Starting tomorrow I will put up the posts that my students have been working on all semester for my class Alcohol and Drugs: The Anthropology of Substance Use and Abuse. They started with a group presentation to the class, then worked through several drafts as I gave them feedback. Now each group gets their chance to share something with the world, rather than simply turn in a final paper (but they get to do that too–I’ve got my bases covered).

The topics include stress, brain imaging, and denial, among others, and I will post one a day over the coming days (I’ll probably skip Sunday, though). While I do not necessarily agree with everything that they say, these are the arguments that they developed–their takes on the material. And they’ve got some good takes.

So look for their posts over the coming days!

I’ve been waiting to hear how David Blaine went in his attempt to break the world record. John Tierney reports in David Blaine Sets Breath-Holding Record on The New York Times website that, in fact, Blaine was successful. On Oprah Winfrey’s show, he held his breath for 17 minutes 4 seconds, a world record for the activity with the use of pure oxygen before making an attempt.

As Tierney reports, Blaine was successful in spite of the fact that he couldn’t control his heart beat like he had on previous breath holding:

After he filled his lungs with pure oxygen, his heart rate remained at 130 during the second minute of the breath-hold and then stayed above 100 for much of the time. It was 124 in the 15th minute. The higher the heart rate, the more quickly oxygen is consumed, and the more painful the carbon dioxide buildup. But apparently his CO2 tolerance training (repeated breath holds every morning) was just enough to compensate. In the last minute his heart rate became erratic and he got concerned enough to start rising from the bottom of the water-filled sphere, but he kept his head underwater more than a half minute longer than the old record of 16:32.

Tierney reports that during training, Blaine was able to keep his heart rate down into the range of 40 to 60 beats-per-minute, but being on television apparently made it difficult to keep his pulse down.

Continue reading “Blaine breaks world record for breath-holding”

I went to see a student sing with Notre Dame’s jazz band on Tuesday. She did a great job! I was also reminded of this great tune by Charlie Parker, the jazz saxophonist and composer: “Anthropology.” I found this good clip by Czech saxophonist František Kop. Of course the anthropologist has to have Anthropology in a globalized setting… in this case, the jazz club U malého Glena (Little Glen) in Prague.

You can hear Parker himself on this online recording available at Imeem.

Charlie Parker would be a great person to dwell on for some neuroanthropology. Just not today. But Robert Philen, an anthropologist at West Florida, has a good riff on Parker and how biography informs our appreciation of artistry. And for a long bio, see Parker on Wikipedia. Cultural icon, brilliant musician, heroin addict, the Bird knew how to play.