Media Today

[Rick Plant]

Contrary to popular belief, a dog's breed won't predict behavior



They're well-known stereotypes: rottweilers and pit bulls are aggressive, while Labradors and golden retrievers are extra friendly.

But a genetic study published in the journal Science on Thursday involving more than 2,000 dogs paired with 200,000 survey answers from owners demonstrates that the widespread assumptions are largely unfounded.

To be sure, many behavioral traits can be inherited -- but the modern concept of breed offers only partial predictive value for most types of behavior -- and almost none whatsoever for how affectionate a dog will be, or conversely, how quick to anger.

"While genetics plays a role in the personality of any individual dog, specific dog breed is not a good predictor of those traits," said senior author Elinor Karlsson, of UMass Chan and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

"What we found is that the defining criteria of a golden retriever are its physical characteristics -- the shape of its ears, the color and quality of its fur, its size -- not whether it is friendly," she added.

Lead author Kathleen Morrill explained that understanding the relationship between breeds and behavior could be the first step in understanding the genes responsible for psychiatric conditions in humans, like obsessive disorders.

"Although we can't really ask a dog themselves about their problems or thoughts or anxieties, we do know that dogs lead rich emotional lives and experience disorders that manifests in their behavior," she said on a press call.

Implications for legislation

The team sequenced the DNA of 2,155 purebred and mixed-breed dogs to search for common genetic variations that could predict behavior, and combined this info with surveys from 18,385 pet-owner surveys from Darwin's Ark.

The site is an open-source database of owner-reported canine traits and behaviors.

Because existing stereotypes are so powerful, the team designed their questionnaires to account for owner bias.

They established standard definitions for reporting traits such as biddability (dog response to human direction), dog-human sociability (how comfortable dogs are with people, including strangers), and toy-directed motor patterns (how interested they are in toys).

Physical and aesthetic traits were also surveyed.

In all, Karlsson and Morrill found 11 locations on the dog genome associated with behavior differences, including biddability, retrieving, pointing at a target and howling.

Among these behaviors, breed did play some role -- for example, beagles and bloodhounds tend to howl more, border collies are biddable, and Shiba Inus are far less so.

However, there were always exceptions to the rule.

For example, even though Labs had the lowest propensity for howling, eight percent still did. While 90 percent of greyhounds didn't bury their toys, three percent did frequently.

"When we looked at this factor that we called agonistic threshold, which included a lot of questions about whether people's dogs reacted aggressively to things, we weren't seeing an effect of breed ancestry," Karlsson added.

Overall, breed explained just nine percent of variation in behavior, with age a better predictor of some traits, like toy play. Physical traits, however, were five times more likely to be predicted by breed than behavior was.

The idea runs counter to widespread assumptions that have informed legislation. For example, Britain has banned pit bull terriers, as have many US cities.

Human disorders

Prior to the 1800s, dogs were primarily selected for functional roles such as hunting, guarding and herding, the team said in their paper.

"By contrast, the modern dog breed, emphasizing confirmation to physical ideals and purity of lineage, is a Victorian invention," they wrote.

Modern breeds carry genetic variations of their ancient predecessors, but not at the same frequencies -- explaining the behavior divergence within breeds.

The next steps, said Morill, would be digging more into compulsive behaviors in dogs, and connections to human obsessive-compulsive disorder.

One intriguing finding was that dog sociability toward humans was "incredibly heritable in dogs," even though it wasn't breed dependent.

The team found a location in dog DNA that could explain four percent of the sociability differences between individuals -- and that location corresponds to an area of the human genome responsible for long term memory formation.

"It could be that understanding human sociability in dogs helps us understand how brains develop and learn. So we're kind of just scratching the surface," said Morill.

© 2022 AFP

[Rick Plant]

New book explores life of Ted Kaczynski through the eyes of longtime Montana neighbor



As a teenager, Jamie Gehring would find solace at the rock quarry on her family’s sprawling Lincoln property, but on a summer day as a 15-year-old, a trip to the rock quarry would leave her feeling terrified — it was the last time she would see notorious serial killer Ted Kaczynski in person.
“There had been times earlier in the ’90s when he would come by the house, and my parents weren’t there, and I would feel scared enough to hide in the closet until he was gone,” she said.

