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Luke Timmerman wrote:

Dendreon has a new man on the spot, and his name is Hans Bishop. The Seattle biotech company (NASDAQ: DNDN) settled the raging debate last year about whether its immune booster can help men with prostate cancer live longer without serious side effects. Now the company has graduated to a less glamorous, but equally important phase in which it must show that it can effectively manufacture and market its first-of-a-kind drug, sipuleucel-T (Provenge).

That responsibility falls to Bishop, its new chief operating officer. Bishop, 45, is a native of the U.K. who most recently worked as president of the specialty medicine business at Bayer Healthcare. He officially started at Dendreon on Jan. 4. He and his wife—who oversees communications at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—have already moved into a new place in downtown Seattle which is about a 15 to 20-minute walk from Dendreon’s Belltown office.

I met Bishop and Dendreon’s vice president of communications, Katherine Stueland, while they were attending the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference last week at San Francisco’s Union Square. Before diving too deep, it’s worth noting that Bishop’s first name is correctly pronounced as “Hahnce,” not the Germanic-sounding “Hahnz.” He’s heard it both ways, and told me he doesn’t care when people get it wrong, but there you have it.

Like most of our interviews, I sought to get to know the person as well as the situation he is stepping into at an important local biotech company. Here are the highlights of the conversation.

Xconomy: Where are you from, and how did you get started in the pharmaceutical business?

Hans Bishop: I’m from New York, in the sense that’s where I was living last. My last job was as president of specialty medicine at Bayer. That was a 3 billion Euro business comprised of oncology, hemostasis, urology, and ophthalmology. It’s all of the specialty medicine parts of the Bayer business.

But I was born and raised in the U.K., trained as an organic chemist. I’ve spent pretty much all of my career, not all, but pretty much all, in healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

X: How did you find out about the Dendreon position?

HB: I met [CEO] Mitch [Gold] and the team during a business development discussion. I’m embarrassed to tell you that I wasn’t that aware of Dendreon in my prior job. I met them through business development talks, and I was really amazed. I learned about the product for the first time when I met with them, and the clinical data they had generated. I was really impressed with the product, all the technology they had built around the product, and the management team. So I came away really impressed. I was really delighted two weeks later when the phone rang and I was asked if I was interested in meeting with them about this position.

X: So Mitch Gold recruited you, after he met you when you were on the other side of the bargaining table?

HB: You should get the quote from Mitch, but Mitch clearly came away impressed with me. While it was unclear if he wanted Bayer as a partner, it was clear that he wanted …Next Page »

If you’re hoping to go to Twitter’s first-ever developers conference, Chirp, you might like to know when it’s scheduled for, right? Twitter hasn’t publicly announced the date, but we wanted to know so that we didn’t schedule our next public event on the same date. So I just asked on Quora, the new Q&A service just launched by Facebook’s first CTO, Adam D’Angelo.

Within a few hours I got an answer, from Ashton Kutcher, the most-followed person in the world on Twitter. Ashton says the event is going to happen on April 14. So our event will not be on April 14.

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It’s possible that the Twitter event is not actually going to be held on April 14, but I strongly suspect that is in fact the plan. As Twitter’s number one guy, as the founder of a high-profile social media marketing company hanging out on a reputation-based site, as someone whose answer got a thumbs up from Quora engineer Kevin Der (who has a strong interest in the site being filled with accurate info) – it seems highly likely that Kutcher knows and is telling the truth.

Quora is a very compelling site, disproportionately filled with Silicon Valley engineering and investing elites talking comfortably among themselves for now. That’s unlikely to last (especially if people start blogging about what gets talked about there!) but the site’s user experience and design are more than good enough to hold their own long after the cool kids aren’t alone there anymore.

Quora is subject of another article, still forthcoming. (Here’s screenshots if you don’t have an invite.)

For now, just make a note: Twitter’s first public event is probably going to be held on April 14. That’s what Ashton Kutcher says, anyway.

Discuss

Video ad network Jivox is the latest online ad companies t0 look beyond run-of-the-mill video commercials to offer something a little more interactive. The startup says it’s adding social and interactive features to its do-it-yourself ad creator.

