"Estimated amount of glucose used by an adult human brain each day, expressed in M&Ms: 250."
~ Harper's Index
Image of the day:
BODY~ BONUS: Custom Hypertrophy Progression -- A great article from Chad Waterbury at T-Nation.
~ New Glycemic Index (GI) Standard Will Help Consumers Reduce The Risk Of Diabetes -- "In a world first, Standards Australia have released a standard for determining the glycemic index (GI) of carbohydrates in foods for use by food manufacturers, accreditation bodies, regulators, educational institutes, testing laboratories, and research organizations."
~ Calcium & Vitamin D May Help Lower Cholesterol -- A brief but good look at a new article.
~ Can't Cure Common Cold, But Coffee Benefits Perk -- "Its caffeine can bring jitters and its color can stain teeth, yet moderate consumption of coffee an all-world beverage if ever there was one is being shown to have generally positive and protective effects on the emergence of disease conditions according to this month's issue of Food Technology magazine." Ah, the beautiful bean.
~ Basic differences among fats explained -- Basic but useful.
PSYCHE
~ ~Omni-Peephole: David Lynch: Consciousness, Creativity, and the Brain -- From ~C.
~ Distress and SAD -- From Aaron at Anxious Living.
~ Help for Postpartum Depression -- "There are many treatment options for mothers who experience postpartum depression including medication and counseling, in addition to alternative therapies."
~ A pilot study on mindfulness based stress reduction for smokers -- This is just an abstract, but the results are promising: "The results of this study suggest that mindfulness training may show promise for smoking cessation and warrants additional study in a larger comparative trial."
~ Agitated Behavior In Dementia Significantly Reduced By Regular Acupressure -- "Acupressure can significantly reduce agitated behaviour in older patients with dementia, according to a study published in the February issue of the UK-based Journal of Clinical Nursing." Gotta love those endorphins.
~ Perceptual binding takes time -- A geeky article, but interesting: "The binding problem is one of the great mysteries of modern neuroscience. Briefly, we know from a variety of studies in humans and primates that the specific features of the sensory world -- particularly the visual world -- are broken down into their separate components by the brain to be processed in parallel. This means that information for say color and information for say orientation are processed separately by the brain."
~ Kindness In A Cruel World -- "What do mutual grooming, politeness, priestly celibacy, military heroism, car insurance, and overwork have in common? All are probable examples of the recently discovered evolutionary mechanism called "reciprocal altruism." Put simply, the concept means, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Although rare in animals, reciprocal altruism colors much of human emotion and social behavior."
~ Prefrontal Cortex Holds the Key to Conquering Fear -- "When a human or animal encounters an object or entity that may be seen as dangerous, the eyes and other sensory systems send neural messages directly to the amygdala, a small walnut-shaped structure located in the lower brain."
~ The Confidence to be Yourself -- "In his book, Dr Brian Roet listed 22 traits of self-confident people - how many can you check off? Plus, 5 ways to boost your esteem."
~ Coding for cognition -- "Cognitive scientist Sacha Barber has created a three-part guide to the mechanics and mathematics of neural networks."
CULTURE
~ Ebert's four-star films of 2006 -- Courtesy of The Daily Goose.
~ Gay Sheep in the New York Times -- The scientist at the heart of the controversy sets the record straight, so to speak.
~ Eartha Kitt: Material Girl -- "Eartha Mae Kitt—the original material girl, known for seductive renditions of characters (Catwoman) and pop hits ("Santa Baby")—can slay a man with a single look."
~ The 2007 Grammy Awards: Your Complete Guide.
~ Bush's Purge of Federal Prosecutors/Replacement with Sycophants Is Challenged in Court.
~ Obama Calls for Universal Coverage -- "Every American should have health care coverage within six years, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said, previewing what is shaping up to be a theme of the 2008 Democratic primary." This is one issue where Hillary can say, "I was working on this in 1993, where were you then?"
~ As always, The Daily Show has a hysterical take on Bush's State of the Union and the Democratic response.
~ Do 'You' really matter? -- "User-generated content is all the rage right now. But the thought of "You" controlling the media and marketing world is little more than breathless hype."
HABITATS
~ U.S. cities don't make the intelligence cut -- "For the second year running, no U.S. city has made the list of the world's top Intelligent Communities of 2007, as selected by global think tank Intelligent Community Forum."
~ Scientists Build Memory Chip as Small as Blood Cell -- "Scientists have built a working memory chip with 160,000 bits capacity that is roughly the size of a white blood cell — about 1/2000th of an inch on a side."
~ Why are taxpayers funding a fringe right-wing blog? -- "How is it that taxpayers are funding what looks like an official Senate committee blog dispensing far-right agitprop? Here's the story."
~ More polling data on climate change -- "The Pew Center has released new polling data on climate change. The report shows that while 77% of people believe the earth is warming, only 47% believe there is solid evidence that humans are responsible."
~ Robots of the Future: Soft and Flexible -- "Robots of the future may be able to bend and twist in more flexible ways, thanks to a new research initiative aimed at developing soft-bodied robots."
~ Photo in the News: Spiders' Glowing Key to Courtship, Mating -- "Both female and male ornate jumping spiders are dependent on ultraviolet light to kick off the courtship process—but in entirely different ways."
~ Video: How Dogs Became Man's Best Friend -- "Watch an anthropologist as he works with both wild wolves and down-home pups to discover how dogs evolved to become man's best friend."
~ Military Shows Off New Ray Gun -- "The military has a new weapon: a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire." This is just scary.
INTEGRAL
~ 10 Days to a Better Life -- "What seems to separate those who find success in life from those who do not, is not a lack of talent, but rather a lack of action."
~ Spirituality in the Modern World (DVD) -- Vince got a heads up on a new Ken Wilber DVD.
~ A Shamanic Breathwork Vision -- From Gary at Integral Seattle.
~ Unlearning Helplessness -- From How to Save the World.
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