Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• Our Visual System Uses Recurrence in Its Representational Dynamics

  Fundamental work from Kietzmann et al. shows how recurrence - lateral and top-down feedback from higher to the more primary visual areas of the brain that... Read more

  Posted on 13 December 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• More Insight into Metformin's Beneficial Effects on Diabetes, Aging, and...

  

  A group at McMaster University has shown an effect of the diabetes drug metformin beyond its suppression of liver glucose production that might partially explai... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Heritable Gaps Between Chronological Age and Brain Age Are Increased in Common...

  Kaufmann et al. have used machine learning on s large dataset to estimate robust estimation of individual biological brain ages on the basis of structural... Read more

  Posted on 09 December 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Same-Sex Behavior in Animals - a New View.

  Monk et al. offer a fresh perspective on the "problem" of how same-sex sexual behavior could have evolved. It is a problem only if different-sex sexual... Read more

  Posted on 06 December 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Something in the Way We Move.

  Gretchen Reynolds points to work by Hug et al. suggesting that each of us has a unique muscle activation signature that can be revealed during walking and... Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Rival Theories of Consciousness Being Tested by Large Project.

  In the first phase of a $20 million dollar project, six laboratories are going to run experiments with more than 500 participants to test two of the primary... Read more

  Posted on 02 December 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Real Cost of Texting and Tweeting.

  Agnes Callard, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, crystallizes some fascinating points in an NYTimes Op-Ed piece. She wonders wh... Read more

  Posted on 29 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Cognitive and Noncognitive Predictors of Success.

  An interesting bit of work from Duckworth et al. When predicting success, how important are personal attributes other than cognitive ability? Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Trance States Might Have Forged Human Societies

  I want to pass on a series of clips I have made for my own use from an intriguing article by Mark Vernon in Aeon: With anatomically modern humans comes culture... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Evidence for Premature Aging Caused by Insufficient Sleep.

  I have come to realize in the past year or so that my physical and mental robustness require getting at least seven, and preferably eight, hours of sleep every... Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A "Department of the Attention Economy"

  Popping up on my daily input stream (in this case the Google News aggregator - which knows more that I do about what I might like to see) is a CNN business... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Social Class is Revealed by Brief Clips of Speech.

  Kraus et al. - a collective modern version of Professor Henry Higgins in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion - offer a detailed analytic update on how social... Read more

  Posted on 18 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Explaining the Puzzle of Human Diversity in the Christian World

  Fascinating work by Schulz et al. is reviewed by both Gelfand and also Zauzmer. Schultz et al. show how the specific practices of Medieval Christianity can in... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• New Work on How and Why We Sleep.

  The fact that I'm finding the quality of my sleep to be central to my robustness and well-being makes me want to pass on descriptions of four pieces of work... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why We Can't Tell the Truth About Aging.

  I've enjoyed reading the New Yorker essay by Arthur Krystal titled "Why we can't tell the truth about aging," which points to and discusses numerous recent (as... Read more

  Posted on 11 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• World Wide Movement of People into Cities is Degrading the Human Microbiome

  From the Oct. 25 issue of Science Magazine:Sonnenburg and Sonnenburg review how the shift of recent generations from rural, outdoor environments to urbanized an... Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Human Breeding Has Changed Dogs’ Brains

  Hecht et al. have identified brain networks in dogs related to behavioral specializations roughly corresponding to sight hunting, scent hunting, guarding, and... Read more

  Posted on 06 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Triple Drug Combination Increases Lifespan by 48%

  In Drosophila flies, to be sure, but the nutrient sensing pathways that are the target of the drugs are common to all animals. Here is the abstract from open... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Skill Development - the Intelligence Vs. Practice Debate Reframed

  Vaci et al. note that what is often overlooked in the nature vs. nurture debate is the fact that both factors interact with each other: The relative importance... Read more

  Posted on 01 November 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Miracle Cure - Just Move

  A summary from the editor of the British Medical Journal of work by Ekelund et. al.: As miracle cures are hard to come by, any claims that a treatment is 100%... Read more

  Posted on 30 October 2019 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE