Category Archives: Science and Medicine

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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Learning to love cereal was key to the evolution of dogs – The Washington Post

How dogs evolved. Interesting science. A team of Swedish researchers compared the genomes of wolves and dogs and found that a big difference is dogs’ ability to easily digest starch. On their way from pack-hunting carnivore to fireside companion, dogs … Continue reading

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Insight: Evidence grows for narcolepsy link to GSK swine flu shot | Fox News

Narcolepsy perhaps caused by a swine flu vaccine–this is one scary vaccine tale that has some scientific backing. Emelie is one of around 800 children in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe who developed narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder, after being … Continue reading

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

Light-Activated Hydrogel Repairs Cartilage (photonics.com | Jan 2013 | Research & Technology)

This may actually be the best solution I’ve seen so far for cartilage repair because it addresses one of the gaps in current care. The article explains the problem with current therapy: Microfracture — a surgery in which tiny holes … Continue reading

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Exercise boosts the effectiveness of flu shots

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

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Data visualization

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

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Learning while sleeping: infants do it

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

Why the obsession with apocalypse? The future is bright.

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

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Running and the evolution of man (Part 2)

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

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Running and the evolution of man (part 1)

Exercise builds the brain. Yet more strong theorizing summarized in this NY Times column: Anyone whose resolve to exercise in 2013 is a bit shaky might want to consider an emerging scientific view of human evolution. It suggests that we … Continue reading

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