For the past few years, scientists have been telling us that there’s not really any such thing as multitasking – that the best the human nervous system can manage is very fast task-switching, and that we get better results by concentrating on one thing at a time. Turns out there are a few exceptions – and researchers have been putting some of those individuals in a brain scanner.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Pilobolus Reconceives Portraiture
At the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Museum, the dance troupe and video artist Bo Gehring take the genre as far as they can from the cliché of old white guys in wigs.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.02.15
What I Talk About When I Talk About Open (Education)
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-06-02
House Passes Bill that Could Make U.S. Museums a Temporary Safe Haven for Syrian Art
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-06-02
Second act: Sylvie Guillem and the changing shape of a dance career
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2015-06-02
A Lew Soloff Memorial
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-06-02
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Jerry Seinfeld Becomes A Serious Force In Web Video
Says the impresario of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, “I’m a pimp. I’m a pimp.”
These Muslim Brotherhoods – Of Musicians – Fight Back Against Extremism
Morocco’s Gnawa practice a powerful variety of ecstatic Muslim mysticism. Says one prominent Gnawa musician, horrified by the depredations of ISIS and Boko Haram, “They are ignorant. They don’t know what they are doing. They are stupid. Islam is not that. It’s peace, music, colour, respect … it respects other religions.”
‘Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time’, ‘Hamilton’ Win Big At 2015 Drama Desk Awards
“Off Broadway hit Hamilton and Tony contender The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time topped the 2015 Drama Desk Awards, with Hamilton taking seven awards including the title for new musical, and Curious Incident claiming six including the award for outstanding play. Broadway musical An American in Paris, one of the frontrunners in the Tony race with a dozen nominations, danced away with four trophies.”
What Does The Person Who (Re-)Stages An Existing Ballet Actually Do?
Former Australian Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet artistic director Marina Gielgud explains how much of the job is coaching and how much is teaching steps, the preparation she has to do for a job, the challenges of remounting another choreographer’s work, and how she handles a star dancer who wants to do the steps his way.
Using Rap To Get Ten-Year-Olds To Like Studying Latin
“British musician Jonathan Goddard is attempting to inspire primary schoolchildren to learn Latin. He ‘approaches each lesson like a concert’ in his work for the Latin Programme charity which combines the teaching of classical Latin with modern English grammar and vocabulary.” (audio)
Rediscovering The Identities of Some Of West Africa’s Long-Anonymous Master Sculptors
“Some sculptors here, such as The Essankro Master and The Master of the Arched Back, are designated only by their region or style, but many others … now have names and stories (one, Kuakudili, has a face) and so they are slowly becoming known as individuals.”
How Bedbugs Get Under Our Skin And Into Our Psyches
They don’t transmit West Nile virus or Lyme disease or malaria, yet humans – especially city-dwellers – are terrified of them. Ashamed, too: If we get them, we’re reluctant to tell our friends, lest they avoid us. How and why do we give these critters such power over us?