Category: Dogmatism
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A deaf kid. A loving mother. A smile.
A deaf boy listening to his mother for the first time with the help of a hearing aid… (1) Is that lifeless matter organized into something that gives us the impression of consciousness? Can we really degrade pure happiness and love into lifeless particles? How much more will we let our beliefs guide our thoughts?…
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Microbes, death, Universe...
You have around 100 trillion bacteria living in your gut — and that’s a good thing. Known as gut flora or the gut microbiome, these microorganisms help your body digest certain foods, aid the immune system, and maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract, all in exchange for a constant food supply. But when you die, your…
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Turn off consciousness... So?
That's what doctors at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., inadvertently discovered while evaluating a 54-year-old woman with epilepsy. The researchers realized that by using electrodes to deliver tiny jolts of electricity to a particular region of the woman's brain, they could control her consciousness almost as if they had an on-off switch. (1)…
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fMRI, brain, creativity, scientific stupidity.
For the first time, neuroscientists have used fMRI scanners to track the brain activity of both experienced and novice writers as they sat down — or, in this case, lay down — to turn out a piece of fiction. The researchers, led by Martin Lotze of the University of Greifswald in Germany, observed a broad…
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Primates, brain stimulation, free will, dogmatism...
When electrical pulses are applied to the ventral tegmental area of their brain, macaques presented with two images change their preference from one image to the other. The study is the first to confirm a causal link between activity in the ventral tegmental area and choice behavior in primates. (1) My dogmatic atheist friend, Free…
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