Category: interesting
-
Indefinite Memories
There are many substances in the brain thought to be responsible for maintaining long-term memories. Now, research is showing that by blocking one of these substances, the enzyme PKMζ (PMKzeta), we could ‘erase’ certain memories. The hope is that the opposite could work, too: The drug [ZIP] blocks the activity of a substance that the brain apparently…
-
Forever’s Not So Long
Forever’s Not So Long is a touching short film (13 mins.) chronicling how two people decide to see out the end of their lives. via Link Banana
-
Children Exposed to ‘Dirt’, Healthier
From the ‘Science proves mum right’ and ‘Obvious, but still needs to be stated’ file comes the news that children who are exposed to bacteria, viruses, worms, and dirt have healthier immune systems. Public health measures like cleaning up contaminated water and food have saved the lives of countless children, but they “also eliminated exposure…
-
Unintuitive Interfaces
Expanding on Jared Spool’s thoughts on learning cycles and so-called ‘intuitive’ interfaces, Vicky Teinaki discusses the ‘knowledge matrix’ and makes this interesting point that I feel almost embarrassed to have not thought about previously: Digital devices can never be inherently ‘intuitive’, as the fact that they deal in abstraction automatically means that actions must be arbitrary.…
-
How To Destroy a Marriage
In response to Dr Rob Dobrenski’s article on why marriages fail (linked previously), The Last Psychiatrist looks at various “post-marriage accelerators of divorce”—things you can do today to destroy your marriage (limited time offer): Be contemptuous Bring your work home (emotionally) Rush through your ‘family life’ in order to spend time with yourself Be painfully honest with friends/colleagues…
-
The Truth About Markets
My current read, The Truth About Markets/Culture and Prosperity (UK/US title respectively), is a thoroughly enjoyable—if occasionally dense and dry—introduction to economic theories and applications. Published in 2003, it’s aged fairly well. I felt the need to share this two-paragraph excerpt from a section discussing “large models purportedly descriptive of entire economic systems” (pp. 193-194): The…
-
Setting Goals: A Good Idea?
Could setting goals be detrimental to achieving our targets? Yes, say a number of “management scholars” researching the issue, but only because they may lead to “bursts of intense effort in the short term” or be too narrow and poorly defined. The comprehensive article looking at their work has some interesting anecdotes and some good…
-
Tales of Mere Existence
My latest obsession, thanks to David, is Tales of Mere Existence: a series of musings on life’s quirks narrated by Levni Yilmaz (of IngredientX) as he doodles on some backlit paper. A couple of favourites: Theories and Observations about Youth and Aging Procrastination
-
Ideology Getting in the Way of Evidence-Based Medicine
Giving beta blockers to a person in the early stages of a heart attack makes sense: the drugs reduce oxygen consumption by calming and slowing the heart; something that is ideal during a heart attack. However despite evidence showing that beta blockers may actually increase heart failure, the practice of administering them continues. As Dr. David Newman…
-
Gluttony and Adultery
Are our evolving social and cultural judgments about sex and food related? Mary Eberstadt, fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, believes so. Pulitzer Prize-winning op-ed columnist George Will discusses Eberstadt’s theory, stating that nowadays we judge people more for their food choices than their sexual behaviours, whereas a generation ago these moral poles would have…