TVTV Talks Back: A Rebuttal

NRG-1 talks back to neurons

n page 1133, Bao et al. demonstrate that a neuronal growth factor signals to neighboring cells while also communicating back to the nucleus of its own cell. This two-way signaling is necessary to maintain neuronal survival. In the forward direction , either a soluble or membrane-bound form of the Nrg-1 growth factor activates erbB receptor tyrosine kinases on a variety of adjacent cells. The Nr...

When the audience talks back: MOOCs and “super” discourse

Opportunities for co-produced digital media find users differentially involved within emergent and unfamiliar configurations of technologies, organizations, and complex information flows. Addressing the interaction patterns and rhetorical practices of the most frequent contributors to online discussion forums in comparison to the majority of infrequent contributors, this analysis considers the ...

Risk homeostasis hypothesis: a rebuttal.

In his latest overview published as an “Opinion”, Wilde asserts that “The theory of risk homeostasis (also known as ‘risk compensation’) was primarily developed and validated in the area of road safety”. Nothing could be further from the truth. These so-called theories that purport to explain human behavior in the face of risk are nothing more than hypotheses with a large body of empirical evid...

A second rebuttal on health.

This essay replies to critics since 1995 of my "biostatistical theory" (BST) of health. According to the BST, a pathological condition is a state of statistically species-subnormal biological part-functional ability, relative to sex and age. Theoretical health, the total absence of pathological conditions, is then a value-free scientific notion. Recent critics offer a mixture of old and new obj...

Plenary Talks