The world as a chocolate moose

I read the term "helicopter parenting" this morning and all I could picture was a helicopter and kids without connecting the maze of dots to the euphemism that it means.

Same with "ghosting" people. I didn't understand that until I got brave enough to ask last year what it meant. Recently, it was "gaslighting". (I don't look these things up with Google because I always think it's a social quirk that won't be found.)

Has anyone read the children's book, "Chocolate Moose for Dinner"? It's about homonyms. It may seem 'cute' and funny to most people, but it's actually a perfect description of literal thinking and communication for many people on the autism spectrum. (excellent article here) And why we don't understand most sarcasm and jokes.

I also think that may be why the overuse of 'like' in every sentence people speak makes me internally (and literally) cringe. Even my 6-yo grandson understands the meaning of the word 'like'.

Pangea gone wild

Pangea and the diversity of life. 

Most everyone knows what Pangea was: the largest supercontinent in Earth's history. All land masses united in a large group gathered together for a conference. They also shared all organisms on their surfaces before splitting into individual continents. 

This split didn't magically happen like many people think. It was a very long process. Pangea split into unequal halves forming two supercontinents: Laurasia and Gondwana. Additionally, these two landmasses continued sharing some flora and fauna over a long period of time.

Over millions of years further tectonic activity caused Laurasia and Gonwana to split into smaller landmasses gradually forming the continents we are familiar with today. This long process was a key impact on early evolution of both flora and fauna. 

The expanding distance between continents reduced exchanges of flora and fauna, eventually isolating many groups of life. Some fauna continued dispersal from continent to continent by rafts of islands or ice. Others migrated by air (e.g.seed and flying animals). Our knowledge of the degree of and when continental shifting impacted evolution of flora and fauna is continually evolving (pun intended) in the field of biogeography. There are two theories:

"Do new species come from animals populating new territory (called dispersal), or did populations get separated during Earth’s breakup (called vicariance)?"

We know that both dispersal and vicariance played roles in early evolution of nearly all flora and fauna. And we need to consider that distribution of life occurred over a long periods of time, even during different stages in the evolution of flora and fauna. Local, regional and continental changes in topography or climate can influence dispersal of isolated populations. It can also expand habitats for others enabling mixing of populations where isolation barriers once existed. 

Several approaches can help elucidate the contribution of vicariance or dispersal at different points of an organism's evolution. The most valuable is phylogenic trees, structural diagrams that represent evolutionary relationships among organisms. The pattern of branching in these trees reflects how groups and individuals of  organisms evolved from a series of common ancestors and their predicted evolutionary timing. They are evolutionary 'trees'. 

A group of scientists used the data within a set called the Timetree of Life. It is a phylogenic tree of life scaled to time. Using data for major freshwater and terrestrial vertebrate groups (animals with backbones: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) that were descended from common ancestors and represented on at least two continents, they examined when they diverged. 

Dates of divergence of those groups separated by continents lined up with the continents geographically separating. This supports the theory of vicariance over dispersal as the major cause for speciation. However, this may change as the data sets change. 

There are considerations that may impact this theory. One is the contribution of moving pieces of land, such as land bridges. Another is narrow bodies of water separating the shifting continents and facilitating both flora and land dispersal. 

As the author of the article highlighting the study commented, "this paper is swinging the pendulum between two competing ideas". And, as science is sometimes fraught with binary thinking, the two theories don't have to be a "competition", or mutually exclusive. Life isn't A or B; it is a dynamic collection of events that can happen together or seamlessly flow from one to the other. Generalizations don't always pan(gea) out. 

Humans are not islands

"Pathosystem" 

I like that term. It encompasses a systems perspective -both pathogen and host- rather than focusing on just a single component of a system. It is an ecosystems perspective with emphasis on pathogen-host-environment. 

My academic career spanned plant, animal and human pathology (except for the last several years in physiology). A systems perspective is always inherent in the first two, less so in human pathology. It's as if Descartes binary philosophy (separation of mind and body) extended to separation of body and the environment in which bodies exist. As medical specialization demonstrates, even separation of organs from the rest of the body. 

I have wondered if this might be a contributing factor in some of the failures of modern medicine. An example is the lack of translational research of human psychology and medicine. 

The prime example is diabetes: lot of research in physiology and pharmacology, but little research and application of how/what to inform and impact people to change and adopt behaviors that prevent and reduce diabetes. This extends also to social systems: education, policy, connecting the production, supply and access of nutritious food. 

We know how this works and how to achieve these goals with plants and animals. And we practice it, most of the time. The question is why can't we do it for ourselves, and other people? 

This is what we really need to focus on. It's that part of the 'ecosystem' that is dysfunctional. Science should be the leader in this. 

Why isn't it? Has that failed us, too?

Theories and uncertainty

I love this quote. Wish I had it on a rubber stamp. 

"Being unable to accurately measure the thing on which a theory is based is a fairly fundamental uncertainty." - John Kennedy, climate scientist and physicist

 Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in measurement, anybody? 

