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A cuckoo’s nest museum
The New York Times reports that the psychiatric hospital used as the backdrop for the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has been turned into a museum of mental health. In real life the institution was Oregon State Hospital and the article is accompanied by a slide show of images from the hospital [...]
Coming to DC in May? April 1 is the last day for early bird rates
Want an opportunity to learn from many of the top psychologists and neuroscientists, and at a reasonable cost? Then sign up now for this year's annual conference of the Association for Psychological Science. I attended in 2011, and will do so again this year. It's a terrific learning experience, a way to keep up on many areas of science related...
Brain to Brain Interface
We are seeing the beginning of technology to interface computers and brains. I have been writing about brain-machine-interface (BMI) technology, and brain-machine-brain interface technology. Now we have a report of brain to brain communication, which is currently as close as we can come to telepathy. Actually, the technology is – brain to machine to another [...]
Neuroeconomics – Hype or Hope?
You may have perhaps heard of game-theory and behavioral economics, but like many within and outside the field the term neuroeconomics seems to be a revolutionary one. Neuroeconomics is, briefly put, an innovative research program, which combines findings and modeling tools from economics, psychology and neuroscience to account for human choice behavior. Neuroeconomics is, make [...]
The Superiority Illusion: where everyone is above average
NOTE: April Fool’s always catches me completely by surprise, and I’m really terrible at practical jokes anyway. So today’s post is not a joke. Real study. Really. Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. Garrison Keillor (Source) Much as we [...]
Are Cognitive Factors Related to Criminal Reoffending?
Image from Graphic Sociology Can Brain Activity Predict Criminal Reoffending? The previous post discussed a functional MRI study suggesting that the level of error-related activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) might have value in predicting whether a recently released prisoner will be rearrested within 4 years (Aharoni et al. Show More Summary
Gotham psychologist
Andrea Letamendi is a clinical psychologist who specialises in the treatment and research of traumatic stress disorders but also has a passionate interest in how psychological issues are depicted in comics. She puts her thoughts online in her blog Under the Mask which also discuss social issues in fandom and geek culture. Recently, she was [...]
Hallucinating sheet music
Oliver Sacks has just published an article on ‘Hallucinations of musical notation’ in the neurology journal Brain that recounts eight cases of illusory sheet music escaping into the world. The article makes the interesting point that the hallucinated musical notation is almost always nonsensical – either unreadable or not describing any listenable music – as [...]
FDA approves new multiple sclerosis treatment: Tecfidera
FDA approves new multiple sclerosis treatment: Tecfidera 27 March 2013 Resd the press release
Friday Weird Science: Manliness tastes really goaty.
Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today, talking about a study I borrowed from the bibliography of Mary Roach’s fabulous new book, Gulp: Adventures in the Alimentary Canal. And this study? What makes goat milk taste goaty (when it usually doesn’t)? Blame the male’s chemicals, and the urine it takes to get them where they need [...]
TEDEd: Haptics
The Technology of Touch by Dr. Katherine Kuchenbecker TEDEd Talk Watch
Bilingualism May Be Neuroprotective
The ability to communicate in multiple languages not only provides doorways to new cultural and social experiences but also apparently promotes brain growth and staves off the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of Kentucky and Kyungpook National University in South Korea studied 110 participants (who were either bilingual or monolingual) [...]
Can Brain Activity Predict Criminal Reoffending?
Is it possible for a brain scan to predict whether a recently paroled inmate will commit another crime within 4 years? A new study by Aharoni et al. (2013) suggests that the level of activity within the anterior cingulate cortex might...Show More Summary
Do 97% of UK Doctors Prescribe Placebos?
A recently published survey at PLOS One of UK primary care doctors reports that 97% have prescribed an “impure placebo” at least once in their career. Most news reporting of this survey leave off the “impure” bit. Let’s take a closer look at what this means. The survey asked about “pure” placebos, which are inactive [...]
Scicurious Guest Writer! The intricate art of origami: Protein misfolding and disease
Please welcome this month’s Scicurious Guest Writer: Emily Burns! Lots of people set themselves goals – like things to do by the time you’re 30. Maybe it’s to find your dream job, meet the love of your life, or travel the world! For sufferers of Cystic Fibrosis, it’s living to see your 30th birthday. Even [...]
Can Age-Related Forgetfulness be Overcome?
Most older adults accept forgetfulness as natural part of the aging process. However, a group of Canadian researchers from the University of Toronto and Baycrest Health Services have found that mature adults can boost their memory and even perform as well on memory tests as younger adults through distraction learning. This type of learning uses [...]
Debating Homeopathy Part II
Yesterday I discussed a recent debate in which I participated at UCONN, focusing on the plausibility of homeopathy. Today I will discuss the clinical evidence, and address some of the strategies employed by my opponent in the debate, Andre Saine. Does Homeopathy Work? Yesterday I made the case that homeopathy is highly implausible in many [...]
Yerkes and Eugenics
"Eugenics, the art of breeding better men, imperatively demands reliable measurement of human traits of body and mind, of their inter-relations, and of their modification by environmental factors."-Yerkes (1923)The previous post on Distrust...Show More Summary
Increasing telomerase to save you from stress
It seems that humans have, throughout their life history, suffered from a lot of stress. First there were lions and tigers and bears, then there were other humans with pointy metal objects, and now there are deadlines and traffic jams and bankruptcy. Stress, even the kind of stress many of us deal with nowadays, can [...]
What is the biggest, scariest mediation monster of all?
Before I venture an answer to the question in the title of this post, let me put forth a definition of monster, one of which I am particularly fond: Monster derives from the Latin word monstrum, which in turn derives from the root monere (to warn). To be a monster is to be an omen. --Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters:...