There’s growing interest in creating web ads that don’t just replicate the television experience, and not just on PCs — last fall, AdMob launched the first interactive video ad unit for the iPhone. These kinds of ads will hopefully do a better job of grabbing viewers’ attention, spurring them to action, and collecting data about how viewers are interacting. Here’s one piece of evidence that this interactivity pays off: ScanScout is experimenting with interactive ads that run before videos, and it says those ads are getting 350 percent more clickthroughs than standard ads in the same network.

Now Jivox is offering these features to its customers. When someone is watching an ad created with Jivox, they might see a button giving them options for further interaction, including sharing on social networks. You can view sample ads for Round Table Pizza and for Express Clothing. Here are some other examples of the interactivity that the San Mateo, Calif. company supports:

• Taking a virtual home tour
• Seeing a Flash tour of a car interior and requesting a test-drive
• Displaying a map to find the closest store location
• Showing a series of video clips for a concert tour
• Participating in a trivia contest or quiz to win a discount
• Requesting a quote for an insurance policy or home loan.

In addition to adding the new features, Jivox announced that it’s being used by more than 30 media groups, including Gannett, McClatchy, and Media News Group, reaching a total of 85 million unique viewers each month. After launching its network in 2008, the company’s revenue grew 600 percent over the course of 2009.

Jivox has raised $10.7 million from Opus Capital and India-based Helion Venture Partners.

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The latest research from Gartner indicates that, for the year 2009, only 16 million app sales were executed on mobile devices not bearing the infamous bitten apple logo. In reporting this data, Ars Technica inadvertently conflates Apple’s latest announcement of three billion apps downloaded with the notion of three billion apps sold and pegs the App Store’s market share at a whopping 99.4 percent — but more realistic calculations still show it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 97.5 percent. Going off estimates (obtained by GigaOM) that a quarter of App Store downloads are paid-for apps, and taking a rough figure of 2.5 billion downloads in 2009, leaves us with around 625 million app sales performed by Apple, which comfortably dwarfs all its competition. Considering the fact 18 months ago there wasn’t even an App Store to speak of — whereas today Cupertino is gobbling up the best part of $4.2 billion in annual mobile apps revenue — maybe you can now understand why we’re covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet.

Apple’s App Store said to have 99.4 percent of all mobile app sales, more like 97.5 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The current ASSU Executive officers, computer science co-terminal student David Gobaud and Andy Parker ’11, are roughly half-way through their term. Last spring, the Editorial Board gave its full endorsement to the former Gobaud/de la Torre Executive slate, praising its “bountiful platform” and “well-researched and thoughtful proposals.” Now, with the term half-over, it is time to see how well this Executive team has lived up to its campaign platform and proposals.

Overall, the Executive team of Gobaud and Parker–and, until last quarter, Jay de la Torre as well–has been largely successful in delivering on its campaign promises. Gobaud especially has shown an extraordinary level of tenacity and commitment to student leadership, highlighted by his most recent work coordinating with other universities to raise relief funds for Haiti. Throughout its term, this team has led the way on a number of initiatives–some highly regarded and others less noticeable–that have exhibited significant dedication to issues both on campus and in the world at large.

Engaging graduate students, utilizing technology in innovative ways and promoting sustainability have all been, in particular, major accomplishments of the Executive’s first six months in office. In these areas, the Executive officers have completed nearly every bullet point of their platform; open and transparent government was a promise made and strongly delivered upon. Numerous town hall events with key administrators have been organized and broadcast. The ASSU book exchange and events calendar have also served to help democratize information.

The graduate student community has been given considerable attention by this Executive, a marked improvement over previous administrations. The Executive cabinet currently includes numerous graduate students, as well as various positions meant solely to serve the graduate population. A town hall held this past summer brought several hundred constituents together with Provost John Etchemendy and his colleagues to discuss student life. Work has also been done to more actively incorporate the Graduate Student Council into the broader ASSU fabric, from small gestures such as inviting professional school presidents to meetings, to holding joint-council meetings and instituting election reform, which bring professional school voting dates in alignment with those of the greater campus.

