Posts Tagged ‘violence’
Switching Off Anger with an Electrode
Devonte Washington, 15, was waiting on the platform of a Washington DC Metro subway station with his mother and two sisters headed to a barber shop to get a haircut for Easter Sunday church service. The young man glanced up at a stranger, 17-year-old Maurice Bellamy, who instantly took offence–pulled out a .38 caliber pistol…
Read MoreA Gunman’s Regret
Science can help society grapple with the horrors of modern gun violence …A death row inmate wrote to say that something I had written had helped him understand how his life derailed. If he had read this material on the neuroscience of violence earlier in his life, he wrote, “I might not be here today.”…
Read MoreHumans Are Genetically Predisposed to Kill Each Other
A new study of 1,024 mammal species has determined which animals are the most vicious killers of their own kind. Killer whales perhaps? Pit bulls maybe? For the answer, just look in the mirror.
Read MoreBrexit from a Neuroscience Perspective
A surprising outcome of my four-year investigation into the neuroscience of human aggression for my new book Why We Snap, was how the reductionist approach that I took to understand individual violent behavior in terms of the specific neural circuits responsible, exploded in scope to illuminate human aggressive behavior in mass–between groups of people, from…
Read MoreThe Neuroscience of Violence
We are on the brink of a new understanding of the neuroscience of violence. Like detectives slipping a fiber optic camera under a door, neuroscientists insert a fiber optic microcamera into the brain of an experimental animal and watch the neural circuits of rage respond during violent behavior.
Read MoreMarijuana Causes 7-Fold Increased Risk of Violent Behavior
New research reported in the journal <em>Psychological Medicine</em>, concludes that continued use of cannabis causes violent behavior as a direct result of changes in brain function that are caused by smoking marijuana over many years.
Read MoreSeeing Red out of the Blue
We like to believe that we are in control of our actions, but sometimes we are not. A sudden incident can overtake conscious will and launch us into violent action that risks our life and limb in an instant. I know, because it happened to me. I am a neuroscientist, and after witnessing…
Read MoreThe Inevitable Violent Outcome of the Oregon Militia Stand-Off
The tragic violent death this week of LaVoy Finicum, one of the Militia of Ranchers occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon illustrates the LIFEMORTS triggers of rage in action. The difficult situation is an example of the type of violence that I hope an understanding of the neuroscience of aggression can help to…
Read MoreWhy no one helped
On Saturday, July 4, 2015, a horrifying bloodbath erupted before the eyes of passengers on the Red Line Metro subway train heading to Fourth of July festivities in Washington, DC. Wide-spread criticism in the press and social media erupted over the “apathetic” response of onlookers who reportedly said or did nothing to help the victim.…
Read MoreHeisenberg Uncertainty and the Baltimore Riots
The Baltimore riots from a science perspective
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