#sharon moalem

[homopsychology]

“Traditionally, it was assumed that men were the stronger sex, but when you look at the numbers, why are baby girls in the NICU obviously stronger than baby boys, and why do more women survive harrowing famines than men? Even when environmental and behavioral differences are taken into account, mortality is always higher in males.

Robust genetic diversity from the use of two X chromosomes and cells that cooperate make all the difference for females. This extra chromosomal diversity and stamina is what endows every genetic female with a survival advantage.

Having two X chromosomes allows women to endure, overcome, and thrive better than men on average, regardless of where in the world they are born and into what circumstances. If there’s anything we can learn from the past, it’s that when challenges crop up, the levy of flesh will never be equal between the sexes.

When it comes to the ultramarathon of life, there is definitely one sex that continues to dominate.”

- The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women by Sharon Moalem

[flamefatalis]

Flamey's Best of 2023

Good lord I can’t believe it’s the end of the year... which means it’s time to continue this tradition!

Best movies watched in 2023:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The visuals, the story, the characters, the music... gOD. The sequel was just as good as the original. Wish I saw it in theaters more than once.

2. Princess Mononoke.

3. The Super Mario Bros Movie.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3.

5. Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Best shows watched in 2023:

One Piece (episodes 163-405). So many enjoyable arcs in this stretch of episodes. Water 7/Enies Lobby had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

2. Jujutsu Kaisen (season 2)

3. Abbott Elementary (season 1 and 2)

4. Prehistoric Planet (season 2)

5. Demon Slayer (season 3)

Best video games played in 2023:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I was so scared when they first announced that a sequel to BOTW was releasing this year... because how could anything be better than that? TOTK is the sequel we DESERVED and much more.

Jurassic World Evolution 2. Yes, I know I played it last year, but I really delved more into it this year.

Pizza Tower.

Best books read in 2023:

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe

The Hidden by Melanie Golding

Sea Change by Gina Chung

Avatar: The Legacy of Yangchen by F. C. Yee

Cave of Bones by John Hawks and Lee Berger

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Wrath by Daniel Kraus and Sharon Moalem

The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

[exalibur]

IM SORRY LOVER 3 20 & 21

i forgive u my love. but .... maybe only bc i dont wanna be thrown in a fairy circle .

anyways .

3. What were your top five books of the year?

1. WRATH BY SHARON MOALEM AND DANIEL KRAUS 2. the monster of elendhaven by jennifer giesbrecht 3. i'm glad my mom died by jennette mccurdy 4. these violent delights by micah nemerever 5. this is going to hurt by adam kay

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

mmmmm probably i'm glad my mom died but only bc i think it's maybe . one of the only books that came out this year ........ that i read this year . and didn't abandon to the depths of my tbr (:dont:) . and yes . absolutely . met & exceeded

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

participate absolutely not . but i did watch booktwit lose its mind approximately a dozen times. couldn't tell u anything that happened tho, only that it blew up the gcs for a few days before everyone forgot

[poetikken]

INN:

Wrath (Daniel Kraus / Sharon Moalem)

Infested (Angel Luis Colón)

-

Hører på boka Infested, som er kontemporær(?!) young adult horror, og lurer på om jeg er irritert fordi det er urealistisk at en 17-åring ikke aktivt bruker internett for info når weird shit skjer, eller om det bare er at min første impuls alltid er å slå opp ting, og det er så vanskelig for meg å forestille meg å IKKE være sånn at jeg ender med en feilaktig overbevisning om at det er mitt handlingsmønster som tilsvarer realisme, punktum.

Denne historien handler om skadedyr og skadedyrkontroll og whatnot, og har så mye rare greier jeg ikke fatter hvorfor man ikke SJEKKER, alt fra firmanavn til kakerlakkatferd. Og jeg er nesten førti! - en syttenåring i den vestlige verden ville ikke engang ha erfart livet uten leksikon umiddelbart tilgjengelig overalt? - Men dette er knyttet til ting jeg gjenoppdager hele tida om hvordan også det å Finne Informasjon er en egen evne og sikkert også en egen interesse.