Some of the greatest progress made under the current Executive has been in the area of campus sustainability, which during the campaign was a central pillar of their platform. Tresidder and Old Union are moving closer to zero percent waste, while plans are currently in the works for a campus Sustainability Summit in spring quarter. The tray-less dining hall campaign and the green move-in and move-out programs are also commendable initiatives made by this Executive. The ASSU Green Store has also been expanding, selling over 20,000 recyclable cups since its opening. Comparing these initiatives to their sustainability goals during the campaign, the Executive has already made enormous strides in fulfilling their platform promises.

One area of their platform that has been largely left incomplete concerns reforms to the Judicial Affairs process, specifically regarding the procedure for handling sexual assault cases on campus. While Gobaud has actively worked to initiate review and discussion in this area, real reform in Judicial Affairs must be made on the committee level. And at this time, unless major action is made across the different layers of the organization, it is entirely possible–and perhaps likely–that real change in Judicial Affairs will have to wait for another time and a different Executive.

The Executive administration’s commitment to fulfilling the platform of their campaign, together with the officers’ dedication and ability to engage the student community, leaves the Editorial Board feeling very positively about our endorsement of the slate. Though the scandal of Jay de la Torre’s resignation casts an unfortunate blemish on the Executive slate’s term, the officers have nevertheless exhibited a strong ability to live up to their promises, even in the face of controversy. For this, the Editorial Board congratulates the ASSU Executive slate on a successful term half-finished.

See tomorrow’s Daily for the second part of our ASSU Executive Mid-Year Evaluation, in which we will examine the work still left to be done by this administration.

Yelp, fresh off of leaving Google at the altar, is closing a hefty fifth round of financing from Elevation Partners, say multiple sources. The deal isn’t closed yet, says one source, but the guys at Elevation Partners have been telling friends that it’s a done deal.

The size of the rounds is in the $50 million range, but includes both a primary investment component as well as a secondary offering for long time employees. These deals are now being referred to as “DST deals,” since DST first invested in Facebook in May 2009 at a $10 billion valuation and later funded employee buyouts at a $6.5 billion valuation. They did a similar deal with Zynga.

Here’s a kicker – there may have been a point in the negotiations where Bono, an Elevation Partners partner, was to be the board representative for Yelp. What we’re hearing now, though, is that it will be one of the other Elevation partners to take the board seat.

The valuation is lower than the $550+ million that Yelp turned down from Google, say our sources. It will likely be closed and announced in February.

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Online video advertising startup Jivox is upgrading its technology to become more interactive and social. Jivox’s online self-serve platform provides video advertising opportunities to clients that allow them create and embed advertisements within their videos.

Advertisers can now add custom interactions to their in-stream and in-banner video ads to try to boost user engagement and response rates. Using Jivox, creative agencies and advertisers can now add their own custom Flash or HTML applets to video ads so that users can interact with the ad without ever leaving the player. Users will now be able to embed Jivox’s “in-stream ad plug-in” into a content player to serve a video ad in-stream, with full interactive and analytic capabilities. Jivox is also making it easier to embed interactive video ads on social networks.

Currently more than thirty media groups, including Gannett, Media News Group, McClatchy and E.W. Scripps are using the Jivox’s online video ad platform. Jivox’s ads get average click through rates that range from .2 percent to .8 percent. This seems low, but we know from Brightroll that click through rates for video ads have decreased. The upside is that total advertising spend is up and Jivox is seeing the results, with the startup’s revenue growing by 600 percent in 2009 and added 3000 more advertisers as well. The startup delivers ad campaigns for a host of big-name companies including General Motors, Nokia, Microsoft, HP, Sony and Samsung. Jivox, which launched in 2007, faces competition from Mixpo and Spotmixer.

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The HTC HD2 has now been released officially on the Australian Telstra network.  The superphone will be exclusive on Telstra until the 30th of March 2010, with the phone available in-store or online from today.

