This week we have some favs, then anthropology, the brain, diet and a dash of philosophy. Enjoy.

Top of the List

Anthropology Now!
The new popular magazine brings cultural anthropology to the world! Features this provocative article, Are Women Evolutionary Sex Objects?

Bioephemera, And Another One Sucks Our Blood…
Vampire moths. And you thought it was safe to sleep at night.

Edge, The Problem of Consciousness: A Talk with Alva Noe
Video with the noted philosopher. “Life is the way the animal is in the world.”

Sasha Aslanian/Weekend America, Kids and Stress
Chronic adversity and stress responsivity – the latest from some good research

Anthropology

Third Tone Devil, Pictures from a Cellphone
Budapest, the beautiful brutal city, as explored by an anthropologist and his snapshots

Stephanie Lloyd, Field Notes from Paris: Social Pathology and the Globalization of Sentiments
Why such social anxiety now in France? The world-wide expansion of psychiatric models of self and pathology

Allison Aubrey, Many Patients On Cholesterol Meds Stop Treatment
NPR show on getting at the reasons why people discontinue drug use based on some new research. “People stop statins for two reasons: They lack a clear understanding of how the medicines work, and they don’t trust their health care providers.

John Noble Wilford, Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul
The concept of the soul as found through archaeology 2,800 years ago

Manfred Ertel, Greenland Braces for Independence and Wealth
Bleeding to death amidst a modern-day boom

Lisa Belkin, Moms and Motrin
A very different sort of brave new world. Online moms take down a bad ad campaign – don’t mess with babies in slings!

NPR, Goodall Reflects on a Lifetime of Chimp Research
Jane Goodall “discusses her career and what lies ahead in the field of evolutionary science”

Brain

Michael Shermer, Five Ways Brain Scans Mislead Us
End result: images don’t really show us a modular machine

NPR, ‘Alex & Me’: The Hidden World Of Animal Minds
Alex the verbose grey parrot recently passed away – NPR profiles Alex and explores animal cognition

Scicurious, GOD: Do I Have Your Attention?
Religion and visual attention – how belief makes you see the world differently

Neurochannels, Model Systems in Systems Neuroscience?
Trying to understand complexity through models, or two varieties of simplicity to get insight

NeuroNarrative, Kluge on the Brain: An Interview with Author Gary Marcus
We are patched together things, our brains included

Diet

Laura Freberg, Two Years on Jenny Craig
The psychologist reflects on how she lost 77 pounds. Congratulations, Laura, for the sustained weight loss! Includes a before and after shot.
If you want to know more, here’s our own post on successful weight loss from a more academic/anthropological view.

Tara Parker-Pope, Are Schools Really to Blame for Poor Eating?
Probably not, at least according to a new study that compared schools that cut back on soda and schools that did not. There was no meaningful change in soda consumption.

Patti Neighmond, Study Offers Another Incentive For Flat Abs
NPR on why we need to tone down on excess belly fat

Tara Parker-Pope, Money Is Tight, and Junk Food Beckons
Healthy diets costs money, and don’t have that comfort kick either. For more, see our post on comfort food and social stress.

Philosophy

Gary Rosen, Body of Knowledge
NY Times review of the new book Descartes’ Bones, on the philosopher, the mind-body problem and “cogito ergo sum”

Rodrigo Neely, Beware Secular Humanism!
An argument for secular humanism as faith

Eric Schwitzgebel, Consciousness without Attention?
Thin versus thick views on the nature of consciousness