Monthly Archives: April 2014

One Molecule for Love, Morality, and Prosperity?

Posted on April 27, 2014 by diplopi

Ed Young touching on the topic of why the hype about oxytocin, known as the ‘cuddle hormone’ and ‘morale molecule’, is dumb and dangerous. Click the heart to learn more.         Reference: Bartz, J. A., et al. (2011). … Continue reading →

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The Unreliable Nature of Oxytocin

Posted on April 26, 2014 by diplopi

One of my favorite cartoons, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, on the unreliable nature of oxytocin: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3339

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Correlation doesn’t Imply Causation

Posted on April 25, 2014 by diplopi

         Doing my statistics and hoping for some significant correlations… Here’s 10 funny correlated relationships, I especially liked the one showing pirate shortage causing global warming: http://www.buzzfeed.com/kjh2110/the-10-most-bizarre-correlations        

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An Algorithm That Recognizes Faces Better Than People Can

Posted on April 24, 2014 by diplopi

Computer scientists are announcing they’ve made a program that is better at matching photos than people are, and this is the first time a program has performed better than people at recognizing people. The new algorithm, developed at the Chinese … Continue reading →

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Successful (Easter) Egg Hunting

Posted on April 18, 2014 by diplopi

What’s the probability of your being born? It’s the probability of 2.5 million people getting together, each to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice, according to Mel Robbins. They each roll the dice — and they all come up the … Continue reading →

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Change Blindness

Posted on April 17, 2014 by diplopi

Dan Levin and Daniel Simons conducted a person-change study, and found that about 50% of people didn’t notice they were talking to a different person. See the clip here: This sort of person-change rarely (if ever) happens in the world. You might assume, … Continue reading →

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Beard Trend is ‘Guided by Evolution’

Posted on April 16, 2014 by diplopi

A study from 2013 (The role of facial hair in women’s perceptions of men’s attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities Evolution and Human Behavior 34 (2013) 236-241. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.02.003) looked at men’s and women’s judgments of attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities for … Continue reading →

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Can ‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin Protect against Addiction?

Posted on April 8, 2014 by diplopi

Researchers at the University of Adelaide set out to probe the connection between oxytocin development and addiction, including how and why oxytocin levels vary so much between individuals, plus how the different levels affect health. Published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, … Continue reading →

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Near Death… Explained?

Posted on April 8, 2014 by diplopi

A thorough article about the topic of “Near Death Experience”, with findings strongly challenging the mainstream neuroscientific view that mind and consciousness result solely from brain activity. The article also points to witnesses claiming to have a clear mind and vivid consciousness … Continue reading →

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Dilbert on Consciousness and Free Will

Posted on April 6, 2014 by diplopi
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