neurontic | January 5, 2007(Information and statistics purloined from The Edge's 2007 World Question )
Violence has declined precipitously over the course of recent human history, says Chris Anderson, curator of the TED Conference. According to the 2005 Human Security Report "the number of armed conflicts in the world [has] fallen by 40% in little over a decade," as have the number of deaths per conflict. Need more convincing? Consider this: Roughly 30 percent of the male population in hunter-gatherer societies died violent deaths. "Percentage of males who died in violence in the 20th century complete with two world…
neurontic | December 31, 2006
On Wednesday December 14, 2006, my stepfather and friend, Dave Williams, died very suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 61. Unlike many of the people who've been memorialized on ScienceBlogs, Dave was not a celebrity academic or a scientific luminary. His contributions to humanity will not be heralded in newspapers or immortalized in textbooks, but that makes them no less real and no less worthy of recognition.
Dave was a wonderful man with a wonderful brain, and those who knew him will understand what I mean when I say that his passing has left a Dave-shaped hole in the universe. There…
neurontic | December 15, 2006Hello All,
Neurontic will be on by hiatus for a brief time because of the holidays. I hope you'll check back soon. In the meantime, might I suggest ransacking the archives? Some of my personal favorites:
* Temple Grandin: On Thinking Like an Animal
* Does Size Really Matter?
* The Introvert Advantage
* Microscopic Mind Control
neurontic | December 11, 2006Because I am a sucker for the bizarre case study, I can't help but use The Frontal Cortex's recent entry on false pregnancy as an excuse to share an extreme example of the phenomenon with the readers. In Phantoms In The Brain, V.S. Ramachandran relates a tale set down by Philadelphia physician Silas Weir Mitchell in the 1930s.
One day in 1932, a 32-year-old woman named Mary Knight walked into the office of her local physician, Dr. Monroe. She was nine months pregnant, but money was tight and she'd waited until the last possible moment to consult a doctor. The pregnancy had gone off without a…
neurontic | December 10, 2006Neurontic is thrilled to be one of the newest members of Science Blogs. As you can see, I've gone ahead and stocked up the archives with past entries. I hope those of you who aren't familiar with Neurontic will take some time to go through them and make any comments, corrections, and/or augmentations you see fit.
As per usual, I've spent the better part of Sunday morning catching up on my favorite science blogs and I'd like to direct your attention to a few postings that caught my interest:
First, Noam Chomsky -- Linguist-cum-Know-It-All -- has a brief essay on The Edge in which he declares…
neurontic | December 2, 2006A Blog Around The Clock recently posted an entry titled, "You Gotta Be Nuts to Vote for Bush!" Normally I'm a huge fan of The Clock, but this post left me feeling a little sick to my stomach. It describes the vague outlines of a study conducted by Christopher Lohse, a master's candidate in social work at the "highly prestigious" Southern Connecticut State University. Louse claims to have found a "direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush." How? He surveyed . . .
69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse's…
neurontic | November 29, 2006It's going to be a few days before the next "Big Question" post. In the meantime, I thought I'd let the scientific luminaries speak for themselves:
The New Scientist has asked top scientists from a variety of fields to "forecast the future." I was particularly struck by Oliver Sacks' and Antonio Damasio's predictions. And those who found the "Quantum Physics for Artists" entry intriguing will want to check out Nobel Prize winning Theoretical Physicist Gerard 't Hooft's submission. Hooft believes that physicists will construct "a theory that not only unites quantum mechanics and gravity, but…
neurontic | November 26, 2006I need to preface this entry by saying two things. First, I'm no quantum physicist. This is intended to be an introduction for the lay reader. Readers who are well versed in particle physics will no doubt be alarmed by my reductionism. So be it. You have to start somewhere. I would encourage those of you interested in delving deeper to read Michio Kaku's 2006 book Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos.
Second, nothing bugs me more than getting hooked on a blog about, say, macramé and finding that the author has suddenly become obsessed…
neurontic | November 19, 2006I'm angry with my science teachers. I wish I could track them all down and give them a good tongue-lashing. They allowed me to get all the way through 12th grade believing that science was the domain of left-brainers: People who enjoyed computations and categorizations. People who seemed bent on bleeding life of all its color and distilling it down to a series of sterile "laws." They never gave me any indication that learning the periodic table, the laws of physics, or the basics of evolution was just the grunt work--the equivalent of practicing scales so that you could go on to tackle Bach…
neurontic | November 16, 2006The dark days of winter are upon us, folks, and as you know, wintertime has been shown to make many of us SAD. Luckily, experts in a variety of disciplines have been working feverishly to come up with strategies to stave off the blues and enhance happiness. Below, you'll find a sampling of some of theories currently in vogue.
