MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'ape'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:39:20 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3790864&cid=t_161935_134_f&fid=35187&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDiabetesDaily%2F%7E3%2FvQKxV7t20PA%2Fhigh-wire-forest-adventure.php Meet Becky.  She's from the UK.  She's crazy.  And she's fabulous.I read her post about a group of her friends doing an obstacle course, high above ground in the forest canopy, and I thought she totally lost it.  On August 14, 2010, she is taking on "Go Ape - Dalby Forest", a giant obstacle course built into the forest canopy.  There are ladders, walkways, bridges, tunnels, and zip lines.  There are a bunch of videos on youtube that show the extreme craziness of what this stuff is all about.  This probably looks fun to a lot of you, but never in my life would I volunteer to do this stuff.Her and a few of her friends pulled together to form "The D-Team", and they are risking their lives for donations the UK JDRF.  Becky recruited Chris Bishop to put t... Diabetes Daily blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3790864 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0100 3790864 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2442310&cid=t_161935_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2Fzy4jy2NE4Io%2F Otherwise known as the Victorian Ape Woman, “Bearded Lady” Julia Pastrana was a circus act in 19th century Europe. Hers was an extremely rare genetic syndrome that baffled and fascinated the public since she was first exhibited by her husband. Pastrana has a genetic syndrome known as hypertrichosis terminalis where straight coarse hair covered her entire face and body, and her teeth and gums were irregular. "Bearded Lady" Julia Pastrana has rare genetic condition. Image: Public Domain New research released Thursday uncovered the exact genetic mutation responsible for  conditions similar to Pastrana’s. Published in the May 12st issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, the study looked into three large Chinese Han families with autosomal-dominant congenital generali... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2442310 Fri, 22 May 2009 03:41:00 +0100 2442310 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2035515&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2Fnew-edition-of-what-it-means-to-be.html New editions of my regular podcast, "What It Means to be Human," come out each Tuesday. I tend to wait for a slow news day before linking them here, and with all the assisted suicides going on, and televised depictions thereof, not to mention a judge ludicrously turning the advocacy slogan "death with dignity" into a "fundamental constitutional right" in Montana, well it has been anything but slow here at SHS. Alas.In any event, if you want to hear them as they appear, you can subscribe at the WIMTBH site. Otherwise, I will link them at SHS as time and events dictate. This edition is about Spain's impending passage of The Great Ape Project.Thank you for your attention. (Source: Secondhand Smoke) Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2035515 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:18:00 +0100 2035515 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2035518&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2Fnow-its-real-nature-rights-finally.html The Gray Lady has now officially noticed in print the radical attacks on human exceptionalism represented by Ecuador's granting rights to nature and Spain on the verge of passing the Great Ape Project. No, of course it doesn't frame it that way! Indeed, the story is rather matter-of-fact: The precise scope of nature's rights is unclear. Referring to Pachamama, an indigenous deity whose name roughly translates as "Mother Universe," the text puts less emphasis on defending specific species than on the rights of ecosystems writ large. And it is uncertain how, exactly, a country as poor as Ecuador can protect those rights--though observers expect to see a raft of new lawsuits against oil and gas companies.Even so, it is a milestone for environmental organizations that seek to rewrite our treat... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2035518 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:16:00 +0100 2035518 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1726301&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F08%2Fi-am-not-chimp-and-neither-are-you.html As promised, I have a more extended piece up at the Weekly Standard Website demonstrating that the case for granting equal rights to chimpanzees with humans is not justified scientifically. First, I describe the ideological agenda behind the effort to reduce humans to the status of apes. From my column:THERE IS A CONCERTED advocacy campaign underway across several disciplines aimed at knocking human beings off our pedestal of moral exceptionalism and redefining us as merely another animal in the forest. Toward this end, elements of the natural world are being personalized by public intellectuals, even as they seek to strip personhood from some people. The point of this ideological drive is to degrade our perceived self-worth so much that we will readily sacrifice human prosperity and welfa... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1726301 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:21:00 +0100 1726301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1700584&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F08%2Fhumans-are-not-98-genetically-identical.html I have been researching the purported genetic near-identity between humans and chimps-- asserted as the "scientific" basis for the Great Ape Project--and found (unsurprisingly) that the entire advocacy line that "humans and chimps share 98% of our genes" is plain false. This gets a little complicated, so stick with me.First, the 98% figure is probably overstated. An article in Science puts the actual figure at 94%. (Jon Cohen, "Relative Differences: The Myth of 1%, June 29, 2007). But even these figures are only measuring about 2% of our total genetic makeup--that is, those genes that code for proteins, the building blocks of our physical bodies and functions.The vast majority of our DNA, known as "non-coding DNA"--sometimes called "junk DNA" because it was once thought not to have functio... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1700584 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:21:00 +0100 1700584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1642572&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F07%2Fchimps-not-chumps_21.html I was on a radio show today and told about an op/ed piece in the NY Times by Steve Ross, who is involved with cognitive research of primates with the Lincoln Zoo, that, the host implied, seemed to go along with the ethics of the Great Ape Project. I hadn't read it, so I thought I should check it out.Happily, at first it seemed not to be so. From the column:A survey that I and several colleagues conducted in 2005 found that one in three visitors to the Lincoln Park Zoo assumed that chimpanzees are not endangered. Yet more than 90 percent of these same visitors understood that gorillas and orangutans face serious threats to their survival. And many of those who imagined chimpanzees to be safe reported that they based their thinking on the prevalence of chimps in advertisements, on television... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1642572 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:14:00 +0100 1642572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1630920&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F07%2Fspain-apes-declaration-of-independence.html I have written about Spain's plan to pass the Great Ape Project (GAP) here at SHS previously. Now, I have a more extended piece on the issue in the current Weekly Standard on. From the article:But why grant apes rights? After all, if the Spanish parliament deems these animals insufficiently protected, it can enact more stringent protections, as other countries have. But improving the treatment of apes--of which there are few in Spain--is not really the game that is afoot. Rather, as Pozas chortled after the environment committee of the Spanish parliament passed the resolutions committing Spain to the Great Ape Project, this precedent will be the "spear point" that breaks the "species barrier."And why break the species barrier? Why, to destroy the unique status of man and thus initiate a wh... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1630920 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:06:00 +0100 1630920 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1560616&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F07%2Fsaletan-on-gap.html Slate's Will Saletan has weighed in on the Spanish plan to pass the GAP. As usual, his take comes at the reader from different and unexpected angles that acknowledge the arguments of the opposing sides of the debate. (And he is kind enough to give a tip of the hat to yours truly.) But I think he misses the bigger picture of the deleterious impact the GAP will have on human rights. Saletan writes:If the idea of treating chimps like people freaks you out, join the club. Creationists have been fighting this battle for a long time. They realized long ago that evolution threatened humanity's special status. Maybe you thought all this evolution stuff was just about the past. Surprise! Once you've admitted chimps are your relatives, you have to think about treating them that way. That's why, when... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1560616 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:57:00 +0100 1560616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1556201&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F06%2Fgreat-ape-project-poll.html The pending success of the GAP has freaked me out. I have done radio and have articles to come. You know what I think, now it is time to find out what you think. Please take the following poll: Should Apes be Granted "Human" Type Rights? ( surveys) (Source: Secondhand Smoke) Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1556201 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:45:00 +0100 1556201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1551237&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F06%2Fape-rights-not-taking-it-seriously-is.html Begin rant: The animal rights crowd has many allies in their fight to elevate animals to the moral equivalents of human life. One is the media, that almost always misses the big point and treats their advocacy as merely about being "nicer to animals." Another are all those folk in the media and out who hear about stories such as this and rather than really focusing on what it all means, instead roll their eyes and go about their business with a chuckle, dismissing the matter as just another example about how ridiculous some things have become. The latter approach was taken by the NY Post, reporting the story under "Weird but True." From the story: In Spain, all men and simians are created equal. The country's parliament approved a resolution extending the right to life and freedom to gr... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1551237 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:22:00 +0100 1551237 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1551238&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F06%2Fape-rights-in-spain-merely-point-of.html More reportage on Spain about to grant great apes "human" type rights--and a little candor from the revolutionaries. I have been saying that the GAP is not the goal but the initial means to attaining the goal, the catapault that first breaches the wall (to use another metaphor), that aims in the end to obliterate the sanctity/equality of human life ethic based simply on our being human. Exactly the point, says the head GAP advocate in Spain the the Times of London. From the story: Some critics questioned why Spain should afford legal protection from death or torture to great apes but not bulls. But Mr Pozas said that the vote would set a precedent, establishing legal rights for animals that could be extended to other species. “We are seeking to break the species barrier--we are just th... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1551238 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:59:00 +0100 1551238 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1546559&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F06%2Fmore-on-ape-rights.html We are all apes now, as the Spanish Parliament will soon be granting "human" rights to apes, which is actually to say that human rights are being demoted into mere temporary protections. This story deserves greater coverage, and I intend to do something about that in the next few weeks. But for now, here's an excerpt from the Guardian's story:Using apes in circuses, television commercials or filming will also be banned and while housing apes in Spanish zoos, of which there are currently 315, will remain legal, supporters of the bill have said the conditions in which most of them live will need to improve substantiallyOf course the purpose of this isn't to merely improve the treatment of great apes--which could be accomplished as it already has been in some places via normal animal welfare ... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1546559 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:12:00 +0100 1546559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1546562&cid=t_161935_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F06%2Fspain-about-to-grant-human-type-rights.html Spain is on the verge of fully passing the Great Ape Project. Conceived by Peter Singer and an Italian philosopher, that which was unthinkable in 1993 when it began, has come to pass in a mere fifteen years.Singer's overarching goal is to obliterate Judeo/Christianity as the reigning philosophy of society. And this is why the GAP is supported by people like Richard Dawkins. Now, we are merely one great ape among several others, each with minimum rights based on individual capacities rather than due to being members of the human species. Of course, only we will have the duty to honor these "rights"--but one-way streets are designed to push traffic in specified directions.The GAP grants apes, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos the rights to life, the right to be free from "torture," and to... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1546562 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:54:00 +0100 1546562 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1113419&cid=t_161935_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F204852056%2F Recalling the discussion about big heads a few days ago, I was drawn to theory that cooking is the secret to humans having big brains. Richard W. Wrangham, the Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum, responds to a Q & A in the December 19th Scientific American: I tend to think of the advent of cooking as having a huge impact on the quality of the diet. In fact, I can’t think of any increase in the quality of diet in the history of life that is bigger. And repeatedly we have evidence in biology of increases in dietary quality affecting bodies. The food was softer, easier to eat, with a higher density of calories—so this led to smaller guts, and, since the food was providing more energy, we see more evidence of energy u... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1113419 Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:40:21 +0100 1113419