All change is not equal: good change and bad change

One commonly known trait of autism is fear of change. Reaction to change can be extreme, e.g. a 'meltdown', or mild, such as slight anxiety. It's usually inherent, but also adaptive. 

As a child and through early adulthood, I did not deal well with change. It always induced anxiety. Most times it manifested in a controlled way: part or complete shutdown. I just completely withdrew into myself and shut my mind and body 'off'. A few times it resulted in stomping, angry yelling, shaking, sweating, and/or crying. Commonly called 'tantrums'. But it was rarely explosive (mostly due to consistent shaming "Girls don't act that way!"*).

I remember my mother telling the adult me on the phone once, "You don't like change, do you." It wasn't a question; it was a statement. I realized she was right. Remembering something I saw on the TV a few years prior helped me to try and address that. 

During torrential flooding from a massive storm in California may years before, a river overflowed it's banks and flooded a town. A media crew in a boat was filming the damage and talking about it. As they floated past a house with water nearly up to the eaves, they asked a man on the roof what it was like. He smiled and calmly said "Change is good!!". 

That 30-second film clip is anchored in my brain. I reach for and use it whenever a big change is expected or pops up unexpectedly. It sets a stage for me to navigate through a change, be it having to go to a new doctor, moving across the country, losing my funding for research and finding a new position, going to a place I haven't been before, etc. Especially a change in routine. For example, unable to follow my gym schedule (this really upsets me) due to an illness or other demand. 

A more recent huge change was retiring from academia. I'm still dealing with that 10 years later, but better than immediately afterwards. Another was changing my  post-retirement routine, which was travelling around the country for nine years in my travel trailer and working at wildlife refuges. The latter was a sacrifice for my daughter and her family, and one I would not have made for anyone else. I'm still trying to adapt to that, too.

Being an adult with late-identified Asperger's, I had already established ways to mitigate many of my Asperger's idiosyncrasies. One is by masking my behavior (especially in academia). But that comes at a cost when done for too long. The edges start crumbling and people say I'm edgy and irritated. Or I'll shut down: I turn into a zombie. If I don't get a reprieve, I blow up. 

Some people ask me how I handled traveling around the country so often if I am on the autism spectrum. "You're not afraid of change! You can't be autistic.". That's not exactly correct. I'm not 'afraid' of change because logically I now know and accept that life is full of change. But I can get anxious about change. Sometimes more than others. And, after 5 decades I've learned ways to cope. Most times.

One is anticipation and expectation. If I know a change is coming, I plan for it. Often to the minute details. It then becomes a sequential adaptation. For my trips across country, I would plan routes, timing, location and time stops for gas, overnight stops, and arrivals. My biggest anxiety was breakdowns (which did happen once). 

Unanticipated changes are slightly different. If it involves sensory changes, it has more immediate responses that I can't control. Such as flashing lights, loud sounds, etc. "Everybody does!", you might think. Sure, but do they cause extreme physical and mental reactions that last too long? Does a loud muffler cause your entire body to shake, lose your balance, and your head feeling like it's going to explode for several minutes? Does a child's screaming sear your brain like hot pokers? (think of someone putting your head next to a fire siren) Do flashes of bright light cause you to lose balance and make you nauseous? Does constant dog barking feel like a hammer beating your head? If someone grabs/hugs/or touches me unexpectantly, I'll flail and back away in a 'fight or flight' response. (Please don't hug me.)

Sensory perception, integration and/or processing are different for many on the AS.  Learning about how the autistic brain is wired differently than neurotypical brains and how to mitigate reactions to triggers helps. I wear sunglasses a lot, my regular glasses have a tint to negate fluorescent lights, and are progressive darkening. I carry noise canceling ear plugs all the time. 

The last 40+ years have been forcefully camouflaging myself to be like the neurotypical 'normal'. But it has never been my 'normal'; rarely being myself. It's like wearing a costume most of the time. And it's exhausting. Meeting other neurodivergent people has been an awakening that I'm not alone. 

I now feel affirmed and courageous enough to ask people not to hug me or to ask first. (wish I had a shirt that read, "Please respect my personal space") Most times I compromise, but other times will be who and what I am: different. When necessary, I will tell a person I'm Asperger's, or on the AS. Mostly because I want to contribute to educating others about autism and change stereotypic 'typing' of autistics by neurotypical people. But also to encourage them to meet us halfway. 

Those are good changes.

👉For an excellent description of what the "Autism Spectrum" really is, read this webpage, "What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?". 

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* One thing that has helped with that (all my life) is motion: pacing, twitching my leg, thumbing on a surface with my fingers, playing with my hair, bouncing on the balls of my feet, twirling my pen/pencil. Running is good; riding a horse or motorcycle is freedom. All the others mentioned were punished by my mother or teachers: slaps on the hands or knee, having to sit on my hands, told to stand still, etc. Later, it manifested in outdoor physical work and lifting weights. I wasn't hyper: it was a way of physically dealing with stress and anxiety. It 'quieted the brain and body'.