“The HTC HD2 is one of the most advanced and intuitive phones HTC has ever created,” said Anthony Petts, Sales and Marketing Director ANZ, HTC Corporation. “The phone provides users with the winning combination of Windows® Phone functionality and one of the largest, most visually stunning capacitive touch displays available on the market. It is simply a joy to use.”

The smartphone will be running at $0 on an $80 plan for 24 months, or for businesses of government departments $85 on the Mobile PLUS plan.

Via itechreport.com

American builder Roush Performance released yesterday the release schedule for the 2011 model year, as well as some minor details of the upcoming conversions. The Roush assault will begin in April with the release of Stage 1 and Stage 2 versions of the Mustang.

They will be powered by the new Ford 5.0l V8 engine developing 412 horsepower and 390 ft.-lb. or torque. The estimated mileage stands at 25 mpg, thanks in part to the standard six-speed transmission.

Visual enhancements to be brou… (read more)

Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, Don’t Eat This

I’ve generally been quite critical of the calorie model of health in my writing. Science has shown time and again that it is far too simplistic a model — calories in equal to calories out does not always ensure that no weight is gained, and consuming fewer calories than are burned does not guarantee weight loss. Nevermind that weight gain and loss is a rather poor measure of overall health (remember that starvation, parasite infection and hundreds of other diseases lead to weight loss, too).

For an in-depth look at this, here’s a fascinating video of Gary Taubes, scientific researcher and author of Good Calories, Bad Calories (a title he admits is inappropriate but that he adopted it, bowing to pressures from American marketing people; the book is called The Diet Delusion in the UK). In the video, Taubes explains the failings of the calorie model, and more specifically, how wrong our conception is that obesity is caused by eating too much. It’s a long video (one hour), but it is quite illuminating and well worth watching.

Continue reading Why Calorie Counting Won’t Help You Lose Weight

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Students hit the slopes, become inebriated, play thumb war during weekend ski trip

“If you fall asleep, you’re going to wake up on the side of the freeway,” yells the upperclassman driver at the helm of a standard-issue rental minivan to the groggy passenger sitting shotgun in the last car out to Tahoe on Friday night.

After a failed attempt at getting her passengers to sing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” through to the end, the driver, her eyes drooping, now wishes that she could have back the same cracked out group of students from three hours prior–the ones who wouldn’t stop scanning the radio stations looking for “Tick Tock,” “Bad Romance” and “Party in the USA,” screaming with joy and belting out the tune every time they were successful.

After battling MLK weekend traffic out of the Bay Area and braving a long and winding ascent through Eldorado National Forest, the seven students in the car wake up to the shimmering lights of South Lake Tahoe.

“Whoaaaa…I’m really glad we’re seeing this view at night, otherwise I would be freaking out,” exclaims the driver, appreciating the extra illusion of safety from the canyon’s depths provided by the wall of accumulated plowed snow.

By the time the late van reaches the log mansion’s blazing lights, the annual scramble for beds has already been complete and all that remains are empty spots on the shag carpet, colored a puke-friendly orange and brown.

One slightly tipsy junior, clearly having enjoyed activities that severely impaired his rhyming abilities, teases a late-comer.

Robby Dobby was a bear, Robby Dobby…doesn’t-get-a-bed-because-he-came-late!”

Luckily, the four-hour drive leaves the late passengers tired and impervious to the cacophony of snoring in the bunk bed room, for the few precious hours of sleep before the 7 a.m. wakeup call for skiing.

“Hey, wanna go sledding so you can bruise your crotch again like last year?” announces a sophomore, remembering the sight of her friend wrapped around the trunk of a pine after plowing down a small hill in the backyard.

A large contingent of non-skiers keeps themselves entertained at the house on Saturday. They knit and destroy the kitchen, making meat smoothies and sriracha pancakes. They sled down hills on cookie sheets and trash can lids and realize that trying to catch a fish with your bare hands leads to accidentally becoming a member of the Lake Tahoe polar bear club.

And a studious few make productivity nests in the solitude of the master bedroom closet to complete enough homework before the Saturday night festivities.

