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sb admin | November 12, 2007There's a revolutionary mental health claim in a hot new article - Therapeutic Efficacy of Cash in the Treatment of Anxiety and Depressive Disorders: Two Case Studies (e-pub ahead of print).
The first case report involves a man who was laid off and lost his pension; after treatment with various SSRIs and sedatives with numerous side effects, the patient came into the office free of depressive symptoms. He claimed to have won the lottery, which fMRI brain scans [shown here] confirmed with evidence of a complete remission. In the second case, a single mother of four found her anxiety and…
sb admin | November 9, 2007The Onion News Network brings us In The Know: Is The Government Spying On Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough? Satire of a talk show with pundits who promote more and better spying on people diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Note: It's "people diagnosed with" (or just "people with") and not "schizophrenics" as people are more than their differences and labels. But that's not as funny, is it?
sb admin | November 8, 2007
A depiction of delusional parasitosis in Dave Kellett's webcomic Sheldon. DP, a fixed delusion in which one believes s/he is infested with bugs despite no evidence, was famously described in Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly. Superblogger and psychologist Vaughan Bell wrote a nice article on the subject, check it out.
Thanks again, Dave, for permission to share your comic (with slightly modified layout to make it blog-friendly).
sb admin | October 31, 2007Another in the hilarious vintage BBC Look Around You series, this is 4 - Ghosts. Bwa-ha-ha.
sb admin | October 29, 2007
You lol'ed at science education spoof Look Around You: Brain, and now for Halloween here's Look Around You: Ghosts. In this nine minute pseudoscience mockumentary you'll learn things like, "Ectoplasm is perfectly safe to eat, and tastes like pig's milk." Spooky!
sb admin | October 26, 2007
Dave Kellet jokes about a visual illusion the visual pop-out phenomenon, in his webcomic Sheldon. Click the cropped image to see the full comic strip. Thanks Dave!
[Thanks, T.N. for the correction. Two blog posts about it here and here.]
sb admin | October 26, 2007In time for Halloween:
Trailer for Central State: Asylum for the Insane. A filmmaker prowls a closed mental institution to "...uncover the mysteries left behind when the facilities closed in 1994." There's lots of shaky handheld camerawork in poorly lit tunnels, and shakier rumours of ghosts, but no exploration into the disappearance of former patients. Homelessness and prisons, that's scary, not the supposed ghosts that a supposed psychic says are "like a tornado" in the building.
What's actually "menacing and still threatening" is not an old hospital but the stigma attached to mental…
sb admin | October 24, 2007 Omni Brain met its fundraising goal of $1000 for music education programs through DonorsChoose. Thank you to everyone who's donated. You rock! Now 30 kids will too.
But it'd be okay, you know, permissible (haha) to exceed our goal if you'd still like to help a Lisa Simpson. A few of the programs Omni Brain earmarked are still seeking fulfillment. Here, an Indianapolis music teacher describes his/her wish to teach kids science and music together:
I want to set up a program for fourth through sixth grade having students work on the scientific method of experimenting with sound. The resources I…
sb admin | October 23, 2007You're seeing other ScienceBlogs readers donate, now join the love train*.
A rare serious post from Steve explains The Real Mozart Effect and why we should support music education with DonorsChoose. Playing an instrument has cognitive and developmental benefits.
That reason formed an episode of The Simpsons, too: Lisa's Sax. Homer wants to buy an air conditioner but Lisa needs help to nurture her brain with more than Springfield Elementary has to offer. Unsure what to do, he walks out of Moe's toward It Blows, with $200 in his pocket. He sees a music store and says, "Musical instrument?…
sb admin | October 19, 2007
Look Around You: Brain. "The brain is basically a wrinkled bag of skin filled with warm water, veins, and thought muscles. ... The opposite of the brain is probably the bum." Brief vintage BBC parody of science education films about the brain. Watch through to the end, when a brain in a jar is rewarded with a special treat for performing a task.
sb admin | October 18, 2007
Via The Neurocritic.
brainscannr by Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson. Try it with your name. Hot! :)
sb admin | October 12, 2007Via Metacafe, here's an audio/visual illusion involving reading lips and seeing voices (nothing to do with synaesthesia) called the McGurk Effect.
sb admin | October 5, 2007
Via The Center for Narcolepsy at Stanford School of Medicine], this video explains:
Various narcoleptic episodes in dogs. Sporadic cases of narcolepsy in dogs is due to hypocretin peptide deficiency while the familial form is due to mutations in one of the two hypocretin receptor genes (hcrtr2). Various dogs are shown here in a clip narrated by Dr. Emmanuel Mignot.
Or for the tabloid take, watch Skeeter the Narcoleptic Poodle from Inside Edition. "Skeeter's troubles staying awake are heartbreaking..."
Visit the Sleep Foundation to learn more.
sb admin | September 28, 2007
YT parody of an ad for HeadOn, a homeopathic topical analgesic for headaches that's smeared on the forehead.
The official HeadOn site (I won't link since "the site is for the use of US residents only;" sorry I inadvertently looked and I'm not American, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to) states, "The active ingredients in HeadOn are diluted much more than the minimum required dilution dictated by the monograph of the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States and therefore represent no health risk whatsoever." Yes, and likely no health benefit whatsoever either.
The video HeadOn…
sb admin | September 18, 2007 The Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest is now accepting submissions for its 2008 prizes. The Neural Correlate Society hosts this fun and popular event now entering its fourth year. Last year's winning illusion will be tough to top!
New this year are the three winners' trophies, designed by sculptor Guido Moretti. The trophies themselves are visual illusions that change shape when you rotate them. Very cool. Click here to see the sculptures' shapes when rotated.
The image above is one of the 2007 entrants, "It's a Circle, Honest!" by David Whitaker. Here's how he created it.
sb admin | September 17, 2007 The science blogging survey quickly met its goal of 1000 respondents, and is now closed. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Keep an eye on the blogs here to find out when the results are published, but you'll hear for sure if you're subscribed to the ScienceBlogs Weekly Recap newsletter. Find out about the buzzes, most popular posts, best photos, and more. Be current with news and what's hot.
Don't forget to enter the ScienceBlogs 500,000th Comment Contest, open to anyone in the world with a valid email address who leaves a comment before we hit that number. Try leaving one now? Tell me…
sb admin | September 17, 2007 We want your opinion!
This survey attempts to access the opinions of bloggers, blog-readers, and non-blog folk in regards to the impact of blogs on the outside world. The authors of the survey (from ScienceBlogs.com) are completing an academic manuscript on the impact of science blogging and this survey will provide invaluable data to answer the following questions:
Who reads or writes blogs?
What are the perceptions of blogging, and what are the views of those who read blogs?
How do academics and others perceive science blogging?
What, if any, influence does science blogging have on…
sb admin | September 16, 2007 David Amodio responds to The Neurocritic's post about his hot study on [American] political thinking, Neurocognitive correlates of liberalism and conservatism, published in Nature Neuroscience.
While criticism in the blogosphere was mostly based on newspaper reporting (and a Slate article), The Neurocritic examined merits of the study itself. Amodio says,
Though I've generally not worried about the "lay" coverage (how can you argue science with pundits?), it might be worthwhile to respond to a blog that is read by neuroscientists (including myself from time to time).
Check it out if you're…
sb admin | September 14, 2007 Artist Katelyn Sack emailed me earlier to clarify some info. She shares truth:
The post you link to incorrectly states the series is composed of fridge magnets. While I can make prints, magnets, T-shirts, and even baby bubbles featuring any of my artwork, 'Baby, Be A Brain Surgeon!' as featured on The Science Creative Quarterly this Tues., Sept. 11 is oil paint on 4.25" x 4.25" ceramic tiles. You can see my original blog post on the artwork here, and I also list it for sale on my website here.
In her original post, she describes the vision behind her designs. Nursery room decor for a…