Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Remember the study we covered on how a headache pill can ease the pain of social rejection? The Neurocritic has a skeptical look at the details.
The Atlantic has a fascinating article on witchcraft and the legal system in Central Africa.
The ‘Bloggers Behind the Blogs’ series is in full swing over at the BPS Research Digest. It seems we lack female psychology and neuroscience bloggers.
NPR has an engrossing case taken from the forthcoming Oliver Sacks book about a man who lost the ability to make sense of written words after a stroke. They call it ‘word blindness’ but it is more commonly known as ‘pure alexia’ in the medical literature.
Forensic psychology blog In the News discusses whether new proposals to make the propensity to rape a mental illness is a use or abuse of psychiatric diagnosis.
Scientific American Mind reports on a study finding that people with certain versions of the MAOA genes had 7.8% more credit card debt than those with different versions. Miscued ‘gene for credit card debt’ headlines in 3, 2, 1…
There’s a good analysis of a long overdue rethinking of the ‘disease model’ of addiction over at Addiction Inbox.
Nature News covers the ongoing problems with the US Military’s ‘Human Terrain System’ project that employs battlefield social scientists to understand the, er, human terrain.
There’s a fantastic picture set from Greystone Park, an abandoned state psychiatric hospital in New Jersey, over at the Environmental Graffiti blog.
New Scientist has an interview with the psychologists who created the fantastic ‘gorillas in our midst’ study. Don’t miss the new video in the article.
Seven ways to improve creativity taken from scientific experiments are covered by PsyBlog.
Science News covers news of a new hominid skeleton and what it might mean about human evolution. Needless to say, the debate is ongoing and heated.
Scientists can read your mind… as long as the’re allowed to look at more than one place in your brain and then make a prediction after seeing what you actually did. Excellent analysis of a new ‘neuromarketing’ study over at Applied Statistics.
Mental Nurse have been doing some fantastic investigative journalism on the debates about regulation of psychotherapists in the UK. Their latest piece is a gem.
There’s an excellent article on advances in human speech recognition technology over at The New York Times.
BBC News reports that synthetic street drugs grow in popularity while use of plant extracts cocaine and heroin declines.
An article on autism, the ‘biomed’ movement covers the lure of quack cures at New Scientist.
Discover Magazine has a brief piece on how you construct a brain map – by slicing up brains. With cool brain photo.
Crikey. The Huffington Post has a sensible science article. Neuroscientist Joesph LeDoux on ‘Why the “Right Brain” Idea is Wrong-Headed’. The end times are near.
The New York Times has a piece on neuroscience research to pick up the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
There’s an ongoing video interview series on key thinkers and debates in the sociology of health an illness over at Blackwell Publishing. Says they’re podcasts but actually embedded video.
Mind Hacks 