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One Head, Two Brains
The Atlantic: In 1939, a group of 10 people between the ages of 10 and 43, all with epilepsy, traveled to the University of Rochester Medical Center, where they would become the first people to undergo a radical new surgery. The patients were there because they all struggled with violent and uncontrollable seizures. The procedure they were about to have was untested on humans, but they were desperate—none of the standard drug therapies for seizures had worked.
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The Science of Why You Crave Comfort Food
TIME: It's not just because these foods are tasty. It's because they make us feel less alone In mid-July, I was visiting my hometown in Minnesota when I happened upon the unmistakable scent of something deep-fried. I was at a concert, and no matter how off-brand a dietary choice of corn dogs and cheese curds may be for a health writer, I went for it. How could I not? I spent two thoroughly enjoyable summers during college working at the Minnesota State Fair, and that experience continues to make corn-and-grease-dipped hot dogs not only appetizing but somehow irresistible, too. ...
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How Intelligence Shifts With Age
The Wall Street Journal: Is the saying “older but wiser” just an old wives’ tale? We all know people who are as foolish at 60 as they were at 20 and others whose smarts have cruelly diminished with age. Meanwhile, legions of seniors who used fountain pens as children now deftly tap out texts on their tablets. So what’s the truth about old dogs and new tricks? A study of adult intelligence, published in March in the journal Psychological Science, pits these maxims against the data. The results challenge some common assumptions—including the idea that mental acuity, like athletic prowess, always declines with age. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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The Key to Creativity May be in Imagining the Details
Beyond recruiting staff that has the right skills, qualifications, and education for the job, organizations are increasingly looking for ways to boost another key component of success—creativity. In a study recently published in Psychological Science, a trio of Harvard University researchers—Kevin Madore, Donna Rose Addis, and Daniel Schacter—found an unusual link between memory and creative problem-solving. The study showed that reminiscing about the specific details of an experience, tapping into what is known as episodic memory, helped spark “divergent thinking,” or the ability to come up with many creative solutions for a problem.
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Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University is now accepting applications for residential fellowships for the 2016-17 academic year. Imagine a place where great minds are brought together to confront the problems of the day, where original interdisciplinary thinking is the norm, where extraordinary collaborations become possible, where ideas can change our world. CASBS was founded as such a place in 1954 and remains so today. CASBS has hosted generations of scholars and scientists who come for a year as fellows.
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What the Law Intends Versus What the Law Delivers
Past APS Board Member Barbara A. Spellman of the University of Virginia serves as a discussant during the symposium, “Distributing Justice: What the Law Intends Versus What the Law Delivers.” Chaired by Elizabeth Gilbert, also of the University of Virginia, the symposium focused on how the legal system distributes punishment. Speaker Paul Robinson of the University of Pennsylvania discussed research on the influence of punishments that “fit the crime” compared with punishments designed to deter crime.
