Julius Caesar, and the Roman Empire Couldn’t conquer the blue sky… Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you Neil & Tim Finn (Crowded House) Not sure how it’s been in your corner of the world, but I can state with absolute certainty that the weather over the past four months has been [...]
Category Archives: Brain
On Mona Lisa, Leo Kottke and Van Morrison
When I dabble with paint, my mind’s eye envisages an accurate reproduction of the Mona Lisa. When I pick up my guitar, I imagine myself being able to caress it the way that Leo Kottke can (if you have never heard of Leo Kottke, get yourself one of his CDs, and relish in his authority [...]
The Big Wet One versus the Horizontal Mambo
How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. – Victor Hugo -
The Enigma of Santa Claus or The Puzzle of Altruism
Those of you non-scientific types out there probably don’t know this (and maybe you don’t care, either), but Santa Claus is an enigma to the scientific community interested in determining the causes of behavior. Actually, to borrow a more eloquent quote from Churchill, Santa is a “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” I [...]
Trick or Treat: The Psychology of Superstition
I’m a big fan of this time of year. No, not fall, Halloween. I like Halloween because it’s got something for everyone. Kids, of course, get to dress up however they want, perform low-level acts of mischief, and get rewarded for it. Adults who want to relive their childhoods can also don silly get-ups if [...]
Pills, Parlance and Plasticity
I have a love-hate relationship with my friend, and fellow Douglas blogger, Cam Zacchia. I hate Cam because he writes infinitely more interesting blogs then I do. I love him because he doesn’t brag about it.I also appreciate Cam because he stimulates my cerebral cortex. Cam loves to pose interesting questions. I wish I had [...]
Narrow minds and broad waists
When I was a graduate student I was on a bus boarded by a middle aged gentleman wearing a baseball cap that boldly announced: Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places. Now that my waist (but hopefully not my mind) has grown to approximate this description, I thought [...]
Hockey Night in Cranium: This is your Brain on Hockey
Let me take you back to Monday, April 21st, game 7 Boston vs. Montreal. I want to try and describe your cerebral activity through the day. Two caveats before proceeding: My doctoral supervisor always told me that I should speak about the things that I know, and not the things I am ignorant of. As [...]
The Psychology of Cutting Corners (with a dash of Valentine’s day advice)
Prior to the holidays, I noticed a posting by one of the graduate students in our research centre looking for recruits to join a weekly indoor pick-up soccer game. I was of two minds: after years of terminal couch-potato status, this past summer I decided to increase my activity level and took up biking. It [...]
Stress, genes and depression: The long and the short of it
In my last entry I hinted at the exciting research results that are emanating from the stress-diathesis model, a model predicting pathology as the combined result of an individual’s vulnerability and stressful life events. One of the reasons for the delay between my last post and this one was my inability to decide what research [...]
