[Author’s Note: In keeping with the tradition that whenever you have a blog post whose title is a question, the answer is always “no”…] Of all the essays I’ve written, […]
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Previously thought to be simply the glue binding the brain’s neurons, glial cells have proven an important regulator of THC and therefore an important part of how conscious memory works.
The nation’s leading criminologist warns that rising global temperature seed the ground for crime. Threats to livelyhood and large-scale migrations help create deprivation and discrimination.
While attending the 2012 SSA convention, I had some thoughts about the future of the secular movement and what shape it will likely take in the coming years. As atheism […]
Researchers have found that adolescents who actively search for a personal identity are more likely to describe themselves in consistent and positive terms, reinforcing their values.
For college grads entering a thinner job market saddled with debt and older adults trying to return to the workplace after a long hiatus, training yourself to be optimistic could only help.
Sometimes what political science tells us is that we should pay less attention to politics. It’s easy to get caught up in the horse race aspect of the presidential election, […]
Will humans ever run 100 meters in under 9 seconds? Usain Bolt is the world’s best opportunity yet to see just how far our biological limits can be bent by training and nutrition.
Harvard medical researchers have discovered how some cancer cells develop resistance to targeted therapy treatments. The study concludes that a one-drug approach is insufficient.
A rare mutation on a gene long associated with Alzheimer’s seems to prevent the disease from forming. Scientists want to make a drug that mimics the specific mutation.
While eugenics is most certainly morally dubious, it simply does not work at a practical level. Any strategy to decrease genetic diversity in humans would make us less able to survive change.
The controversial biologist Craig Venter believes his team of scientists will create synthetic life within a year. Venter says the Earth’s booming population depends on such advancements.
My latest article has just been posted on AlterNet, The Biggest Threats We Face From Conservative Religion. It’s a substantial excerpt from chapter 1 of my new book, and is […]
On Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday, writer and musician Henry Rollins’ reflections on the power – and limitations – of music.
Judging by the abundance of “guilty pleasure” TV shows, many people in America seem to feel overly constrained by the norms of public civility. The expectations of reasonableness and respect […]
The tight squeeze in science funding means the best are forced to be even better. In an economic downturn, it’s like that across industries, but in no other area do […]
Reductionists believe that memories, emotions, and feelings can be broken down to nothing more than interactions between brain cells and their associated molecules. In other words, “you” are your brain.
In an op-ed in the New York Times last week, Arthur C. Brooks tried to account for data showing that conservatives tend to be happier than liberals. Brooks began by […]
Charles Rubin is dubious about all the enthusiasm that comes with thinking “exponentially.” Today’s suggestion is that the coming Singularity will remove the limits placed on individual lives by biology, […]
Despite the triumph of the individual in Western culture, society still determines what love is and how it can be gotten. Unfortunately, our modern view of love is set up to cause us pain.
The culture of corruption that Penn State’s weighty football program created must either be dissolved or dedicated to healing the school’s wounds, which will mean fielding a losing team.
Scientists say the mood you are in is just as contagious as a cold. By imitating the emotions of others, we help form in-groups that confer evolutionary advantages on its members.
Sincerity, or the alignment of the inner-self with the outer-self, arose from religious movements that emphasized a modest and personal relationship with divine spirits.
Conservatives are more likely to be married and to subscribe to religion. On the other hand, they may also be less attentive to the world’s injustices and believe in free-market bliss.
“Danger: Art Inside,” read the labels on the crated sculptures as I toured last month the almost-ready-for-public-viewing, but now restored, reinstalled, and reinterpreted Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The signs […]
Read Part 2 here. To finish off Saturday night, atheist comedian Keith Lowell Jenson and journalist Ted Cox gave a demonstration of “ex-gay” conversion therapy. The quack idea undergirding this […]
Food is becoming increasingly politicized in America. Michelle Obama schooled us with her organic garden. And the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination schooled us by eating a stick of fried butter […]
In pursuit of the biological basis of morality, researchers are interested in an area of the brain at the boundary of the right temporal lobe and the right parietal lobe […]
The “always-on” work culture, says Leslie Perlow, drains morale and initiative, and scatters employees’ mental resources, making it difficult for them to take ownership of projects and prioritize their efforts. But changing it requires collective effort.
One of the most common questions I’m asked when I give lectures is how the brain differentiates love and lust. It’s an interesting question — and as most of us […]