It’s time for a very short quiz. Do you learn more – Taking a walk across an abandoned car park Or Studying for a required calculus test? Teachers, academics and most folks will probably choose #2. Even if we don’t like calculus, we’re taking a test. That’s gotta be important. Yet most human learning does […]
Your Lying, Cheating Brain (3/3/14)
Creating Useful Lies “I just know it’s true. I saw it.” But your brain is not a DVD player, correctly recording what happened. And that’s a good thing. The unreliability of memory has been a literary theme for thousands of years. The creation of our many “true fictions” are ascribed to factors varying from personality […]
Alzheimer’s – An Information Processing Illness (2/27/13)
The Deficient Disease Model The human body degenerates like a rusting machine. The parts just get older, break down, fall away. Believe this story? If you do, you’ll increase your risk of Alzheimer’s and many major illnesses – for that’s not how the body works. Machines fall apart. Cars rust. Machines degenerate. Bodies regenerate. […]
Speak, Memory (2/18/13)
Sleep’s Memory How do we remember? What do we try to forget? What do we forget without trying? As in many areas of consciousness, sleep is a key. Vladimir Nabokov was a formidable novelist, essayist and lepidopterist. He recognized evolutionary changes in butterflies decades before his colleagues. Yet he is better known as the author […]
Why People Won’t Sweat (12/03/12)
Immovable News note: 3.5% of Americans aged 18-59 do 150 minutes or more of moderate physical activity per week – the minimum recommended by the government for health (Gina Kolata, NY Times, 11/20/12). Only 96.5% of the younger adult population is not doing the minimum required exercise. It’s 97.5% for those over 59. Taking away the […]