Category: Linkage

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

Sleep Paralysis’ Demons: Influenced by Culture and Fed by Our Fears. Interesting piece at Brain Decoder.

The Telegraph has an excellent piece on artist Alice Evans, her work and her experience of schizophrenia.

What we can learn about the latest epidemic of opioid drug abuse from the opium wave of 100 years ago. Good piece in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Aeon has a good piece on the possibilities of stem cell therapy for fixing neurodegeneration in dementia.

Beard-envy, Freud and the gentleman’s excuse-me. Amusing look at facial furniture by neuroscientist Sophie Scott in Standard Issue.

Neuroskeptic has a fascinating piece on whether bilingual people have a cognitive advantage.

Felton et al. ranked the relative hotness quotients of professors in 36 different fields. The Monkey Cage has the data.

The New Yorker has a typically brilliant piece from Rachel Aviv on war, refugees and mental health. One of the best writers on mental health anywhere.

Was the counterculture’s favourite psychiatrist a dangerous renegade or a true visionary? The Independent has an extended piece on R.D. Laing.

TechCrunch has an excellent piece on decision science – an increasingly important area in cognitive science.

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

Wired has a good brief piece on the history of biodigital brain implants.

Why are conspiracy theories so attractive? Good discussion on the Science Weekly podcast.

The Wilson Quarterly has a piece on the mystery behind Japan’s high child suicide rate.

The Dream Life of Driverless Cars. Wonderful piece in The New York Times. Don’t miss the video.

The New Yorker has an extended profile on the people who run the legendary Erowid website on psychedelic drugs.

Allen Institute scientists identify human brain’s most common genetic patterns. Story in Geekwire.

BoingBoing covers a fascinating game where you play a blind girl and the game world is dynamically constructed through other senses and memory and shifts with new sensory information.

Excellent article on the real science behind the hype of neuroplasticity in Mosaic Science. Not to be missed.

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

The Weak Science Behind the Wrongly Named Moral Molecule. The Atlantic has some home truths about oxytocin.

Neurophilosophy reports on some half a billion year old brains found preserved in fool’s gold.

An Illuminated, 5,000-Pound Neuron Sculpture Is Coming to Boston. Boston magazine has some pictures.

Guardian Science Weekly podcast has neuroscientist David Eagleman discussing his new book.

A neurologist frustrated by the obstacles to his work on brain-machine interfaces paid a surgeon in Central America $25,000 to implant electrodes into his brain. MIT Tech Review reports.

Business Insider reports on Google’s troubled robotics division. It’s called Replicant, so I’m guessing incept dates may be a point of contention.

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

If you only read one thing this week, make it the excellent critical piece on the concept of an ‘autism spectrum’ in The Atlantic.

Nature reports that the controversial big bucks Human Brain Project has secured another three years’ funding. Giant all-knowing neurotron brain simulation coming “any day now”.

The psychological power of narrative. Good piece in Nautilus.

There’s an excellent in-depth piece on London’s BabyLab – a research centre for baby cognitive neuroscience – in Nature.

New Scientist has a fascinating piece on how a leading theory of consciousness has been rocked by oddball study.

Human language may be shaped by climate and terrain. Fascinating study covered in the newsy bit of Science.

Brain Flapping has a great piece on Robin Williams and Lewy-body dementia.

When it comes to the brain, blood also seems to be more than a travelling storyteller. In some cases, the blood may be writing the script. Interesting piece in Science News.

The Atlantic has a wonderful piece on why most languages have so few words for smells but why do these two hunter-gatherer groups have lots.

What is you mind doing during resting state fMRI scans? Interesting study covered by Neuroskeptic.

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

MP tricked into condemning a fake drug called ‘Cake’ on Brass Eye has been put in charge of scrutinising drugs policy in the UK Parliament, reports The Independent. What starts as satire is so often reborn as policy.

Narratively takes a look at the human stories behind the alarming rates of prescription opioid addiction in Appalachia.

Mental health research makes good economic sense, argues The Economist.

