Preview of content in preparation and synopsis of recently posted articles
In preparation
1. Story: Scamorama: We are constantly bombarded with ads, info-commercials, tips and hearsay, promotionals and promises that amount to scams (Do we have a deal for you). Even the sophisticates among us like the rest of us are susceptible to being ‘taken’, used, by private and public institutions that stalk our wallets. Can we develop scam detectors and at the same time come up with tools that allow us to combat the scammers.
2. Story (initial draft has been posted): Making sense and then applying biomedical research: This posting is being developed in response to an article that appeared in the 26 Nov. issue of the NY Times by Gina Kalota. The article focused on the confusing picture of recommended cholesterol guidelines article. The article could easily have been written about the problems involved establishing reliable biomedical findings and communicating what we know to the public. Here is an outline of some of the issues that impede solid useful basic and applied biomedical research. When dealing with complex problems what are the problems faced in generating reliable biomedical research and communicating knowledge gained?
3. Project: The mind masters: not for everyone but mostly for kids: I recently started a blog (called Mind Masters) with my grandson Henry. He had undergone a bone marrow transplant, which, as you can imagine, is an awful experience for an 11-year-old kid. The blog was all about trying to use fun stories and pictures to convey ideas about how minds/brains work for an audience of kids Henry’s age. It was a pleasant distraction for Henry. What we came up with can be found at the following drop box address. https://www.dropbox.com/s/cayvex4py4gos83/mind%20masters.docx
The Mind masters blog content will be transferred to mindsinplay.com
4. Perhaps the following themes are also worth developing into postings.
a. How do you get rid of knowledge that is a toxic gift (in German gift means poison) that keeps on giving?
b. We are largely irrational beings with a thin veneer of rationality. We make all sorts of decisions including important ones, based on bogus knowledge, attitudes, and silly beliefs. All of that is obvious but how our rational and irrational beings live under the same skin and what are the conditions that make our different ‘voices’ move to center stage
c. Work with people that can teach you what you don’t know, people that are successful, people who have something to offer. Don’t leap in to rescue the chronic underperformers among us. You don’t need that activity to enhance your image.
d. It is hard to give up, to admit, we can’t solve what we thought was solvable. Sometimes it is stupid to keep trying to solve the unsolvable, unless of course you find it entertaining. Maybe we think we are superheroes the kind that can walk on water.
Recently posted stories (titles and summaries)
Project: Towards a science of addiction: Issues, questions, future research directions
This an ongoing project that is being developed with other scientist-researchers in the field of the neuroscience of addiction.
Resilience: Outline and template for thinking about resilience; Resilience is a term that is sometimes used to capture how well, how adaptive, how effective we are in response to life’s acute or sustained stressors. When we are effective in dealing with the acute and immediate impact of a dramatic stressor we label what we have accomplished as a demonstration of resilience. Similarly when we bounce back to effective living after enduring a long period of stress we also conjure up the term resilience. Resilience has meaning in everyday language as well as a term used to describe behavior and its neurobiological underpinnings.
This posting will require much more work and is posted as a project rather than a story.
Blood biomarkers are useful predictors of future cognitive impairments
Metabolites in blood can be used to predict future cognitive decline
Dogs and elephants (and loads of other animals) appreciate language
Dogs, elephants (and other mammals) are capable of processing language
Imagination
Most people when asked whether it is a good thing to have a rich imagination would say ‘of course’. No doubt imagination is very useful in many situations but on the other hand when imagination is a substitute for reality it can have crippling consequences.
More about marshmallows and willpower
What are the implications and conditions that allow kids to delay gratification?
The mind masters rediscover the value of tools of the mind
Teaching kids executive function skills has huge long-term dividends
Bulletin: The brains of women and men are different
You know that men and women are different so why be surprised that this is also reflected in brain ‘wiring’.
Emotions in the brain
Neurons that specialize in capturing emotions in faces
Babies start learning language while their are ion their mother’s belly
You are never too young to learn
Tuning the brain with deep brain stimulation
What can epilepsy patient teach us about maintaining good brain function?
Looking back at our evolutionary history (400,000 years)
How old are our ancestors?
The ‘magic’ of the placebo response
Even though you may know something is a placebo it still works.
