The Skeptical Hypochondriac

Why You Remember What You Remember

Dave — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 04:40:00 +0000

How does your brain decide which things remember and which things to forget. An NPR piece attempts explain.

Can you remember everything you see when you walk into a room? Why does our memory deceive us, even when we’re confident we’re paying attention? Psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons discuss what grabs our focus, and why.

List to the audio of the story here.

In the Age Before Fruity Pebbles

Dave — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:59:14 +0000

Scientists are trying to determine whether we’d be better off eating the same foods that cavemen ate, in the age before processed foods, microwaves and gummi bears. One of the key differences might have been the wider variety of plants consumed by the cavemen.

A team of scientists has begun exploring what can be learned from the diet of cavemen who lived more than two million years ago.

Research will focus on how the food eaten by hunter-gatherers could enhance modern day nutrition.

Our ancestors in the palaeolithic period, which covers 2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years ago, are thought to have had a diet based on vegetables, fruit, nuts, roots and meat.

I almost hope they find out that our diets are better today. I have no idea how I’m going to get my 4 year-old to consume a wider variety of plants. A wider variety of Tator Tots, maybe.

I Supplement Two Joints in the Morning…

Dave — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:13:37 +0000

The latest over the counter supplement proven to be pretty useless is glucosamine. Swiss scientists found that both glucosamine and chondroitin don’t work when it comes to relieving joint pain.

Pull Over First

Dave — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:14:18 +0000

Here are a couple of the more popular recent posts from Tweetage Wasteland, where I examine the intersection of realtime and real life.

Pull Over Before You Read This - All of this data can wait until later – and much of it can wait until never.

The Web’s Five Most Endangered Words - Let me think about that.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

Dave — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:04:21 +0000

Here are some of the latest posts from Tweetage Wasteland, my blog where I examine the intersection of the realtime web and our real lives.

—- I WALKED THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE WITHOUT FACEBOOK
In 1989 I used a payphone next to Madonna … The was an era before
the internet became an umbilical cord

—- IT WAS THE OKest OF TIMES
A look at how reading and other activities might change if Facebook
continues its spread

—- TRYING TO PADLOCK A CLOUD
Everything I know about internet privacy I learned from Curb Your
Enthusiasm

—- I’M LOOKING AT THE MAN IN THE IPHONE
On Gray Powell and the case of the stolen iPhone prototype

—- I KISSED AN IPOD AND I LIKED IT
When I woke up this morning, the last thing I wanted to do was cheat on my laptop.

Memory, Addictions, Privacy, Clouds

Dave — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:04:14 +0000

Here are some of the latest highlights from Tweetage Wasteland, where I’m doing most of my blogging these days.

We All Have Photographic Memories - Do your kids remember experiences or photos of experiences?

I’m a Web Analytics Junkie - Think facebook is addictive, try this.

Is the End of Privacy the End of Shame? - Can shame survive when everyone gives up their privacy?

My Kids Refuse to Go Viral - Why can’t they be more like that kid David on the way home from the dentist?

My head is in the Cloud - the most popular post by far.

No More Getting Baked in School

Dave — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:54:33 +0000

In New York City, bake sales may soon be a thing of of the past. What’s the issue? Some folks want schools to do a better job combating childhood obesity and play less of a roll in creating it.

Whatever happened to the old cake walks? We used to walk around in a circle, sort of like musical chairs, until the music stopped and you had a winner. You exercise a little. You eat a little. All good.

Reducing Salt No Longer a Pillar of Health?

Dave — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:35:47 +0000

Salt used to be known as one of the major bad guys of an unhealthy diet. But with the increased focus on the obesity epidemic, salt has taken a backseat in terms of the marketing of a healthy lifestyle. Some politicians (like Mayor Bloomberg) and researchers think it’s time to regulate the amount of salt in foods. Others think we should keep the focus on body weight.

Jamie Oliver on Childhood Obesity at Ted

Dave — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:20:18 +0000

Celebrity cook and author Jamie Oliver has been doing a lot of work to combat childhood obesity. Here’s his very recent talk at the TED Conference. Good stuff.

Senior Moments for Juniors

Dave — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:09:50 +0000

A lot folks refer to momentary memory lapses as “senior moments.” But the truth is that senior moments can start as early as your 20s.

Memory lapses start in our 20s, though people don’t typically notice or fret about them until their 50s. In a study published last year in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, psychologists asked about 2,000 participants to solve puzzles, identify patterns and remember words and details from stories, among other memory tests. The top performers were 22 years old; researchers saw a notable decline in the ability to make rapid comparisons, remember unrelated information and detect relationships by age 27. A weakening memory can usually be detected by around age 37, according to the study. The good news was that people’s vocabulary and general knowledge increase until at least age 60.

I wonder if our memories for certain bits of information take a hit due to the increasing amount of data we face via online networks, etc. I tackled that topic over in my new blog: I Can’t Read Anything Longer than This Headline.