American Civil Liberties Union are suing the psychologists who developed the CIA torture programme.

Before 6 months, babies don’t relate touch to an event outside of themselves. We’re calling this “tactile solipsism”. Interesting Brain Decoder piece.

Mashable reports that Sesame Street debuts its first autistic Muppet. And try watching that What My Family Wants You to Know About Autism video without welling up.

‘Mental patient’ Halloween costumes: a scientific guide to dressing accurately. Important evidence-based Halloween advice on Brain Flapping.

The Scientist looks back at Camillo Golgi’s first drawings of neurons from the 1870s.

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

How much can you really learn while you’re asleep? Interesting piece that looks at what the research genuinely tells us in The Guardian.

Comedian John Oliver takes on mental health in America with a segment which is both funny and sharp.

Neuroecology has an excellent post looking at the latest mega-paper from the Blue Brain Project.

There’s a good piece on how cognitive biases affect the practice of doing scientific research in Nature. Thankfully, my training has made me immune to these effects, unlike my colleagues.

Braindecoder has some striking artistic renditions of neuroanatomy from artist Greg Dunn.

Is a Liberal Bias Hurting Social Psychology? Excellent piece in Pacific Standard.

BBC News has a good piece on the evidence behind the school shooting ‘contagion’ effect.

“A tumor stole every memory I had. This is what happened when it all came back.” Great piece in Quartz. Don’t get distracted by the inaccurate use of the term dementia. Recommended.

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

The madness of Charlie Brown. The Lancet has a wonderful article on Lucy, Charlie Brown’s local psychiatrist.

The Atlantic has an excellent piece on new research showing neurons have different genomes.

Mexico’s 13-year-old psychologist is amazing, reports USA Today. Sí, es.

PLOS Neuro has an excellent in-depth piece about the neuroscience of sleep deprivation.

Boring cityscapes increase sadness, addiction and disease-related stress. Is urban design a matter of public health? asks Aeon.

The Wall Street Journal on why a new paper may show that the ‘hot hand’ effect in basketball may be real after all.

Pioneering dubstep DJ and producer Benga was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia last year. He speaks to The Guardian on mental health and his comeback.

The Psychologist has an excellent piece on whether the media be restricted in their reporting of mass shootings to prevent copycat killings.

There’s a good piece in Nature about the state of connectome research in neuroscience.

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

Science has a fascinating piece on how cultures developed words for numbers – many languages don’t have words for numbers above five.

The majority illusion. The social illusion covered by Tech Review where something can seem socially common despite being rare in the overall group.

Wired has a thought-provoking piece on the potential role of the internet in hastening the demise of dying languages.

Researchers who reported a study on how oxytocin increases trust try and fail to replicate their own results. Good coverage from Neuroskeptic.

The LA Times has a good piece in light of the Hajj disaster that dispels some crowd behaviour myths.

There’s a brilliant piece from boxer Jerome Wilson on what it’s like to recover from a serious brain trauma in The Telegraph. Really, it’s great, go and read it.

The Guardian covers the news that a man completes a 3.5-metre course thanks to computer system that reroutes signals from his brain to electrodes on his knees.

DeepMind’s AI can now beat humans at 31 Atari 2600 arcade games, reports TechRepublic. Still thinks ET was rubbish.

Pacific Standard has a fascinating piece on how our understanding of Neanderthals has dramatically and rapidly shifted.

Guy puts cameras in his home to record every second of his new baby’s life to record his exposure to language and work out how new words emerge. Great study and findings covered in Science News.

AlterNet has a good piece critiquing the concept of ‘sex addiction‘.

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

GlaxoSmithKline straight-up lied about teen suicide attempts in a trial that was used to convince regulators that Paxil was safe for kids. In-depth from the BMJ. Good summary from The Atlantic.

The New York Times on basically the same shit from Johnson & Johnson over Risperdal. Jaw-dropping punchline: the profits were worth more than any financial blow-back in fines and law suits.