But the day at the rock quarry was the first time Gehring said she was “truly terrified” of him.

“I said ‘hello,’ he said ‘hello,’ and I turned around to leave, and I walked at first, and as soon I thought I was out of eyesight, I just ran,” she said.

About one year later, Gehring would find out the neighbor that would bring her painted rocks and other trinkets was the country’s longest-running domestic terrorist. The Unabomber.

In her new book, “Madman in the Woods: Life next door to the Unabomber,” released on April 19, Gehring recalls growing up next to Kaczynski, who built his 1.4-acre cabin on land sold to him by Gehring’s father, Butch Gehring.

Kaczynski, now 79, gave up his career as a math professor at the University of California, Berkeley to live a primitive life in his remote Lincoln cabin that did not have running water or electricity. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski would go on to kill three people and injure 23 more. Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 after a search by the FBI that cost $50 million. He is currently serving eight life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The book contains stories of the Gehring family’s interactions with Kaczynski, from friendly family dinners and games of pinochle to more menacing revelations like Kaczynski pointing a rifle at Gehring’s little sister and poisoning their family’s dog.

Gehring’s first and last encounter with Kaczynski could not be more different. As illustrated in the book’s opening pages, Gehring views Kaczynski as her friendly neighbor “Teddy,” who brought the then-4-year-old painted rocks.

“However, what I didn’t know at the time was that this man, this hermit, who took time to find these rocks … had already attempted to kill people seven times,” Gehring writes.

After Kaczynski’s life as a serial killer would become public, Gehring said she needed to dig up more of the story, so she spent five years investigating not only Kaczynski but also herself and her family — specifically the role of her father played in the FBI’s investigation.

“I needed to find out more. How could this man who produced such a happy memory also kill three people and injure twenty-three more?” she wrote.

While her main goal in writing the book was to share her own story, Gehring said she tried to write the book as accurately as possible. The process included interviews with Kaczynski’s brother, David Kaczynski, combing through newspaper clippings and court filings and talking with the FBI agents who investigated the case.

“I really did try and write the book in a very balanced w and very journalistic way … I wanted to tell the story as accurately as I possibly could,” she said.

Both David Kaczynski and Max Noel, one of the FBI agents who tracked down Ted, said Gehring succeeded in her goals for the book.

“Jamie Gehring’s book might well be the best attempt yet to understand the strange life and mind of my brother,” David Kaczynski wrote in his review of the book.

Noel echoed the message in his review: “Her exhaustive research and numerous interviews of Kaczynski’s neighbors and Lincoln, Montana, townspeople give her account a unique perspective. I believe ’Madman in the Woods ’ is a must-read for true crime aficionados.”

The most surprising thing Gehring said she discovered about Kaczynski while writing the book was how methodical he was, which tracks for someone with a genius IQ of 167.

“You imagine that the inner workings of a killer would be dark, but I wasn’t quite prepared to read his own words in his journals. I think that was the most shocking and surprising part of this,” she said.

An example she pointed to was Kaczynski referring to his victims as numerated experiments. “It just felt so cold and calculated to see a person referenced that way,” she said.

But she also discovered something about herself, specifically her ability to forgive.

“Even after I discovered that he was committing these acts of domestic terror in our backyard, that he had poisoned our dog and pointed a rifle at my sister … I was really angry, but there was still part of me that wanted to learn more about him and write him in a fair light. I think that was a surprising revelation, she said.

Gehring said her 16-year-old self did not fully grasp the weight of the situation when Kaczynski was arrested in 1998, but looking back on it, she said she feels validated.

“My parents told me I had an overactive imagination because I would tell them there was someone outside of my bedroom, so growing up thinking that, and then finding out (Kaczynski) was scavenging for metal and finding out that it was actually him outside of my window … little things like that from my childhood really made sense to me,” she said.

