Sep 15, 2009 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
New edition of Encephalon, the selection of recent blog posts on brain & mind topics, this time hosted by Mike at Ionian Enchantment. Enjoy Encephalon’s #75 edition!
Aug 21, 2009 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
A new edition is out, this time hosted by David at Neuronarrative. Visit Encephalon #74 edition if you have an appetite for great brain & mind blogging, and some time to relax and enjoy!
Jun 8, 2009 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Dave hosts a fun iCephalon 2009 Keynote address (AKA Encephalon 72), a collection of the best brain and mind blog posts of the last couple weeks. Enjoy!
May 11, 2009 1
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Welcome to the 70th edition of Encephalon, the blog carnival that offers some of the best neuroscience and psychology blog posts every other week.
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Mysteries of Brain and Mind
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Cognitive Daily, |
Guys on dates want to know: Is it really impossible to ignore an attractive face? Recent research seems to demonstrate that, indeed, attractive faces can distract us from a variety of tasks. Dating Tip of the Week: what about impressing your date with a homecooked dinner next time and avoid potential misunderstandings? |
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Neuroanthropology, |
BIG NEWS: First Neuroanthropology Conference! The first Neuroanthropology Conference will be held 8 October 2009 at the University of Notre Dame. Great theme, great speakers. Will it offer a cross-cultural analysis of the research mentioned above? |
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On Neurons, Journeys, and Chemical Friends
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BrainHealthHacks,
by Ward Plunet |
The power of one – neuron We have all been told about the power one person, that one person can make a difference. Well, does the general principle also hold true about a single neuron? Can a single neuron make a difference – change your sleep state, motor movement, or induce a behavior? |
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Neurophilosopher, |
New cells in the adult brain migrate long distances by crawling along blood vessels The journey undertaken by newly generated neurons in the adult brain is like the cellular equivalent of the arduous upstream migration of salmon returning to the rivers in which they were hatched. |
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Neurotopia,
by Scicurious |
The elegant logic of dopamine What do we know about the formation of dopamine neurons and the regulation of gene expression?. A simple and elegant recent study provides some much-needed, critical information that could drastically affect how we pursue new therapies dopaminergic diseases such as Parkinson’s. |
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Brain Stimulant, |
Brain Synapse Computational Capacity Evolution has exploited multiple avenues to increase the brain’s computational capacity. This is great news for all humans, except perhaps for those trying to model the mind exactly by building computer brain simulations, since they will likely have to model all of these protein interactions to function in a manner similar to a real brain. |
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On Brain Functions
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SharpBrains,
by Tracy Alloway |
10% Students may have working memory problems: Why does it matter? In screening of over 3000 school-aged students in mainstream schools, 1 in 10 was identified as having working memory difficulties. Why does this matter? Clue: Working memory seems to be even more important to learning than other cognitive skills such as IQ. |
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Neurotopia, |
Cake or Death? It’s all a matter of self-control, and your vmPFC A recent MRI study helps pinpoint where signals for self-control may originate, and could be a big deal clinically. Not necessarily as a diet aid, but rather for problems where there’s a lack of self-control, as in addiction. |
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The Mouse Trap,
by Sandy Gautam |
Low Latent Inhibition, high faith in intuition and psychosis/creativity What is the relationship between low latent inhibition (brain’s capacity to screen from current attentional focus stimuli previously tagged as irrelevant), high faith in intuition and psychosis/creativity? |
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Frontiers in Perception
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Dr. Deb,
by Deb Serani |
Can You Find The Twelve Faces?
How many faces can you see in this image? |
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Mind Hacks, |
Deeper into the neuroscience of hypnosis A new article from Trends in Cognitive Sciences explores how cognitive neuroscientists are becoming increasingly interested in understanding hypnosis and are using it to simulate unusual states of consciousness in the lab. Might hypnosis help you see the Twelve Faces above? or perhaps 25 of them? |
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Next edition will be hosted by Neuroanthropology on Monday, May 25th. If you can’t wait until to read more, you may be interested in the new in-depth feature, Cognitive Monthly, offered by Cognitive Daily blog for $2/ month. This month’s issue, “The Illusion of Theater,” discusses the “remarkable science behind what theatrical professionals seem, to laypeople, to do intuitively: create an environment that encourages us to believe that what we see on stage is a true representation of reality.”