Og den tenkeloopen fører meg alltid tilbake til barneskolen, vi ble fortalt om Marco Polo, som jeg kjente til, og lærer spurte hvor jeg hadde lært det, og jeg sa at det var en Donaldhistorie. En sånn der Andeby-fjesene settes inn for en slags gjenfortelling av noe annet, det har vært mange slike. Men lærer fnøs og rister på hodet og sa at Donaldhistorier er bare funnet på, uten å stille flere spørsmål eller erkjenne at de greiene jeg visste tross alt stemte overens med annen overflatekunnskap om tema. Ingen forsøk på å avklare om jeg, 8-10 år gammel, kunne tenkes å være i stand til å skille komponentene i en slik historie fra hverandre. Jeg er fortsatt akkurat så sur som fremgår av at jeg har skrevet det ned her nå...!

Og her er vi ved 'feilen' i de fleste tekstene jeg leverte i fjor- en generell tendens til å overvurdere hva barn får med seg og/eller forstår. Det er en kritikk jeg egentlig tar som et kompliment, siden det jeg anser som VERST er å nedlatende overforklare og simplifisere. Med det følger at jeg ikke ser for meg å skrive for motvillige lesere, jeg trenger dem som løper bøkene i møte.

Anyway.

Vurderer illustrere greia med Morgendagens søsken og gi den som et skjevt smil til forskningsgreia på barnesanger. Den andre tema-greia om 'synd' er vrien, kanskje mest fordi jeg synes tanken på feks en sloth-parade er ganske morsom, men usikker på om det kan gjennomføres uten å tolkes som noe surmaget om pride.

Jeg er også syk. Mageinfluensa eller noe sånt og det er vanskelig å tillate meg tid til å bare være guæhh.

[iseilio-blog]

週 刊 文 春

週刊文春 2017  6月號

catch up

可惜這次沒能 golf  高峰會  義大利 基 因 改 變

「遺傳子（基因） 可以改變。從根本改變人生的 Epigenetics 的

真實」 － Sharon Moalem MD, PhD

沙龍·莫勒姆 - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)

讀後 竹內 久美子 週刊文春  2017  6月號

【正論】種の保存、種の繁栄という幻想 - 産経ニュース (sankei.com)

Epigenetics 是什麼意思 ？在 DNA 的特定地方，methyl group

一會兒附著，一會兒分離著，而且纏繞基因的蛋白質。如此依照

化學修飾的程度，產生基因的調節現象。因此，說基因可以改變，

正確的說是應該是「 基因Epigenetics 的發現狀態而得以改變。」，

並不是根本的 DNA 鹽基配列 可以改變。

甲基 - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)

去氧核糖核酸 - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)

乙醯輔酶A - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)

Epigenetics並不是意外和簡單的發生。食物、飲料藥物、運動、

x 射線、焦慮, 緊張 . . . .。任誰都每天會面對一些大大小小的事情

與因素，而讓基因帶來變化的可能。

一對單卵雙胞胎，一方接受另一方的欺負，而另一方不受欺負的話，

受到欺負的一方的 Epigenetics 就會起變化。Epigenetics（ 正確的

說就是它的啟動部份 ）會附著很多。如此一來 Epigenetics 就處於

off 狀態，神經傳導 容易傾向不足，うつ 升高了 （憂鬱，台語

鬱卒 的所來自。）。

Epigenetics 的變化是一輩子，甚至持續數代都有可能。曾經患過

鬱卒病症，搞不好 Epigenetics  有問題的部份附著了過多的 吧，

或者大部份都治好了，對這些實在有點在意。 表觀遺傳學 - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)

零距離科學：表觀遺傳學——創傷經歷能遺傳後代？ - The News Lens 關鍵評論網

組織蛋白 - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)

【正論】天皇が男系男子の理由を説く　動物行動学研究家　エッセイスト・竹内久美子 - 産経ニュース (sankei.com)

【正論】カープもトランプ氏も…勝利のキーワードは「赤」だった　動物行動学研究家、エッセイスト・竹内久美子 - 産経ニュース (sankei.com)

» インタビュー：竹内 久美子 (shikikensetu.com) 2017年に読まれた記事　5部門ベスト5発表！ | 文春オンライン (bunshun.jp)

司馬遼太郎、初のコミック化！　密命をおびた若き剣士は「命はないものと心得ております」 | 文春オンライン (bunshun.jp)

