Posts

January 29, 2013

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10:41 PM | Q: “Do animals get mental illnesses, just like humans? Or...

Q: “Do animals get mental illnesses, just like humans? Or is your dog just dumb?” A: Gawker’s Hey Science fields this one out to a few experts - a vet behaviorist, a Prof. of vet biosciences, vet neurologist and emergency vet all give an answer… and here’s the rub: Animals do suffer from mental illnesses. Caveats: 1) not necessarily the same mental illnesses as humans, and 2) diagnosis of animal mental illness is based on animal behavior, a trickier task than the diagnosis of mental […]

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9:13 PM | wnyc: Is There A Place For The Mind In Physics? So I want you...

wnyc: Is There A Place For The Mind In Physics? So I want you to do something for me. I want you to think of a blue monkey. Are you ready? OK, go! Visualize it in your head. Any kind of monkey will do (as long as it’s blue). Take a moment. Really, see the little blue dude! Got it? Great. Now, here is the question: Where did that thought fit into reality? How was it real? Where was it real? Another way to ask this question is: Was the “blue monkey thought” just the electrical activity of […]

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12:25 AM | jtotheizzoe: Eyes on the Stars Twenty-seven years ago today,...

jtotheizzoe: Eyes on the Stars Twenty-seven years ago today, seven heroic explorers lost their lives in the name of science and discovery. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff on January 28, 1986, their lives were tragically extinguished … but thankfully our quest for knowledge on Earth and beyond was not. Ronald McNair was one of those seven astronauts. This is a beautiful animated tribute to his life. He grew up in a time when the color of his skin kept him from […]

January 25, 2013

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7:20 PM | Are you made of stone A couple of British researchers just...

Are you made of stone A couple of British researchers just possibly enhanced (complicated) my empathy research jam. Good news: circuitry clarification. Meh news: more scales please! CheersThanksaLot. Most empathy research in the forensic context has assumed that empathy has two components. In this two-component model, the cognitive component involves perspective taking, and the affective component involves experiencing appropriate emotion. (…) this assumption has both dominated and […]

January 24, 2013

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12:08 AM | “…psychopathy is best conceptualized as a...

“…psychopathy is best conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental disorder.” Dr. Kent Kiehl is on this team which means a few things: it’s gonna be about fMRI, it’s gonna be about an incarcerated population or psychopaths and I should have contacted him a long time ago about how to be awesome. This study looks at the relationship of brain volumes in the paralimbic & limbic areas and psychopathic traits in male adolescents to see if they are the same as previously observed in […]

January 22, 2013

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9:43 PM | sisters are doing it for themselves

Reading the NY State Not-for-Profit Incorporation Guide

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5:38 PM | "We would, it seems, be justified in imprisoning or institutionalizing them for such an act to..."

“We would, it seems, be justified in imprisoning or institutionalizing them for such an act to...

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4:15 PM | emergentfutures: Drones Reimagined: Startup Plans Medical...

emergentfutures: Drones Reimagined: Startup Plans Medical Supply Drone Network Matternet has a vision of creating a network of autonomous flying drones that can deliver medical and other vital supplies to regions that either do not have access to such things, or find getting them tough. The drone network would serve areas with no serviceable road access, or places that have been devastated by natural disasters or war. Full Story: InQuid Autonomy/economy: 150 drones at $900k, $0.24 per […]

January 21, 2013

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12:01 AM | Taphonomy: Τάφος (Greek) or, tomb.

Taphonomy: Τάφος (Greek) or, tomb.

January 19, 2013

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2:49 AM | Is It Time to Treat Violence Like a Contagious...

Is It Time to Treat Violence Like a Contagious Disease? …exposure to violence is conceptually similar to exposure to, say, cholera or tuberculosis. Acts of violence are the germs. Instead of wracking intestines or lungs, they lodge in the brain. When people, in particular children and young adults whose brains are extremely plastic, repeatedly experience or witness violence, their neurological function is altered. Cognitive pathways involving anger are more easily activated. Victimized […]

January 12, 2013

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2:36 AM | Readin' junk so you dont have to #8366

So there’s an article about using neuroscientific evidence to mitigate sentencing of criminals...

January 10, 2013

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12:26 AM | Curious case of the vanishing court file

Many people think that, as an independent forensic scientist, my job is about science in the legal system. That would be true when I have my ‘specialist’ hat on such as when I’m doing blood or breath alcohol calculations, preparing a statement for Court or giving evidence. For the rest of my job, you’d be (read more)

January 09, 2013

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11:04 PM | The Scientific Challenge to Free Will and Criminal Responsibility: Why modern science could be a corrective force in a criminal justice system that aspires to-- but falls short of -- the ideals of retributive proportionality.

The Scientific Challenge to Free Will and Criminal Responsibility: Why modern science could be a...

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1:13 AM | - I Cannot Tell a Lie by Adrienne Anifant in John Jay’s...

