Category: Science

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News Psychology Science

ADD Drugs Don’t Work Long-Term

This lines up with Whitaker’s investigative reporting in Anatomy of an Epidemic.

Children’s A.D.D. Drugs Don’t Work Long-Term – NYTimes.com

THREE million children in this country take drugs for problems in focusing. Toward the end of last year, many of their parents were deeply alarmed because there was a shortage of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that they considered absolutely essential to their children’s functioning.

But are these drugs really helping children? Should we really keep expanding the number of prescriptions filled?

In 30 years there has been a twentyfold increase in the consumption of drugs for attention-deficit disorder.

As a psychologist who has been studying the development of troubled children for more than 40 years, I believe we should be asking why we rely so heavily on these drugs.

It reminds me of this comic. There’s a follow-up if it makes you too sad.

Calvin and Hobbes — Now with Ritalin!by JOEY DEVILLA on JANUARY 8, 2008
Calvin and Hobbes — Now with Ritalin!
by JOEY DEVILLA on JANUARY 8, 2008
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Science

Your brain imagines everyone nude

Interesting effect.

The Lurking Pornographer: Why Your Brain Turns Bubbles Into Nude Bodies

There is a pornographer lurking in some corner of your mind. He peeks out from behind the curtains of your consciousness without warning, and almost never at an acceptable time.

The lurking pornographer in your brain is ever vigilant, looking for patterns, for signs of nudity, and sometimes generating them out of nowhere. He is exceedingly good at what he does, and isn’t afraid to prove his power over your perception. Just like that, he can take a picture of Daniel Craig in a bathing suit and turn it obscene.

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Science

Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012

The story about a guy in a coma telling his doctors he’s not in any pain via fMRI is awesome.

The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012

Yesterday we told you about the biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2012. But now we turn our attention to those developments that make us realize just how futuristic things are quickly becoming.

And the past year provided no shortage of futureshock. We watched a cyborg compete at the Olympic Games, and marveled at the news that NASA was actually working on a faster-than-light warp drive. It was also a year that featured the planet’s first superstorm, the development of an artificial retina — and primates who had their intelligence enhanced with a chip. Here are 16 predictions that came true in 2012.

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Science

Redshift

This tool is in the Ubuntu software center, so it’s easy to try. I did find I had to make a config file to make it work. Aside from eye strain, it might help you sleep better.

Redshift | jonls devblog

Redshift adjusts the color temperature of your screen according to your surroundings. This may help your eyes hurt less if you are working in front of the screen at night. This program is inspired by f.lux (read here for the reason why I started this project).

Categories
News Science

Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mother’s Brains

They don’t know why, but they have seen cells from a mother’s child in her brain. Perhaps the cells pass through the placenta. This could also mean those same cells could pass the other way from mother to a child she bears later. The might find the cells of your older brother sibling in you!

The most amazing, humbling idea for me to contemplate is that beyond what my relationship with Vicky is, a profound merging of souls on the intellectual level, our becoming parents means some of my DNA may have traveled from Tre and Henry into her body to stay forever.

Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mother’s Brains

The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while her heartbeat provides a soothing constant rhythm.