Observations
Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions
They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior
Blogs
Observations
How a Landmark Physics Paper from the 1970s Uncannily Describes the COVID-19 Pandemic
Phil Anderson’s article “More Is Different” describes how different levels of complexity require new ways of thinking. And as the virus multiplies and spreads, that’s just what the human race desperately needs...
Observations
The Fight against COVID-19 Threatens to Cause Collateral Health Damage
The pandemic is no excuse to abandon chronic disease management and prevention
Recent Posts
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This is your brain on love: Lasting romance makes an impression--literally
Make fun, if you must, but it turns out that love may not fade with time, after all — and leaves a lasting impression in our brains as well as our hearts, according to a recent study...
Think You Know Your Dog? Put Your Nose to the Test
Studies show that dog owners can pick their pooch out of a lineup by smell alone
Using virtual worlds and video games to teach the lessons of reality
Researchers are beginning to wonder whether video games, long seen as a top time waster for kids and a roadblock to their educational development, might actually be a solution to what ails today's schools rather than a problem...
Exercise and your brain: Why working out may help memory
A new study shows that sugar may not be so sweet for the brain – and may lead to memory problems. Researchers from four universities report in the Annals of Neurology that people who absorb glucose more slowly than those who metabolize it quickly are more forgetful and are more likely to have a faulty dentate gyrus, a pocket in the hippocampus section of the brain...
Is REM sleep disorder an early sign of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's?
A bizarre disorder that causes people to physically act out their dreams while sleeping is associated with a dramatically increased risk of developing dementia, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, according to new research that suggests the sleep disorder may actually be an early symptom of those conditions...
Blind man "sees," cruising through obstacle course without a hitch
A man left totally blind by a massive stroke navigated a complex maze of boxes, chairs and other objects without stumbling or colliding into any of the obstacles.
Online v. print reading: which one makes us smarter?
It's no mystery that publications have been taking a beating as more and more people read their news on the Net. But there's a catch. The online info may be instant and abundant -- and in many cases free -- but it may come at a cost, says a new study published in the Journal of Research in Reading ...
Your shopping personality explained
Do opulent Christmas displays in stores and frenzied ads make you feel overwhelmed, depressed, or psyched? The emotions you feel might be a clue to your “shopping personality” – a pattern of behavior that corresponds with how you act in the rest of your life...
What does Barack Obama's brain look like?
Barack Obama still has a month before his inauguration as the 44th U.S. president, but there have already been a number of attempts to get inside his brain.
The Skinny on Fat: Is Obesity in Our Genes?
Researchers have identified six genes that may play a role in our appetite and, as a result, in whether we're plump or thin. They report in Nature Genetics that the genes appear to affect brain activity that controls how much we eat, indicating that obesity, at least in part, may stem from behavior passed on from one generation to the next...
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