本期美女 ：

伊藤 步

本期廣告 ：

俳優  堤 真一さん

専攻医  岡本 幸代さん 本期料理：

【寿司】鮨 青木　銀座　素晴らしい職人の匠の技 - YouTube

日本美食 | 寿司 | 今年东京最佳寿司，就是这家！ - YouTube

示 意 圖 ちらし鮨 - Bing images

aya 俱樂部

本來與閨蜜一起去旅行，可是第一日竟然在現地的 cafe 遇到了命��的

帥哥。因為說要嚮導觀光，一起走。敎了觀光雜誌沒有登載，在地人

才知道的地點，好吃的東西。雖然有點擔心，開了車子去到原本放棄

的遠處。對方應該也有想法 ：「有男朋友嗎 ？」在場也沒有人，

就有了「ok」的意思。也去車遊夜晚。差不多就是要融化了的遊戲，

不知不覺的發出了聲音，進入本番充實了旅途之夜 ？全心全意的

帶領，過了一個大滿足之旅。

[a-s-fischer]

October to January Readings

Nonfiction

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures - Merlin Sheldrake

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI - David Grann

Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths - Natalie Haynes

The Witches: Salem, 1692 - Stacy Schiff

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World - Peter Frankopan

Women & Power: A Manifesto - Mary Beard

The Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern - Mary Beard

Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease - Sharon Moalem and Jonathan Prince

Digging up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon - Eric H. Cline

The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 - Brian Fagan

Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization - Brian Fagan

The Ark Before Noah - Irving Finkel

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession - Susan Orlean

The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic That Shaped Our History - Molly Caldwell Crosby

River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile - Candice Millard

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War - Karen Abbott

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - Erik Larson

Fiction

Warberg in Rome - James Carroll

Still Star-Crossed - Melinda Taub

Terciel and Elinor: an Old Kingdom novel - Garth Nix

[capricxs]

3, 13, 15, 25 :)

3: What were your top five books of the year?

I read a lot of really amazing books, hard to pick five but let's try this

The Power by Naomi Alderman

A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Wrath by Sharon Moalem & Daniel Kraus

Fifth spot is tied between Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

13: What were your least favorite books of the year?

I read Docile by by K.M. Szpara, which made me very angry. I was expecting a very interesting critique on class divide and got some cringe wattpad esque toxic queer love. I was very angee.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is my hot take least fave, though. I respect those who like her, but man, I did not like anything about that book.

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor is very interesting in concept, but reads like queer and trans Catcher in the Rye, and I found that book very obnoxious as well. I get what it's doing, I respect it, but it was not for me.

15: Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

I read Less by Andrew Sean Greer. It won the Pulitzer a few years back (not sure if this question is asking about only things nominated/awarded this year but I'm asserting not) It's certainly one that has grown on me as time went on. But for a book about a mid-life crisis, I think it might connect more in the future.

I also read Geek Love which was a finalist for the NBA back in '89 as a rec from my roommate. There were things I really liked and things I really didn't. I still have a hard time parsing through my feelings of it.

25: What reading goals do you have for next year?

I'm going to try and shoot for 125, since I very easily did 100 this year, 125 seems more like a challenge...

[book-warehouse-broadway]

More new releases in store!

[justforbooks]

The Better Half by Sharon Moalem review – on the genetic superiority of women

Let’s hear it for the female of the species and (more guardedly) for her second X-chromosome! Female superiority in colour vision, immune response, longevity, even basic survival from birth to death are illustrated in Sharon Moalem’s The Better Half. After decades, if not centuries, of bad press for women and their vulnerable biology, this book argues that in fact “almost everything that is biologically difficult to do in life … is done better by females”.

Moalem, a Canadian-born physician, is a research geneticist who has identified two new rare genetic conditions. He has worked across the world in paediatric medicine, including clinics for HIV-infected infants and is also a biotechnology entrepreneur and bestselling author. The Better Half is his latest foray into the field of popular science, and presents a general argument for the superiority of women’s biology to men’s.

In most circumstances, a human female has two X-chromosomes, one from her father and one from her mother; a male has just one, inherited from his mother, which is paired with a Y-chromosome, inherited from his father. Moalem believes that the X-chromosome has always received a poor press, and that it is time this negative view is counteracted. He draws on swathes of medical and historical data to show that, in many instances, the superiority of women’s biology is explicitly linked to their possession of the second X-chromosome. The greater complexity of women’s biology, he claims, is the secret of their success – it is more difficult to make a female but, once made, she trumps the male in her lifelong survival skills, for instance in her hyper efficient immune system shrugging off infection and maximising the benefits of vaccination – which means that females can avoid the consequences of a wide range of life threatening events ranging from starvation and cancer to, Moalem has cautiously concluded, Covid-19.