The skiers had headed out much earlier, awoken by various tactics like getting slapped in the face with a hot waffle, having whoopee cushion expelled into their ears and feeling the cold tip of a permanent pen dancing across their foreheads.

“Even my wallet clenched its butt cheeks when I heard the price of the lift ticket…but SO worth it,” says one sophomore on her second ski trip, as the skiers and snowboarders of various levels of skill and coordination, pockets stuffed with chewy bars, wait to be manhandled by the gondola ushers at Heavenly.

“OMG I FREAKING HATE LITTLE KIDS,” declares one frustrated junior, sliding on his butt down the bunny slope as a six-year-old skier zoomed past, spraying a wave of snow in his face with a laugh.

Fortunately he has it better than his friend, who made the mistake of accepting his Swedish dorm mate’s offer to teach her to ski. After only a two-minute lesson on the bunny slope, she finds herself jerking down the moguls on a black run as his dorm mate zig-zags around her yelling encouragement.

Another friend becomes intimate with the California-Nevada border, temporarily giving her yet another bright red waffle pattern on her cheek.

The most unfortunate group causes the lift-to-skyline trail to halt for several minutes after one of the snowboarders exits the lift diagonally, epically tripping all three of his riding mates. As the skiers in the group groan and collect the roughly 5,000 different pieces of disassembled ski equipment, the crowd around the gondola gives them a round of applause for their fail-rific performance.

Back at the cabins, the party has begun.

“OMG WAIT, bears can’t smell beer…CAN THEY???” says one not-so-sober ski tripper. “Because the sign on the fridge says not to leave food outside because of animals…LIKE BEARS.”

“Yeah well, the sign above the toilet says to practice your aim, but you threw that one right out the window, didn’t you?”

The Saturday night shenanigans really take off at 10 p.m., when one staff member fulfills his promise to jump shirtless off the second floor balcony onto the living room couch from a dizzying height of eight feet.

The party is in the basement this time, in light of the recent crackdown on over-packed houses at Lake Tahoe. The basement is an unholy union of Karaoke, “shot”-tar hero and extremely heated thumb wars. Outside, one group is learning the thriftiness of drinking at altitude in a hot tub. They stuff more and more people in until they realize the drain off was sliding down the roof and freezing on the hood of the vans.

Others were having their first drinking experience:

Joe: “Did Jerry have half a beer again?”

Jerry: (hiccups) “No, I had a WHOLE one!”

One by one the partiers nod off, until a small group of boys remain playing a game of pool. The game degenerates into a storytelling session about hunting wild pigs, which degenerates an imitation of wild pig and bird noises. A sophomore girl, half asleep, tosses her slipper at one of the boys’ outstretched buttocks, sending the boys into a frenzy of laughter that puts them to sleep.

In the morning the zombies scrounge for the remnants of bread crusts, a five-pound bag of M&Ms and the bruised fruit that remains in the once-abundant cabinets. The staff members breathe a sigh of relief as the vans depart from the house, where they hope the landlord won’t notice the pair of superhero underwear lodged in the drain of the Jacuzzi.

The late van driver cranks up the radio as the chorus of Lady Gaga plays, thematically beginning the trip home.

Dutch carmaker Spyker is still negotiating the acquisition of Saab, despite the fact that General Motors, the current owner of the Swedish unit, already started winding down the brand. CEO Victor Muller confirmed for Reuters that Spyker continues talks with GM but hasn’t mentioned whether the US-based company has imposed a new deadline for an agreement to be reached.

On the other hand, GM is also discussing the sale of Saab with Genii Capital, the Luxembourg-based investment company that rece… (read more)

Faculty, administration and students who frequented Cubberley School of Education last quarter noted its unpleasant smell. The stench is currently under control after Zone Management investigated the problem and tried several different solutions. (ANNE PIPATHSOUK/The Stanford Daily)

Odor in Cubberley fall quarter possibly due to leaking pipe, rodents

“It’s not a bad smell,” said Jess Fisher ’13. “It is like the nostalgic musty smell you get when you walk into an old building.”

At the beginning of last quarter, the Cubberley School of Education was widely talked about among students due to the mysterious smell emanating from the building.

