In this twenty-first century, we have arrived at an age, a time in the human calendar, where we have the ability, the intelligence, the science and the common sense to decide by ourselves if an idea, an ideology, a theory or a concept is real or a pile of garbage.
Here’s the Baloney Detection Kit to enhance our minds and lives. Enjoy!
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New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space - including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else’s shoes - may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others.
The research was recently published in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE. Read here the research.
Empathy involves, in part, the ability to simulate the internal states of others. The authors hypothesized that our ability to manipulate, rotate and simulate mental representations of the physical world, including our own bodies, would contribute significantly to our ability to empathize.
“Our language is full of spatial metaphors, particularly when we attempt to explain or understand how other people think or feel. We often talk about putting ourselves in others’ shoes, seeing something from someone else’s point of view, or figuratively looking over someone’s shoulder,” Sohee Park, report co-author and professor of psychology, said. “Although future work is needed to elucidate the nature of the relationship between empathy, spatial abilities and their potentially overlapping neural underpinnings, this work provides initial evidence that empathy might be, in part, spatially represented.”
(Via Medical News Today.)
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Researchers have what they say is the first direct proof of a very old idea: that when we use a tool—even for just a few minutes—it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body. In other words, the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema, according to a report published in the June 23rd issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.
“Since the origin of the concept of body schema, the idea of its functional plasticity has always been taken for granted, even if no direct evidence has been provided until now,” said Alessandro Farnè of INSERM and the Université Claude Bernard Lyon. “Our series of experiments provides the first, definitive demonstration that this century-old intuition is true.”
In the new study, Farnè, Lucilla Cardinali, and their colleagues reasoned that if one incorporates a used tool into the body schema, his or her subsequent bodily movements should differ when compared to those performed before the tool was used.
Indeed, that is exactly what they saw. After using a mechanical grabber that extended their reach, people behaved as though their arm really was longer, they found. What’s more, study participants perceived touches delivered on the elbow and middle fingertip of their arm as if they were farther apart after their use of the grabbing tool.
People still went on using their arm successfully following after tool use, but they managed tasks differently. That is, they grasped or pointed to object correctly, but they did not move their hand as quickly and overall took longer to complete the tasks.
It’s a phenomenon each of us unconsciously experiences every day, the researchers said. The reason you were able to brush your teeth this morning without necessarily looking at your mouth or arm is because your toothbrush was integrated into your brain’s representation of your arm.
The findings help to explain how it is that humans use tools so well.
“We believe this ability of our body representation to functionally adapt to incorporate tools is the fundamental basis of skillful tool use,” Cardinali said. “Once the tool is incorporated in the body schema, it can be maneuvered and controlled as if it were a body part itself.”
(Via EurekAlert!.)
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Those pesky graying hairs that tend to crop up with age really are signs of stress, reveals a new report in the June 12 issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication.
Researchers have discovered that the kind of “genotoxic stress” that does damage to DNA depletes the melanocyte stem cells (MSCs) within hair follicles that are responsible for making those pigment-producing cells. Rather than dying off, when the going gets tough, those precious stem cells differentiate, forming fully mature melanocytes themselves. Anything that can limit the stress might stop the graying from happening, the researchers said.
“The DNA in cells is under constant attack by exogenously- and endogenously-arising DNA-damaging agents such as mutagenic chemicals, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation,” said Emi Nishimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University. “It is estimated that a single cell in mammals can encounter approximately 100,000 DNA damaging events per day.”
Find out more about this article here
(Brought to you via Medical News Today.)
By Simon Hooper - CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) — When Nina Temple was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2000, then aged 44, she quickly became depressed, barely venturing out of her house as she struggled to come to terms with living with the chronic condition.
“I was thinking of all the things which I wished I’d done with my life and I wouldn’t be able to do. And then I started thinking about all the things that I still actually could do and singing was one of those,” Temple told CNN.
Along with a fellow Parkinson’s sufferer, Temple decided, on a whim, to form a choir. The pair placed notices in doctor’s surgeries inviting others to join them and advertised for a singing teacher.
By 2003, with the help of funding from the Parkinson’s Disease Society, the resulting ensemble “Sing For Joy” was up and running, rehearsing weekly and soon graduating to public performances.
The group now consists of around two dozen singers, including sufferers of Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, others recovering from conditions including stroke or cancer, plus their carers, family and friends. Led by acclaimed jazz performer Carol Grimes, the group’s genre-defying repertoire ranges from Cole Porter classics to ethnic punk.
(Via CNN News.)
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