Editor’s Selections: Psychedelic Drugs, Narcissism, Cephalopods, and Friendship

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: “Distorted perceptions and an altered state of mind: two reasons why psychedelics have always attracted not only fascination, but also controversy for decades.” Noah Gray at Nature Blogs has curated a mini-carnival of sorts centering around a new paper called “The neurobiology of psychedelic drugs: [...]

By Jason G. Goldman on August 31, 2010

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week:

"Distorted perceptions and an altered state of mind: two reasons why psychedelics have always attracted not only fascination, but also controversy for decades." Noah Gray at Nature Blogs has curated a mini-carnival of sorts centering around a new paper called "The neurobiology of psychedelic drugs: implications for the treatment of mood disorders." Included are posts by Mo at Neurophilosophy, the Neuroskeptic, the Neurocritic, and Vaughan of Mind Hacks. (Note: Only Neuroskeptic's and Neurocritic's posts are indexed by Research Blogging, but all are being included for completeness.)

John M. Grohol at World of Psychology tells us that Narcissistic College Students Spend More Time on Facebook.

Mike Lisieski of Cephalove concluded a short series about octopodes with The Case for Cephalopod Consciousness.

At the Mind Matters blog, David Berreby explains Why A Good Friend Has the Same Effect As a Warm Fire.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Jason G. Goldman

Jason G. Goldman is a science journalist based in Los Angeles. He has written about animal behavior, wildlife biology, conservation, and ecology for Scientific American, Los Angeles magazine, The Washington Post, The Guardian, the BBC, Conservation magazine, and elsewhere. He contributes to Scientific American's "60-Second Science" podcast, and is co-editor of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (Yale University Press). He enjoys sharing his wildlife knowledge on television and on the radio, and often speaks to the public about wildlife and science communication.