Pastafarianism
So what exactly is a religion? More specifically, does the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka Pastafarianism) count? The CFSM grew from an amusing lett...
Author: Mary
An evolutionary psychology take on family size
When I posted a few days ago about new books on the reading list, I said I’d have more to say about evolutionary psychology. So here’s an interview ...
Book review: Musicophilia
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, by Oliver Sacks. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007 The latest book of essays on neuroscience by Oliver Sacks looks at ...
The need to rationalize
Maybe you remember the scene from The Big Chill where one of the characters praises the importance of a good rationalization. (Can you get through a day without...
End of DST, hallelujah
Those of you who know me personally have already heard my diatribes against Daylight Saving Time (DST), which luckily I have been able to avoid for the most par...
Altruism and war
Altruism toward community members who are not related to you, with its implications of kindness and generosity, may be intertwined in human history with hostili...
Sleep deprivation and emotions
When I was younger, I could bounce back more easily from sleep deprivation; as I get older, it’s becoming harder to deal with a short night or worse yet, ...
Book review: Brain and Culture
Brain and Culture: Neurobiology, Ideology, and Social Change, by Bruce Wexler, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006 This book explains human difficulties with change, inc...
Learning language
A couple of recent news stories describe recent work on how children learn language. One study looked at bilingual babies and monolingual babies and found somew...
Wired interview with Oliver Sacks
Seems like it’s all about music this week at the Thinking Meat Project, which is a nice coincidence because the Lotus World Music Festival is in town (one...