Malcolm Gladwell, author of the books "Blink" and " The Tipping Point" writes a rather good article in the New Yorker this week about the both the power and danger of generalizations, and more specifically, what kind of generalizations are useful and what kinds are not.
Science
ClickerExpo Tucson - a photoset on Flickr
By Bill Peña on 02/08/2006Photos taken by roving cameraphone photographer Bill Peña at ClickerExpo Tucson. Here's a basketball-playing rabbit to whet your appetite!
Operant conditioning to retrain the human brain
By KPCT on 01/19/2006An interesting story about neurofeedback (formerly "biofeedback") making a comeback in therapeutic settings. Now much more sophisticated, the therapy involves asking patients to essentially play a video game whose controls are the patient's own brain waves:
Broad Institute Unleashes Dog Genome
By Bill Peña on 12/09/2005An international research team led by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has decoded the DNA of the domestic dog and pinpointed millions of genetic differences that distinguish dog breeds. The study also includes the first comparative analysis to encompass three distinct mammalian genomes, revealing important DNA elements common among them. Such shared genetic signatures offer crucial insights into genome organization and function, particularly in humans. Their efforts, described in the December 8 issue of Nature, shed light on the genetic similarities between dogs and humans as well as the genetic differences between dog breeds, and may guide future discoveries that improve the health of both species.
Sound of Dog's 'Laugh' Calms Other Pooches
By Bill Peña on 12/08/2005We have our own ideas about how to quiet dogs in a shelter, but here's a great new one ... play a recording of a dog laughing!
