Author Archives: Chris

Exercise boosts the effectiveness of flu shots

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Chris

Another benefit of exercise: researchers have known that it boost the immune system, and now there is evidence that it makes flu shots (and perhaps other vaccines?) more effective. Those volunteers who had exercised after being inoculated, it turned out, … Continue reading →

Posted in Diet and Exercise, Science and Medicine | Leave a comment

Children’s behavior and bribes

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Chris

In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Bruce Feiler explores the widespread phenomenon of bribes (rewards) to get kids to do what they should, and the equally widespread belief that using such “extrinsic rewards” will actually undermine kids’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain Hacking, Diet and Exercise | Leave a comment

Data visualization

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Chris

I attended a fantastic data visualization workshop at USF over the weekend. It was taught by Peter Aldhous of the New Scientist. We learned how to take Excel spreadsheets of data and turn it into visualizations like the one I … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing and Journalism, Science and Medicine | Leave a comment

Can Computers Be Funny?

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Chris

WHAT do you get when you cross a fragrance with an actor?Answer: a smell Gibson.   This is the kind of thing that passes for humor from a computer. It’s the kind of joke that would be a knee slapper … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain Hacking, Neuroscience and Psychology | Leave a comment

We only see changes in ourselves in retrospect

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Chris

From the New York  Times, an article on how we see how different we were in the past, but we don’t expect ourselves to change much in the future. “Middle-aged people — like me — often look back on our … Continue reading →

Posted in Neuroscience and Psychology | Leave a comment

Learning while sleeping: infants do it

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Chris

At one time there was a mania for learning while sleeping. People played recordings of physics lectures while they slept in hopes of learning during the brain’s down-time. Later science showed that these techniques did not work. There is a … Continue reading →

Posted in How Life Begins, Science and Medicine, Sleep | Leave a comment

Seth’s Blog: The attention paradox

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Chris

Seth Godin on the often antithetical demands of messaging in the information age. Smart advertisers, though, are realizing that they have to make content that people decide is worth watching. Some have very good indeed at making media that’s so … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain Hacking, Neuroscience and Psychology, Publishing and Journalism | Leave a comment

5 Big Discoveries About Personal Effectiveness in 2012

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Chris

From Psychology Today’s website, an article listing 5 things you can do to be more effective. • We don’t know ourselves as well as we think, so when we are not doing well at something, get feedback from others. • … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain Hacking, Neuroscience and Psychology | Leave a comment

Why the obsession with apocalypse? The future is bright.

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Chris

On this New Year’s Day, it is fitting to ask: Why are so many people obsessed with apocalypses? Why do so many people not only believe ridiculous things like the Mayan Apocalypse, but seem to want to believe them? On … Continue reading →

Posted in Current History, Neuroscience and Psychology, Science and Medicine | Leave a comment

Running and the evolution of man (Part 2)

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Chris

I distinctly remember watching Survivor: Africa in 2001 and realizing how vulnerable early man must have felt. The Survivor contestants were sleeping in a traditional african Kraal, which was simply a circular fence of thorny acacia bushes. At night, lions … Continue reading →

Posted in Neuroscience and Psychology, Science and Medicine, Sleep | Leave a comment