Are Memories Permanent? The brain creates memory through a near endless conversation. To move ideas from short term, working memory to long term memory the cortex and hippocampus communicate again and again. It may take ten years or more for “permanent” memories to encode in cortical locations – where they first registered as thoughts […]
Did Neanderthals get depressed? (12/27/10)
The Four Different Kinds of Human It’s not every year you recognize four different human proto-species were operating at the same time – and relatively recently. What’s even stranger is that we still carry many of their genes. In neurological terms, these groups were close – really close. That fact may help explain what […]
Fixing your internet addled brain (12/17/10)
Keeping the Mind Sharp Are you going to quit using the Internet? Come on! So what if unrestricted Net action will physically change your brain and body, dimming your analytic ability (see Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows”), negate the long-term memory stores you’ll need to succeed in life (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-edlund-md/add-symptoms_b_656590.html#s119840,) and potentially make you fat, thick, […]
Text tonight, trouble tomorrow (11/3/10)
The Electronic Life The cyborg future is here. Last week I wrote on “Your kid’s new ‘favorite’ bed partner” – the cell phone. It now appears the era of “mobile computing” is creating mass immobility. Kids are texting like crazy at night – in bed. The Pew Memorial Trust survey I quoted had 82% of […]
Your kid’s new favorite bed partner (10/28/10)
Who is she sleeping with now? According to the recent Pew Memorial Trust Survey, 82% of 12-17 year olds sleep with or next to their cell phones. That has many implications for health, transport, the economy and the way we will live (and love) in the future: Results: Biological 1. More texts, less sleep, less […]