Some brain scientists use their brains to explain how they think other people’s brains are used. They also use (in addition to their brains) fMRI [functional magnetic resonance imaging], a technique in which complex equipment measures some of the things that happen inside a brain while a person is using that brain. (NOTE: the technique has […]
Year: 2013
The iPod — a shield, weapon, or both?
Whether you see the iPod as a defence mechanism or a means of exhibiting aggression may depend on your point of view. Two recent academic studies address these possibly conflicting, and yet perhaps complementary viewpoints. The first paper, ‘The Portable Music Player as a Defense Mechanism’ was published in the Journal of Radio & Audio […]
Psychopathic Personality Traits in Couples
Make what you will of this: “Correlates of psychopathic personality traits in community couples,” Claudia Savard, Stéphane Sabourin and Yvan Lussier, Personality and Mental Health, epub March 24, 2011. The authors, at Université Laval, Québec, Canada, and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada, explain: “there was a direct negative path from secondary psychopathy […]
The distance between musical notes
Today’s quick calculation exercise is to calculate the relative distances between different musical notes and a trombone player’s face. Watch this video of a trombone player playing a tune on a trombone. A GoPro camera has been affixed to part of the trombone, and aimed at the musician’s face: (Thanks to investigator Dorothy Bond for […]