Fascinating article on how the ability to deceive is being built into AI and robot interactions from Fusion. To the bunkers!

The Whitehouse, yes, President Obama, issues an executive order requiring all government services to use behavioural science nudges ‘to Better Serve the American People’. “Your neighbours believe that we have always been at war with Eastasia…”

The neuroscience of Donald Trump. I SHIT YOU NOT. A Salon piece that should be a warning to everyone not to write neuroscience articles while high on butane.

The head of the world’s biggest mental health science organisation, the NIMH, is leaving to join Google. Will be deleting YouTube videos that mention the DSM.

Wired reports on a new campaign to ban sex robots. It’s the date-that-drags-on robots I want to see the back of.

The big review paper on the lack of political diversity in social psychology is finally out. Heterodox Academy has links to the full text.

MyCentralJersey reports on Jason Lunden, an autistic neuroscientist who researches the neuroscience of autism.

There’s a brilliant piece in The Psychologist about Geel in Belgium, where for 700 years boarders with learning disabilities and mental health problems have lived with residents.

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

Mental illness throughout the animal kingdom. Interesting piece from BBC Earth.

The Guardian has an excellent in-depth article on scorpion venom as a way of identifying brain tumours during neurosurgery.

There’s an excellent piece on the history of using deception in psychology studies over at Aeon.

The Covnersation has an excellent piece on how so much talk about ‘the brain’ in education is meaningless.

Psychology Should Aim For 100% Reproducibility. Some Grade A trolling from Neuroskeptic.

Robohub has an interesting piece on ‘morphological computation’ and the hidden superpower of soft-bodied robots.

Yet another ancient human / hominin species is discovered. Great coverage from The Atlantic. So where’d all our cousins go?

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

Go get your gramophonic digital podcast player and listen to this amazing BBC Radio 4 programme on how the social discussion of dreams has changed through history.

The Atlantic on what Google’s trippy neural network-generated images tell us about the human mind.

Ignore the fact that this is yet another article on mental health that says this particular condition is much more common than you think, and you’ll find an interesting piece on depersonalisation in The Guardian.

Nature has a tribute and article collection in memory of Oliver Sacks.

Architecture’s brief love affair with psychology is overdue a revival. Good piece in The Conversation.

The New York Review of Books has Oliver Sacks’s last piece on Klüver-Bucy syndrome, the temporal lobes and unruly urges.

One of the great debates in neuroscience: are all neurodegenerative diseases caused by prions? Interesting post from Brainblogger.

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

Vice has an excellent documentary about how skater Paul Alexander was affected by mental illness as he was turning pro.

The US Navy is working on AI that can predict a pirate attacks reports Science News. Apparently it uses Arrrrgh-tificial intelligence. I’m here all week folks.

The New York Times has a good piece on the case for teaching ignorance to help frame our understanding of science.

Yes, Men’s and Women’s Brains Do Function Differently — But The Difference is Small. Interesting piece on The Science of US.

Lots of junk reporting on the Reproducibility Project but these are some of the best we’ve not mentioned so far:
* Neuropsychologist Dorothy Bishop gives her take in The Guardian.
* The BPS Research Digest gives a good run-down of the results

Good video interview with philosopher Patricia Churchland on neuroscience for SeriousScience.

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

Be wary of studies that link mental illness with creativity or high IQ. Good piece in The Guardian.

Nautilus has a piece on the lost dream journal of neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal.

Video games are tackling mental health with mixed results. Great piece in Engadget.

The Globe and Mail asks how we spot the next ‘lone wolf’ terrorist and looks at some of the latest research which has changed what people look for.

A third of young Americans say they aren’t 100% heterosexual according to a YouGov survey. 4% class themselves as ‘completely homosexual’, a further 3% as ‘predominantly homosexual’.

National Geographic reports on a study suggesting that three-quarters of handprints in ancient cave art were left by women.

Psychiatry is reinventing itself thanks to advances in biology says NIMH Chief Thomas Insel in New Scientist. Presumably a very slow reinvention that doesn’t seem to change treatment very much.

