Monthly Archive for August, 2009
Health Insurance for All – A Weighty Issue
The prospect of universal health coverage for all Americans is weighing heavily on lawmakers right now. But, if the current proposals pass Congress, Americans may be looking at an even “weightier” problem. New economic research suggests that having health insurance actually makes people fat, and that, in turn, increases health care spending.A working paper recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) discovered that Americans who have any type of health insurance coverage, either public or private, are more likely to gain weight and be obese.
The Reality of the Brain-Computer Interface
Imagine having the ability to turn on the television and change the channel without using a remote control. Or better yet, imagine navigating the internet and sending emails using just the power of your thoughts. Although it may sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, these ideas are becoming a reality. The brain-computer interface is the next technological achievement that blurs the line between science fiction and scientific reality.
In Sickness and Mental Health
Most couples promise to love each other in sickness and in health when reciting marriage vows. Now, simply saying those words may lead to better health. Numerous studies have extolled the benefits of marriage on overall morbidity and mortality, but a recent study reports that mental health may, in fact, be preserved, in married people.More than 25 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for most of the cases. With an aging population, the number of dementia cases is expected to exceed 80 million by 2040.
Social and Physical Pain Share Neural Architecture
The old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” may be more defensive than accurate. Indeed, most languages rely on words that represent pain -- hurt feelings, heartache, broken hearts -- to communicate feelings of social distress. Recent findings in neuroscience suggest that sayings such as these may reflect more than poetic metaphor, and instead indicate an overlap in neural systems used to represent physical and social pain in humans.
Popular Posts
- The Love Drug
- Women After Sex
- Fatty Acids and Suicide Risk
- Mind Games - Science's Attempts at Thought Control
- Risks of Personalized Medicine
- Is Giftedness Nothing More than Good Genes?
- Intelligence - Are You Holding Back Your Brain?
- Behind the Masks - The Mysteries of Dissociative Identity Disorder
- The NeuroSocial Network
- Inside Your Brain on Holiday
Future Posts
- Drug-Induced Mystical Experience
- Facebook – Coming to a 12-Step Program near You?
Latest Posts
- Therapeutic Analysis of Dreams – A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach
- Small Groups Make Women Stupid
- Psychotherapy and Clinical Boundaries
- The Brain’s Buying Power
- Aging Intelligently
- A Nicotine Patch a Day Keeps the Cognitive Impairment Away
- The Many Emerging Roles of Astrocytes
- Diabetes Impairs Cognition
- Media Violence Leads to Real Violence
- Intelligence – Are You Holding Back Your Brain?
Comments
- Psicologos Barcelona: Richard, tu español es muy bue
- Lage: Alexis,What evidence do yo
- Adi: Hi, with my best intentions an
- Tamara G. Suttle, M.Ed., LPC: Thanks so much, Richard, for d
- PhD: The title of this article is o
- Niobe Chacks: Well;the article is good but i
- Alexis Remm: LageI think that you don´t
- Lage: Alexis,You still never ans
- JamMiester1711: Be careful not to be miss info
- Ron: If there is such a thing as a
- Cory: How about how TV commercials t
- Caoimhin: This was extremely satisfying