In mainstream genetics it was long held that, despite having two X-chromosomes, female cells only made use of one: the second randomly switched off or deactivated early on in embryonic development, a process rather summarily described as an instance of “genetic redundancy”. There was some evidence that the deactivation reduced female chances of succumbing to X-linked problems, due to the availability of an undamaged back-up. It was acknowledged, for example (though rather grudgingly), that women generally escaped being colour blind. Moalem notes that when he was studying genetics there was much emphasis on the tiny Y-chromosome as “what makes a man”. He observes wryly that maybe this positivity was related to the fact that “most of the people who were speaking breathlessly about the Y had one as well”.

Now a new spin on the X-inactivation story is emerging in genetics. Via a process called “escape from X-inactivation”, it turns out that the silenced X-chromosome is not so silent after all – there are escapees which may continue to offer back-up services, for instance providing extra cellular recovery options in the face of traumatic injury. It is to the benefits offered by this flexible availability within different cells that Moalem attributes the secrets of women’s biological superiority.

Statistics going back as far as 1662 show women living longer than men, and today’s figures show that 95% of people who have reached the age of 110 and over are female. In sport, women’s success in races such as ultra-marathons offer a different perspective on what it means to be physically superior. In the spirit of Angela Saini’s book Inferior, Moalem notes that this superiority has largely been ignored by medical science. And he discusses the medical trial data whose absence is observed by Caroline Criado-Perez in Invisible Women, her exploration of how the world is designed for men. Medicine needs to stop ignoring the secrets of women’s biological successes, Moalem argues, and find ways of harnessing them to improve the survival chances of the whole of the human race.

Imagine you live in a world where most individuals can see 1m colours. But in one group of these people (let’s call them males), about 8% cannot tell the difference between colours such as red and green, and a smaller number are totally colour blind. In a second group in this population (let’s call them females), almost all can see the standard 1m colours, but some (perhaps as many as 15%) can see 100m colours. Would you excitedly rave about the amazing talent of this latter group? Or would you just describe them as “not usually colour blind”? This same group has an immune system that has a profound talent to fight off many forms of infection and reap major benefits from vaccinations – with the down side that sometimes such hyper efficiency can lead to autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Would you celebrate the former or emphasise the latter? For years, it is the drawbacks that have been underlined.

The Better Half is an eye-opening book. In explaining why the advantages that accompany females’ greater genetic options have to date been largely ignored, Moalem points to “paradigm blindness”, and to the fact that research geneticists rarely get out in the field to notice, for example, the much greater survival rates of girls in paediatric ICUs (rates which, he discovers, have been clearly obvious to the nurses doing the frontline caring).

I take issue with one part of his chapter on “The Male Brain”, for the moment setting aside the unproven assumption that the brains of men are different from the brains of women. Moalem chooses to consider autism, and it appears as a given in his book that autism is more common in boys than girls (itself an assumption that is increasingly being challenged). Yet at the more impaired end of the autism spectrum, it is possible that there are as many girls as boys, and his suggestion that females have a different “kind” of autism doesn’t quite prove his wider argument. The X-linked disorders such as “fragile-X” or Rett syndrome receive only a passing mention – not surprisingly perhaps as they run counter to his argument about the superiority of the X-chromosome.

What about hormones? Moalem has perhaps missed a good opportunity to counter oestrogen’s frequently negative press, and to laud its potentially neuroprotective effects. The greater susceptibility of women to Alzheimer’s disease is put down by Moalem to a form of anti-inflammatory process linked to an over efficient immune system; their lesser susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease (surely a possible inclusion in the list of female genetic successes) is unexplained.

One section of the book focuses on “why women’s health is not men’s health”, and considers the failures of drug companies to test their products on females as well as males. For sure this has had detrimental consequences on, for example, the accuracy of dosage rates. But in at least one of the examples he gives, that of Ambien, body mass and blood volume are key factors in calculating dosage rates: because people vary enormously in size and shape, simply dividing test participants into males and females still risks inaccuracy. He is talking about averages, it’s true, but even so Moalem seems firmly wedded to the notion that genetic females and genetic males can be neatly categorised into two distinct types, and that the understanding of genetic sex will provide all the answers we need.

