April 30, 2003

Meditation's Changes to the Brain Sunspot article Neuroscience continues to march on discovering new things about the brain. This time it is about meditation. A recent study suggests that meditation causes increased activity in the left frontal cortex. People under stress and depression show little activity there. Also, the immune response is improved in meditators. There are other tidbits in the article and it is worth a read if you are at all interested in meditation and the brain. 11:01:41 AM    comment []

April 27, 2003

Asperger's Syndrome http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/ I suppose I should post about a site I spent almost 2 hours at this morning. It is OASIS, or Online Asperger's Syndrome Information & Support. Asperger's is sorta a fad diagnosis these days, sometimes called "High Functioning Autism" and believed to be a high percentage of silicon valley people. A crazy theory of mine puts autism/aspergers and adhd on the schizophrenic spectrum. But that is a long story. Perhaps you might find yourself fit the asperger's diagnosis. Check it out. 11:27:52 AM    comment []

April 23, 2003

The God Part of the Brain http://www.godpart.com I'm not sure if you saw Erik's comment recommending this book, thanks Erik. The idea is that we've evolved to have a sense of spirituality, with certain brain areas implicated. As I have submitted before, perhaps the reason why we have brains to experience God is because God created them that way. Whatever, it is a nice discussion of neuroscience in an area of great controversy. Thanks Matthew Alper 10:58:18 AM    comment []

April 22, 2003

Sri Darwin Gross http://www.atomworld.org Earlier I posted about a sect called Eckankar. Followers of Darwin Gross is a splinter group off of that religion (though they suggest they aren't one). He claims to be the successor of Paul Twitchell, the founder of Eckankar. Some problems arose with Eckankar, and now Darwin Gross is on his own. This sect seems to emphasize dream states as a path to God. Dreaming is pretty freaky, if you ask me, so maybe they are onto something. Atom stands for Ancient Teachings Of the Masters. 10:42:50 AM    comment []

April 21, 2003

Interactive Metronome http://www.interactivemetronome.com This weird little commercial endeavor piqued my interest recently, after a somewhat internet-dry period (thus no posts -- i can't believe it has been several weeks!)  Anyway, this site claims that improving a person's sense of timing can improve everything from attention and academic performance to sports performance. Somehow I agree,  though what I am not convinced of is the efficacy of their training program, which involves hand and foot sensors, and a computer trainer attempting to teach people to get with the rhythm. I'm sure many people with ADD, for example, would do wonderfully at this because they have a musical sense, but one that expresses itself through hyperfocus (other aspects of life show no rhythm then). Anyways, judge for yourself, as usual. 11:04:11 AM    comment []