Tag Archives: Psychology

Nocebo Effect: Rational Explanation For The Efficacy Of Voodoo

By Kurt | Published: May 13, 2009
The science of voodoo: When mind attacks body – New Scientist Take Sam Shoeman, who was diagnosed with end-stage liver cancer in the 1970s and given just months to live. Shoeman duly died in the allotted time frame – yet the autopsy revealed that his doctors had got it wrong. The tumour was tiny and had [...]
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Quick Takes 04.25.2009

By Kurt | Published: April 25, 2009
• Hoping Mezcal Can Turn the Worm – New York Times Most tequila is made by big companies with marketing budgets that have helped send its sales soaring. Fine mezcals, with a sliver of the market, are still made by Oaxacan villagers in virtual backyard operations. • Satellite watching with GoSatWatch for iPhone – TUAW If you’re going [...]
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Quick Takes 04.17.2009

By Kurt | Published: April 17, 2009
• Are we organisms or living ecosystems? – SEED As soon as we are born, bacteria move in. They stake claims in our digestive and respiratory tracts, our teeth, our skin. They establish increasingly complex communities, like a forest that gradually takes over a clearing. By the time we’re a few years old, these communities have [...]
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Edit Your Memory, Install Bravery

By Kurt | Published: April 11, 2009
The Messy Future of Memory-Editing Drugs – Wired You can imagine someone modifying their memories of war to make them look less cowardly and more brave. Now they’ll think they’re a brave person. At that point, you end up with the interesting question of whether, in a crisis situation, they would now be brave. (My emphasis [...]
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