Monthly Archive for March, 2011
Coverage of Neuroscience in the Popular Media – The New Psychobabble
Reading any newspaper, whether online or in print, whether a serious publication like the New York Times or one that's more entertainment-minded like Oprah Magazine, you will invariably find an article discussing neuroscience. Even the non-fiction bestseller lists are populated with brain-centered books like Proust was a Neuroscientist, The Female Brain, and A Whole New Mind. While it is certainly heartening that the public is as excited about the latest findings on the brain as are the neuroscientists who do serious study and lab work, neuroscience in the popular media has become nothing short of a farce.
Vitamin E – Small Risk, Big Consequences
Many people supplement their diets with natural or synthetic vitamin E with the hope of preventing cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer and other health conditions. But, recent evidence has shown virtually no widespread benefit of vitamin E supplementation. Moreover, vitamin E may actually increase the risk of stroke.
Willpower and the Unconscious on Automatic Pilot
What is the practical value of research delving into our sense of self? Willpower is one answer. In the course of putting the pieces of my consciousness back together after assaults to my brain, I came to see my conscious self as being the size of a person navigating on the high seas. There was me taking wind, currents, and sea-worthiness into account, and there was the vast ocean and atmosphere offering up enough detectable patterns that I could navigate toward a destination.
Faster. Higher. Stronger. Braver.
Athletes the world over are continuously searching for new ways to one-up their competition. Better training, improved technique, innovative coaching. In sports, if not always in life, there are clear winners and losers, and, often, the winners are the ones who can combine natural talent with the best and brightest advantages training and coaching have to provide. When the advantage comes from the latest and greatest gadget or gear, coaching style, or training regimen, competitors are just sorry they did not find it first. But, when the advantage comes from performance-enhancing drugs, the line between winners and losers gets a little blurry. And now, there are some sports gurus and bioethicists who wonder if legalizing performance-enhancing drugs is, in fact, a fair play.
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
