Neuroscience

I travel a lot each year, the kind that most people get anxious about, involving 10+ hr time changes. People are often surprised at how little this affects me and I am often asked to share my techniques. So I thought I'd take some time to write out what I have learned. Read More

  Having trouble making it through your crazy days?  Understanding how certain foods power (or cripple) your brain can make a huge difference to your productivity, stamina and success. Read More

Some people like to relax on vacation. Sit by the pool, sip a dacquari, work on the tan. Not me. For me, nothing's more refreshing and invigorating than stimulating the fear circuitry a little bit. I'm not talking about putting my life in danger; just stepping outside my comfort zone, discovering something new about the world and about myself. And I'm not alone. Adventure travel is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry. Never have there been so many people who want to see and experience the farthest corners of the world, and never have there been so many adventure-tour companies, of such high caliber, offering such a wide range of destinations and activities.

Adventure isn't just about escaping into the wild, of course. It's about engaging and committing yourself no matter what you're doing. "People today have the mindset of wanting to master things," says Keith Walden of Virtuoso, a network of luxury travel agencies. "They want to go and dive in and learn and be hands on."

Why? Because of how the brain is wired, of course. Read More

How much of our intelligence even comes from our brain? Despite many new studies that are being conducted using state-of-the-art technology and imaging, scientists still know very little about consciousness and where intelligence comes from. I believe that consciousness and intuition involve a kind of wisdom that goes beyond the rational mind, beyond neurons, beyond the time space continuum. Read More

More than 100 years ago, a horse from Germany, Clever Hans (der Kluge Hans), astounded the world with his math skills. His owner and trainer, mathematics teacher Wilhelm Von Osten, believed that animals were quite a bit smarter than we imagined--he was also a big believer in phrenology--and put Hans through a vigorous training program. Read More

In November I wrote about the curious case of a Belgian named Rom Houben, assumed to be in a coma for over 20 years. One of his treating neurologists, Dr. Steven Laureys, claimed that Houben was able to communicate intelligently through the use of a facilitator.  Skeptics balked.  In this post, I provide an update on the controversy. Read More

Have we been looking in all the wrong places for the cause of eating disorders?

Common culprits include social pressure to be thin, media drum-beating about the perfect body, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, trauma in the family, family history of eating disorders, a history of being teased, sexual or physical abuse. And then there is biology. Read More

Varying X-chromosome gene inactivation in identical female twins makes some differences between them also genetic and gives some surprising insights into intelligence. Read More

Last week's luge tragedy highlighted the treachery of snow and ice for athletes at Winter Olympics: no performance on a frozen surface is ever more than a few milliseconds or a fraction of an inch away from catastrophe. But as they say in software, that's not a bug, it's a feature. Read More