Reports about the smell ranged from sewage to mustiness, and some students with fall quarter classes in Cubberley never smelled anything.

“I never really noticed a smell,” said Shannon Wong ’10, who had a morning class in Cubberley fall quarter.

But the faculty and administration within the building were well aware of the odor. One administrator, who wished to remain anonymous, provided confirmation about the smell along with emphatic nodding and a slight chuckle.

It was when students, staff and faculty began moving back into Cubberley after the construction project this past summer to retrofit it for earthquakes that the smell was first noticed.

“Right about the time that the project was completing…people started talking about a smell,” explained Kathleen Baldwin, zone manager of section C of campus, which includes Cubberley.

Up to nearly the end of fall quarter the smell was still a problem, but it appeared to be gradually dissipating.

“It seems to be getting better,” explained Ona Andre, building manager for Cubberley. “I believe it was stronger in the past [earlier in fall quarter] when it was called in.”

After enough complaints came in to confirm that the smell was not just noticed by the oversensitive, Zone Management was called in to investigate.

Zone managers such as Baldwin oversee one of fours zones on campus, acting as the property managers of academic buildings.

“Not so much the fire, but the floods and the locusts–we go out and help people [on campus],” Baldwin said, explaining the involvement of the Zone Managers into the investigation at Cubberley.

Baldwin, along with a team that includes pest control, electricians, technicians, plumbers, contractors for the Cubberley construction, the custodial company and Environmental Health and Safety, worked to comb the building top to bottom searching for the smell.

Several ideas were investigated, ranging from checking the procedures of how the café in Cubberley dealt with their garbage to ensuring that the drain heading down to the sewers was being kept wet. If the drain dries out it will result in a sewage-like smell.

“You don’t throw out any clue, you don’t throw out any possibility of what it could be,” explained Baldwin about their investigation techniques.

“We went from the top to the bottom and we found a couple of things that we thought could be suspect,” she added.

During the summer the steam radiators for Cubberley were shut down; sometimes when they are turned back on they may leak or smell.

“Over the years we have had issues with fumes and that kind of thing,” Andre said. “Mainly from radiators. [The smell] is fleeting.”

When Cubberley was investigated, a small leak was found in an old air-handling area of the fountain.

“We found a small leak [in the air-handling unit] that we fixed, but basically we just went through the whole building and didn’t see a whole lot of issues that could cause [the stench],” Baldwin said.

Another issue that possibly contributed to the smell was rodents in Cubberley. After looking around the mechanical rooms in Cubberley, some evidence of rodents was found. This issue was cleaned up and the mesh in the mechanical rooms was fixed to ensure that the rodents could not return.

“As we started solving these problems the smell has abated,” Baldwin explained. “So right before we went on break I called Ona and asked how things were going over there and she said, ‘You know, we haven’t had many problems.’”

Baldwin believes that it was a series of small steps that resulted in the correction of the smell.

“So to me, I think it was more of the building starting to come back to 100 percent occupancy and usefulness and also some of the smaller leak areas that we found that helped,” she said.

This quarter, there has been a sudden drop in complaints by faculty and students about the smell.

“We haven’t had any complaints from the faculty [winter quarter],” Andre said.

Students who are using Cubberley for the first time this quarter have not even been aware of the smell, except through rumors.

“I have not smelled anything and I am very sensitive to smells,” said Deanna Chase ’13.

Although students and administration this quarter have noticed the lack of smell within the building, the Zone manager investigation has not been closed.

“We aren’t done with Cubberley,” Baldwin stated. “If somebody says today that they’re smelling that smell again, we would go right back there and start the investigation again. We are very proactive about keeping our buildings safe.”

Here’s the Porsche 911 GT3 R officially presented at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham. The 911 GT3 R is a race-use only Porsche, in line with FIA GT rules, and includes modifications on the GT3 Cup, which in turn was based on the GT3 RS “standard” model. The GT3 R has a flat-six, 4.0-litre engine replacing the 3.8. It has 480 hp and a reduced weight of 1,200 kg.

