curatedchaos2009

[curatedchaos2009]

Is There a Heteronormative Agenda Instead of a 'Gay' Agenda?

In short, yes.

You know the stereotype of whenever two men are in a relationship, one of them is a twink who acts all effeminate, girly, etc.? That reinforces the idea that the only true couple is one with a man and woman. It also has mysogynistic ideals, where the twink is the bottom, and needs to be protected in a sense, further enforcing those ideas of it being a man and a woman.

Similarly, that stereotype of two women in a relationship, one of them being a tomboy? It perpetuates that same idea of a man and a woman being in a relationship, with mysogynistic undertones.

[curatedchaos2009]

WE HAVE CONFIRMATION PEOPLE

Can I Think Crowley Is Gender Fluid?

You might as well. I do.

[curatedchaos2009]

Do Rats on Cocaine Prefer Jazz Over Classical Music?

A 2011 study at Albany Medical College found that rats prefer Jazz music over Classical music when they were given cocaine.

The scientists exposed 36 rats to ‘Für Elise’ by Beethoven and ‘Four’, a brassy jazz standard by Miles Davis. The rats overwhelmingly preferred Beethoven to Davis, but they liked silence best of all. In the second part of the experiment, the rats were given cocaine and played Miles Davis over a period of a few days. After that, the rodents preferred the jazz even after the drug was out of their system.

The scientists claimed that this proved that the rats could be conditioned to like music associated with drug use. This was because they found that the rodents preferred the jazz, even after the drug was out of their system.

This study was heavily criticized by several groups, particularly animal rights groups. This is because it used drugs, and because the subject of the study was, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Albany Medical College defended their research, which was aimed at understanding whether music can evoke drug cravings in animals. According to the authors, this study demonstrated that rats can be conditioned to like any music, after its repeated association with a reward mechanism (in this case, the stimulus of cocaine).

They later revealed that the subject for the study was an experiment to find medications that can help diminish drug cravings in humans.

[curatedchaos2009]

Autistic People Have a Lower Syanptic Density Than Neurotypical People Do

So a study done at Yale School of Medicine found that autistic people have a lower synaptic density that neurotypical people do. On average, there is a 17% lower synaptic density across the whole brain compared to neurotypical individuals.

Basically, the researchers tested a bunch of autistic people to determine the severity of their autism, and also ruled out psychiatric disorders, etc. The participants also filled out self-report questionnaires about their own experiences living with autism, such as difficulty with social interactions or sensory issues.

Then, they used PET and MRI Scans to see their brains. Overall, they found that autistic people have, on average, a 17% lower synaptic density. They also found that the lower the synaptic density, the more autistic traits a person showed.

BUT

The study is flawed. The researchers had a really small sample size. The participants consisted of only 12 autistic adults, and 20 NT adults. This means the study could be unrepresentative of the general population.