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May 08 2012
NCBI ROFL: Scientific proof that milk is better on cereal than water.
Physical properties and microstructural changes during soaking of individual corn and quinoa breakfast flakes.
“The importance of breakfast cereal flakes (BCF) in Western diets deserves an understanding of changes in their mechanical properties and microstructure that occur during soaking in a liquid (that is, milk or water) prior to consumption. The maximum rupture force (RF) of 2 types of breakfast flaked products (BFP)–corn flakes (CF) and quinoa flakes (QF)–were measured directly while immersed in milk with 2% of fat content (milk 2%) or distilled water for different periods of time between 5 and 300 s. Under similar soaking conditions, QF presented higher RF values than CF. Soaked flakes were freeze-dried and their cross section and surface examined by scanning electron microscopy. Three consecutive periods (fast, gradual, and slow reduction of RF) were associated with changes in the microstructure of flakes. These changes were more pronounced in distilled water than in milk 2%, probably because the fat and other solids in milk become deposited on the flakes’ surface hindering liquid infiltration. Structural and textural modifications were primarily ascribable to the plasticizing effect of water that softened the carbohydrate/protein matrix, inducing partial collapse of the porous structure ...
April 23 2012
NCBI ROFL: Ever wanted to know what’s really in hotdogs?
Applying morphologic techniques to evaluate hotdogs: what is in the hotdogs we eat?
“Americans consume billions of hotdogs per year resulting in more than a billion dollars in retail sales. Package labels typically list some type of meat as the primary ingredient. The purpose of this study is to assess the meat and water content of several hotdog brands to determine if the package labels are accurate. Eight brands of hotdogs were evaluated for water content by weight. A variety of routine techniques in surgical pathology including routine light microscopy with hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections, special staining, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy were used to assess for meat content and for other recognizable components. Package labels indicated that the top-listed ingredient in all 8 brands was meat; the second listed ingredient was water (n = 6) and another type of meat (n = 2). Water comprised 44% to 69% (median, 57%) of the total weight. Meat content determined by microscopic cross-section analysis ranged from 2.9% to 21.2% (median, 5.7%). The cost per hotdog ($0.12-$0.42) roughly correlated with meat content. A variety of tissues were observed besides skeletal muscle including bone (n = 8), collagen (n = 8), blood ...
April 18 2012
NCBI ROFL: Murder: an evolutionary adaptation?
The homicidol effect: investigating murder as a fitness signal.
“This article extends homicide adaptation theory by investigating signal effects of a murder. In two experiments (N = 299 and N = 161) participants reported their perceptions of a described person. The first study manipulated the information about the person (including or excluding a single sentence stating that the person has committed a murder) and stimulus person/observer sex match (same vs. opposite sex). Results suggest that murder functions as a signal of the described person’s fitness that enhances observers’ evaluations and inclination to interact with the person. Opposite-sex observers evaluate the murderer’s intent more favorably than same-sex observers, but these evaluations of intent produce differential (positive vs. negative) effects between the two groups. The second study replicated the findings and ruled out potential confounds.”
Photo: flickr/mitchypop
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Wham, bam, thank you ma’am: an evolutionary perspective.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Effects of stress on human mating preferences: stressed individuals prefer dissimilar mates.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: The evolution of humor from male aggression.
NCBI ROFL. Real articles. Funny ...
April 09 2012
NCBI ROFL: The role of pet dogs in casual conversations of elderly adults.
“Casual conversations were recorded as elderly persons routinely walked their dogs through a familiar mobile home park in the United States. Control observations included walks without dogs by owners and non-owners of dogs. All owners talked to and about their dogs. Transcribed conversations indicated that dogs were a primary focus of conversation. A majority of sentences to dogs were imperatives; the owners were instructing the dogs. Dog owners frequently included dogs’ names or nicknames in their sentences when they spoke to the dogs and made reference to the dogs’ wishes or needs. Speaking to dogs was also associated with frequent repetition of sentences. Passersby talked to the owners about their dogs whether or not the dogs were present. When dog owners spoke with other people, their conversations often concerned activities that were occurring in the present, whereas conversations of non-owners focused on stories about past events. Dog owners reported taking twice as many daily walks as non-owners. Dog owners also reported significantly less dissatisfaction with their social, physical and emotional states.”
