Monday, April 26, 2004
New Ideas
Empathy does not seem to require a specialized brain area, hinting that it may not be a uniquely human capacity. This research is only on physical empathy, it's not necessarily connected to emotional empathy: understanding how someone/thing else feels. Still interesting though.
The Mozart Effect, that after listening to bits of Mozart's music, subjects (human and rat) perform better on cognitive tasks, has been long debated. Now, scientists have found that listening to Mozart increases expression of a number of genes important to memory, and also to settling down seizure patterns in the brains electrophysiology. This is beyond cool. Why only Mozart? How did he know? Did he know? How far can this effect be pushed?
The big pharmaceutical companies have recently been confirmed to be more evil: they've suppressed studies showing antidepressants ineffective and possibly harmful to some patients. "...Shown to increase suicidal thoughts and behavior in children..." That's about all you need to know.
The Mozart Effect, that after listening to bits of Mozart's music, subjects (human and rat) perform better on cognitive tasks, has been long debated. Now, scientists have found that listening to Mozart increases expression of a number of genes important to memory, and also to settling down seizure patterns in the brains electrophysiology. This is beyond cool. Why only Mozart? How did he know? Did he know? How far can this effect be pushed?
The big pharmaceutical companies have recently been confirmed to be more evil: they've suppressed studies showing antidepressants ineffective and possibly harmful to some patients. "...Shown to increase suicidal thoughts and behavior in children..." That's about all you need to know.
