j7uy5 | March 9, 2007...That
is probably bad advice. Never take legal advice from someone
who is not your lawyer. The only thing worse than taking
legal advice from someone who is not your lawyer, is to take legal
advice from somebody else's lawyer.
With that disclaimer out of the way, I am going to tell you what I find
particularly galling about the
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070309/national-security-letters">FBI
"National Security Letter" scandal. Yeah, it shows
that we can't trust our own law enforcement agencies. But we
knew that already. So why do I find this issue to be…
j7uy5 | March 8, 2007
This
is supposedly the earliest known octopus, being from the middle
Jurrasic, found in France. Think old.
Happy
birthday, PZ Myers!
j7uy5 | March 8, 2007The
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders">DSM
refers to anhedonia as one of the two core symptoms
of depression; the other core symptom is depressed mood itself.
What is anhedonia, and why is it so important?
First, let's consider what it is not. Those of you who tend
to
derive the meaning of a word from the Greek roots will recognize the
similarity to the word, hedonism (
href="http://www.answers.com/hedonism&r=67">1
href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/">2),
which is commonly understood to be a focus,…
j7uy5 | March 7, 2007I've heard of case modding, but this is just going too
far:
What is this? It is a full-featured web server in a compact
case. How is this possible?
...(below the fold)
Basically, it is a one-chip solution. Not entirely, the
server runs on one chip and there are a couple of memory chips to
support it. Here is the back view, in case you don't believe
it's possible:
Details here.
It's really that simple.
j7uy5 | March 7, 2007At least that is what the headline says. Of course
the article is
not really about sex; the sex part is only a small part of the findings
of the study. But headline writers know how to get attention.
What is really striking to me about this report is not that
it
shows that sleep problems impair a person's sex life, but that sleep
problems contribute to many risk factors for mood disorders.
It
is not one of the conclusions of the study, at least as reported in the
summary. But it is rather worrisome, to me at least.
Major depression is a serious problem; it is, in fact, one of the…
j7uy5 | March 5, 2007
A
slice of Pizza House's large House Special deep dish pizza, which, at
almost $25, is the most expensive pie listed on the menu of any
pizzeria near Central Campus. (PETER SCHOTTENFELS/
href="http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2007/03/05/CampusLife/The-Priciest.Pizza.On.Campus.Deep.Dish.For.Deep.Pockets-2756917.shtml">Daily)
Those were the days...before I started taking lovastatin.
j7uy5 | March 5, 2007A
while back, I wrote (twice) about the nettlesome issue of
rel="tag"
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2007/02/endocrine_disruptors.php">endocrine
disruptors. A more detailed post was offered at
href="http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2007/02/lavender_and_tea_tree_oils_may.php">Terra
Sig. The reason this is a nettlesome problem is
that it is an area with potentially huge implications, but with not
enough hard data.
The huge implications come in two forms: if we are not cautious enough,
we could be inadvertently lowering our fertility by exposure to
chemicals that…
j7uy5 | March 4, 2007HT to :: the
Core 4 :: for the link to the newest
href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08362">picture
of Saturn.
The complete image file is over 35MB. You would
need a 4088x2908 monitor to see the whole thing at full
resolution.
This is one where you have to use your imagination.
Original Caption Released with Image:
Surely one of the most gorgeous sights the solar system
has to offer, Saturn sits enveloped by the full splendor of its stately
rings.
Taking in the rings in their entirety was the focus of this particular
imaging sequence. Therefore, the…
j7uy5 | March 4, 2007Point one: when sanctions were imposed upon Iraq after the first Gulf
War, Iraqi children began starving. But we did not blame
ourselves. After all, it was Mr. Saddam Hussein who chose to
spend money on more palaces, rather than on feeding the children.
It was not our fault, that he did not spend his money wisely,
after his source of funding was reduced.
Fast forward to today, and consider point two: Currently, the US and
its Congress are debating whether to reduce funding for the military
effort. Some people object, saying that would leave troops
with out armor, without necessary…
j7uy5 | March 2, 2007In case you did not know, there is going to be a lunar eclipse tomorrow
night. By itself, that is not terribly unusual.
What is unusual about this event, though, is that at some
times and places, it will be possible to see both
the setting sun and the partly-eclipsed moon at the
same time.
At first glance, that would seem impossible. After all, the eclipse
only occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.
But it can happen.
The reason is that the atmosphere of the Earth diffracts the light that
forms the images of the Sun and the Moon. That bends the path
of the light…
j7uy5 | March 2, 2007If you have ever been curious to know what the corpus callosum looks
like in vivo, you can see it in this Google video:
href="http://video.google.com/url?docid=2970913114974330555&esrc=srst10&ev=v&q=%22corpus+callosum%22&vidurl=http://video.google.com/videoplay%3Fdocid%3D2970913114974330555%26q%3D%2522corpus%2Bcallosum%2522%26it%3D2911&usg=AL29H22q93tPE6Lk8OUnjP7u5OUGGOqJlg">Pediatric
Hemispherectomy Surgical Treatment For Epilepsy.
The link starts the video at the point where they show the
corpus callosum after it has been severed, surgically. It is
not for the…
j7uy5 | March 1, 2007Since I started a little self-disclosure yesterday, I am going to
continue that theme. Very few people know this about me.
The fact is, I have congenital amusia. No, that
does not mean I am "easily amused." It means I am tone deaf.
A couple of days ago, I heard a piece on NPR. This was one of
those bits where they record people's stories. The story was
about a woman who said that some old teakettles had harmonica reeds to
make the whistling sound more musical. She was thrilled to
get a teakettle that had three holes in the cap, so that the whistle
was not just a whistle, it was a…
j7uy5 | February 28, 2007Note: this post involves a very small amount of self-disclosure.
That is a bit unusual.
My father is also a psychiatrist. He told me once about his
education in psychopharmacology. A guy got up to lecture,
identified himself as the "drug doctor," and gave a lecture on
psychopharmacology. In fact, he gave a series
of
lectures...about five, total.
That was in the early to mid 1950's. What did we have back
then? Basically two things: uppers and downers.
By the mid 1980's things had changed. We knew about
neurotransmitters and receptors. I distinctly recall a
lecture
in which the…
j7uy5 | February 28, 2007Scientific American makes note of a new finding regarding multiple
sclerosis, first reported in The Journal of Neuroscience.
One of the big shifts in our understanding of brain structure and
function, over the past decade or so, has been our improved
understanding of the process of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurogenesis">neurogenesis
in adults. It is more more common than had been assumed
previously. It turns out that neurons are not the only brain
cells that change in such dynamic ways. New
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroglia">neuroglia
can be generated as…
j7uy5 | February 27, 2007From
href="http://uchiblogo.uchicago.edu/archives/2007/02/snow_days_1.html">UChiBLOGo:
It' a nice car, but wouldn't you rather have a Subaru?
j7uy5 | February 26, 2007There is a whole field of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology">evolutionary
psychology. Let me get this out of the way: I
remain
skeptical of the entire endeavor, even though there is now a
href="http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/">Center for
Evolutionary
Psychology.
But when it makes it into the mass media, it deserves some
comment. The LA Times reported a few days ago on how the
formulation of psychiatric disorders is changing, in part because of
evolutionary theory.
href="http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-evpsych12feb12,0,3649492.…
j7uy5 | February 25, 2007I know that the SB site can be overwhelming; there is a lot here, and
it can take a lot of time to go through it all. Now, for
those of you who like to use feeds, e.g. Google Reader, you can get a
"Select" view of what might be the best posts. The method for
choosing them is secret. But unlike other "Select" services,
this one is free.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/scienceblogs/ScienceblogsSelect
If unsure how to use this, try going to www.google.com/reader, either
sign in or create an account, then click Add Subscription, then copy
and past the link above.
There are many other ways to do…
j7uy5 | February 25, 2007Sometimes I go to sites such as
href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/" rel="tag">Yes!
or Ode,
looking for a positive spin on current events. Another is the
McClatchy
site, where they have an
href="http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/good_news/">entire
section devoted to good news.
But then, there is this:
href="http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16760690.htm">U.S.
economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty
By Tony Pugh
McClatchy Newspapers
Thu, Feb. 22, 2007
WASHINGTON - The percentage of poor
Americans who are living in severe…
j7uy5 | February 24, 2007I won't rehash the distinction between faith-based and reality-based
reasoning, figuring that most blog readers -- at least the progressive
ones -- know the meaning and context.
However, I would like to make one point. Reasoning that is
not
reality-based can come in different flavors; not all are linking
specifically to faith. Some are linked to ideology.
This is
an insidious kind of cognitive error to which we all are susceptible.
Here's an example from a recent Washington Post article:
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701334.html">…
j7uy5 | February 19, 2007Joltvolta (great name, by the way), asked a good question after I
posted part 3.
When you say proceed methodically, employ good data
collection, etc. How does the individual do that for themselves? If
they don't have the availability to see a specialist multiple times a
week, or even in a month, what options do they have?
I will get to that, eventually, but there are a few more things I have
to cover first. After all, part of my agenda in writing this
series is to enable patients to do more for themselves. There is
a shortage of specialists, and so long as that is the case, it will be…