You put your neuron in, you put your neuron out...

MIT researchers watch brain in action

We're getting closer and closer to seeing individual cells interact in real time. This is a fairly oblique step in that direction, but it is a step nevertheless.

No....really?

Study suggests TV watching lowers physical activity

Holy. Crap.

Also in the news: study shows that bears crap in the woods.

Nature vs. Nurture

After the Bell Curve

Wild data about IQ scores and SEC environments. This is generating lots of discussion in the blogoshphere right now - and justifiably so.

Concentrate!

FuturePundit: Distractions Reduce Learning

Bad news for all those students that try and study in noisy environments. Not that they'll pay attention to this study.

More here.

Google your education

Virtual Video Map

Scroll to the bottom for a description of what this particular GoogleMash is about.

Somebody has their thinking cap on - that's for sure. Totally cool development on the cheap.

...so is swimming with sharks

Drinking can be dangerous

And running with scisors, and playing with venomous snakes, and....

Men vs. Women part (who's counting any more?)

Study confirms males/females use different parts of brain in language & visuospatial tasks

The differences keep piling up. Physical differences, not just perceived differences.

The autistic brain

Autistic brain has fewer neurons for processing emotion

Wow. Seriously - this is a pretty cool finding.

Homework sucks....

Hard-working at school, sluggish at home

Another brilliant moment in educational research. The scientists conducting the study,

[found] that students' general level of conscientiousness predicts how much effort they put into their homework. ...[The scientists] also found that students' beliefs about how well they will perform on their homework, their interest in the subject and their beliefs about the relevance of the assignments predicts their homework behavior

So, if I'm generally a conscientious student, I'm confident in my ability, I like the subject and find that it has practical application in my life, I'm more apt to complete the homework assignment.

[heavy sarcasm]Really?[/heavy sarcasm]

Boys vs. Girls: part 2

Study: Boys trail girls in literacy scores

Seems that I've heard that this was the case for quite a while, but I guess this study distinguishes between SEC and gender, so that's new in a way.

Politics on the brain

Political allegiance impacts brain's response to candidates

Not surprising. If your schema differ from positions presented by a particular politician (or the perception of that politician based on his party allegiance) then you're not going to react well.

Work vs. Home

Self-esteem key to not letting the job get in the way of your relationship

Also, not working a 60hr week will help.

More brains!

Brainy Brains

So, brain size isn't the key factor (which has been well established for years) - the real issue is how our brain develops.

I remain colored in a surprised hue.

News of the obvious

Mindless Reading' Comes Under Closer Study

The upshot - if you don't pay attention to what you read, you don't retain the information.

Well, color me surprised.

New brain tools

'Touching' the brain

I want to see more of this.

I'll give you a beating!

Carrot or stick? It's the same...

Apparently avoiding punishment gives the brain a similar effect as recieving a reward. Behaviorists: take note!