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Extrasolar planet image confirmed

 Life in the cosmos  Comments Off
Apr 302005
 

Last year, a team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory got an image of what looked like an extrasolar planet orbiting a brown dwarf. Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope seemed to confirm the discovery, but scientists had to wait for some time to pass before they could verify that the supposed planet was not just a background object that happened to be aligned on the sky with the brown dwarf. New observations confirm that the two are indeed gravitationally linked.

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2005/pr-12-05-p2.html

For more on the search for extrasolar planets, see Thinking meat in the cosmos.

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Male and female brains

 Animal behavior, Brain and mind, Male/female  Comments Off
Apr 292005
 

The Scientific American has a very interesting article that describes a variety of research on brain and behavioral differences between males and females (humans, rats, and monkeys). For example, one study looked at whether vervet monkeys chose different toys–we’ve all heard stories of human boys and girls choosing different kinds of toys, but there’s always the question of whether cultural bias is at work. Vervet monkeys can be assumed to have little interest in human cultural norms, and the males and the females chose different toys (along standard male/female lines). (This is probably not much of a surprise to anyone who has raised children.) The part about how males and females process some experiences differently was interesting; I’ve always been curious about how much we can understand about how the world looks to other people. I’m fascinated by the way brain differences play out behaviorally and emotionally, and I hope that over time we can learn more about how these differences might have evolved.

http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000363E3-1806-1264-980683414B7F0000

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Science and superstition

 Thought and consciousness  Comments Off
Apr 282005
 

Here’s a column from Michael Shermer about the human propensity for pattern recognition and its uses and abuses. Science and superstition, he says, both spring from this same characteristic of human thought. He’s right when he talks of the value of science over superstition, of course, and I am firmly on the side of science. But I’ll still wear my lucky Diamondbacks t-shirt when they’re playing a big game. (It worked for the 2001 World Series…)

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=000EB977-12BE-1264-8F9683414B7FFE9F

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Artificial empathy

 Psychology  Comments Off
Apr 272005
 

This article from PC World describes some research in affective computing, a field of research on how computer systems can tap into human emotions and make people’s computer-mediated tasks go better. I was especially intrigued by the bit at the end about how negative emotions can be useful as well as positive ones.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;2025926663;fp;2;fpid;1

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Mirror neurons and empathy

 Brain and mind  Comments Off
Apr 272005
 

Here’s an article from MSNBC on mirror neurons, brain cells that cause us to share in the mental states of others and so understand them. I’ll be interested in hearing more about how the mirror neurons work and what mental processes lead from the neurons up to our intuitive understanding of others. I’m also intrigued by the way such “mind-reading” falls short, for example when our own emotional logic or reactions are so different from another person’s that we misread him or her. Thanks to Mark for telling me about this story.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7656021/

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The relative effects of multi-tasking and pot-smoking

 Psychology  Comments Off
Apr 262005
 

Here’s a story about some research that measured how IQ is affected by constant juggling of email, instant messages, and phone calls while trying to work. The results indicated that the performance hit is greater for such multi-taskers than for pot-smokers. So maybe my job is making me dumber?

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw232729.htm

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