retrospectacle
Posts by this author
October 16, 2006
Saturday night here in Atlanta, worlds collided. Jake of Pure Pedantry, Evil Monkey of Neurotopia, Nick of the Neurocontrarian, a high school friend from South Carolina, and six of my fellow UM Neurokids all went out for tapas at Fuego (excellent mojitos!) and then danced the night away at Sutra…
October 16, 2006
Yeah, I'm walking around SFN checking out posters and talks, and will likely blog about them later after a bit of a breather. But, somnilista FCD sent me this news blurb about a chocolate igloo and I had to pass it on. This totally reminded me of the chocolate Taj Mahal that Willy Wonka built!
Four…
October 15, 2006
Perhaps the only person more confused by the SFN keynote lecture than I was, by renowned architech Frank Gehry, was Frank Gehry himself. Following in the footstep of the Dalai Lama (last years' speaker in this series), Gehry was this year's speaker in the "Neuroscience and Society" addresses;…
October 14, 2006
In the spirit of SFN neuro-nerdery, I have a delectable treat for you all: "PaxilBack"!
Put some serotonin in me!
October 14, 2006
PC World reports on a new Ipod nano: a special red nano (no wussie pastels!), and $10 of the purchase price goes to the global fund to fight AIDS in Africa. So, if you were considering buying an Ipod, why not go with the red nano, and do some good?
This product is part of the "Product Red"…
October 13, 2006
In a new study appearing in the September issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, David Wooten, a professor at Univ of Michigan, explores the impact of adolescent ridicule on consumer behavior and brand consciousness.
Ridicule, he says, helps teach teenagers what brands and styles of clothes…
October 12, 2006
I'm headed to Atlanta, for the Society for Neuroscience meeting. I don't have a poster (just presented one in France!) so I'll just be a tourist. And, hoping to run into a few neuro-bloggers like Evil Monkey, Jake of Pure Pedantry, and the Neurocontrarian.
Here's how the UM Neuroscience PhD…
October 11, 2006
Gone are the days of endlessly searching for that miraculous toast-burn in the shape of Jesus' bewhiskered visage or the Virgin Mary's devoutly lop-sided head! Glory be to the Zuse, the immaculate conception of a toaster and a printer, which burns black and toast-colored pictures onto (you guessed…
October 11, 2006
A recent (and IMHO, fascinating) study published in the journal Neurology suggests that heavier people score lower on cognitive tests and have a higher risk of dementia later in life than their thinner counterparts.
I go into this post with the full knowledge that perhaps:
a) people will attack me…
October 10, 2006
I must take issue with the 'bird' muffin, although Sylvester might like it.
Fibroblast muffins?
Tinnitus muffins?
What would a Retrospectacle muffin look like?
October 10, 2006
Another new bird, this time a finch, has been discovered in Columbia! Its habitat is a previous-unexplored cloud forest in the Andes. It has been dubbed the Yariguies brush-finch, so named for an indigenous tribe that once inhabited the area. Its discovery is important, insofar that the Columbian…
October 10, 2006
PollingPoint.com, a national polling network, has recently published the results of a recent survey on the opinions of Americans on the Iraq war, which were generally negative. 61% believe that "no progress has been made in Iraq and things would have been better without the war," however 82% of…
October 10, 2006
A Dutch vaccine developer, Crucell, received a $16 million contract to develop a vaccine for the AIDS virus. The contract was sponsored by the NIH's allergy and infectious disease group, and involves a collaboration with Charles River Labs and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard.
I…
October 9, 2006
The IgNobel Awards are the humorous counterpart to the Nobel Prizes; each year the most bizarre (but real!) research is awarded the dubious honor of an 'IgNobel.'
"The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative -- and spur people's interest in science, medicine and…
October 6, 2006
It wasn't long, or meaningful, or useful in any way to New College's publicity really, but the words "New College in Sarasota Florida" WERE indeed uttered.
New College is my alma mater, as at a whopping 630-student enrollment, they need all the shout-outs they can get.
