2009-07-03 Spike activity

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The ‘men agree on female attractiveness, women don’t on male attractiveness’ story has been a little exaggerated. There was consensus in both groups, just more in men than women.

The British Journal of Psychiatry has started putting fantastic art on its covers with a brief discussion of the piece. This month ‘Welcome to my <a href="Welcome to My Psychosis
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/vol195/issue1/cover.dtl”>Psychosis‘.

A piece from BBC News on psychologists studying their own children to understand language development is clearly ripped off the New York Times, but it’s still very good.

The Economist reports on a study finding that depression is linked to how willing someone is to give up their goals.

Divorce rates are dropping. Is marriage being rehabilitated asks The New York Times. Jonah Lehrer also mans the marricades.

New Scientist discusses spite and theories on the function of social punishment.

Ten key studies that tell us about group behaviour are covered by PsyBlog.

Advances in the History of Psychology covers a US legal case that was a key moment in the history of eugenics for mental disability.

There’s an excellent neuroimaging study in PLoS One finding that brain areas linked to social cognition (described rather grandly as ’empathy’ areas) are activated more by sweat from anxiety than sweat from sport.

Big Picture magazine is an awesome resource for teachers that gives neuroscience activities and materials. Latest issue on ‘Music, Mind and Medicine’.

An anthropologist working for Intel discusses her work on ABC Radio National’s Future Tense.

In Our Time, the excellent BBC Radio 4 history of ideas programme has a discussion on <a href="Logical positivism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iot/”>logical positivism.

Neurotech market analyst Zack Lynch gives an interview on emerging commercial neuroscience markets and participates in a discussion about cognitive enhancers on Canadian TV show The Agenda.

The Frontal Cortex finds an entertaining interview with Oliver Sacks on US comedy programme

A list of Top 10 psychology feeds on Twitter is on PsychCentral and there’s also a follow-up with a few more. Mostly therapist focussed but a good collection.

The Independent sends one of its reporters to try out a number of ‘legal highs‘. But I thought love was the drug?

There’s a tale of two suppressed studies at the Neuroskeptic.

Deric Bownds’ MindBlog has been excellent recently. Go check it out!

A ‘treat violence like a disease’ safer streets project is discussed by New Scientist.

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica has started some surprisingly good psychiatry podcasts.

There’s a segment on brain cancer on ABC Radio National’s Health Report.

Danvers State Insane Asylum is a wonderful website on the history of this imposing gothic asylum built in 1878.

Two-year-olds possess grammatical insights according to a study covered by New Scientist.

Analysis from BBC Radio 4 has a good programme on experimental philosophy and morality. Grab the mp3 before it gets sucked into the black hole of their butchered archiveless website.

We have larger responses in brain areas linked to social cognition when seeing people of our own race in pain, according to a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Neuron Culture covers a fascinating study finding that the effect of Ritalin may partly be due to a placebo effect in the parents.

My mate Rich at PC Advisor riffs on the Troublemaker’s Fringe and the ‘Facebook causes cancer’ panic.

Dr Shock has an excellent post on placebo response in transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Picasso or Prosopometamorphopsia? asks a fantastic post on The Neurocritic on a neuropsychological disorder where faces seem distorted.