*Not long ago, a multidisciplinary team of experts in the UK compiled a list of 10 behaviors they claim have been statistically proven to promote happiness:
1) Plant something and nurture it2) Count your Blessings - at least five - at the end of everyday3) Take time to…
neurontic | November 9, 2006Over the past decade, as Baby Boomers have begun flooding the ranks of the AARP, science has become increasingly focused on discovering the recipe for longevity. Every week, it seems, a new study is published touting the life extending powers of antioxidants, exercise, or sleep.
By and large, the anti-aging prescriptions issued over the last 10 years have been sensible. It's hard to take issue with the idea that eating more greens, getting more sleep, and breaking the occasional sweat promotes health. But as the eldest Boomers enter their sixties, the mania for longevity seems to be reaching…
neurontic | October 29, 2006This just in from the great minds at the University of Central Florida: Laws of physics, math debunk Hollywood portrayals of ghosts, vampires.
Using Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion, [UCF researchers] demonstrated that ghosts would not be able to walk and pass through walls [and] basic math disproves the legend of humans turning into vampires after they are bitten . . . because the entire human population in 1600 would have been wiped out in less than three years.
Time well spent guys--really.
neurontic | October 27, 2006The Frontal Cortex has an interesting post about a recent study conducted by psychologists at the University of Toronto on the effects of reading fiction. (Full disclosure here: I haven't read the entire study, which was published in the October issue of The Journal of Research in Personality. I just can't bring myself to fork over the money for a subscription at the moment. So, the following observations are based solely on the abstract, which you can read here.) The thrust of the study appears to be this: researchers found that avid fiction readers are more socially adept and empathetic…
neurontic | October 13, 2006Those who read "Psychedelic Pharmacology" may be interested to learn that Dr. Erika Dyck, a medical professor at the University of Alberta, is trumpeting the benefits of using LSD as a treatment for alcoholism. After surveying past research, Dyck found there was ample evidence to support the idea that "tripping" helps addicts achieve the level of emotional catharsis required to give up the drink.
She interviewed a handful of reformed alcoholics who used acid to kick the habit some 40 years ago and reported:
The LSD experience appeared to allow the patients to go through a spiritual journey…
neurontic | October 10, 2006I find myself strangely obsessed with tracking the constant shuffle of Google Ads on the site lately. I worry a bit when Neurontic is papered with advertisements for suicide prevention hotlines, bargain-basement antidepressants, and therapy directories, as is the case when I spend too much time talking about depression treatments. I laugh when one posting that mentions the word 'spaghetti' results in a flood of links to pasta recipes. But I'm entirely perplexed by today's top ranking ad: 'God Ringtone.'
The ad instructs me to 'send this ringtone to my phone right now!' I can't help wanting…
neurontic | October 2, 2006A quick note to let all interested parties know that Repliee Q1expo, the latest thing in android science, is on display at this week's WIRED NEXTFEST in Manhattan.
If anyone out there has time for a fieldtrip, Neurontic would love to hear your impressions. Preliminary reports suggest that she's uncanny when sitting still, but bears a discomfitting resemblence to a wind up toy once set in motion.
neurontic | August 20, 2006I have some experience with depression, mostly mild although I have had a couple periods that could be described as major depressions. I know that my thoughts are intimately connected to my brain chemistry and that paying attention to how I'm thinking can alter my mood. For example, if I catch myself starting to feel depressed, I can pay attention to the conversations I'm having with myself and interrupt the thoughts that go something like "You worthless, useless, lazy slob". That, along with taking care of chores and projects I've been letting slide, and getting some exercise, usually help.…
neurontic | August 20, 2006A collection of scientific findings that make you go "duh"--or simply "huh?"
It's been a banner week for sociologists people:
Penn State's Beth Montemurro, assistant professor of sociology, has accomplished something no one thought possible: she's turned watching stupid television into a respectable profession. After extensive "research," Montemurro has established beyond a shadow of a doubt that 'Bachelorette' viewers aren't seeking reality.
In other news, Sociologist Scott Yabiku of Arizona State University has "discovered" that "Lawns Make People Chatty." (Someone needs to check and see…
neurontic | August 17, 2006An estimated 16 percent of the American population will suffer from major depressive disorder at some point during life. The disease strikes down nearly 19 million Americans each year, and it's likely to happen more than once. A whopping 50 percent will experience an encore performance within two years of their initial depressive "episode," and the stats get even worse after the second recurrence.
What does this mean? It means that if you're wired for depression, you'll likely spend most of your adult life on some form of antidepressant--a fate that many do not relish given the side effects…
neurontic | August 14, 2006Okay, clearly Neurontic does not attract the carb-averse. Spaghetti was pretty high up on everyone's list. Answers ranged from a respectable '6' to a lip-smacking '10.'
I contacted a few of you to get the specs on your dinners and here's what I learned:
Yez, a reader after my own heart, gave the meal a perfect '10' and described it as follows:
I'm in a small family style restaurant in Italy. The pasta is something like linguini, and it is absolutely fresh. There is a really simple sauce that goes perfectly with the pasta, delicious veggies on the side and the heavenly Italian bread.
Jen R.,…