The Lone Wolf Delusion
Anguish grips the country with news of another horrific mass murder. From local police to the Secret Service, law enforcement worry about the “lone wolf.” These are individuals with no criminal record, feeling alienated and angry, plotting spectacular murder and violence in secret. “Experts” lament that there is no way to track lone wolf killers,…
Read MoreCerebral Storms
I awoke this morning to a ferocious lightning storm. The house shook from thunderous booms. The predawn darkness blanched in blazing white flashes. Lightning is impressive; especially in contrast to the feeble bioelectricity generated by the body’s nerve cells. Or is that just an illusion? Neuroscientist Michael Persinger has done some back-of-the-envelope calculations that may…
Read MoreLadies out of Luck: FDA Blocks “Female Viagra”
Guys who need it have Viagra; Ladies with the similar needs have nothing now that the FDA has denied approval of a new drug, flibanserin, which would treat sexual dysfunction in women. What’s interesting from a neuroscience perspective is how the drug works. What’s interesting from a social perspective is how difficult it is to…
Read More23andGUVMT– Health and Safety or What? An Antiestablishment Perspective
Is the recent FDA action blocking access to the personal gene analysis services of the company 23andMe really about health and safety? This controversy may instead be more about fear of the future and protecting special interests. What we could be seeing is the usual Luddite paranoia arising at every historic advance in technology, but…
Read MoreTransforming Terrorizing Memories
I’ll never forget it. They strapped electrodes to my wrist, cranked up a black dial on a frightening electronic device encrusted with switches and knobs, and shocked me repeatedly with jolts of electricity.
Read MoreCreativity Madness and Drugs
Writers are crazy and rock musicians want to be–neuroscientists meet and explain why San Diego–Would we have Poe’s Raven today if the tormented author had taken lithium to suppress his bipolar illness? Not likely, considering the high frequency of psychiatric illnesses among writers and artists concludes psychiatrist Kay Jamison of Johns Hopkins Medical School speaking…
Read MoreWhen Crying Triggers Murder
Crying provoke positive, supportive, caregiving responses, as well as negative, destructive, responses.
Read MoreElectrical Stimulation of Brain Circuit to Control Good Behavior
Human beings are utterly dependent on a complex social structure for their survival. Since all behavior is controlled by the brain, human beings may have evolved specialized neural circuits that are responsible for compliance with society’s rules. A new study has identified such a region in the human brain, and researchers can increase or decrease…
Read MoreWhat Neuroscience (and Cows) Tell us About the Government Shut-Down
The actions of congressmen and women in the government shutdown would not be possible without the neuroscience of human herding behavior and the loss of normal constraints on deviant behavior that this causes.
Read MoreMap the Brain–Not Just Neurons
Our understanding of one half of the brain (the part comprised of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia) lags a century behind our knowledge of neurons.
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