Read an interesting paper on depression by Paul Andrews and J. Anderson Thompson*. They argue that depression is a response that has evolved in human beings to help them deal with complex problems, particularly those which require analysis of complex social situations. Depression provides space for analysis of difficult problems that require ( Read more... )

Roundup of the week's news
(1) The pope says something incoherent about sex/gender. Apparently he needs to defend heterosexuality, but not to the extent of having sex with a girl.
(2) Patrick Wolf is trying to raise £100,000 from fans to finance the release of his new album, which he's already recorded.
(3) Researchers find headbanging may cause ( Read more... )

( Writer's Block: A.A. Milne )

( Blah current events meh )

Why Most Published Research Findings Are False, John P. A. Ioannidis.

The actual paper is quite technical, based on probability calculations, but best title ever!

5ive have split again. They reformed 7 months ago. In that time I have not heard any songs by them or read anyone describing any part of their musical output ( Read more... )

If I can't be a bat, can I be a raven? It's all lying to your friends and getting free rides from wild boars for Austria's black flappy things. I'm less certain about eating carrion, but I imagine you can also eat chips.

Hey kids, join the Science Scouts, or just nick their funky badges.

Speaking of science geeks, here is a man who truly ( Read more... )

In shocking news, scientists have found that the worst sound in the world is people vomiting. It narrowly beat microphone feedback. Apparently someone eating an apple with their mouth open was very high. Crunch crunch ( Read more... )

I was wondering if it's a scientific impossibility to make individual-sized baked alaskas. Maybe somebody who (a) likes baked Alaska and (b) has a keen scientific mind could win a Nobel Prize on this issue. Because clearly there's a size at which the cold bit will all have melted before the hot bit has cooked, and equally if you made one the size ( Read more... )

Headline of the day:

Nanotechnology restores hamsters' sight

They're injecting molecules of self-assembling scaffolding into their little furry brains. Awww.