Monthly Archives: January 2013

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

Add a blog and blogging to your to-do list

A really nicely stated case for the benefits of blogging. As I have often said, the internet, which everyone said would destroy writing, is actually going to save it. You need to blog to differentiate yourself well beyond your credentials … Continue reading

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Notre Dame’s failure of communication

The strange, sad story of Manti Te’o gets sadder and stranger, but what seems clear to me right now is that Notre Dame did a very poor job of handling things. They seemed to think the situation was important enough … Continue reading

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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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Zombie consciousness

Wish I had time to go to this talk: Thursday Jan 17th, 5 pm: Workshop on Zombies and Consciousness Steven Schlozman, Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School “Is it OK to shoot that Zombie if it isn’t Consciously Human? Is it OK to shoot … 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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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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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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