6 ms·
Altitude and child development
- mchanson 5y agoI only hire devs that were born within 200m of sea level. Best devs are those born below sea level.
- Lacaranian 5y agoDoes that mean if someone was raised in a mine are they better at bare-metal development?
- csense 5y agoLet's re-purpose abandoned mines into programming bootcamps! As any educator will tell you, a mine is a terrible thing to waste.
- kfarr 5y agoIt's better down where it's wetter
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- tupac_speedrap 5y agoNetherlands strongest developer nation.
- nojs 5y agoHigh altitude climbing is also known to cause brain changes detectable on MRI. See e.g. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ham.2011.1073 https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ham.2011.1073
- taneq 5y agoDidn't one study use FMRI to detect neurological changes in response to various types of music (or something like that) in dead fish?
- rackjack 5y agoThe dead salmon study showed the need to correct fMRI readings, if I recall correctly. I think they showed the dead salmon some pictures instead of playing music.
- op00to 5y agoIt is possible to misuse any technology to lie or tell a story other than the truth. I worked in a pioneering fMRI lab back in the early 00s, and even then we were very clearly stating the limitations of the technology. It’s popular media that is uncomfortable with ambiguity that place unrealistic and magical powers of observation on fMRI.
- FredPret 5y agoI think most major cities have a port, which implies ocean or a lake/river close to sea level
- generalizations 5y agoI found it more interesting that apparently it's possible to get paid by the hour to do research on subjects like this.
- anitil 5y agoThat is interesting. It sounds like this was just someone who was interested, but I can see it being useful having access to someone with research experience. I really don't feel capable of reading academic papers, so for me this would be very useful.
- ajcp 5y agoI found that interesting too. I liked her disclaimer at the lead-in: "The investigation stops when the client no longer wants to pay for more, not when I’ve achieved a particular level of certainty I’m satisfied with. Etc. In this particular case they were satisfied with the answer after only a few hours, and I did not pursue beyond that" Reminds me of the "synthesists" from the sci-fi classic 'Stand on Zanzibar'.
- the_af 5y agoOr at least: someone writing in Lesswrong, a not particularly reliable site (to put it mildly, but I don't want to get into an argument about it), claims this.
- ineptech 5y agoIt was extensively cited, and written by a professional researcher using their real name who has no particular axe to grind - what more could you possibly ask for?
- meheleventyone 5y agoMaybe I’m just bad at their site but I can’t see any name other than Elizabeth, I can’t see their professional credentials nor does it seem likely that a couple of hours work looking into something that at best produces a tiny effect is sufficient to establish a good meta-review of the relevant literature. For example there’s no real attempt to gauge the quality of the papers cited. Reading the report makes me suspect the author is less than convinced. From passing familiarity and a bit of a browse around LessWrong is a great place for pretentious airs, florid prose and lengthy posts but none of that makes things inherently more accurate. And for this kind of reporting accuracy of the result is pretty important.
- vailprogrammer 5y ago> higher altitudes within the US have fewer environmental contaminants Living in Denver, I routinely see headlines (and see with my own eyes) about how terrible the air quality is here, at certain times of the year at least. Wonder if that data controls for whether someone is in a high-altitude city or at the summit of a 14,000+ ft mountain.
- shill_cunt 5y agoI remember flying into Denver in the winter and seeing the inversion of just awful brown haze. I cried for my lungs on that trip.
- sundvor 5y agoThere are numerous studies on the myriad bad health effects of PM2.5. The sooner we can transition to EVs, the better.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoWhat's the PM2.5 contribution of automobile exhaust in a city like Denver, 5-10%ish?
- tricolon 5y agoI haven't found exact data for the contribution of ICE vehicles to PM 2.5 levels in Denver, but I've found some evidence of ozone [0] and carbon dioxide [1] contributions in Denver being around 30%, as well as contribution to PM 2.5 in "developed countries" being 25–30% [2]. Later edit: this EPA paper from 25 years ago [3] says "Vehicle exhaust was the largest PM 2.5 carbon contributor, constituting ~85% of PM 2.5 carbon at sites in the Denver metropolitan area". [0] https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/10/30/here-are-the-biggest-contributors-to-denver-area.html https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/10/30/here-are-... [1] https://www.denverpost.com/2020/01/19/colorado-air-pollution/ https://www.denverpost.com/2020/01/19/colorado-air-pollution... [2] https://publications.iarc.fr/_publications/media/download/3700/f73ec515ebe6377bd0cfe1430065193a106e7b00.pdf https://publications.iarc.fr/_publications/media/download/37... [3] https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-10/documents/nfraqsexecsum.pdf https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-10/documents/nf...
- omarhaneef 5y agoThere was an article I read recently — perhaps right here on HN — that pointed out cancer rates are lower at high altitudes. (The author suggested that it had to do with contaminants flowing down hill). The point is (assuming neither study contains an artefact): there is a trade off.
- jbandela1 5y agoBased on what I learned in medical school, my guess would be iodine deficiency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_iodine_deficiency_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_iodine_deficiency_s... Iodine is vitally important for child development, especially brain development. In mountainous regions, there can be less iodine in the soil (and you are away from the ocean where fish and other seafood are a ready source of iodine). IIRC, it used to be a big issue in the Alpine regions of Europe. This is one of the reasons that iodine is put into salt as a supplement.
- TeeMassive 5y agoYeah put cretinism hasn't been a problem for generations now.
- mjlee 5y agoWell, I just learned where the insult "cretin" (idiot, at least in British English) comes from!
- woeirua 5y agoMeanwhile Colorado is in the top 5 states for educational attainment, and the fittest state in the Union (for many years now). It's interesting that altitude has a noticeable effect on birth weight, but it clearly doesn't really affect the outcome a whole lot.
- runsWphotons 5y agoMaybe the people there would attain more at lower altitudes
- vailprogrammer 5y agoMore than half the population of CO was born outside of the state. I would be surprised if it was still a top 5 state for educational attainment when looking only at those born and raised in the state.
- nxpnsv 5y agoI think healthy parents tend to have healthy kids though.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- fbanon 5y agoI'm gonna lock my pregnant wife in a hyperbaric chamber.