The impression given in The Better Half is that there is a lifelong free-ranging choice between X-chromosomes available to the female, her cells dancing back and forth between the best options that will help her to heal quicker after a car crash or to overcome the bacterial infection that might lead to an ulcer. There are brief and tantalising hints about the “escapees” from X-inactivation in several chapters of Moalem’s book, but it is a shame that we are never given a full, head-on account.

Yet this book is full of wonderful titbits of information – from the existence of a female prostate gland to the number of honey bee flying miles it takes to make 1lb of honey. The celebration of the genetic diversity offered by the female’s second X-chromosome is wholehearted and the examples Moalem gives are highly effective. He has written a powerful antidote to the myth of the “weaker sex”.

• The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women by Sharon Moalem is published by Allen Lane (RRP £20).

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[coochiequeens]

Female superiority in colour vision, immune response, longevity, even basic survival from birth to death are illustrated in Sharon Moalem’s The Better Half. After decades, if not centuries, of bad press for women and their vulnerable biology, this book argues that in fact “almost everything that is biologically difficult to do in life … is done better by females”.

[contre-qui]

It is wayyyyyy too hot to be reading outside, so instead I'll take my ridiculous (self-assigned) summer reading stack indoors with a new favorite drink! I have to read Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead for my Humanities class next year so I decided to pick up Hamlet as well just to really understand everything. Right now I'm still going strong with Survival of the Sickest - it's making me want to read more nonfiction!

[alexsavescu]

De ce femeile îi depășesc pe bărbați în rezistență, intelect, vitalitate, imunitate și multe altele?

De ce femeile îi depășesc pe bărbați în rezistență, intelect, vitalitate, imunitate și multe altele?

În încercarea de a combate cât mai eficient pandemia, medicii și oamenii de știință au făcut o serie de statistici. Astfel s-a ajuns la concluzia că bărbații par să aibă o rată mai mare de infectare și numărul deceselor din cauza Covid-19 este dublu față de al femeilor. Nu este clar de ce rezultatele sunt atât de diferite între sexe. Unele teorii s-au concentrat asupra comportamentului social:…

[exalibur]

3… also 6 🔫

3. What were your top five books of the year?

1. WRATH BY SHARON MOALEM AND DANIEL KRAUS 2. THE MONSTER OF ELENDHAVEN by JENNIFER GIESBRECHT 3. i'm glad my mom died by jennette mccurdy 4. these violent delights by micah nemerever 5. this is going to hurt by adam kay like. im not even remotely joking when i say wrath & monster of elendhaven will be my personality for the foreseeable future . sorry abt it . i'm going to make it yours and everyone else's problem

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

can't talk dodging bullets. but listen . i may or may not . have a copy . of exhalation by ted chiang . that someone may or may not have lent me . approximately 14 months ago . i simply do not want to hear about it. exhalation. but also sword stone table, crying in h mart, before trans, and the approx 30+ other physical books i'm currently in possession of <3

[gryphongirl]

Began reading up on the timeline of the Bionicle canon since I was unfamiliar with some parts and want to write a big fanfic soon. I stumbled upon the bit about the Iron Tribe agori being dream-leeched by Annona again, and I still find it so funny that it was THAT tribe of all tribes to be “infected”. 

Why is it funny?

Well, having now read “Survival of the Sickest” by Sharon Moalem (which I highly recommend), I had learned that one of the most infamous plagues known to man,  The Bubonic Plague, was so deadly because when engulfed by a blood cell defending the body, it would use the iron stored in that very cell to help it complete its own multiplication. 

A disease that uses IRON to its advantage... Hmmmm...

[feminism-and-femdom-is-future]

Female genes are better and stronger than male genes

Canadian physician and scientist Dr Sharon Moalem, says the extra X in every female cell, is instrumental in ensuring that women have a distinct genetic advantage.

Humans have 23 chromosome pairs. Females have two X chromosomes (XX), males have one X, one Y (XY). The X contains extremely significant genes, The X is just a very unique, important chromosome. Women has two chromosomes: one from her mother, one from her father. So if one X has a problem, the healthy X can compensate. So biologically women are made to be better than men.

[second-seal]

Here's an interesting excerpt from Survival of the Sickest, which is a sick book... "What's more surprising is why we continue to cultivate and consume thousands of plants that are toxic to us. The average human eats between 5,000 and 10,000 natural toxins every year. [that's not counting unnatural]" That would freak aliens out so much.