Photo: flickr/podoboq
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Discoblog: ...
March 14 2012
NCBI ROFL: This is your brain. This is your brain as an internal combustion engine.
“A theoretical model that simulates the developmental process of the human brain, including the blood vessels, is proposed. Observations of the development of the human brain with a high-speed camera show that the bones of the skull become increasingly large over the neck, and that a lot of soup-like fluid for generating brain cells enters the skull from the body. This process is essentially similar to the intake process of an internal combustion engine, because the volume of the engine cylinder, which increases according to the descent of the piston, corresponds geometrically to the development of the skull, and also because the human neck resembles the intake port that serves as the throat of the engine. A higher-order numerical computation of the Navier-Stokes equation reveals the similarity between the convexo-concave forms inside the brain and the flow structure in the internal combustion engine at very low Reynolds numbers. Further, we examine the similarity between the main blood vessels in the brain and the path lines in the engine.”
Thanks to bboybutzemann for today’s ROFL!
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November 25 2011
NCBI ROFL: Characterization of coarse particulate matter in school gyms.
“We investigated the mass concentration, mineral composition and morphology of particles resuspended by children during scheduled physical education in urban, suburban and rural elementary school gyms in Prague (Czech Republic). Cascade impactors were deployed to sample the particulate matter. Two fractions of coarse particulate matter (PM(10-2.5) and PM(2.5-1.0)) were characterized by gravimetry, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. Two indicators of human activity, the number of exercising children and the number of physical education hours, were also recorded. Lower mass concentrations of coarse particulate matter were recorded outdoors (average PM(10-2.5) 4.1-7.4 μg m(-3) and PM(2.5-1.0) 2.0-3.3 μg m(-3)) than indoors (average PM(10-2.5) 13.6-26.7 μg m(-3) and PM(2.5-1.0) 3.7-7.4 μg m(-3)). The indoor concentrations of coarse aerosol were elevated during days with scheduled physical education with an average indoor-outdoor (I/O) ratio of 2.5-16.3 for the PM(10-2.5) and 1.4-4.8 for the PM(2.5-1.0) values. Under extreme conditions, the I/O ratios reached 180 (PM(10-2.5)) and 19.1 (PM(2.5-1.0)). The multiple regression analysis based on the number of students and outdoor coarse PM as independent variables showed that the main predictor of the indoor coarse PM concentrations is the number of students in the gym. The effect of ...
November 19 2011
NCBI ROFL: “the origin of penile intervention for decorative purposes is lost in time.”
Phallic Decoration in Paleolithic Art: Genital Scarification, Piercing and Tattoos
“Purpose: The primitive anthropological meaning of genital ornamentation is not clearly defined and the origin of penile intervention for decorative purposes is lost in time. Corporeal decoration was practiced in the Upper Paleolithic period. We discuss the existing evidence on the practice of phallic piercing, scarring and tattooing in prehistory. Materials and Methods: We studied the archaeological and artistic evidence regarding explicit genital male representations in portable art made in Europe approximately 38,000 to 11,000 years ago with special emphasis on decorations suggesting genital ornamentation.Results: Archaeological evidence that has survived to our day includes 42 phallic pieces, of which 30 (71.4%) show intentional marks to a different extent with a probable decorative purpose. Of these ornamental elements 18 (60%) were recovered from the upper Magdalenian period (11,000 to 12,700 years ago) in France and Spain, and 23 (76.7%) belong to the category of perforated batons. Decorations show lines (70% of objects), plaques (26.7%), dots/holes (23.3%) or even human/animal forms (13.3%). These designs most probably represent skin scarification, cutting, piercing and tattooing. Notably there are some technical similarities between the motifs represented and some designs present in symbolic ...
