Better than a Star Trek Tricorder? "Bones, I've got this creepy-crawley, funny feeling..."

The ‘living’ micro-robot that could detect diseases in humans

We’re So Exceptional by Michael Ignatieff | The New York Review of Books

We’re So Exceptional by Michael Ignatieff | The New York Review of Books

Do You Believe the Murdochian Shot Fired by the Financial Times in Defense of of Goldman Sachs?

FINANCIAL TIMES
News Alert
March 18, 6:08pm

THE PERILS OF PARTING SHOTS

Greg Smith's diatribe in The New York Times made for one of the most savage public exit interviews of all time.

But the oddest thing about it is that if you strip out the rage, the noise and the baggage, what he actually said about Goldman Sachs was perfectly ordinary. Not only were his accusations ones that all vaguely disaffected workers could make of their former employers, they are charges that most of us, happily employed, could equally level against our current ones.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1616d708-6eb6-11e1-b1b2-00144feab49a.html

Unable to quit smoking? Are you more likely to have schizophrenia?

Why Schizophrenics Cannot Kick Nicotine

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v37/n5/abs/npp2011299a.html?WT.ec_id=NPP-201204

First Study to Demonstrate How Marijuana Interferes with Memory & Thinking

A bowl a day may keep the memories away...

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v37/n5/abs/npp2011262a.html?WT.ec_id=NPP-201204

Feel your feelings, choose your behavior. The brain is an instantaneous probability statement generator! A theory of mind should include the function of generating instantaneous probability statements. A definition of mental health should include the capacity to tolerate the tension of holding the reality of complexity in mind without blind submission to appealing false, simplistic, non-evidence-based, low-probability choices. This does not rule out fantasy and wishful thinking, it SIMPLY permits one to recognize the degree of risk BEFORE choosing behavior. In other words, feel your feelings, choose your behavior! Knowing your moment-to-moment feelings while thinking and talking should be as easy as walking and chewing gum. Listening and feeling without DOING should be easier. Honor your feelings, control your (re)actions. - Ange Lobue, MD, MPH, BSPharm

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 13, 150-151 (March 2012)

Reward: High expectations for GABA

Abstract
Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are crucial in regulating reward and motivation. A popular theory holds that dopamine neurons compute reward prediction errors, that is, the difference between an expected outcome and the actual outcome.