The press release is here,…
October 6, 2006
Recently, an older post I made regarding AIDS in Africa was included in a Feminism carnival. The Body Impolitic saw fit to take my assesment of the situation to task, and I feel the need to respond to what I believe is a gross mis-representation of my post. Specifically, that it was somehow…
October 6, 2006
This doesn't sound like the notorious Bird Flu, but an endangered species of parrot (Tasmania's orange-bellied parrot) are mysteriously dying of a unknown disease....possibly a herpes virus.
Birds at the Environment Department's breeding center near Hobart have been quarantined since January, when…
October 5, 2006
If you've seen Joe vs. The Volcano (and if you haven't, you should), you remember that Joe is dubiously diagnosed with a "brain cloud" which is, of couse, terminal. This prompts his willingness to jump into the volcano to appease the Waponi Wu (aka, the Big Wu). I always thought that the idea of a…
October 5, 2006
I really like Cnn.com's Anderson Cooper. He's a journalist who also has the news blog 360 degrees, which highlights a particular global issue in depth. His current feature is both excellently written and heart-breaking: the increasing prevalence of rape by soldiers in the African country the Congo…
October 4, 2006
You know the old adage "The camera adds 10 pounds?" Well, I'm not sure if thats true or not (I think its bunk), but HP has recently released cameras with a feature to help knock off those extra pounds. I found it rather absurd, as the slimming feature is really only a vertical distortion of the…
October 4, 2006
Thought I'd throw out something that was neuro-related after such a long and tedious travel hiatus!
According to Nature News, a new study helps explain the mentality of "I only smoke when I drink" and why smokers tender to drink more than non-smokers. As a short stint as a waitress, I totally…
October 3, 2006
First of all, i apologize for leaving everyone high and dry with no word. I received a few emails from worry worts (which I appreciated!), but seriously all is well. I just needed a few days post-Europe to collect my thoughts and re-adjust to life in the good US of A. Anyway, here's a recap of how…
September 29, 2006
I spent the night in Schipol Airport last night, and just got home (to Ann Arbor) today. I'm exhausted! Long stories, regarding Amsterdam. Brussels, a mistake that took me to Paris, trains, coffeeshops and hostels galore on Monday. I'm taking the weekend to try to get un-jetlagged.
Stay Tuned!
September 21, 2006
Posting will be slow for a couple days, as I hop on the Eurail tomorrow and travel to Brussels.
Yesterday I decided to go to the beach, which is a few miles to the south of Montpellier. It was a bit more of a hassle that I expected, as it involved getting on the subway, then getting on a bus.…
September 20, 2006
Just a reminder to submit some neuroscience-related blog posts to the carnival Encephalon! Its a round-up of recent brain-blogging and is usually very high-quality stuff.
It is currently being hosted over at OmniBrain, and submission guidelines can be found here. Submit before the 25th for…
September 20, 2006
What happens when a Chinese man drinks 4 jugs of grog and decides to jump into a panda pen at the Beijng Zoo? Well, a tussle of course, and I'll let you read who got the worst of it.
The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along…
September 19, 2006
Where was Ken Wantanabe when Air France lost my bags?? Don't touch my gnome!
September 19, 2006
After another full day of the Inner Ear Biology Conference (I may blog the talks in the future, but I'm on vacation now!), I wanted to explore more of this beautiful city in the south of France. A bit on the history of Montpellier (summarized from its Wiki entry): Montpellier is the capital of…
September 18, 2006
Today and yesterday I haven't been able to do a whole lot other than attend the Inner Ear Biology Conference, which is taking place at a small but very comfortable conference center called the Corum (below).
This conference center blows all the ones in America away in style and convienence. The…
September 17, 2006
So I'll start with last night (actually Montpellier Day 2....). After making that post yesterday, I mustered up the courage to go walk around at night and find some place to get a much-needed drink. As I pass the main square, my ears happen to perk up to the sounds of English! A group of kids,…