November 17 2011
NCBI ROFL: CEOs with wider faces have wider profit margins.
A Face Only an Investor Could Love: CEOs’ Facial Structure Predicts Their Firms’ Financial Performance.
“Researchers have theorized that innate personal traits are related to leadership success. Although links between psychological characteristics and leadership success have been well established, research has yet to identify any objective physical traits of leaders that predict organizational performance. In the research reported here, we identified leaders’ facial structure as a specific physical trait that correlates with organizational performance. Specifically, we found that firms whose male CEOs have wider faces (relative to facial height) achieve superior financial performance. Decision-making dynamics within a firm’s leadership team moderate this effect, such that the relationship between a given CEO’s facial measurements and his firm’s financial performance is stronger in firms with cognitively simple leadership teams.”
Photo: Flickr/Walmart Stores
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: The teddy-bear effect: does having a baby face benefit black chief executive officers?
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: The politically incorrect nose job.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Social perceptions of individuals missing upper front teeth.
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
November 12 2011
NCBI ROFL: A scientific analysis of 400 YouTube videos of dogs chasing their tails.
A Vicious Cycle: A Cross-Sectional Study of Canine Tail-Chasing and Human Responses to It, Using a Free Video-Sharing Website
Figure 1. Screenshot of a video of a Golden Retriever chasing its tail on YouTube™.
“Tail-chasing is widely celebrated as normal canine behaviour in cultural references. However, all previous scientific studies of tail-chasing or ‘spinning’ have comprised small clinical populations of dogs with neurological, compulsive or other pathological conditions; most were ultimately euthanased. Thus, there is great disparity between scientific and public information on tail-chasing. I gathered data on the first large (n = 400), non-clinical tail-chasing population, made possible through a vast, free, online video repository, YouTube™. The demographics of this online population are described and discussed. Approximately one third of tail-chasing dogs showed clinical signs, including habitual (daily or ‘all the time’) or perseverative (difficult to distract) performance of the behaviour. These signs were observed across diverse breeds. Clinical signs appeared virtually unrecognised by the video owners and commenting viewers; laughter was recorded in 55% of videos, encouragement in 43%, and the commonest viewer descriptors were that the behaviour was ‘funny’ (46%) or ‘cute’ (42%). Habitual tail-chasers had 6.5+/−2.3 times the odds of being described as ‘Stupid’ than other dogs, and perseverative dogs were 6.8+/−2.1 times more frequently described as ‘Funny’ than distractible ones were. Compared with breed- and age-matched control videos, tail-chasing videos were significantly more often indoors and with a computer/television screen switched on. These findings highlight that tail-chasing is sometimes pathological, but can remain untreated, or even be encouraged, because of an assumption that it is ‘normal’ dog behaviour. The enormous viewing figures that YouTube™ attracts (mean+/−s.e. = 863+/−197 viewings per tail-chasing video) suggest that this perception will be further reinforced, without effective intervention.”
Bonus Table:
Table 2. Human encouragement and responses to tail-chasing in dogs on YouTube™.
Thanks to @InkfishEP for today’s ROFL!
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Introducing…the automatic LOLcat detector!
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
November 01 2011
NCBI ROFL: Was Mona Lisa’s smile caused by Bell’s palsy or a punch in the face?
Mona Lisa syndrome: solving the enigma of the Gioconda smile.
“The Mona Lisa smile is presented as a possible example of facial muscle contracture that develops after Bell’s palsy when the facial nerve has undergone partial wallerian degeneration and has regenerated. The accompanying synkinesis would explain many of the known facts surrounding the painting and is a classic example of Leonardo da Vinci as the compulsive anatomist who combined art and science.”
