Daily Archives: May 23, 2008

I Feeeel Good

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I knew that I would.

[T]he placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.
[…]
Located mainly in the midbrain, the limbic system controls our drives, whether they are related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving. “You know that drives are involved [in blogging] because a lot of people do it compulsively,” Flaherty notes. Also, blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.

Hmmm. Blogging = bitching = placebo

And what of those who blog while listening to music, looking at art and running, all at the same time? Bring on that dopamine!

Heh. So much for blogging being bad

via EvolutionBlog

It's a Guy Thing

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The song of the humpback

Only the males sing, which has led many scientists to theorize that they croon to attract females. The hole in this argument, though, is that no one has ever seen a female whale show any interest in a male’s song.

Just because women show no interest doesn’t mean a guy isn’t doing it in the hopes of getting laid*. We just assume they’re playing hard-to-get.

*according to the Michael-from-The-Big-Chill hypothesis

Vive La Difference

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Electrons and photons in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer show differences in their behavior

The output signal hit a minimum every time the two electron waves cancelled and a maximum when the waves maximally reinforced one another. But as they increased the current, the interference pattern waxed and waned in amplitude in an unexpected way, disappearing altogether at certain points. Researchers in France found similar results the following year.