Monthly Archives: April 2007

Encephalon 21 arrives

April 24, 2007 – 11:00 am

The 21st edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on neurobiology of aging blog Ouroboros. A couple of my favourites include Dr Deborah Serani discussing a to-be-released psychotherapy game for the Nintendo DS, and Neurophilosopher with a wonderfully in-depth article on Dostoyevsky’s epilepsy. There are many more fantastic articles […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Leave a Comment

Health Report on ADHD and child eating disorders

April 23, 2007 – 9:30 pm

ABC Radio National’s Health Report had a recent programme in two halves, one looking at how eating disorders manifest in childhood and adolescence and another on girls diagnosed with ADHD. Unexpectedly, the guest for the second section, psychologist Prof Steve Hinshaw, is asked about his work on stigma and mental illness and has some interesting […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Togetherness | Leave a Comment

Wear your brain on your sleeve

April 23, 2007 – 9:00 pm

Shirt and t-shirt site Hide Your Arms has just reviewed a fantastic t-shirt that has a wonderful exploded brain picture on the front and a recent neuroscience news story on the back. The shirt is from a company called T-Post who send subscribers a new t-shirt every six weeks based on a recent news story. […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Nonsense | Leave a Comment

SciAmMind on body image and coma-like states

April 23, 2007 – 9:00 am

A new edition of Scientific American Mind has arrived with two freely available articles online: one on the distortion of body image in eating disorders and the other on whether brain scans could be a communication channel for people in coma-like vegetative states. Perhaps the key feature of eating disorders such as anorexia is not […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Leave a Comment

Journalists at risk from electronic smog

April 22, 2007 – 1:30 pm

The Independent on Sunday has the dubious honour of publishing one of the worst pieces of science journalism I have ever read on today’s front cover – claiming to ‘reveal’ that children are at risk from Wi-Fi computer networks because of their developing nervous systems. The headlines include “Children at risk from electronic smog”, “Revealed: […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Nonsense | Comments (2)

For one night only: Art from the inside

April 22, 2007 – 8:00 am

Being at St Clements is a one night only art event being held in London on the night of Tuesday 24th April to showcase a project combining the talents of dedicated artists and patients from a psychiatric hospital. The event will present some brand new multimedia works, including a never before seen video and animation […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Comments (1)

The defeat of sleep

April 21, 2007 – 9:00 am

BBC Radio 4 recently broadcast a documentary on the effects of the new generation of anti-sleep drugs on health and society. Drugs, such as modafinil and adrafinil, seem to remove the need for sleep and promote alertness while having minimal side-effects in most users. Unlike older drugs which prevent sleep, such as amphetamine, these drugs […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Leave a Comment

A quick snack before the main meal?

April 20, 2007 – 2:00 pm

I returned from lunch and was surprised to find an email from The Mind Lab giving details of the ‘chocolate vs kissing’ study we reported on earlier and dismissed as rubbish. So, is it junk? Well, it certainly wouldn’t get published in an academic journal, but it’s certainly not as far-fetched as it seemed from […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Leave a Comment

Psychology in top ten most satisfying jobs in America

April 20, 2007 – 12:00 pm

Yahoo! News is reporting that psychology has been ranked the 9th most satisifying job in America. The ranking is from a project from the University of Chicago called the ‘General Social Survey’ which monitors changes in attitude and behaviour across various populations. I can’t actually find the original research online, but any pointers would be […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Leave a Comment

2007-04-20 Spike activity

April 20, 2007 – 8:00 am

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: Cognitive Daily investigates the curious psychological effects of self-refilling bowls. The San Francisco Chronicle discusses OCD from the perspective of a popular radio broadcaster and author who experiences the condition. OmniBrain finds three auditory illusions you can try yourself. Recent find of an old […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Linkage | Leave a Comment

Jeff Hawkins on making AI more human

April 19, 2007 – 9:30 pm

Independent artificial intelligence researcher Jeff Hawkins has an article in this month’s IEEE Spectrum magazine asking the question ‘why can’t a computer be more like a brain?’. Hawkins argues that while we hope that machines will be able to simulate human intelligence, we ignore the thing that makes us so – the brain. He suggests […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Inside the Brain | Leave a Comment

I Think With My Brain Now

April 19, 2007 – 9:00 pm

You wait all day for a neuroscience version of an 80s pop song with scientifically accurate lyrics, and two come along at once. Hot on the heels of the occipital lobe remix of Britney’s Baby One more Time… comes a re-working of Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now. This time, some medical students who have […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Nonsense | Leave a Comment

NewSci on gender identity and the effects of media

April 19, 2007 – 9:30 am

This week’s New Scientist has two articles of interest to mind and brain enthusiasts: one on gender identity disorder in adolescents, and the other on the psychological effects of modern media. Unfortunately, neither are open access articles, so you’ll need to track down a copy at the newsagent or library if you want to have […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in News | Leave a Comment

Brain surgery robot

April 18, 2007 – 10:00 pm

Researchers from the University of Calgary have released the first version of NeuroArm – a surgeon-controlled robot for conducting brain surgery. The key feature of the robot is that it is designed to work inside an MRI brain scanner. MRI scans currently provide the most accurate structural image of the brain and therefore provide important […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Inside the Brain | Leave a Comment

Neuroimaging Britishness

April 18, 2007 – 3:30 pm

A recent study comparing British and non-British participants has found some compelling differences in brain structure that may account for differences in national character. One of the images from the study is available online and is a striking demonstration of how cognitive neuroscience can answer some of the mysteries of cultural diversity. Link to online […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Nonsense | Leave a Comment

I don’t know who I am

April 18, 2007 – 9:00 am

The New York Times has just published an article on dissociative fugue, the poorly understood memory disorder where people seem to forget who they are. It has many similarities to conversion disorder where people seem to experience a disability (such as paralysis) despite having nothing medically wrong with them. Both conversion disorder and dissociative fugue […]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Remembering | Comments (2)
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