I am trying to rid myself of some measure of my present bias, which is the tendency people have, when considering a trade-off between two future moments, to more heavily weight the one closer to the present: Read more
Posts Tagged ‘brain’
Vatican condemns Brittany Maynard suicide
Friday, November 7th, 2014
A Vatican ethicist has condemned young American Brittany Maynard’s decision to end her life. Msgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who is head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said there was no dignity in her physician assisted death. Ms Maynard, 29, took a lethal prescription provided by a doctor under Oregon state’s death-with-dignity law. Earlier Read more
How clever people can be foolish
Tuesday, July 8th, 2014
Which is correct?: A. People drown by breathing in water. B. People drown by holding their breath under water. Confronted with such a question, the vast majority of people would know that A was the correct answer. Indeed, most people would know that water in the lungs is proof of death by drowning but that lack of it is Read more
Motherhood makes you smarter
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Adam Franssen, a biology professor at Longwood University, has a bold theory: mothers are smarter than other women. He and other researchers, including Craig Kinsley of the University of Richmond, have found that there’s more science than previously thought to being equipped for motherhood. Mothers are better at problem solving, handling stress and at completing Read more
Man thought to be in vegetative state able to communicate
Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade has upset medical assessments by showing that he can communicate. Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in a machine that measured the real-time activity of the brain. Different parts of his Read more
Children: joy, despair, comedy
Friday, June 24th, 2011
In nine years I have been graced with three children and here is what I have learned about them. They are engines of incalculable joy and agonising despair. They are comedy machines. Their language is their own and the order of their new halting words has never been heard before in the whole history of Read more