Category Archives: Brain Hacking

Why I’m taking daily ibuprofen: Could it give me more brain cells and prevent diseases of aging?

More and more, it is looking like the kind of inflammation that occurs on a daily basis, the kind you never really notice, can have serious health consequences. And there is good reason to believe that daily anti-inflammatories can be … Continue reading

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Stanford experiment shows that virtual superpowers encourage real-world empathy

  Some might think that giving people the illusion of greater than normal power would make them more egotistical and self-serving, but this Stanford study shows that what people become is more empathetic. This is in line with the idea … Continue reading

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Children’s behavior and bribes

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

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Can Computers Be Funny?

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

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Seth’s Blog: The attention paradox

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

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5 Big Discoveries About Personal Effectiveness in 2012

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

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Four techniques Navy Seals use to make it through rigorous training

The training for Navy Seals is extremely tough. For instance, recruits have to stay underwater for 20 minutes. They have a hose to breath from, but they have to deal with regular attacks from instructors who rip their masks off, … Continue reading

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Inherited Resistance to Cocaine

Male rat pups of cocaine using fathers are less likely to become addicted to cocaine and find the drug less rewarding, according to new research. This is due to inherited, epigenetic changes induced by the cocaine use. “The findings, published … Continue reading

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The link between imagination, sickle cell anemia and human success

On a beach run this morning I was listening to the Fresh Air interview with Jonah Lehrer, author of the book Imagine, which discusses how we get creative insights. Lehrer’s ideas about the nature of the creative process made me … Continue reading

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Making and unmaking memories

Wire has a very good article on understanding memory and the potential for softening or eliminating traumatic memories. This is a subject I have written on before and is really fascinating. I think people focus on the “pill to fix … Continue reading

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