Ancestry testing

• We are more closely related than we think. A family tree isn't the most scientifically accurate metaphor: Trees branch out while family trees contain loops, for example, as a result of first cousins having children.
• The commercial genetic tests remain scientifically unconvincing.

The core of many racist stereotypes is that race is a biological classification.

• We are told that race is a social construct, only to have scientists carelessly mention both race and ethnicity in their research papers.
• The majority of geneticists think genetic differences between ethnic groups are meaningless regarding behavior or innate abilities. But scientific papers still show genes for complex traits, like intelligence, are along racial lines.
• Race science is pseudoscience, but genetics and evolutionary research are tied up with race.

Scientists are continually finding links between genetics and nutrition. Many of us have a gene called FTO that makes us more likely to be overweight. You can get a genetic test to tell which variant of the FTO gene you happen to have.

However, scientists who study the genetics of nutrition think it’s premature to base nutritional advice on your DNA. That FTO gene, for example, has only been shown to make a few pounds’ difference in body weight.

The coded messages of your DNA are billions of letters (nucleotides) long. Personalized nutrition companies only care about a few of your DNA letters and can tell you which "variant" you have at each of those locations (known as SNPs) along your DNA strands.

Genetic testing companies can learn what SNP variants you have by supplying them with a vial of spit.

Consumer genetic testing is expanding as more than 26 million people have taken this kind of test, according to the MIT Technology Review.

DNA tests are still considered estimates, due to imperfect data.

When a person wanting to give the test provides the DNA sample through the saliva, the company checks for variance in the saliva, as 99.9 percent of the DNA is the same in humans.

The body is an orchestra of organs, each providing an essential function. In this metaphor, the circadian rhythm is the conductor. The conductor makes every neurotransmitter, every hormone, and every chemical in the body cycle with the daily rhythm.

This makes us our sleep habits unique and tailored.

Being a morning (or evening) person is inborn, genetic, and very hard to change.

Elon Musk (Founder Of Spacex, Tesla Motors And Contributor To Paypal): Musk, at 12 years old, taught himself to code and sold a game he made for $500. When he moved to Canada, he worked odd jobs including tending vegetables, shoveling out grain bins, and cleaning out gunk from a boiler room in a lumber mill.

In university, Elon sold computer parts to make extra cash and turned his 10 bedroom fraternity home into a nightclub on the weekends and charged a cover. Since then, he’s built several companies, including SpaceX, Tesla Motors, PayPal, and zip2.

“It’s important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become more memorable.”

Due to the new kinds of microbes discovered in villagers, all the previous research on diet and microbes, which used the baseline data of the Western civilization microbe, thought to be the healthy and normal microbe, is now incorrect. 

The Western world has stomach microbial communities that could digest junk food and might re-diversify and recover (to a limited extent) if we just ate more whole grains and veggies.

Plant-based protein sources are not the same as animal protein sources. Proteins are made up of amino acids which are the building blocks of every cell and hormone in our body. Meat protein contains all nine essential amino acids, whereas plant-based protein usually lacks at least one of the nine essential amino acids our body needs.

Unripe jackfruit makes a convincing choice for pulled pork alternatives, curries and burgers. But it is almost valueless if you needed protein since jackfruit consists of carbohydrates. Vegan burgers are made up of beans, but this is not a complete protein source.

One study found that 25% of vegans (mainly women) had very low blood iron levels, compared to 0% of omnivores.

Plants like whole grains, legumes and spinach are high in iron but is not always the best type. Animal sources contain haem iron. Non-haem iron, found in plants, is not as well absorbed by the body.

People may not be communicating well about what they want in their partners or may have a lack of awareness, or even a myopic view of their life. Experiencing it for themselves is a better bet to find out what works.

The dreamy idols that make up our early stages of attractions, especially at a young age, do not translate into someone one can spend the entire life with, where mundane activities like picking up groceries and taking care of the kids take precedence over being handsome or inspiring.

1. Write goals that align with your values. If your career goals aren’t supporting your life goals, you are bound to have a miserable existence.
2. Set goals that you can control. Unless every aspect of the goal you set is under your control, you have very little likelihood of ever achieving it.
3. Think big. Set your sights higher than most might believe practicable.
4. Give yourself time. Start by visualizing where you want to end up in life, then the things you need to get there are pretty easy to plot out.
5. Plan for success. Do not ask “What if I fail?” but rather “What if I succeed?”
6. Manage your risks. Success will carry some measure of risk. Consider the risks and weigh them against the reward.

• Mix N match Emotions: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a newly coined mix of envy, fear, and sadness.
• Social Emotions: Feelings like guilt, shame and embarrassment are social emotions, and can even be found in dogs.
• Fear: Emotions like fear and anxiety are hard to pinpoint in the brain's geographical area, due to the presence of multiple fear circuits.

If our emotions are constructed by our minds, it means they can also be de-constructed or even reconstructed.

The brain loves to identify, tag, or label all the feelings and emotions that are being experienced.

New studies show that changing the name of the emotion can change the feeling that is produced by hearing that emotion, and the brain may be able to create or make up emotions that don't have a label yet.