Where's your courage?
"Scientists claim to have discovered the secret to overcoming fear, raising the possibility of designer drugs being created to boost courage," The Daily Telegraph reports. "Researchers found that a part of the brain called the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex became activated when people did something courageous. The discovery could lead to the development of treatment for disorders involving the inability to conquer one's phobias, they said." The findings, by Dr. Yadin Dudai of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and colleagues, were reported in the journal Neuron.
Your brain knows you
"Brain scans may be able to predict what you will do better than you can yourself, and might offer a powerful tool for advertisers or health officials seeking to motivate consumers, researchers said [last week]" Reuters reports. "They found a way to interpret 'real time' brain images to show whether people who viewed messages about using sunscreen would actually use sunscreen during the following week. The scans were more accurate than the volunteers were, Emily Falk and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience. 'We are trying to figure out whether there is hidden wisdom that the brain contains,' Falk said in a telephone interview. 'Many people 'decide' to do things, but then don't do them,' Matthew Lieberman, a professor of psychology who led the study, added in a statement."
Fakes for the fake
"Those who buy counterfeit designer goods project a fashionable image at a fraction of the price of the real thing," The Economist says. "You might think that would make them feel rather smug about themselves. But an interesting piece of research published in Psychological Science by Francesca Gino of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, suggests the opposite: Wearing fake goods makes you feel a fake yourself, and causes you to be more dishonest in other matters than you would otherwise be."
The allure of the bad
"For some women, there is nothing quite as sexy as a suspected killer," Barbie Latza Nadeau reports for The Daily Beast. "Take Joran van der Sloot, the 22-year-old Dutch native awaiting trial for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores. Apparently, van der Sloot has been biding his time in a Lima jail cell, poring over love letters from a flood of women. 'I get more letters every day,' he bragged to the Dutch paper De Telegraaf. 'One of them even wanted me to get her pregnant.' … Falling for felons is nothing new. In her 1991 book, Women Who Love Men Who Kill, author and journalist Sheila Isenberg interviewed three dozen women who fell in love with men who had been convicted of murder, or had confessed. Isenberg believes that the attraction of van der Sloot and other murderers has to do with their media celebrity and that, culturally, bad guys are seen as macho. 'We have always made media stars out of murderers,' she told The Daily Beast. 'Anyone who gets noted in the media can become an object of hero worship. Then as a murderer he has the added notoriety. It makes him sexier to some people.' "
Cutting-in-line fee
"Weary travellers are sometimes frustrated by long lines, battles for overhead bin space, steep penalties for changing reservations and fees for services that used to be free," Scott McCartney writes for The Wall Street Journal. "Now airlines are offering some relief for those pains - if you pay more fees. Several airlines are selling the chance to jump to the front of check-in lines, boarding queues and even security lines for about $10 to $30 per flight. Perks that used to be reserved only for elite-level frequent fliers and first-class passengers are now up for grabs to those who'll pay to jump the line. Lots of travellers are buying."
Wicked thinking
"An ultra-powerful handheld laser that looks like a lightsabre from Star Wars can cause permanent eye damage and even set skin ablaze, according to its manufacturer, Wicked Lasers," Adam Hadhazy reports for TechNewsDaily. "The Hong Kong-based company bills the new device as 'the most dangerous laser ever created.' The laser is accordingly raising eyebrows in the blogosphere and in safety circles alike. 'There really is no need for an individual private citizen to use [this laser]because it is way too powerful and unsafe,' said Gus Anibarro, education director of the Laser Institute of America in Orlando, Fla. Called the Spyder III Pro Arctic … the new device costs only $200 [U.S.] The Arctic is listed as Class 4, or the most dangerous class of laser. It is derived from a home-theatre projector and packs a full watt into its sleek confines. 'That's an awful lot of power,' said Anibarro, and he noted that this laser 'could injure someone a mile away.' "
Thought du jour
"If little else, the brain is an educational toy."
- Tom Robbins