Monthly Archives: January 2010

Touch Of Fire

January 4, 2010 – 6:00 pm

The pictures are the interesting results of an MRI scan on a 15-year-old boy who had his hair in ‘twists’ that were held in place with beeswax coloured black with iron oxide. The iron oxide is magnetic and it interfered with the scanners’ magnetic field causing the rather lovely aura effect on the images. This [...]

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

Nuthin’ but a G thang

January 4, 2010 – 12:00 pm

Dr Petra has an excellent write-up of the new study which has been widely reported as showing there is ‘no genetic evidence for the g spot’, but in fact indicates that there is ‘no genetic evidence for thinking you have a g spot’, which is quite a different thing and doesn’t bear particularly well on [...]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Integrating | Leave a Comment

World-wide cocaine cut mystery

January 4, 2010 – 8:00 am

A veterinary deworming drug called levamisole has mysteriously appeared in almost two-thirds of cocaine seized in the United States and is now common throughout the world. No-one is quite sure why, although some researchers have suggested that it may be added to boost the effect of cocaine in the brain. Now a brief article in [...]

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

The death row inmate

January 3, 2010 – 8:00 am

A summary of an eye-opening 2002 article on the psychological characteristics of prisoners on ‘death row‘ in the United States, published in the journal Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Death row inmate characteristics, adjustment, and confinement: a critical review of the literature Behav Sci Law. 2002;20(1-2):191-210. Cunningham MD, Vigen MP. This article reviews and summarizes [...]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Integrating | Leave a Comment

The psychology of ‘super-human strength’

January 2, 2010 – 8:00 am

Scientific American has an interesting short piece on whether people can really demonstrate super-human strength in emergency situations. The typical story is where someone is trapped under a car after an accident and a friend or relative manages to lift a seemingly impossible weight to free them. This common tale has all the hallmarks of [...]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Integrating | Comments (8)

2010-01-01 Spike activity

January 1, 2010 – 8:00 am

Quick links from the past two weeks in mind and brain news: The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the psychology of will power in light of the season for New Year’s resolutions. As a follow-up to the review of the year, Dr Petra discusses some sex and relationships predictions for 2010. By [...]

By vaughanbell | Posted in Linkage | Comments (1)
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 698 other followers