Category Archives: Nonsense

As addictive as cupcakes

May 7, 2012 – 11:51 am

If I read the phrase “as addictive as cocaine” one more time I’m going to hit the bottle. Anything that is either overused, pleasurable or has become vaguely associated with the dopamine system is compared to cocaine. In fact, here is a list of things claimed to be as addictive as the illegal nose powder [...]

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Theory | Comments (18)

Neurological knitwear

May 2, 2012 – 9:49 pm

One of the disappointing things about the upcoming US presidential elections is that none of the potential candidates has promised the people a made-to-order knitted brain hat. Fear not though, as citizens can now order their own. Etsy user Anabananna hand knits the woolly neuroogical headgear to your specification and ships them to you. You [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (1)

At least it’s not Twitter

February 29, 2012 – 1:43 am

Susan Greenfield, the neuroscientist who seems to have given up on science but constantly appears in the media telling people that ‘the internet can damage your brain,’ now has a website and a YouTube channel. A sense of irony, however, seems still to be on pre-order from Amazon.   Link to susangreenfield.com but DON’T RISK [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (6)

The hot Gosling effect

February 15, 2012 – 11:25 pm

A bizarre and funny tumblr called Neuroscientist Ryan Gosling that has nothing but pictures of Ryan Gosling making hot neuroscience innuendos. It was bound to happen eventually.

By vaughanbell | Comments (4)

A very brief guide to the DSM

January 3, 2012 – 5:35 pm

The British Journal of Psychiatry’s ’100 words’ series continues with a very brief guide to the DSM psychiatric manual and its ongoing revision. DSM is an American classification system that has dominated since 1980. It is disliked by many for reducing diagnostic skills to a cold list of operational criteria, yet embraced by researchers believing [...]

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Theory | Comments (8)

Food for thought

December 7, 2011 – 12:58 am

  Life-sized edible brain sculptures from a series called ‘What have you got in your head?’ by artist Sara Asnaghi.   Link to full sculpture series (via BoingBoing).

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Seeing | Comments (3)

Brain in your medieval pants

December 4, 2011 – 1:57 pm

In Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings, the penis is connected directly to the brain. A 1986 article “On the sexual intercourse drawings of Leonardo da Vinci” explains why this connection, still commonly proposed today (although mostly as a metaphor it must be said), was thought to be anatomical fact by the great master. “A brief [...]

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Inside the Brain, Remembering | Comments (1)

Teen sex hamsters in health danger shock alert

December 2, 2011 – 12:17 pm

The Daily Mail is a UK newspaper famous for a moralising obsession with teen sex and a tragic, long-term science impairment. Most of their science stories are simply face-palm material but occasionally they produce unintentional works of comic genius. Today, is one of those days. Teenage sex ‘leads to bad moods’ in later life’ Having [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (10)

A theory of the bipolar economy

November 12, 2011 – 5:29 pm

If you’re convinced that the current cycle of the boom and bust economy is due to the collapse of collateralised debt obligations secured on oversold mortgages that destablised the European market due to its reliance on cheap loans from an artificially inflated US market – think again! A 1935 Psychological Review article proposed a ‘manic-depressive [...]

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Theory | Comments (3)

Bad celebrity tie-ins

October 26, 2011 – 4:03 am

No celebrity disaster is too tragic to remind us of an interesting fact about cognitive science. Some lowlights from the genre. Lindsay Lohan is likely to be jailed for violating her probation says The Christian Science Monitor – clearly an example illustrating recent findings from research on how behavior is influenced by like-minded cohorts rather [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (3)

The New York Times wees itself in public

October 2, 2011 – 7:13 pm

The New York Times has just pissed its neuroscientific pants in public and is now running round the streets announcing the fact in an op-ed that could as easily been titled ‘Smell my wee!’ The piece is written by Martin Lindström, famous for writing the ‘neuromarketing’ best-seller Buyology, but infamous for not making any of [...]

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Inside the Brain, Integrating | Comments (18)

The football cure / addiction

September 20, 2011 – 2:34 am

A psychologist from the University of Alabama says American football can absolutely heal the trauma that the deadly April tornados left behind but be careful because there is a risk you could suffer from football addiction. Clearly true because he says so in a priceless TV interview and the university backed it up in a [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (5)

Minding your own business

September 3, 2011 – 2:00 am

I’m just reading a review copy of Steven Pinker’s (excellent) new book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. This section, on how moral motivation is over-rated as a control on violence, just made me laugh out loud. The human moral sense can excuse any atrocity in the minds of those who [...]

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Theory | Comments (3)

Brainbox

August 20, 2011 – 3:51 pm

Some amazing brain graffiti found this morning, on the side of a derelict factory, on Bogotá’s Carrera 30, near to the Transmilenio station CAD. This is the second example of brain graffiti I’ve seen after finding the ‘Bogotá Neuronaut’ while I’ve only found one in Medellín so far.

By vaughanbell | Also posted in Inside the Brain | Comments (3)

The brain melting internet

August 1, 2011 – 6:16 pm

Susan Greenfield has been wibbling to the media again about how the internet is melting the brains of young children. Quite frankly, I’ve become fed up with discussing the evidence that refutes such outlandish claims but The Lay Scientist has a brilliant parody that manages to catch the main thrust behind her argument. I thought [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (14)

Couch of desire

July 9, 2011 – 11:21 pm

‘Sleaze’ books were cheap exploitation paperbacks written in the 1950s and sold to anyone with 50 cents to spare. A popular subgenre was psychiatrist’s couch bodice ripper that revealed the secrets of sexually frustrated patients or the lurid downfall of predatory doctors. They often turn up on eBay searches or can be tracked down through [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (2)
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