Category: ideas

“As schools compete for students and faculty come under pressure to boost enrollment in their classes, colleges from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to Wellesley are jazzing up course catalogs to entice a generation of students drawn to the dramatic.” And it’s working.

“Scientists now see possibilities to modify our moral character, using neurological techniques to make us ethically better–or perhaps worse. And the latest research holds out the promise of drugs to help forget traumatic memories, or even to stay devoted to our sexual partners. Many people–notably some religious leaders, doctors, scientists, politicians and philosophers–have misgivings about much of this.”

“Brain-control interface technology is in the midst of a big coming-out party this year as it reaches the mass market for the first time in the form of a handful of games and toys.”

“Animals, including humans, which process information using a preferred hemisphere of the brain — left or right — fare better than individuals who always use both sides of their brain simultaneously, according to a new study.”

“A new study shows that dogs and young human babies both make the same classic error in [Piaget’s] famous psychology experiment — while wolves raised by people do not.” The dogs, not as swift as (but perhaps more respectful than) the wolves, are brighter and more discriminating than the babies.

“Blackface minstrelsy was the pre-eminent form of entertainment in the United States for most of the 19th-century … Yes, blackface comedy was racist and appalling … It is also a key to cracking the code of American culture.”

“Robotics expert Noel Sharkey used to be a believer in artificial intelligence. So why does he now think that AI is a dangerous myth that could lead to a dystopian future of unintelligent, unfeeling robot carers and soldiers?”

“Scientists aren’t sure why sleep exists at all, which has made it hard to explain the great diversity of sleeping habits and quirks in birds, fish and mammals of all kinds, including humans. … The answer may boil down to time management, according to a new paper,” which “argues that sleep evolved to optimize animals’ use of time, keeping them safe and hidden when the hunting, fishing or scavenging was scarce and perhaps risky.”

“But what exactly is the link between artistry and amour? Newly published psychological research refines this eternal equation, suggesting that while love does inspire creativity, thoughts of sex enhance analytical thinking.”

“So the fountain of youth may in fact be the flood of chemicals in our brain that processes both internal and external messages about old age and dutifully passes them on to our joints, blood vessels and vital organs. Perhaps it’s time to start noticing these cerebral downloads and disregard the disempowering ones.”