“Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart.” - Mahatma Gandhi

 Unplugged

(Source: nevver)

explore-blog:

Researchers examine newly released photos of Einstein’s brain to understand what physical features might have been behind his genius. 

After Einstein’s death, pathologist Thomas Harvey removed his brain, preserved it in formalin, and took dozens of black-and-white photos of it before cutting it up into 240 blocks. He then took tissue samples from each block, mounted them onto microscope slides, and distributed the slides to some of the world’s best neuropathologists.

And still, as Einstein himself might have agreed, there’s more to “Truth and Beauty” than biology and wiring. 

(↬ Not Exactly Rocket Science)

As Einstein believed, there’s more to “Truth and Beauty” than biology and wiring.

newsweek:

ADDICTED TO INTERNETS, Y’ALL! 

(But srsly, think this whole thing is making us a little nutso? That’s our cover this week: How ‘connection addiction’ is re-wiring our brains.)

An excerpt:

Questions about the Internet’s deleterious effects on the mind are at least as old as hyperlinks. But even among Web skeptics, the idea that a new technology might influence how we think and feel—let alone contribute to a great American crack-up—was considered silly and naive, like waving a cane at electric light or blaming the television for kids these days. Instead, the Internet was seen as just another medium, a delivery system, not a diabolical machine. It made people happier and more productive. And where was the proof otherwise?

Now, however, the proof is starting to pile up. The first good, peer-reviewed research is emerging, and the picture is much gloomier than the trumpet blasts of Web utopians have allowed. The current incarnation of the Internet—portable, social, accelerated, and all-pervasive—may be making us not just dumber or lonelier but more depressed and anxious, prone to obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit disorders, even outright psychotic. Our digitized minds can scan like those of drug addicts, and normal people are breaking down in sad and seemingly new ways.

Want more? Read: Is the Web Driving Us Mad?

“Our digitized minds can scan like those of drug addicts, and normal people are breaking down in sad and seemingly new ways.”

“Attention is the way social primates measure status. It is highly rewarding because it causes the release of brain chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins.”

shortformblog:

theatlantic:

Study of the Day: Why Crowded Coffee Shops Actually Help Creative Thinking

The next time you’re stumped on a creative challenge, head to a bustling coffee shop, not the library. As the researchers write in their paper, “[I]nstead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.”

Read more. [Image: Global X/Flickr]

Why we work out of coffee shops.

Why Crowded Coffee Shops Actually Help Creative Thinking, says recent study.

(via thedailyfeed)