And despite the trauma from growing up to next Kaczynski, Gehring said she has managed to maintain a pretty level head about the situation.

“I haven’t let it change me, and I still feel like people are good for the most part. Plus, what are the chances I would live next to another serial killer? Pretty slim,” she said.

Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence.

https://dailymontanan.com/2022/05/01/new-book-explores-life-of-ted-kaczynski-through-the-eyes-of-longtime-lincoln-neighbor/

[Rick Plant]

'It changed my life': Amber Heard describes alleged abuse by Johnny Depp in defamation trial

Heard is defending herself against her former husband, who alleges that he suffered after she falsely accused him of domestic abuse.



Amber Heard took the witness stand Wednesday to detail her allegations of abuse against her former husband, fellow actor Johnny Depp, who filed a defamation suit against her.

Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in damages over a 2018 essay she wrote for The Washington Post, in which she said she had become the "public figure representing domestic abuse." Although the essay never mentions Depp by name, his attorneys said it indirectly refers to allegations she made against him during their 2016 divorce. Heard is countersuing Depp seeking $100 million in damages.

The high-profile trial, which is being held in Fairfax County, Virginia, is in its fourth week.

Heard described a whirlwind romance with Depp, saying the two bonded over blues music and literature while promoting the 2011 film "The Rum Diary." Depp similarly characterized the beginning of their relationship, previously testifying that Heard seemed to be his "perfect partner" at first.

In her retelling, Heard said that Depp shifted about a year into their relationship after breaking his sobriety after a period of abstaining from alcohol. She described him as jealous, often accusing her of having affairs.

She told the court about the first time Depp allegedly hit her, after she asked about a tattoo of his. Depp told her the tattoo said "wino" and slapped her when she laughed about it, Heard said.

“I will never forget it,” Heard said. “It changed my life.”

Heard said she believed in hindsight Depp may have been high on cocaine because there was a jar on the table but didn’t see him take anything. She said she knew he was drinking at the time.

“I just laughed because I thought he was joking. And he slapped me across the face,” Heard said. “And I laughed. I laughed, because I didn’t know what else to do. I thought, ‘this must be a joke.’”

Depp previously testified that Heard took issues with his tattoo, and that one had been modified after he broke up with a former girlfriend, actor Winona Ryder. He denied hitting her over the issue, though, characterizing it as an absurd reason to hit someone.

Heard told the court that Depp's alleged assaults would coincide with his drug and alcohol abuse. He has previously testified refuting the idea that he was ever "out of control" while inebriated.

But Heard told the court that she was heartbroken, trying to understand the good periods that occurred during his sobriety and the difficult periods of abuse.

"I wanted to want to leave him. I wanted him to get better,” she said, her voice crackling with emotion. “And he expressed to me so many times when he was in that period of getting clean and sober, ‘You saved my life. Baby girl, you saved my life.’ Everyone else is saying that to me, and I believed it.’”

Heard’s attorneys argued for a motion to dismiss Tuesday

Heard’s attorneys argued for a motion to dismiss Tuesday on the basis that Depp's attorneys failed to meet their burden of proof, saying it was undisputed that Heard was physically and verbally abused. They also argued that Depp’s attorneys have questioned the headline for the essay’s online version. But the headline was written by The Washington Post, not Heard, according to one of Heard’s attorneys.

Depp’s attorneys argued that Heard co-signed the headline as her own when she tweeted the article in December 2018, but his legal team has not submitted the tweet to the court as evidence.

Fairfax County Circuit Judge Penney Azcarate said Tuesday that it will be up to the jury to determine whether the weight of the evidence presented by Depp's team has met the burden, dismissing those arguments.

But as for whether or not Heard's tweet constituted an adoption of The Washington Post's headline, Azcarate said she would continue to take it under advisement.

"There seems to be an agreement that the tweet of Ms. Heard is part of the plaintiff's evidence, which is not in evidence at this point," Azcarate said Tuesday. "So I can't rule on that statement whether or not it is just a tweet or if it's some sort of republication. ... I don't know because I haven't seen it yet."

