The Common Bond Institute will be hosting its third international conference entitled “Engaging the Other: The Power of Compassion.” The conference runs Sept 4-7 2008 in San Francisco.
The Collaborative Research Centre “Ritual Dynamics” will host an international conference “Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual.” This one runs Sept 29-Oct 2 2008 in Heidelberg.
The Brain
Gene Expression, Metamorphosis
Remodeling the brain and body in real-time?
Carl Zimmer, How Your Brain Can Control Time
“The three methods your mind uses to reverse, speed, and even slow the minutes”
Adam Keiper, The Synapse and the Soul
Excellent review of Michael Gazzaniga’s new book Human: the good, the bad, and the ugly. For more from Adam Keiper, check out his homepage.
The Evolving Mind, Doctor, My Mind Hurts!
Overcoming mind-brain dualism through bi-directional influences. One blogger’s struggles.
Deric Bownds, Brain Regions Active During Different Economic Decisions
How different parts of the brain handle different parts of decision making
Deric Bownds, Ecocultural Basis of Cognition
“Farmers and fishermen are more holistic than herders.” Cultural ways of paying attention to your environment changes how you perceive the world.
The Neurotic, JoVE: Journal of Visualized Experiments
Check out the video of an adult rat brain rewiring itself
Erik Sofge, For Future of Mind Control, Robot-Monkey Trials Are Just a Start
Popular Mechanics takes on brain-computer-machine interfaces and the future of cybernetics
Eureka Alert, Laka: ‘Language Exists in the Brain’
Misleading title. Really about research on bilingual processing of language.
On Amir, Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain
“The brain is like a muscle: when it gets depleted, it becomes less effective”
Kim Masters, Neuroscience Helps Marketers Judge Ads’ Impact
Relatively balanced NPR piece on neuroscience and marketing, in this case television ads and “viewer’s attention span, memory and level of engagement”
P. Z. Myers of Pharyngula, when he isn’t driving creationists into paroxysms, can write some great translations of biological concepts for the average reader. He does this in the post, Epigenetics, where he points out some of the problems with textbook definitions of the term. I really recommend checking this post out, but get a cup of coffee and a comfortable seat before you do — the post
is not lite fare.
Epigenetics, although devilishly difficult, is absolutely essential for breaking with the common conception of DNA as ‘blueprint’ or marching orders for biological processes. In biological developmental processes, the expression of DNA is quite a bit more interesting than just ‘genes made it happen.’ Myers lays out a host of good examples, such as the variable degree to which histones permit or inhibit DNA transcription, the inactivation of parts of DNA when methylated, how chromosome geometric arrangement might affect gene expression, and other factors. He also discusses X chromosome inactivation in females (because they have two, one has to shut down), genomic imprinting on non-sex chromosomes (Myers discusses chromosome 15 and some of the disorders that can result), and disease changes in genetic expression (such as liver cirrhosis and retroviral insertions, which I touched on in an earlier posts on ‘identical’ twins).
Grunt Doc joked in the last Grand Rounds blog carnival that he hoped our post on psychiatric genetics ‘wouldn’t be on the test’; that goes double for the material Myers is covering. Fascinating, but, wow, tough to wrap the head around. But it’s already making me look at our calico cats in a new light…
Graphic: Originally from Nature 441, 143-145 (11 May 2006); downloaded from UNSW Embryology, h/t to Pharyngula.
A lot of great sites have linked to us over the past months; we’ve also found plenty of new sites that we like. So finally today I updated our blogroll with 23 new places covering the gamut of anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience. Dedicated readers, and purveyors of both Four Stone Hearth and Encephalon, will surely recognize most of them. But in case you don’t, here’s the list below. No particular order, just matching what I started writing on a piece of paper one night and added to over the weeks. And if there are other sites out there that you think we should know about and link to, please leave us a comment!
Neuroscientifically Challenged
Brainlogs [mostly in German]
The new Grand Rounds is up, the weekly collection of medical-related blogging. It’s over at Grunt Doc, and he’s definitely in triage mode, dealing with them as they came in, the quick evaluation and off they go. So head over for that emergency visit.
Sharp Brains is hosting the 50th edition of Encephalon, the brain and mind carnival. Like compulsive collecting and Dungeons and Dragons? Then check Encephalon out for those and much more at its mid-century.
Stumble It!
Neuroanthropology 