Mona Lisa: the enigma of the smile.
“The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1503, pictures a smile that has been long the subject of conjecture. It is believed, however, that the Mona Lisa does not smile; she wears an expression common to people who have lost their front teeth. A closeup of the lip area shows a scar that is not unlike that left by the application of blunt force. The changes evident in the perioral area are such that occur when the anterior teeth are lost. The scar under the lower lip of the Mona Lisa is similar to that created, when, as a result of force, the incisal edges of the teeth have pierced the face with a penetrating wound.”
Photo: Flickr/Joaquín Martínez Rosado
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Smiling faces rated more feminine than serious faces in Japan.
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Smile intensity of baseball players in photographs predicts longevity.
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
October 17 2011
NCBI ROFL: The science of door-holding etiquette.
Etiquette and effort: holding doors for others.
“Etiquette, the customary code of polite behavior among members of a group, provides a means of conveying respect for others, but what is the basis for etiquette’s unwritten rules? Here we show that one form of etiquette, holding a door open for another person, reflects the door holder’s expectation that the person for whom he or she holds the door shares the belief that the total effort expended by the two of them will be less than the summed efforts of the two individuals acting on their own. Our observations extend recent work on effort reduction in motor control to the management of social interactions.”
Photo: flickr/randychiu
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Double feature: foot in the door and door in the face techniques.
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
October 07 2011
NCBI ROFL: Kin affiliation across the ovulatory cycle: females avoid fathers when fertile.
“A commonplace observation in humans is that close genetic relatives tend to avoid one another as sexual partners. Despite the growing psychological research on how antierotic attitudes develop toward relatives, few studies have focused on actual behavior. One prediction, stemming from parental investment theory, is that women should be more vigilant of reproduction-compromising behaviors, such as inbreeding, during times of peak fertility than during times of low fertility. Indeed, females of other species avoid interactions with male kin when fertile-but the corollary behavior in humans has yet to be explored. Here we fill this gap. Using duration and frequency of cell-phone calls, an objective behavioral measure that reflects motivations to interact socially, we show that women selectively avoid interactions with their fathers during peak fertility. Avoidance specifically targeted fathers, which rules out alternative explanations. These data suggest that psychological mechanisms underlying mating psychology regulate sexual avoidance behaviors, and in women they fluctuate according to fertility status.”
Photo: flickr/access.denied
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WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
October 03 2011
NCBI ROFL: Dirty liberals! Reminders of physical cleanliness influence moral and political attitudes.
“Many moral codes place a special emphasis on bodily purity, and manipulations that directly target bodily purity have been shown to influence a variety of moral judgments. Across two studies, we demonstrated that reminders of physical purity influence specific moral judgments regarding behaviors in the sexual domain as well as broad political attitudes. In Study 1, individuals in a public setting who were given a reminder of physical cleansing reported being more politically conservative than did individuals who were not given such a reminder. In Study 2, individuals reminded of physical cleansing in the laboratory demonstrated harsher moral judgments toward violations of sexual purity and were more likely to report being politically conservative than control participants. Together, these experiments provide further evidence of a deep link between physical purity and moral judgment, and they offer preliminary evidence that manipulations of physical purity can influence general (and putatively stable) political attitudes.”
Photo: flickr/lucyfrench123
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: A solution to the debt deadlock?
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Election week flashback: Democrats and Republicans can be differentiated from their faces.
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
September 26 2011
NCBI ROFL: Science discovers ideal mortician phone number is 1-800-CORPSES.
I 5683 you: dialing phone numbers on cell phones activates key-concordant concepts.
