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An exploration of the serious/fun/ridiculous - past/present/future of the brain and the science that loves it.
Steve Higgins is sometimes a Psychologist, sometimes a Neuroscientist, and sometimes even a Human Factors Engineer. He works for the U.S. Government. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Psychology.
Category: Humor
Trying to lose weight? Need extra motivation? Don't want to spend 1000's on a diet program and personal trainer? Afraid of drugs or cutting big chunks out of your intestine? This might just be the most important diet craze to sweep the nation and solve our obesity problem. Read on...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 3:00 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Psychology
Seriously, a cat named George is a registered hypnotherapist with three professional organizations in Britain. The article not only presents these organizations as full of shit, it highlights the absolute stupidity of almost all applications of hypnosis. Here's the details: Chris Jackson, presenter of Inside Out in the North East...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 8:05 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Brain Toys
Seriously... well not about the Zombie thing. Maybe if him and his family weren't such assholes people wouldn't do this kind of thing. Well, maybe people shouldn't do this to begin with. Here's the schtick from ESPN: In "Frozen," Larry Johnson, a former executive at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 12:02 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Psychology
It's looks to me like people are blaming the boyfriend and his poor judgment for the accident and the grace of God for this girls ability to physically pull the boyfriend out and down the hill (as well as her being a nurse in training or something, as well running into trauma nurses at the bottom). Now I don't hang out with many religious folks so I'm not sure how consistent this is but I've definitely seen this before (anyone want to do the study?!). This is very similar to the ultimate attribution error to me, except that it doesn't focus on an out-group. The ultimate attribution error is a common cognitive bias that causes people to attribute behavior of out-group (ethnic, social, or anyone not like us) members to either internal or external factors depending on whether it was a positive or negative outcome. So if someone does something positive, like the other team winning, it was an external factor - such as the weather or home-field advantage. On the other hand if someone does something stupid it wasn't because the situation led them to it, instead it was them being a dumbass - like the boyfriend falling into the water.
Posted by The Omnibrain at 11:16 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Parapsychology
Unsurprisingly the James Randi Educational Foundation has had a problem giving away their million dollar prize to someone who could demonstrate scientifically under controlled circumstances that they could perform some sort of paranormal ability. They aren't even that specific on what kind of paranormal ability it has to be. It...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 3:31 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Parapsychology
The mind is a complicated and a still very much unknown entity. The earliest conceptions of the mind didn't even have it placed in the brain, instead it was very much separate from the body. This is of course all very silly, the only possibility is that the mind wholly...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 6:29 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Video
Why Duck and Cover of course! Check out this great video from the cold war:...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 8:23 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Mental Health
I always joke around that I would make the worst therapist since my 'therapy' would consist of something like this: Surprisingly (well maybe not that surprisingly since the internet appeared) this method seems to be practiced somewhere seriously. The Kadir-Buxton Method involves: making a fist of both hands, and striking...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 11:55 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Neuroscience
Yeah you heard me right... there is no good reason why Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, or any of the other tabloid celebs are so paid attention to. They contribute nothing to society - and they aren't even that attractive. Dr Torkel Klingberg and Fiona McNab have come up with...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 10:23 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Drugs
This will probably never be made into an anti-drug ad campaign, but I can't imagine a stronger deterrent. Angel's Trumpet is a flower that contains scopolamine and other alkaloids. It's known as a "biogenic drug" and presumed by naive recreational drug users to be harmless because it's a plant....
Posted by Sandra Kiume at 10:00 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Orac 02.13.2012
Tim Lambert 02.01.2012
PZ Myers 02.02.2012
ERV 11.26.2011
Orac 01.26.2012