In 2016, Heard filed for a protective order against Depp, alleging that he threw a phone at her, leaving her bruised. She wrote in a sworn declaration to the court that she was living “in fear that Johnny will return to [our house] unannounced to terrorize me, physically and emotionally.”

Depp has denied the allegations of abuse, telling the court over four days of testimony that he had never "struck a woman in my life." He characterized his former wife as having a "need for conflict," instigating fights and physical violence, in the course of their relationship.

Depp also testified that he felt pressured by his attorneys to agree to a joint statement with Heard following their divorce settlement that stated that neither party made false allegations during the dissolution of their marriage.

He told the court that the tip of his finger was severed after Heard threw a vodka bottle at him during an argument in Australia while he was filming the fifth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. His attorneys presented photos of his injuries, which Depp testified required surgery.

Heard has said she has hit Depp only in self-defense or in defense of her younger sister.

On the witness stand recounting his version of the 2016 fight that Heard referred to in her request for a protective order, Depp said he "flung" the phone onto a couch. Depp said the two were in his penthouse a day after he called Heard to tell her that his mother had died and that he wanted to file for divorce.

Heard wanted to speak, Depp said, so he went over to have a discussion and gather his belongings. They had not spoken for nearly a month at that point, he said.

Depp's attorneys presented audio clips of fights recorded by the couple while in the middle of arguments, including one in which Heard says she hit Depp while denying having punched him.

During cross-examination, Heard's legal team tried to undermine Depp's characterizations of the couple's time together. They displayed text messages he sent that included violent language and pushed back against his descriptions of his alcohol and drug consumption.

They also played clips recorded during the couple's arguments, including one in which Heard appears to confront Depp for assaulting her.

“You throw a swing when you can — when better than I’m on the floor? ’Cause that’s when it’s really good to hit someone,” Heard says in one recording.

Depp admitted on the witness stand to a previous opiate addiction that he detoxed from during his relationship with Heard, but he denied having an addiction to alcohol. He also rejected any characterization that he was out of control while inebriated.

He accused Heard of using his history with substance abuse against him because it was an “easy target.”

“Once you’ve trusted somebody for a certain amount of years and you’ve told them all the secrets of your life, that information then, of course, can be used against you. ... I am not some maniac who needs to be high or loaded all the time,” Depp said.

Heard’s first witness, Dawn Hughes, a clinical psychologist, told the court Tuesday that she had diagnosed Heard with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of what she described as intimate partner violence she experienced during her relationship with Depp.

Psychologist Shannon Curry, an expert witness presented by Depp’s legal team, previously rejected the idea that Heard had post-traumatic stress disorder. Curry diagnosed Heard with borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder, which Hughes disagreed with.

It is Depp's second legal case regarding allegations that he abused Heard during their marriage. He lost a case against News Group Newspapers, which publishes the British newspaper The Sun, for calling him a “wife beater” in a 2018 article about the couple.

Heard was not a defendant in that case, but she testified at the trial. A judge ruled in the tabloid's favor, saying its attorneys proved that the allegations were substantially true.

Depp's attorney at the time, David Sherborne, argued that Heard was a "wholly unreliable witness" and a compulsive liar.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/amber-heard-expected-defend-witness-stand-johnny-depp-defamation-trial-rcna26950

[Rick Plant]

Prostate cancer deaths could be prevented if men lose weight - study
https://www.rawstory.com/prostate-cancer-deaths-could-be-prevented-if-men-lose-weight-study/

[Rick Plant]

Thousands refuse to evacuate largest U.S. wildfire in New Mexico



TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - Thousands of people told to flee the largest wildfire burning in the United States have chosen to stay and defend generational homes in the mountains of northern New Mexico, even as some run out of food and water, officials said.

In Mora County, population 4,500, around 60% of residents in evacuation areas have remained in centuries-old farming and ranching communities where electric power has been lost, said Undersheriff Americk Padilla.

"This is their livelihood, this is all they know, so these elderly people, and a lot of the people, our constituents are not leaving," Padilla said.