“When people perform actions, effects associated with the actions are activated mentally, even if those effects are not apparent. This study tested whether sequences of simulations of virtual action effects can be integrated into a meaning of their own. Cell phones were used to test this hypothesis because pressing a key on a phone is habitually associated with both digits (dialing numbers) and letters (typing text messages). In Experiment 1, dialing digit sequences induced the meaning of words that share the same key sequence (e.g., 5683, LOVE). This occurred even though the letters were not labeled on the keypad, and participants were not aware of the digit-letter correspondences. In Experiment 2, subjects preferred dialing numbers implying positive words (e.g., 37326, DREAM) over dialing numbers implying negative words (e.g., 75463, SLIME). In Experiment 3, subjects preferred companies with phone numbers implying a company-related word (e.g., LOVE for a dating agency, CORPSE for a mortician) compared with companies with phone numbers implying a company-unrelated word.”
Photo: flickr/msciba
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: OMG! ur cell phone is mkng u impotent.
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
September 13 2011
NCBI ROFL: Double feature: swinging and pumping techniques.
An assessment of swinger techniques for the playground swing oscillatory motion.
Much attention has been devoted to how playground swing amplitudes are built up by swinger techniques, i.e. body actions. However, very little attention has been given to the requirements that such swinger techniques place on the swinger himself. The purpose of this study was to find out whether different swinger techniques yield significantly different maximum torques, endurance and coordinative skills, and also to identify preferable techniques. We modelled the seated swinger as a rigid dumbbell and compared three different techniques. A series of computer simulations were run with each technique, testing the performance with different body rotational speeds, delayed onset of body rotation and different body mass distributions, as swing amplitudes were brought up towards 90°. One technique was found to be extremely sensitive to the timing of body actions, limiting swing amplitudes to 50° and 8° when body action was delayed by 0.03 and 0.3 s, respectively. Two other more robust techniques reached 90° even with the largest of these delays, although more time (and endurance) was needed. However, these two methods also differed with respect to maximum torque and endurance, and none was preferable in both these aspects, being dependent on the swinger goals and abilities.”
Pumping a playground swing.
“In mechanical studies of pumping a playground swing, two methods of energy insertion have been identified: parametric pumping and driven oscillation. While parametric pumping involves the systematic raising and lowering of the swinger’s center of mass (CM) along the swing’s radial axis (rope), driven oscillation may be conceived as rotation of the CM around a pivot point at a fixed distance to the point of suspension. We examined the relative contributions of those two methods of energy insertion by inviting 18 participants to pump a swing from standstill and by measuring and analyzing the swing-swinger system (defined by eight markers) in the sagittal plane. Overall, driven oscillation was found to play a major role and parametric pumping a subordinate role, although the relative contribution of driven oscillation decreased as swinging amplitude increased, whereas that of parametric pumping increased slightly. Principal component analysis revealed that the coordination pattern of the swing-swinger system was largely determined (up to 95%) by the swing’s motion, while correlation analysis revealed that (within the remaining 5% of variance) trunk and leg rotations were strongly coupled.”
Photo: flickr/terren in Virginia
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WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
September 12 2011
NCBI ROFL: Damn girl, you’re so hot, it makes me aware of my own mortality.
The siren’s call: terror management and the threat of men’s sexual attraction to women.
“Why do sexually appealing women often attract derogation and aggression? According to terror management theory, women’s sexual allure threatens to increase men’s awareness of their corporeality and thus mortality. Accordingly, in Study 1 a subliminal mortality prime decreased men’s but not women’s attractiveness ratings of alluring women. In Study 2, mortality salience (MS) led men to downplay their sexual intent toward a sexy woman. In Study 3, MS decreased men’s interest in a seductive but not a wholesome woman. In Study 4, MS decreased men’s but not women’s attraction to a sexy opposite-sex target. In Study 5, MS and a corporeal lust prime increased men’s tolerance of aggression toward women. Discussion focuses on mortality concerns and male sexual ambivalence.”
Photo: flickr/ dullhunk
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WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
September 08 2011
NCBI ROFL: On the purpose of the belly button.
Umbilicus as a fitness signal in humans.
“Typically, mammalian umbilical cord forms a tiny, stable, and asymmetrical scar. In contrast, humans have a clearly visible umbilicus that changes with age and nutrients gathered. Based on this, I propose that umbilicus, together with the surrounding skin area, is an honest signal of individual vigour. More precisely, I suggest that the symmetry, shape, and position of umbilicus can be used to estimate the reproductive potential of fertile females, including risks of certain genetically and maternally inherited fetal anomalies. The idea is supported by a comparative study where symmetrical t-shaped and oval-shaped umbilici of fertile females were considered the most attractive. Further support comes from observations that abnormal velocity of umbilical cord has been associated with fetal brain development, diabetes, and other fitness-related properties with a strong genetically or maternally inherited component. In addition, umbilicus and the umbilical skin area may reveal nutrimental competitive ability, and need for social care in small children and pregnant females. The novel hypothesis explains why umbilicus has aesthetic value, and why umbilicus has had a distinctive role in different cultures. If further research confirms the signalling hypothesis, female umbilici may be routinely measured to detect risk pregnancies of several fetal abnormalities.”
Image: flickr/jessicafm
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WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
September 01 2011
NCBI ROFL: Canine analogs of human personality factors.
“Analysis of the behavioral traits of 56 breeds of dog produced three factors with some similarities to the popular five-factor model of human personality: (a) reactivity–surgency, (b) aggression–disagreeableness, and (c) trainability–openness. Canine and human personality similarities are argued to have their origin in biogenetic factors stemming from common evolutionary sources and from canine breeding for human compatibility and assistance with human tasks. Each of the three canine factors was shown to have a highly visible morphological indicator between breeds of dog. Reactivity–surgency was related to overall size, aggression–disagreeableness was related to having pointed ears, and trainability–openness was related to the ponderal index [Ed. note: this is similar to body-mass index].”
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Photo: flickr/matt512
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Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Behavioural responses of dogs to asymmetrical tail wagging of a robotic dog replica.
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
August 31 2011
NCBI ROFL: Chasmology: the scientific study of yawning.
The hidden sexuality of the yawn and the future of chasmology.
“Chasmology is the scientific study of yawning. Though its official history started only recently, its unofficial history stretches back to antiquity. This chapter outlines the history and current state of chasmology, through textual research and analysis, and offers a vision of its future. Particular emphasis is placed upon the author’s favorite theory: the hidden sexuality of the human yawn. The ‘First Law of Chasmology’ states that a yawn occurs: (1) if the yawner cannot do what he would like to do, or (2) if the yawner must do something that he would rather not do. The ‘Second Law of Chasmology’, which is a special instance of the more general First Law, states that the yawn has an erotic and even a sexual aspect. A critical mass of proof for the validity of this Second Law is derived from various sciences and disciplines, ranging from theology and (the history of) art to ethology and pharmacology. The process of evidencing the Second Law has also established chasmology as an emerging science, i.e. a science that uses the data and information ...
August 19 2011
NCBI ROFL: What did God do with Adam’s penis bone?
Congenital human baculum deficiency: the generative bone of Genesis 2:21-23.
“Another genetic condition, extending to 100% of human males, is the congenital lack of a baculum. Whereas most mammals (including common species such as dogs and mice) and most other primates (excepting spider monkeys) have a penile bone, human males lack this bone and must rely on fluid hydraulics to maintain erections. This is not an insignificant bone. The baculum of a large dog can be 10 cm long x 1.3 cm wide x 1 cm thick… Human bacula have been reported, usually in association with other congenital diseases or penile abnormalities.
One of the creation stories in Genesis may be an explanatory myth wherein the Bible attempts to find a cause for why human males lack this particular bone. Our opinion is that Adam did not lose a rib in the creation of Eve. Any ancient Israelite (or for that matter, any American child) would be expected to know that there is an equal (and even) number of ribs in both men and women. Moreover, ribs lack any intrinsic generative capacity. We think it is far more probable that it was ...
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