CAROLINA NATURALLY: May 1, 2017

Monday, May 1, 2017

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Today in History

408		Theodosius II succeeds to the throne of Constantinople.
1308		King Albert is murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
1486		Christopher Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
1805		The state of Virginia passes a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
1863		The Battle of Chancellorsville begins as Union Gen. Joe Hooker starts his three-pronged attack against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
1867		Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration.
1877		Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
1898		The U.S. Navy under Commodore George Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1915		The luxury liner Lusitania leaves New York Harbor for a voyage to Europe.
1927		Adolf Hitler holds his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
1931		The Empire State Building opens in New York.
1934		The Philippine legislature accepts a U.S. proposal for independence.
1937		President Franklin Roosevelt signs an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
1941		The film Citizen Kane–directed and starring Orson Welles–opens in New York.
1944		The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, makes its first flight.
1945		Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escapes the Fuehrerbunker as the Red Army advances on Berlin.
1948		North Korea is established.
1950		Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.
1960		Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia.
1961		Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba.
1968		In the second day of battle, U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.
1970		Students from Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.
1986		The Tass News Agency reports the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
2011		Osama Bin Laden is killed in Abbottabad Pakistan by US Navy SEALS in Operation Neptune Spear.

The May 2017 issue of National Geographic features an in-depth look at What Makes a Genius. Author Claudia Kalb and photographer Paolo Woods bring us examples of genius, from Leonardo da Vinci to jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, with an overview of the scientific research into what makes those kinds of people different from the rest of us.

Throughout history bright minds have flocked to nexuses of creativity like Silicon Valley, where Wenzhao Lian, a researcher at Vicarious, an artificial intelligence company, teaches a robot how to recognize and manipulate objects. The company aims to develop programs that mimic the brain’s capacity for vision, language, and motor control. (Image credit: © Paulo Woods/National Geographic)

Advances in genetic research now make it possible to examine human traits at the molecular level. Over the past several decades, scientists have been searching for genes that contribute to intelligence, behavior, and even unique qualities like perfect pitch. In the case of intelligence, this research triggers ethical concerns about how it might be used; it is also exceedingly complex, as thousands of genes may be involved—each one with a very small effect. What about other kinds of abilities? Is there something innate in having an ear for music? Numerous accomplished musicians, including Mozart and Ella Fitzgerald, are believed to have had perfect pitch, which may have played a role in their extraordinary careers.
Genetic potential alone does not predict actual accomplishment. It also takes nurture to grow a genius. Social and cultural influences can provide that nourishment, creating clusters of genius at moments and places in history: Baghdad during Islam’s Golden Age, Kolkata during the Bengal Renaissance, Silicon Valley today.

Legendary Cyphers, a freestyle rap group, performs on Friday nights at Union Square Park in New York City. Collaboration fuels the event as artists take turns “spitting” lyrics. Like any creative undertaking, rapping requires practice. “If you do this enough, it’s like a muscle,” says Palladium Philoz, one of the group’s organizers. (Image credit: © Paulo Woods/National Geographic)
Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett improvises concerts that last for as long as two hours. "The only thing that works," he says, “is letting go.”

Natural gifts and a nurturing environment can still fall short of producing a genius, without motivation and tenacity propelling one forward. These personality traits, which pushed Darwin to spend two decades perfecting Origin of Species and Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan to produce thousands of formulas, inspire the work of psychologist Angela Duckworth. She believes that a combination of passion and perseverance—what she calls “grit”—drives people to achieve. Duckworth, herself a MacArthur Foundation “genius” and a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, says the concept of genius is too easily cloaked in layers of magic, as if great achievement erupts spontaneously with no hard work. She believes there are differences when it comes to individual talent, but no matter how brilliant a person, fortitude and discipline are critical to success. “When you really look at somebody who accomplishes something great,” she says, “it is not effortless.”

Some 10,000 pairs of identical and fraternal twins are part of geneticist Robert Plomin’s longitudinal study at King’s College London, providing clues about how genes and environment affect development. The genetics of intelligence are enormously complex. “Most geniuses,” says Plomin, “don’t come from genius parents.” Read the entire article at National Geographic. All images are from the May 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.

The Innovating, Creative Superpowers of ADHD

The Innovating, Creative Superpowers of ADHD

Meeting American River People

In 2014, Wes Modes and friends built a floating house, a #shantyboat made of reclaimed junk, and set off down the river. The purpose was to meet the folks who live and work along the riverbank and tell their stories in photos and interviews. The crew has been down the Mississippi and the Tennessee rivers in past summers, and plan to ride the Sacramento River this year. What they've found so far is in a multimedia project called A Secret History of American River People. Read about Modes' project at Laughing Squid and see teh results of the project so far at A Secret History of American River People.