The GT3 R has sports ABS, traction control and transmission assistance to avoid the rear wheels blocking when going up the gears. Changes to the aerodynamics are part of the package and include a huge rear spoiler, and the car is also fitted with adjustable SACHS suspension. The Porsche 911 GT3 R will cost about 279,000 euros, taxes excluded. It will be available in spring.

Tom alerted me to this fantastic brief case published in the British Medical Journal where a builder is admitted to hospital in great pain after a nail penetrated all the way through his boot. But it turned out that the pain was entirely psychological, as the nail had missed his foot by sliding between his toes.

A builder aged 29 came to the accident and emergency department having jumped down on to a 15 cm nail. As the smallest movement of the nail was painful he was sedated with fentanyl and midazolam. The nail was then pulled out from below. When his boot was removed a miraculous cure appeared to have taken place. Despite entering proximal to the steel toecap the nail had penetrated between the toes: the foot was entirely uninjured.

As Tom mentioned “One of the things I love about it is that the builder had no incentive to ‘fake’. He knew he should have acted tough so we know that the pain he felt wasn’t over-acting. It was imaginary pain, but it was real imaginary pain!”

This isn’t really the nocebo effect, where ‘side-effects’ appear after having taken nothing but a placebo, but more similar to what doctors might describe in its persistent form as somatisation disorder where physical symptoms appear that aren’t explained by tissue damage.

However, both are similar in that real pain arises from beliefs, expectations and perceptions. We now know that all pain has a significant mental component and, consequently, psychological therapy is an effective treatment for chronic pain.

It’s no coincidence that Tom picked up this snippet in a talk by psychologist Stuart Derbyshire who has done some fantastic studies on the neural basis of psychologically controlled and induced pain by using hypnosis in fMRI scanners.

Link to brief piece in the BMJ.

This is one awesome example of why we as adults still need Legos. Sure the steering isn’t 100% great but what else are you going to do while you’re at work with your Legos? Work? ha, I think not. Do you guys have any other awesome time waster Lego app videos or ideas? If so hit us up on twitter or leave a comment here. If we get enough of them from you guys maybe we’ll setup a Lego App montage.

 

By FreedomChicken

Filed under: Morning Scoop

Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.

Think you’ve got your sugar consumption under control? Think again — Dr. Oz uncovers secret sources of sugar that might be making you fat.

Pucker up and give your lips some love with these lip-healthy tips that will get your kisser in shape for smooching by V-Day.

Worried your wine habit might be getting out of hand? At least you don’t drink as much as Scottish people — studies show they consume 46 bottles of vodka a year … each! That’s nearly one a week.

Want to get your child off the couch? Here are some sneaky strategies to get kids moving.

When it comes to slimming down, most men agree that competing for cash is their greatest inspiration.

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Ralf Schumacher seems to be contemplating a future driving seat inside the 2010 Formula One Championship, according to recent reports. Although he reportedly talked to a number of teams for an F1 return, the 34-year old was also believed to be in contention for a testing role within the Mercedes GP outfit.

The German driver spent the last couple of years driving an AMG Mercedes C-Klasse for Mercedes’ works team.

However, when asked about this prospect by the Italian newspaper Gazzetta del… (read more)

The Orange County Choppers accepted a new challenge, having been commissioned by garage organization company Gladiator GarageWorks to build a Gladiator brand themed bike. The Cable network, TLC, will air the American Choppers episode featuring the build and unveil of the Gladiator GarageWorks bike on January 21, 2010.

"For years, the guys at Orange County Choppers have shown just how special garages can be when enough time and energy is spent on the things you love," Lou Ann Schafe… (read more)

Following a couple of weeks of taunting and teasing the new Meriva, German carmaker Opel released yesterday more details and a lot of photos of the versatile people carrier. Although details regarding the engine choices are still to surface, Opel has detailed all the "Flexes" it associated with the car: FlexDoors, FlexSpace, FlexRail and FlexFix.

As we told you yesterday, access to the interior is done via the rear-hinged FlexDoors, a first in the segment. The size of the door apert… (read more)