Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2628 )

• The Gut Microbiome Can Instruct Brain Cells to Fight Neuroinflammation.

  I perk up whenever I see a reference relevant to 'inflamaging,' the slow rise of cellular inflammation that accompanies - as I am too well aware in my own case ... Read more

  Posted on 16 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Personal Experiences Bridge Moral and Political Divides Better Than Facts

  From Kubin et al. in PNAS: Significance All Americans are affected by rising political polarization, whether because of a gridlocked Congress or antagonistic... Read more

  Posted on 15 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• You've Gotta Watch This - A Billion Year Journey of Earth's Tectonic Plates

  

  The article by Andrews in the New York Times describes the history of tectonic plate theory and brings into vivid focus how us humans are just a transient eye... Read more

  Posted on 12 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• MindBlog Keeps the Blood Pumping

  

  Discussion of the therapeutic effects of exercise has been one of the topic threads in MindBlog since its beginning...reporting effects of different styles of... Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Sensing the Presence of Gods and Spirits Across Cultures and Faiths

  A fascinating open source article by Luhrmann et al. showing that what feels real to our senses is shaped by our culture. Significance The sensory presence of... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How LSD Tweaks Our Brain Synapses to Promote Social Behavior.

  For the subset of MindBlog readers that is into the detailed Neuroscience of our behavior, I pass on an interesting article by De Gregorio et al. Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Timing Matters When Correcting Fake News

  From Brashier et al.: Countering misinformation can reduce belief in the moment, but corrective messages quickly fade from memory. We tested whether the... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• MindBlog's 15th Birthday

  Mindblog has been chugging along for 15 years, it's contents reflecting what I find interesting and am reading about at the moment. It seems a waste to not... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Moonstruck Sleep: Synchronization of Human Sleep with the Moon Cycle

  From Casiraghi et al.: Before the availability of artificial light, moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity; still,... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Underlying Forces That Are Determining America's Future Governance.

  I want to pass on clips from a few recent commentaries on current dissonances in U.S. politics and governance. I've collected these as background material for... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Brief Afternoon Nap is Probably Good for Your Brain.

  On some days I feel midafternoon drowsyness that makes it difficult for me to think or write. I lie down and do "a 10 minute naplet." After zonking out, I then... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Coup We Are Not Talking About - an Article of Foundational Importance

  In a long, heavy, and scary article Shoshana Zuboff argues, in concert with similar sentiments in Harari's books, that we can have democracy, or we can have a... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Experienced Well-being Does Increase Above Incomes of $75,000/year

  A research report from Matthew Killingsworth that contradicts a generally accepted result of past research: Significance Past research has found that experience... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Do Our Brains Dream?

  I want to point to a review by Nick Romeo of Zadra and Stickgold's new book "When Brains Dream". The review summarizes important theories about dreams and... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• What Can Experimental Studies of Bias Tell Us About Real-World Group Disparities?

  Because, in my dim and distant past, I wrote an article that appeared in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (published by Cambridge University Press), I am still... Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Languages of Human Smell

  Majid does an interesting review titled "Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology" that points out there are many languages across... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Broad Approach to Understanding Emotions - Semantic Space Theory

  I recently offered a 14-installment series of posts covering the ideas in Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book “How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Paradox of Pleasurable Fear.

  A study by Anderson et al. finds an inverted U-shaped relationship between fear and enjoyment, consistent with the theory that the pursuit of pleasurable fear i... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Most People Are Good

  You really should read Mark Manson's newsletter for this week. As usual, it makes three main points, I will pass on only a few chunks: 1. One bad apple spoils... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Data-driven Solutions to U.S. Polarization

  Today sees the inauguration of Joe Biden as president of the United States, and seems an appropriate time to pass on in its entirety the following open source... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE