Onto year two with the top stuff, then plenty of good criticism, followed by children and development, biology, brain, social science, and obesity. Enjoy.

Top of the List

John Noble Wilford, Prints Show a Modern Foot in Prehumans
Fossilized footprints from 1.5 million years ago. Very cool.

SciTalks: Smart People on Cool Topics – Cognitive Science
Links to cognitive science videos from leading researchers and intellectuals, generally based on public lectures they have given or on profiles or interviews on public television. You can check out Antonio, Daniel Dennett, mirror neurons, and much more.

Dresden Codak
A cool online cartoon series – philosophy, science and mind through an intriguing cast of characters

Jonah Lehrer, A Review: “Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons From the Biology of Consciousness”
A great review of a fascinating new book by Alva Noe

Criticism

David Dobbs, “Critical Neuroscience” and the Discomfort of Being Studied
Neuron Culture on why critical neuroscience matters, and how it might grow (including a possible name change)

David DiSalvo, What is Literary Darwinism? An Interview with Joseph Carroll
The founder of the field over at NeuroNarrative. Quite an interesting discussion of the relations between evolutionary, cultural and literary analyses

Melissa Lafsky, Worst Science Article Ever? Women “Evolved” to Love Shopping
It does deserve a place in the hall of shame…

Rebecca at Stepchick, Cat Child Found in Cave!
More science debunking from a very entertaining site

Continue reading “Wednesday Round Up #53”

It’s simple – favs, brain, anthro. A good way to finish off one year of this.

Top of the List

The Horizon Report: 2009 Edition
The latest edition on the coming trends in the increasing convergence of new media and education. It’s a big report, and they have an executive summary, as well as discussion of trends over the short, medium and longer term.

Cogprints: Cognitive Science E-Print Archive
Self-archived electronic versions of papers in the areas of psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and more

NPR, ‘Sons of Gandhi’ Take to Brazil Streets for Carnival
Peace, love and sex in Salvador’s oldest and largest parade group

The Neurocritic, Very Gradual Change We Can Believe In
Darwin in Obama street colors… very clever

Tara Parker-Pope, The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess
Recess helps kids learn better – and now there are studies to back it up, particularly focusing on how attention works

Brain

David Dobbs, This IS Rock-It Science: Scientists to rock out March 3, NYC
Joseph LeDoux and the Amygdaloids rock in this video – prefaced by a lecture by LeDoux on emotions, brain wiring, and control

Continue reading “Wednesday Round Up #52”

Some meaty favorites, an interdisciplinary fix of ethnography, resources for those of you interested in Colombia (including some great music!), and then the brain and anthropology. Enjoy.

Top of the List

Elizabeth Rudd et al., Social Science PhDs Five Years Out: The Anthropology Report
The pdf of a large-scale survey on early careers among recent PhD anthro grads

C. Liston et al., Psychosocial Stress Reversibly Disrupts Prefrontal Processing and Attentional Control
PNAS full-text paper by one of the leading groups in the field – one month of chronic stress produces impairment in human adults. And I am already thinking about summer break. But really another piece in the puzzle of how societal faultlines drive unequal outcomes.

Junk Food Science, What You Didn’t Hear about the Latest Study of Sudden and Unexpected Infant Deaths
Great meditation on statistics, measurements and ideology: “looking closely at the CDC study, there is a lot of missing data, negating the ability to soundly support much of the claims and conclusions being made in the media.”

David DiSalvo, Welcome to the Age of the Neuron Chip
Getting neurons to grow in detailed patterns on a silicon chip – is this the future of repairing or even augmenting brain function? Plus a couple cool videos.

Ethnography

Jack Katz, From How to Why: On Luminous Description and Causal Inference in Ethnography (Part 1)
Pdf of this luminous 2001 article. You can see more of Katz’s writings here.

Continue reading “Wednesday Round Up #51”

This week it’s back to normal – some favorites, then brain and anthropology, rounded out with sports.

Top of the List

Pink Tentacle, Edo-Period Kappa Sketches
The Japanese creature of legend seen in fantastical illustrations

BrainHood Project – Neurocultures
The intersection of neuroscience and artistic production – a collaborative endeavor

Doomsday Lab, The Enteric Nervous System, Our Gastrointestinal Overlord
One billion neurons at work! Brings new light to the old adage, The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach

Sean Mallin, If Bailed-Out Bankers Were Treated Like Welfare Recipients…
One of the funniest and most apt cartoons I’ve seen about the financial crisis

Brain

Pam Beluck, In New Procedure, Artificial Arm Listens to Brain
It’s all about connections, connections, connections

Becoming Human: Brain, Mind and Emergence
Videos from the Stanford conference with some heavy hitters

PhysOrg, Readers Build Vivid Mental Simulations of Narrative Situations, Brain Scans Suggest
Lots of other fields have already told us this – but it’s nice to see those brain areas light up anyway

Continue reading “Wednesday Round Up #50”

No brains and no anthropology this week! Categories, that is. Not even a top-of-the-list. Just a data dump on Our Digital Age, then a plethora of psychiatry. Followed by fuzzy animals and furry hobbits.

Our Digital Age

The Op-Ed Project
“an initiative to expand public debate, with an immediate emphasis on enlarging the pool of women experts who are accessing (and accessible to) our nation’s key print and online forums”

Antropologi, Dissertation: Why Kids Embrace Facebook and MySpace
New research on just why kids get so involved in social networking

Douglas Quenqua, Friends, Until I Delete You
Are you only worth a tenth of a hamburger on Facebook?

Daniel Solove, Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy?
Gossip and the changing shape of privacy online

Pamthropologist, Another Semester Begins and There is Work to Do
These students don’t need a virtual life – they need to get engaged with some basics

Daniel Smith, What Is Art For?
A profile of Lewis Hyde, from Thoreau to our digital “cultural commons”

Jonah Lehrer, The iPhone Mind
The extended mind meets social networking

Continue reading “Wednesday Round Up #49”

Last week we did a special theme – Obama is a neuroanthropologist – but this week it’s back to normal. I’ll cover some things that might already be two weeks old (gasp!), but it’s all for a good cause – your own reading pleasure.

So this time we have some favorites, then PTSD, some anthropology, some brain stuff, decision making, and fighting inequality. Yes, lots of categories – I’m catching up… Enjoy!

Top of the List

Dennis Overbye, Elevating Science, Elevating Democracy
I liked this essay, for its examination of science as both a search for truth and a pragmatic endeavor that also happens to teach values

Jane Brody, Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You
Getting down and dirty for a better immunological system. I was just talking about this in my med anthro class, contrasting the science with people who are obsessed with cleanliness.

Jennifer Ruark, In the Thrall of Neuroscience
Chronicle of Higher Education piece from December – finally found a complete online version. All about the new interdisciplinary interest and collaboration with neuroscientists. I even get a quote!

Ed Yong, Pre-emptive Blood Flow Raises Big Questions about fMRI
Cool study about blood going to parts of the brain in anticipation of activation

PTSD

After reading my students’ great post on veterans and post-traumatic stress disorder, I came across some PTSD readings to share.

Anxiety Insights, Mind-Body Skills Reduce PTSD in War-Traumatized Children
“biofeedback, meditation, guided imagery and self-expression (in words, drawings, and movement) produce lasting changes in levels of stress, flashbacks, nightmares and symptoms of withdrawal and numbing in adolescents living in a region of conflict.”

Continue reading “Wednesday Round Up #48”