Anthropology News is the monthly newspaper put out by the American Anthropological Association. Anthro News or AN, as many people call it, is one of the main places that American anthropologists discuss pertinent issues of the day, as well as providing updates on what’s happening in American anthropology.

They also run the AN Blog, also called In Focus: Reflections on Anthropology News. The AN Blog provides occasional features, information and the like, including our recent Best of Anthro initiative, the Flickr photostream from the San Francisco AAA Meeting, and a feature of Michael Wesch and the Anthro of YouTube. I encourage you to chech the blog out.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the AN Blog, have ideas that you want to share about the site, or would like to propose something as a feature, please contact Dinah Winnick at dwinnick @ aaanet.org [remove the spaces].

The carnivals Grand Rounds of medical blogging and Encephalon of mind/brain blogging are out this week.

Not Totally Rad is hosting Grand Rounds Vol. 5, No. 20. First off, happy first anniversary to the samurai.

The recommended read is Val Jones’ piece on How the Health Blogosphere Was Scammed by Wellsphere, now sold to the HealthCentral Network.

Alvaro Fernandez gives us Ten Reflections on Cognitive Health, Dr. Shock speaks to derogatory humor towards patients (“it’s mostly about culture”), and David Williams tells us why we should ban pharmaceutical companies from funding continuing medical education.

All that, and more, at the latest Grand Rounds.

Of Two Minds is hosting Encephalon… The Late Prize-Winning February Edition. So what was the strategy, the person who laughs last laughs hardest?

Teasing aside, it’s a great edition. Channel N gives us a video with Dieter Meyerhoff discussing the neurobiology of why people both smoke and drink. If that doesn’t float your boat, you might try the debate over Better Thinking through Chemistry (i.e., brain doping), with Ouroborus seeing this debate as similar to the one we’ll have soon enough about further extending our lives.

And what better way to end than some sexual sweating?

If you don’t need a cold shower after that, just surf on over to the latest Encephalon.

Two carnivals are out.

Grand Rounds brings together the best medical blogging of the past week, and this time it’s at Chronic Babe where it goes totally babelicious.

From tampons to breast exams it’s got it all. But you can even find Sharp Brains’ argument that brain training is heading for a productive tipping point.

Four Stone Hearth rounds up anthropology, and A Very Remote Period Indeed brings us the New Hope edition.

One piece I enjoyed was a summary of arguments about the Out of Africa hypothesis over at Remote Central. But there’s plenty other stones to explore!

The new Grand Rounds is up over at MedPage Today, with a focus on health care reform this time.

It goes from economics to pseudoscience, technology to patients. Also a handsome addition, with easy access to the relevant posts. Enjoy!

Grand Rounds 5:18 Health Care Reform

You’ve been craving it – four weeks since the last round up of the best mind and brain blogging on the Internet. And The Mouse Trap and Sandy G give us what we want! Get High on Encephalon #62!

There is a definite addiction theme this time – Neurotopia on whether Prozac is addictive, and on the psychological vs physical concepts of addiction. (Might I suggest that perhaps the notion of “physical” is just as problematic as the psychological in Drug Monkey’s comment – it’s right back to the mind/body dichotomy that is really in question…); Mind Hacks on the abuse of laughing gas (it’s a gas!); and Brain Blogger on deep brain stimulation for pleasure.

There is plenty, plenty more. It’s a great addition. One to highlight is Mouse Trap’s own piece on evolution and altruism – a comprehensive overview and some interesting considerations.

So go check out the latest Encephalon.