Enjoy another week, all mashed together once again.

3 Quarks Daily, Michael Moshen Performs the Triangle
An amazing display of skilled performance, integrating timing, music and throwing – definitely one I threw in here for Greg!

Robin Young, Rehab for Terrorists
NPR’s Here and Now speaks with the British journalist Owen Bennett-Jones, who has investigated the Saudi’s rehab program for terrorists. Striking to me both because of the dilemmas of this approach (or any like it) in a probabilistic age that still wants ideal absolutes, and also because of the striking difference in the portrayals of “terrorists” (see the NY Times’ recent piece, The Terrorist Mind) and how young men and women become involved and hence why rehab can work.

Institute of Psychiatry – King’s College, Post Doctoral Research Worker
Looking for a post-doc in neuroanthropology? King’s College in London’s Institute of Psychiatry wants you! The research is on cognitive models of dissociation and the subjective and neural correlates of automatic speech and writing.

Ray Tallis, You Won’t Find Consciousness in the Brain
“My argument is not about technical, probably temporary, limitations. It is about the deep philosophical confusion embedded in the assumption that if you can correlate neural activity with consciousness, then you have demonstrated they are one and the same thing, and that a physical science such as neurophysiology is able to show what consciousness truly is.”

John Cloud, Why Your DNA Isn’t Your Destiny
Epigenetics makes Time magazine! Hunger, abundance, and multi-generational effects in Sweden is the lead case study.

David Dobbs, Neuron Culture’s Top Five from December
Get the links to the posts on David’s Orchid and Dandelion series, which talks about genetic sensitivity and the environment – really looking forward to his book on the subject

Kenneth Cooper, The Lost Script
A marginalized and local writing system – Ajami – is being used to read into east African history. Will this provide the insider’s view that has been missing?

Gina Athena Ulysse, Avatar, Voodoo, and White Spiritual Redemption
An anthropologist on Huffington Post! On the contradictions in the new blockbuster movie Avatar

Mo Costandi, Desire Influences Visual Perception
If you want it, it appears closer. For some good commentary, see Mind Hacks

Nicholas Wade, Deciphering the Chatter of Monkeys and Chimps
An update on the naturalistic studies of our primate cousins, with insights for the evolution of language

Radio Lab, Animal Minds
What goes on in the minds of animals? An hour long and insightful discussion

Helen De Cruz, Essentialist Animals?
We often think in terms of essences – a raccoon is still a raccoon, even if it’s surgically altered to be a cat. So, what about animals? Do they think this way?

Blogging Heads, Can Drugs End Depression?
In light of the recent meta-analysis that indicated effectives of anti-depressants only for severe cases, a debate over what happens next

Edge, Question 2010 – How Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?
Leading public intellectuals, from scientists to philosophers, answer this question over at Edge

Dr. Shock, Internet Use Has No Negative Influence on Well-Being
The latest meta-analysis confirms that the internet’s effects are complicated, and more research is needed. Millions continue to click away.

Luke Plunkett, A School Where Kids Are Taught Through Video Games
The Quest to Learn school in New York City – using games to learn the standard curriculum and more. Here is the Quest to Learn website if you want to know more.

C. Jason Throop, Suffering and Sentiment: Exploring the Vicissitudes of Experience and Pain in Yap
New book from UC Press – the Yap live in Micronesia, and Jason “investigates the ways in which sensory experiences like pain can be given meaningful coherence in the context of an individual’s culturally constituted existence”

Spiegel, A Clash of Civilizations in Nigeria
Christians and Muslims are growing more radical in the country that was home to the underwear bomber

Jonah Lehrer, Falsification
Most interesting for its discussion of creativity in laboratory settings, where group discussion and the use of metaphors and analogies proved crucial

Barbara Miller, Toward a New Decade in Psychiatry
Anthropology Works reflects on a recent editorial in Nature, and calls for a decade of cultural psychiatry

Julien Riel-Salvatore, Colorful Neanderthals on the Half Shell
Neanderthals using pierced shells and pigments 50,000 years ago in Spain – fascinating insights into social identity a long time ago

Razib Khan, Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell just isn’t all that – is he being critical enough, or cherry picking outliers to his blinking delight?

Charles Clover, Shadow Elite
A positive Financial Times book review of Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market by the anthropologist Janine Wedel. Studying up!

Greg Downey, SlowTV Carries Lecture by Ghassan Hage
Anthropology and the Passion of the Political in a video over at Culture Matters

Eugene Raikhel, Ian Hacking’s Holberg Prize Symposium
A load of links, including featured works and interviews, about the esteemed philosopher of science Ian Hacking

Scicurious, Friday Weird Science: The “Reality” of the G Spot and the Mainstream Media
Taking issue with recent research on the famed G spot, saying (predictably) that they couldn’t find it

Stuart Fox, Unwanted Side Effect: Cocaine Vaccine Leads Addicts to Take 10 Times More Cocaine
Not quite what was wanted – the vaccine works sometimes, and so does addiction with its mix of intentionality and compulsion, with users “taking it to the next level” to try to get the same desired effect