Dec 22, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Welcome to the 61st edition 
of Encephalon, the blog carnival that offers some of the best neuroscience and psychology blog posts every other week.
We do have an excellent set of articles today. covering much ground. Enjoy the reading:
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Neuroscience and Society
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Neuroanthropology, |
The Flynn Effect: Troubles with Intelligence 2 Average IQ test scores had risen about 3 points per decade and in some cases more. Tests of vocabulary, arithmetic, or general knowledge (such as the sorts of facts one learns in school) have showed little increase, but scores have increased markedly on tests thought to measure ‘general intelligence’. |
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MindHacks, |
Medical jargon alters our understanding of disease Understanding how popular ideas influence our personal medical beliefs is an essential part of understanding medicine itself. |
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Cognitive Daily, |
Is it sexist to think men are angrier than women? Are we more likely to perceive a male face as angry and a female face as happy? A recent study sheds light on the issue. |
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Neurocritic |
Crime, Punishment, and Jerry Springer Judges and jurors must put aside their emotionally-driven desire for revenge when coming to an impartial verdict. Does neuroimaging (fMRI) add anything to our understanding of justice? |
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Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurocognitive Health Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 12, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
2 excellent recent blog carnival editions:
Encephalon #58 (neuroscience and psychology), hosted by Walter at Highlight Health.
Hourglass #5 (biology of aging), hosted by Laura at psique.
Enjoy!
Aug 18, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Chris hosts a superb edition of Encephalon, presenting the articles as an engaging and pretty comprehensive Q&A session. If you want to read the answers, to the questions below, by some of the best neuroscience and psychology bloggers, simply visit Encephalon 52: Q&A.
Q: What is the relationship between neurogenesis and depression?
Q: For that matter, is there a relationship between depression and diabetes?
Q: What is the molecular basis of bipolar disorder?
Q: Can brain stimulation make you a better driver? Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 21, 2008 3
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Welcome to Encephalon´s 50th edition, where you will find another superb collection of blog posts on all things Brain and Mind.
Enjoy these contributions:
Science & Technology
Mind Hacks reports that Facebook ate my psychiatrist. We can learn about the benefits of social networking sites like Facebook, bringing great perspective to recent and misguided media speculation (fuelled by a recent talk at the Royal College of Psychiatrists). Vaughan, will you please report on the benefits of participating (and, better, hosting) Encephalon?.
Dungeons And Dragons – Or Mazes And Monsters?: PodBlack Cat offers a thought-provoking review of the therapy (including self-therapy) applications of role-playing games such as the classic Dungeons And Dragons and the more recent massively multiplayer online games.
Cognitive Daily covers another type of game. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 12, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
What were you doing on August 26th, 2006? That day, Mo, the blogger behind ScienceBlogs’ Neurophilosophy, launched the Encephalon blog carnival to present, every other week, a selection of the best neuroscience and psychology blog posts on brain and mind.
It has been one of the most stimulating blog carnivals ever since, and we are honored to continue the tradition. Today we are proud to announce…
A neuroscience blog carnival- Second Read the rest of this entry »
Apr 18, 2007 9
By: Alvaro Fernandez
That is the goal of Stanford University Media X: to foster deep collaborations between industry and academia, as highlighted in Business Week’s recent article The Virtual Meeting Room. The 5th Annual Media X Conference on Research, Collaboration, Innovation and Productivity served its purpose well for the last couple of days: very fun and insightful presentations by Stanford researchers (and a few external experts) and a great list of participants to get to know.
No doubt, a great source of mental stimulation for all of us. Charles House, Media X’s Executive Director, framed the dialogue as an effort to generate the right questions and then engage the best minds in answering them.
Some of (my) main take-aways
Now, some key points from several presentations (there were more than these, but I couldn’t attend all). I encourage you to visit the website of each presenter if you are interested in learning more about that topic.
a. Paul Saffo on Innovation
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