![](\"http:\/\/www.mindhacks.com\/files\/2005\/01\/spike.jpg\")
<\/p>\nQuick links from the past week in mind and brain news:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The University of California<\/i> has an interview<\/a> with space psychiatrist Nick Kanas<\/p>\n There’s a thoughtful consideration<\/a> of the recent New York Times article on whether depression has evolutionary benefits over at Neuron Culture<\/i>.<\/p>\n Time<\/i> magazine discusses research finding that deaths from cocaine overdoses<\/a> rise even when the weather warms up only slightly.<\/p>\n We’re slower at processing touch-related<\/a> words than words related to the other senses, according to new research covered by the BPS Research Digest<\/i>.<\/p>\n Wired UK<\/i> discusses a new study on how electrical brain activity recorded from the scalp’s surface is enough to support the (rough) reconstruction<\/a> of 3D hand movements on a computer.<\/p>\n The bizarre double life<\/a> of Dr. William Stewart Halsted is discussed in a book review over at The Neuro Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n The Neurocritic<\/i> welcomes yet another attempt to resurrect Freudian<\/a> ideas about the brain with a new paper taking the ‘but looks at the similarities!’ approach.<\/p>\n Male batterers consistently overestimate<\/a> rates of domestic violence, according to a study covered in e! Science News<\/i><\/p>\n Not Exactly Rocket Science<\/i> on how cooperative behaviour spreads<\/a> through social networks, but so does cheating.<\/p>\n Asking an experienced stranger predicts our future happiness<\/a> better than we can ourselves. A nugget from a piece on the work of Daniel Gilbert over at Harvard Magazine<\/i>.<\/p>\n Neurophilosophy<\/i> discusses some new lab research suggesting that the immune system response<\/a> to brain infection may trigger Alzheimer’s disease.<\/p>\n The somewhat chilling piece on the rise of ‘human flesh search<\/a> engines’ in China is discussed by The New York Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n Deric Bownd’s Mind Blog<\/i> covers a fascinating study that found thinking about randomness<\/a> enhanced belief in the supernatural.<\/p>\n The UK’s programme to detain and treat people with ‘Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder’ is heavily criticised in a government report. New Scientist<\/i> covers<\/a> the story.<\/p>\n Seed Magazine<\/i> asks ‘is there an evolutionary basis for our religious beliefs<\/a>?’ I for one know that my belief in Thor makes me more attractive to the ladies.<\/p>\n Bigger men are more aggressive<\/a> when drunk, according to research covered by Science News<\/i>.<\/p>\n Neuroanthropology<\/i> discusses why students drink before even leaving the door to party, a practice known as ‘pre-gaming<\/a>‘. The site also has an excellent essay on how obesity<\/a> is discussed as a medical problem.<\/p>\n A variant of gene SCN9A has been linked to pain<\/a> perception, according to a new study covered by Science News<\/i>.<\/p>\n The Loom<\/i> discusses how bacteria<\/A> could change our behaviour. I expect to see ‘the bacteria made me do it’ defence in court cases some time soon.<\/p>\n Fat may be detectable as a ‘sixth taste<\/a>‘ suggest a new study covered by Wired UK<\/i>.<\/p>\n Newsweek<\/i> thinks fMRI “proves” addiction is a brain disease (hello neuroessentialism<\/a> fallacy!) while making an otherwise important point on the need for psychological treatment for addiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n A long but interesting piece on how to train teachers<\/a> with simple effective classroom techniques appeared in The New York Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n RadioLab<\/i> discusses “a rare but disturbing delusional disorder called Capgras<\/a>” in one of its excellent short broadcasts. Although it’s not<\/a> actually<\/a> that rare in people with psychosis and dementia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: The University of California has an interview with space psychiatrist Nick Kanas There’s a thoughtful consideration of the recent New York Times article on whether depression has evolutionary benefits over at Neuron Culture. Time magazine discusses research finding that deaths from cocaine overdoses rise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-421502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}