- I Cannot Tell a Lie by Adrienne Anifant in John Jay’s JusticeMatters, Fall 2012 …which just arrived in the mail a few days ago. (I’ve said it a hundred times, amazing faculty [srsly, none better] but the admin could use a trailer load of help.) Fascinating article about Professor Maria Hartwig’s work towards the effectiveness of interrogation techniques based on “embodied cognition” and new approaches for detecting deception which seek to, “…reduce false accusations, wrongful […]

January 07, 2013

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6:21 PM | “To BD or not to BD: functional neuroimaging and the...

“To BD or not to BD: functional neuroimaging and the boundaries of bipolarity” Bipolar disorders are major mood disorders defined by the presence of discrete episodes of depression and either mania, in bipolar I disorder, or hypomania, in bipolar II disorder. There is little contention that both are serious psychiatric conditions or that they are associated with substantial suffering, disability, risk of suicide and cost to the community. Recently, focus has shifted away from classic […]

January 05, 2013

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7:59 PM | "One of [Roberta’s] most appealing qualities is, perhaps, her friendly impulse to help others …..."

“One of [Roberta’s] most appealing qualities is, perhaps, her friendly impulse to help others...

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3:56 AM | My rusty knuckle basement prison gym. I haven’t loved it...

My rusty knuckle basement prison gym. I haven’t loved it very long, but I love it very hard.

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12:46 AM | Narcissism has long gotten a bad rap. Its unseemly...

Narcissism has long gotten a bad rap. Its unseemly reputation dates back at least to ancient Greek mythology, in which the handsome hunter Narcissus (who undoubtedly would be gloating over his present-day fame) discovered his own reflection in a pool of water and fell in love with it. Narcissus was so transfixed by his image that he died staring at it. In 1914 Sigmund Freud likened narcissism to a sexual perversion in which romantic attraction is directed exclusively to the self. […]

January 03, 2013

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1:12 AM | Physicians in China treat addictions by destroying the brain’s...

Physicians in China treat addictions by destroying the brain’s pleasure center Drug addiction in China is highly stigmatized. And now, some doctors are trying to cure it with a radical procedure known as as a “stereotactic ablation.” More simply, it’s the practice of destroying parts of the brain’s “pleasure centers” (the nucleus accumbens) in heroin addicts and alcoholics as a way to stop drug cravings. At the same time, however, damage to this region could also impair a […]

December 27, 2012

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5:12 AM | sidekick is listening!!!!

Hi. When I was little I used to record cool jams on cassette tapes and chime in with my young...

December 26, 2012

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3:49 PM | How expectations shape pain Pain is highly modifiable by...

How expectations shape pain Pain is highly modifiable by psychological factors, including expectations. However, pain is a complex phenomenon, and expectations may work by influencing any number of processes that underlie the construction of pain. Neuroimaging has begun to provide a window into these brain processes, and how expectations influence them. (…) The body of work reviewed indicates that expectancies shape pain-intensity processing in the central nervous system, with strong […]

December 23, 2012

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4:48 AM | It’s not a weekend unless Ammo and I are around. [image; MRB...

It’s not a weekend unless Ammo and I are around. [image; MRB via theotherwindow -> coyotesaint]

December 21, 2012

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3:35 PM | On the Curious Science of Christmas Shopping

It struck me yesterday, while battling my way around a jam-packed shopping centre in Essex, that anthropologists must really like Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy Christmas too. But for those scientists who get their kicks out of the study of humanity, the prospect of the annual festival of spending must be truly mouth-watering. Because what I experienced yesterday – I find it quite traumatic to talk about – was nothing less than mass hysteria, brought about by... Read more

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3:40 AM | Abandonment issues: today, a visit to one of old upstate New...

Abandonment issues: today, a visit to one of old upstate New York psychiatric compounds

December 20, 2012

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10:15 PM | Another problem with fMRI as a lie dectector

Aside from the common problems of reliability and general acceptance in the scientific and legal...

December 19, 2012

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11:01 PM | You guys. Hey. I figured out my next...

You guys. Hey. I figured out my next experiment. [img punkpistol-seditionaries]

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6:07 AM | Addicted To Bang: The Neuroscience of the Gun …we are...

Addicted To Bang: The Neuroscience of the Gun …we are quite literally addicted to our guns. (…) …because the human brain evolved in an era of immediacy—when threats and rewards were of the lions, tigers and food variety—the dopamine circuitry has an inborn timing mechanism. If the reward follows the stimulus by roughly 100-200 milliseconds, it’s sitting in dopamine’s sweet spot. Firing a muzzle loader—for example—would certainly release dopamine, but it takes too long between […]

December 17, 2012

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10:57 PM | Return of Forensic Scientist!

I read with shame that my last post was mid August. That means it’s been four months since I last wrote a post and therefore four months where I have felt a pang of guilt on a nearly daily basis about not having written something, particularly when there was something on which I had a (read more)

December 15, 2012

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1:20 AM | Practicing my pre-processing and modeling speed: matlab, spm8...

Practicing my pre-processing and modeling speed: matlab, spm8 and cursing out loud.

December 13, 2012

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11:30 PM | Audio

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