The forested mountains around 40 miles northeast of Santa Fe are known for tough, self-sufficient residents, many of whom can trace lineage to 18th century Spanish settlers and Native American tribes.

Local doctor Matthew Probst said residents had high “social vulnerability,” families possibly owning a $15,000 mobile home outright but having no home owner's insurance and few financial resources.

Keeping these "norteños" or northerners in their homes was a strong sense of "querencia," or belonging to the land, he said.

"It's more than just your place or your personal belongings and your material things. This is your land, your soul connected to it generationally," said Probst, who has evacuated his family and livestock from the village of Ojitos Frios.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said worried relatives were asking her to get family members out.

“I have no doubt that we have people without power who are on oxygen. I have no doubt we have individuals who are running out of food and water,” Lujan Grisham told a news briefing.

Padilla feared violent winds forecast for the weekend could push the fire into villages and even neighboring Taos County after it destroyed at least 166 homes, burning 165,276 acres (67,000 hectares) in Mora and San Miguel counties. He was distributing food and power generators to homes.

"I cannot neglect the people that decided to stay," he said.

© Reuters

[Rick Plant]

Astronaut crew returning to Earth after six months on ISS



NASA's Crew-3 mission was returning home to Earth on Thursday after six months aboard the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft with NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, and Tom Marshburn, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer undocked from the orbital laboratory overnight.

Their 23.5 hour journey back should see them splash down off the coast of Florida at 12:43 am on Friday (0443 GMT).

They leave behind the one Italian and three American astronauts of Crew-4, and three Russian cosmonauts. Ahead of departure, Marshburn handed command of the station over to Russian Oleg Artemyev.

During their mission, Crew-3 carried out hundreds of scientific experiments, including growing chiles in space to add to knowledge of cultivating crops on long term missions, exploring how concrete hardens in space, and Earth monitoring.

"Every day on @Space_Station is #EarthDay for @NASA_Astronauts since we see how thin the precious layer is that protects everything we know & love as a human race," Crew-3 commander Chari wrote in a tweet.

"Hopefully, @NASA research will help w/ H20 purification & carbon dioxide reductions but the rest is up to us."

Chancellor Olaf Scholz wished Maurer, the 12th German in space, "a good and safe journey back with a soft landing," thanking him on Twitter for "all the new discoveries in space that are so important for us here on Earth."

Crew-3's expedition came at an increasingly busy time for commercial space.

They welcomed aboard a private crew that included three wealthy businessmen that came and went on another SpaceX Crew Dragon, as well as a Japanese mission that flew on a Soyuz aircraft to the Russian segment.

The ISS now awaits docking with an uncrewed Boeing Starliner capsule, which is set to launch from Florida on May 19.

NASA is looking to certify a second company to ferry astronauts to the region of space called Low Earth Orbit, leaving it to develop its super heavy space launch system (SLS) rocket for missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars.

© 2022 AFP

[Rick Plant]

7 hours of sleep is ideal for middle-age and elderly people, study finds

Don’t sleep on this study.

Middle-age and older people should sleep seven hours each night for ideal rest and recovery, according to a study published last week.

The research, published in Nature Aging, studied nearly 500,000 people between the ages of 38 and 73.

“While we can’t say conclusively that too little or too much sleep causes cognitive problems, our analysis looking at individuals over a longer period of time appears to support this idea,” co-author Jianfeng Feng said in a statement.

Researchers found that people who got exactly seven hours of sleep on a consistent basis saw better mental health, better memory, increased ability to pay attention and fewer symptoms of depression.

Previous studies have also suggested that seven hours is the ideal amount of sleep.

The latest study was conducted using the U.K.’s Biobank program and completed by researchers from the U.K. and China. It relied on participants reporting their own nights of sleep.

While the negative effects of sleep deprivation have been extensively studied, the researchers were confused by the downside of extra sleep.

“We don’t really understand why sleeping longer would be a problem,” co-author Barbara Sahakian told The Guardian.

© New York Daily News