Dear Mr or Mrs Next US President,

We are glad to welcome you to our blog carnival. After a short hiatus, Encephalon is back and gathering steam. We have prepared this “revival” edition just for you, so you can be well informed and impress us all during the upcoming Sciencedebate 2008.

Without further ado, let’s proceed to the questions posed by 24 bloggers on neuroscience and psychology issues. We hope they provide, at the very least, good mental stimulation for you and your advisors.

Big Questions

Do I deserve to vote even if I don’t have Free Will? (Marc at Neuroscientifically Challenged).

If culture sculpts our brains, what can our brains do to refine our culture first? (Stephanie at Brains On Purpose).

Is God more than a flying brain? (Jessica at bioephemera).

Is Your brain really reading This? (Pete at Brain Hammer).

A Few Intrusive Questions

Do you play any musical instrument? (Megan at SharpBrains).

Read the rest of this entry »

Dana Press kindly sent us a couple of books. One of them, The Dana Guide to Brain Health: A Practical Family Reference From Medical Experts, is our topic today.

We are impressed by what Dana is doing to insert neuroscience findings and implications into the public discourse.

No big surprise then, to find out so much quality content inside a 700-page one-of-a-kind guide, some of it, incidentally, provided by Dr. Goldberg, our Chief Scientific Advisor.

The guide is really 4 books inside a common binding. Priced at a reasonable level, and with superb in-depth text and images in all relevant areas, the book can be used as a 1) Brain 101 tutorial, 2) brief summary of the basics of Brain Care and Wellness, 3) description of the stages of brain development, 4) reference guide for around 70 brain-related conditions. In my personal opinion, every neuroscience, medical and psychology student, clinician and researcher should have this book in their hands to keep abreast of many recent developments, and also be exposed to professional development courses based on it. Many families and individuals interested in the brain should consider buying it too.

Given the focus of our blog-brain fitness for healthy individuals-, we particularly enjoyed the sections Read the rest of this entry »