Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2628 )

• Domestic Dogs: Born Human Whisperers

  

  Vignieri does a summary of recent work by Bray et al. and Salomans et al. in Current Biology The closest relative to dogs, “man’s best friend,” is the wolf, a... Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The 31st First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony -

  

  I pass on this Science.org summary of the virtual awards ceremony. Musical cats, upside-down rhinos, and submarine cockroaches took the gold last night at the... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• You Are Not Who You Think You Are

  I want to point to the NYTimes piece by polymath David Brooks that does a nice summary of several themes that have been emphasized in MindBlog posts - on the... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Ageing Yields Improvements as Well as Declines Across Attention and Executive...

  Interesting work from Verissimo et al.: Many but not all cognitive abilities decline during ageing. Some even improve due to lifelong experience. Read more

  Posted on 08 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Test of Plasticity-based Cognitive Training in Treating Mild Traumatic Brain...

  A study from Mahncke et al. (open source) shows that using a computerized cognitive training program that I have mentioned in previous MindBlog posts (BrainHQ,... Read more

  Posted on 06 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Babbling Bats

  An interesting piece from Fernandez et al.: Babbling is a production milestone in infant speech development. Evidence for babbling in nonhuman mammals is scarce... Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Neuroinflammation Collection: a Review of Neuro-immune Crosstalk

  Irani et al. (open source) offer a compact and concise review that highlights publications in Brain over the past several years as a focal point to offer a... Read more

  Posted on 01 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Two Americas

  

  I've been trying to dial down MindBlog's mention of our current domestic turmoil and debate, but I can't resist passing on this clip from Krugman's recent... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Douthat's Guide to Finding Faith

  I recommend that you read through Douthat's elegant exposition of the continuing relevance of some form of religious faith. I paste in below a few clips that... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Well-being of the Aging Brain - from the Univ.of Wisc. Center for Healty Minds

  I am a supporter of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which was established and is lead by one of my former colleagues,... Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Research Experiences and Social Justice

  In the Editor's Choice section of the July 23 issue of Science Magazine Melissa McCarntney does a brief description of a biomedical research training program... Read more

  Posted on 23 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• YouTube Algorithms Do Not Appear to Drive Attention to Radical Content.

  From Hosseinmardi et al.; Significance Daily share of news consumption on YouTube, a social media platform with more than 2 billion monthly users, has... Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Castration Delays Aging

  I pass on this nugget by Beverly Purnell in the Editor's Choice section of this week's Science Magazine noting an interesting paper by Sugrue et al. First her... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• What is Our Brain's Spontaneous Activity For?

  Continuing in MindBlog's recent thread on the predictive brain (see here and here), I pass on highlights of an opinion piece by Pezzulo et al. Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Connections Between Two Brain Regions That Are Required for Consciousness Ar...

  Important work from Spindler et al.: Significance Understanding the neural bases of consciousness is of basic scientific and clinical importance. Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How the Insiders Win - Philanthropy, Advocacy, and Profit.

  From Bertrand et al., a study showing how U.S. Federal rulemaking based on considering "independent viewpoints" is corrupted: Information is central to designin... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Electromagnetic Radiation in the Wireless Signal Range Increases Wakefulness in...

  Liu et al. (open source) find that electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the wireless signal range used by our cell phones, laptops, and Wi-Fi routers can... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Seeing Others React to Threats Triggers Our Own Internal Threat Responses.

  From Haaker et al. (open source): Significance Social transmission of threat information by observation is effective in humans and other animals. Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Historical Language Records Reveal Societal Depression and Anxiety in Past Two...

  Fascinating work from Bollen et al. (open source): Significance Can entire societies become more or less depressed over time? Here, we look for the historical... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Our Gut Microbiome Pattern Reflects Healthy Aging and Survival

  Interesting analysis by Wilmanski et al.: The gut microbiome has important effects on human health, yet its importance in human ageing remains unclear. Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE