Author: jlolds

Native Angeleno, professor of Neuroscience and Public Policy at George Mason University

Whale brains and cognition

Reading Charles Sibert’s wonderful article in yesterday’s Sunday NYT Magazine, I was reminded by my own encounter with an Orca on the north shore of San Juan Island close to twenty years ago. I had been told that if I showed up at the rocky outcropping around 10 in the morning, I’d run into a pod of the huge creatures face to face.

This was no exaggeration. Pretty much exactly on time, I was face-to-face with a huge intelligent eye gazing across the species barrier. It’s a moment I’ve never forgotten. Read the entire article. The end is the most moving.
So how smart are whales? I think that’s a very interesting question. Certainly the fact that they possess the spindle neurons that humans and the great apes also have makes the question neurobiologically relevant.
Jim

University of California feels the pain

ScienceInsider has the details of the latest combination of cuts and furloughs proposed for our colleagues at UC here. It’s not a pretty story. Many of us consider the UC system to be the premier public university in the United States. It can’t stay that way for long if the great state of California doesn’t figure out some way to address its structural budget problems (which long pre-date the current crisis in my opinion). As a California native, and with many friends as faculty in the system, I really feel their pain.

Jim

Junuary–when June meets Cape Cod weather

That’s what they call June in Woods Hole because it’s usually pretty rainy and chilly. The ideal weather really starts in July but carries through late October.

Tomorrow I’m off to Woods Hole for a short trip. This summer I’m proud to report that the Krasnow Institute, young as it is, has its third generation in residence. One of our neuroscience Ph.D. Students is taking the MBL’s Neural Systems and Behavior Course.
I’m going to be meeting tomorrow with MBL’s Chief Academic and Science Officer, Josh Hamilton, about our century-plus year old journal, The Biological Bulletin, which just reported it’s fourth straight year of increased impact factor.

The details of the Placebo Effect

Here’s a wonderful new blog that I’ve found with a great article on the gradations of the placebo effect.

Money quote:

We not only know placebos “work,” we know there is a hierarchy of effectiveness:

  • Placebo surgery works better than placebo injections
  • Placebo injections work better than placebo pills
  • Sham acupuncture treatment works better than a placebo pill
  • Capsules work better than tablets
  • Big pills work better than small
  • The more doses a day, the better
  • The more expensive, the better
  • The color of the pill makes a difference
  • Telling the patient, “This will relieve your pain” works better than saying “This might help.”