Does your brain really need a gym?
October 23, 2014 Comments Off on Does your brain really need a gym?

Futurity

“We object to the claim that brain games offer consumers a scientifically grounded avenue to reduce or reverse cognitive decline when there is no compelling scientific evidence to date that they do. . . . The promise of a magic bullet detracts from the best evidence to date, which is that cognitive health in old age reflects the long-term effects of healthy, engaged lifestyles.”

“When researchers follow people across their lives, they find that those who live cognitively active, socially connected lives and maintain healthy lifestyles are less likely to suffer debilitating illness and early cognitive decline,” as the statement describes it.
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Why young couples are NOT getting married…
September 27, 2014 Comments Off on Why young couples are NOT getting married…

Salon

The Pew data also puts into greater relief (for like the millionth time) the long-popular (and long-wrong) conservative idea that marriage is a “cure” for poverty. People aren’t poor because they’re not married, they’re not getting married, in many cases, because they’re economically vulnerable. And gutting the already thoroughly gutted social welfare system only makes things worse. As Stephanie Coontz, a historian of marriage who teaches at Evergreen College, has already pointed out, shrinking the social welfare system and pushing marriage might make Rick Santorum feel pretty good, but it doesn’t do much to help people get out of poverty:
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Are we developing the right kind of smart?
August 29, 2014 Comments Off on Are we developing the right kind of smart?

HBR

There seems to be wide support for the idea that we are living in an “age of complexity”, which implies that the world has never been more intricate. This idea is based on the rapid pace of technological changes, and the vast amount of information that we are generating (the two are related). Yet consider that philosophers like Leibniz (17th century) and Diderot (18th century) were already complaining about information overload. The “horrible mass of books” they referred to may have represented only a tiny portion of what we know today, but much of what we know today will be equally insignificant to future generations.
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What if we stopped paying people to destroy society?
August 7, 2014 Comments Off on What if we stopped paying people to destroy society?

Alternet

I don’t mean to sound unduly harsh, but I’ve never heard of a hedge-fund manager whose job entails attending to basic human needs (unless you consider having more money as basic human need) or enriching our culture (except through the myriad novels, exposés, and movies made about greedy hedge-fund managers and investment bankers).

They don’t even build the economy.
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Fear not?
August 6, 2014 Comments Off on Fear not?

Alternet

Research suggests that conservatives are, on average, more susceptible to fear than those who identify themselves as liberals. Looking at MRIs of a large sample of young adults last year, researchers at University College London discovered that “greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala”. The amygdala is an ancient brain structure that’s activated during states of fear and anxiety.
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The difference between depression and sadness/despair.
August 4, 2014 Comments Off on The difference between depression and sadness/despair.

ZenArchery

All the genuinely smart, talented, funny people I know seem to be miserable these days. You feel it on Twitter more than Facebook, because Facebook is where you go to do your performance art where you pretend to be a hip, urbane person with the most awesomest friends and the best relationships and the very best lunches ever. Facebook is surface; Twitter is subtext, and judging by what I’ve seen, the subtext is aching sadness.

I’m not immune to this. I don’t remember ever feeling this miserable and depressed in my life, this sense of futility that makes you wish you’d simply go numb and not care anymore.
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What’s the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath?
July 31, 2014 Comments Off on What’s the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath?

Psychology Today

Sociopaths tend to be nervous and easily agitated. They are volatile and prone to emotional outbursts, including fits of rage. They are likely to be uneducated and live on the fringes of society, unable to hold down a steady job or stay in one place for very long. It is difficult but not impossible for sociopaths to form attachments with others. Many sociopaths are able to form an attachment to a particular individual or group, although they have no regard for society in general or its rules.
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Now that we’ve passed laws nearly everywhere…
July 23, 2014 Comments Off on Now that we’ve passed laws nearly everywhere…

The Register

Recent legislation banning the use of handheld phones by drivers had basically no effect on the number of road accidents, according to a new study.

“If it’s really that dangerous, and if even just a fraction of people stop using their phones, we would expect to find some decrease in accidents,” says professor Daniel Kaffine, who worked on the analysis. “But we didn’t find any statistical evidence of a reduction.”
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How does the global internet compare to a single human brain?
June 29, 2014 Comments Off on How does the global internet compare to a single human brain?

Hellman
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What really keeps people from going senile?
June 13, 2014 Comments Off on What really keeps people from going senile?

National Post

Those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease experience a greater-than-normal decrease in the size of the hippocampus, which contributes to the difficulty in recalling newer memories while older ones remain intact.

Studies indicate that regular aerobic exercise has been shown not only to slow age-related shrinking of the hippocampus but remarkably it can also reverse some of the wastings that have already occurred. A year-long, three-days-a-week walking program recovered as much as two years’ worth of volume previously lost in healthy, but sedentary, seniors.
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Session Notes

Does your brain really need a gym?

Why young couples are NOT getting married…

Are we developing the right kind of smart?

What if we stopped paying people to destroy society?

Fear not?

The difference between depression and sadness/despair.

What’s the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath?

Now that we’ve passed laws nearly everywhere…

How does the global internet compare to a single human brain?

What really keeps people from going senile?

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