Friday, May 4, 2018

Happiness As A Medical Condition (Is This Really Desirable?) by Artsjournal

The absence of joy and pleasure—anhedonia—has, in its way, become a popular issue in the wake of the disease depression. A quarter of us are affected by it over the course of a lifetime,…

SOURCE: nautil.us at 01:12PM
Monday, March 26, 2018

Our Brain's Internal GPS by Artsjournal

All of the brain’s place cells together represent the entirety of an animal’s environment, and whichever place cell is active indicates its current location. In other words, the hippocam…

SOURCE: nautil.us at 02:00PM
Friday, March 23, 2018

Surgeons Removed A Chunk Of His Brain, But His Virtuoso Guitar Skills Remained by Artsjournal

"Pat Martino had brain surgery in 1980 to remove a tangle of malformed veins and arteries. At the time he was one of the most celebrated guitarists in jazz. Yet few people knew that Martino …

SOURCE: nautil.us at 03:02PM
Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Unhappiness Isn't Just Inevitable, It's Indispensable by Artsjournal1

"Because the brain grades on a curve, endlessly comparing the present with what came just before, the secret to happiness may be unhappiness. Not unmitigated unhappiness, of course, but the …

SOURCE: nautil.us at 10:35AM
Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Your License To Be Bad by Artsjournal

You might wonder how people who seem so good by occupation could be so bad in private. The theory of moral licensing could help explain why: When humans are good, it says, we give ourselves …

SOURCE: nautil.us at 02:29PM