The brain’s reparative plasticity is especially marked in young people, such as this boy who had one-sixth of his brain removed when he was just six years old: What happened to Collins is a remarkable example of neuroplasticity: the ability … Continue reading →
I read two articles today that dovetailed with each other, although one concerns humans and the other mosquitoes. Then again, haven’t humans and mosquitoes long been intertwined? Here’s the first: The twins, called Lulu and Nana, reportedly had their genes … Continue reading →
Here’s a story about hand transplants and their variable results, benefits and risks, and the stories of some of the patients who’ve had them. Reading the article, I was struck by a number of things. The first is how far … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is such a huge topic that I’m splitting it into parts.] There’s a lot of derision on the right about the Green New Deal. It goes something like this: it’s so stupid, and so against what the American … Continue reading →
Or is it the other way around? From OAC’s Green New Deal [emphasis mine]: …[W]e are calling for a full transition off fossil fuels and zero greenhouse gases…we spell this out through a plan that calls for eliminating greenhouse gas … Continue reading →
If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to watch out for deadly mushrooms.
Continue reading →I have no idea whether this is stunning, wonderful news that will come true, or something that will fizzle. It would be tremendously wonderful if it was the former: A small team of Israeli scientists think they might have found … Continue reading →
And not the “illegal alien” kind—the extraterrestrial kind. Avi Loeb, chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, thinks it just might have been: On October 19, 2017, astronomers at the University of Hawaii spotted a strange object travelling through our solar system, … Continue reading →
This is one of those articles that Pocket seems to think I would be interested in, and they weren’t mistaken. It compares psychoanalysis to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating emotional problems. It’s not a bad article at all, but … Continue reading →
This: Time is happening in the mind’s eye. It is related to the number of mental images the brain encounters and organizes and the state of our brains as we age. When we get older, the rate at which changes … Continue reading →
The name of Yuval Noah Harari came up recently in a conversation I had over the holidays. He seems to have become some sort of guru to a lot of people, and yet I know practically nothing about him or … Continue reading →
But be careful what you wish for. At least in mice, researchers have had some success in targeting a gene for obesity: …[S]cientists are working toward a drug that would allow patients to lose weight without exercising or making any … Continue reading →