Wired report that IBM have a close-to-production neuromorphic chip. Big news.

Most people are resilient after trauma. Good piece in BBC Future.

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

Trends and fashions in the science of neurotransmitters. Neuroskeptic looks at this seasons hottest brain chemicals.

MIT Tech Reviews has an interesting piece on the new wave of normal hearing enhancement hearing aids.

Sorry Paleo diet aficionados, carbs were probably essentially to our evolving brains in early human history. Good piece in The New York Times.

National Geographic has a piece on how some isolated tribes in the Amazon are initiating contact and how it’s causing a rethink of existing policies.

Brain imaging research is often wrong. This researcher wants to change that. Great interview with Russ Poldrack in Vox.

Neurocritic asks: Will machine learning create new diagnostic categories, or just refine the ones we already have?

The Obscure Neuroscience Problem That’s Plaguing VR. Interesting Wired piece on the physiological challenges of virtual reality.

The Atlantic has thought-provoking article on ‘Learning Empathy From the Dead’ – the effects of corpse dissection on medical students’ empathy.

The amygdala is NOT the brain’s fear center. Joseph LeDoux sings it from his new blog I Got a Mind to Tell You.

Good edition of ABC Radio’s Philosopher’s Zone on dreaming.

Postmortemgirl has a great guide to postmortem brain studies in mental health.

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

Why does the concept of ‘schizophrenia’ still persist? Great post from Psychodiagnosticator.

Nature reviews two new movies on notorious psychology experiments: the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram’s conformity experiments.

Can the thought of money make people more conservative? Another social priming effect bites the dust Neuroskeptic with a great analysis.

The Psychologist has a transcript of a recent ‘teenagers debunked’ talk at the Latitude Festival.

Oliver Sack’s excellent biography On The Move serialised on BBC Radio 4. Streaming only, online for a month only, but definitely worth it.

Science reports a new study finding that the ‘rise in autism’ is likely due to diagnostic substitution as intellectual disability diagnoses have fallen by the same amount.

Great piece in the New England Journal of Medicine on placebo effects in medicine.

The New York Times has an op-ed on ‘Psychiatry’s Identity Crisis’.

Brain Crash is an innovative online documentary from the BBC where you have to piece together a car crash and brain injury for other people’s memories.

Gamasutra has an absolutely fascinating piece on innovative behavioural approaches to abusive gamers.

A slightly belated Spike Activity to capture some of the responses to the APA report plus quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

APA makes a non-apology on Twitter and gets panned in response.

“the organization’s long-standing ethics director, Stephen Behnke, had been removed from his position as a result of the report and signaled that other firings or sanctions could follow” according to the Washington Post.

Psychologist accused of enabling US torture backed by former FBI chief, reports The Guardian. The wrangling begins.

PsychCentral editor John Grohol resigns from the APA in protest at the ethical failings.

Remarkable comments from long-time anti-torture campaigners Stephen Soldz and Steven Reisner made to a board meeting of the APA: “I see that some of the people who need to go are in this room. That in itself tells me that you don’t really yet understand the seriousness of your situation.”

European Federation of Psychology Associations releases statement on APA revelations: “Interrogations are a NO-GO zone for psychologists” – which seems to confuse interrogations, which can be done ethically and benefit from psychological input, and torture, which cannot.

Jean Maria Arrigo, the psychologist who warned of torture collusion and was subjected to a smear campaign is vindicated by the report, reports The Guardian.

And now on to more pleasant, non-torture, non-complete institutional breakdown in ethical responsibility news…

What It’s Like to Be Profoundly ‘Face-Blind’. Interesting piece from the Science of Us.

Wired reports that Bitcoins can be ‘stolen from your brain’. A bit of an exaggeration but a fascinating story nonetheless.

Could Travelling Waves Upset Cognitive Neuroscience? asks Neuroskeptic.

The New Yorker has a great three-part series on sleep and sleeplessness.

Robotic shelves! MIT Tech Review has the video. To the bunkers!