I finally watched it–the Carnegie Mellon professor, dying of pancreatic cancer, and his words and wisdom to his friends, students, colleagues and most importantly, his young daughters. There is a reason the lecture is so popular. It made me proud to be a professor, made me consider how to teach interdisciplinary and engaged courses, made me stand up for a student who is struggling, and more. Trust the head fake.
Doidge on The Brain That Changes Itself
Dr. Norman Doidge has a short column on his own book, The Brain That Changes Itself, over at Science Blog. His book is extremely good, but it’s funny, when you read the column, it sounds like a science ‘travel log,’ as if he went on a long brain science roadtrip. It seems to be a leitmotif in a lot of recent popular science book; traveling around, meeting scientists, having a bit of a chat, getting a bit of personal back story as well as a chance to talk about their research. Or am I the only one who feels this way?
One of the commenters on the Science Blog says something about a book of ‘anecdotal evidence,’ which I think is pretty ignorant. Anyone who regularly reads neuropathology knows that ‘anecdotal evidence’ of human brain injury is not just typical, it’s essential. Singular cases can have an enormous impact on our knowledge of how the brain works by causing such distinctive disruptions of function. Where would we be in brain sciences with Phineas Gage, the folks Oliver Sachs writes about, and this unlucky brotherhood?
Check out Doidge’s column — and his book gets a strong recommendation as well.
TED: Ideas Worth Spreading
I just found this collection of on-line videos that come out of the annual conference put on by TED (originally standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design). It’s quite a collection of over 200 talks by leading researchers, entrepreneurs, and the like. The talks can be accessed by theme, for example, there is a How The Mind Works theme and a Rethinking Poverty theme.
They are into “spreading ideas” but also pause to ask themselves, Is Ted Elitist? (Their answer: yes and no. Hey, it does cost $6000 to become a member, but the videos are free.)
Here’s a video from Vilayanur Ramachandran, the neurologist and writer.
Digital Ethnography
Michael Wesch has an on-going project Digital Ethnography with his students at Kansas State University. Looking at what they have done impressed me, and gave me ideas for things that I might do with my own classes and research. I like the engaged, participatory style and with issues like substance use or health care seeking, it proves so useful to show people what it is like. Students doing the work and then sharing that with a broader world, that is a good model.
Wesch has one popular video The Machine Is Us/ing Us, covering Internet 2.0 and the revolution in interconnected digitial communication. In many ways, I found his message about the Internet as quite similar to the message we are promoting here at neuroanthropology, that connections matter, that we drive change in our brains, that we need to rethink traditional concepts. So enjoy that.
His students came up with a great video A Vision of Students Today, which helps justify spending time on a blog rather than traditional papers (hey, students are more likely to actually read this) and also the need to teach in non-traditional but equally effective ways. And it’s just well done.
Wednesday Round Up #6
Gaming
Sqrl, Link Between Online Gaming and Violence Killed Off
“People who play violent games online actually feel more relaxed and less angry after they have played”
GameSpot News, Study: Gamers Show Autistic Traits
“the closer gamers were to being addicted to their hobby, the more likely they were to display “negative personality traits.”
Jackie Burrell, Game on Too Long: A Fine Line Separates Addiction, Fun
Relaxed or autistic?! A more balanced consideration of how much is too much
GameSpot News, Video Game Addiction a Mental Disorder?
The comments by gamers—the debate among themselves—provide plenty of insight into the cultural and health issues at stake
Vaughan Bell, Internet Addiction Nonsense Hits the AJP
A critical take on attempts to define internet addiction as a mental illness
Science Daily, Occupational Therapists Use Wii for Parkinson’s Study
The interactive Wii makes for functional fun
Health
Rense Nieuwenhuis, Disentangling the SES-Health Correlation
Poor health and lower class. Going beyond the chicken-or-the-egg to consider pathways
Eric Brunner, Biology and Health Inequality
Online PLOS Biology article: The translation of social differences into biological differences
Anthropology in the News
If you need to get your daily anthropology fix (besides here, of course!), two sites highlight anthropology topics appearing in the news. Besides mentioning them here, I’ve added both to the blogroll for future reference.
The first, literally Anthropology in the News, is run by the Texas A&M Department of Anthropology. You can even set up a RSS feed. It covers the four fields, with a slight tendency towards more biological and archaeology news, and simply provides the links to other articles. Here’s one interesting example, Cultural Biases May Influence Parenting Studies, Scientist Finds, which examines how country-of-origin of researchers impacts their interpretation and rating of parenting behaviors.
The second is Antropologi.Info, with the subtitle of Social and Cultural Anthropology in the News. So it provides a useful complement. It provides more in-depth coverage but not as many links. One example is the piece Examples of Engaging Anthropology – New Issue of “Anthropology Matters”.
So enjoy!
Neuroanthropology 