Research continues in a pursuit of the how, why and where of who we are. A new book, The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong, by David Shenk is reviewed by Annie Murphy Paul in the Sunday New York Times Book Review. And for […]
Science
Analytical vs Creative: Pick One
According to the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, sexual fantasizing improves analytical skills. But daydreaming about love impacts your creativity. This sounds downright Jill Bolte Taylor-esque. Left hemisphere versus right. Melinda Wenner of Scientific American goes into more depth. Previous research suggests that our problem-solving abilities change depending on our states of mind and that […]
Gaia And/Or Medea
In his book “I Am a Strange Loop”, Douglas Hofstadter argues that complex feedback loops in the brain are the origin of consciousness and the illusion of self. That illusion is absent or muted in lower life forms. In consequence, it is ethically neutral to swat a mosquito, which is a half step above an […]
Adventures in Red
Trees along the Charles River, Boston Ah, the color red. For several weeks that hue has been a touchstone for the unspoken for me, an indicator of another realm. It started with the trees. What a fall this has been in New England, with the color coming on with an orchestrated polyphony. The red leafed […]
Leaky Margins
For the last few years I have been following the fascinating discussion around what is socially transmitted and what is not. (Here’s an earlier post on this topic.) While the claim that happiness is contagious (and the subject of the lead article about the work of Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler in the Sunday New […]
Science of the Subtle
Another note in keeping with the theme of Science: It works, bitches (see the posting below): The New Scientist has also reported on research into the “smell” of fear. While the article focuses on particular research testing “stress sweat” and the brain’s reaction to it, don’t we all have our own personal experience of the […]
In Praise of Horizontality and the Scientific Method
There are so many things about being horizontal that are worthy of praise. Look at what great things can happen in the supine position: Sex. Sleep. Meditation. And inspiration, something I came to understand from a novelist friend. While writing a complex trilogy, she would lie down whenever the direction wasn’t clear. In that position, […]
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The Mystery of Memory
The Persistance of Memory, by Dali Penelope Lively has a view of memory that reflects my own beliefs about this extraordinary thing we can do with our minds. In an article in the Guardian by Sarah Crown, Lively’s view is stated clearly: “The idea that memory is linear,” says Penelope Lively, crisply, “is nonsense. What […]
Spaciality and Language
Aboriginal rock painting, Kakadu, Aust. Credit: Thomas Schoch As a follow on to my earlier post on human spaciality, Stanford assistant professor of psychology, neuroscience, and symbolic systems Lera Boroditsky has written a piece on Edge that explores how individual languages shape the way speakers think about space, time, colors and objects. She demonstrates that […]
Spaciality and Other Human Failings
Two favorite themes are intertwined in Jonah Lerner’s review of Collin Ellard’s You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon But Get Lost in the Mall in today’s Times Book Review. One theme is the wide variations in human navigational skills. I know brilliant people who have no “map sense”—they get […]