeable. But eventually the girls will catch on to what we've done, then we'll have to come up with another approach.

Musical Genes Located In Finland

Collaborating researchers from Finland and the USA have discovered genes for musical aptitude in Finnish families.

Molecular and statistical genetic studies in 15 Finnish families have shown that there is a substantial genetic component in musical aptitude. Musical aptitude was determined using three tests: a test for auditory structuring ability (Karma Music test), and the Seashore pitch and time discrimination subtests. The study represents the first systematic molecular genetic study that aims in the identification of candidate genes associated with musical aptitude.

The identified regions contain genes affecting cell extension and migration during neural development. Interestingly, an overlapping region previously associated with genetic locus for dyslexia was found raising a question about common evolutionary background of music and language faculties. The results show that musical aptitude is likely to be regulated by several predisposing genes/variants __SciDaily

It sounds as if the genes involved in musical aptitude are also involved in other functions as well. Brain functions involved in the sorting of syntax, rhythm, amplitude, scale, ratio and proportion, and many other facilities involved in skilled musical ability and interpretation will necessarily be utilised by other brain ensembles.

Still, little by little scientists studying gene expression are connecting the dots between genetic codes and real world skill. That is a cause for at least a small celebration.