14 June 2006

happiness is ... er ....

well, listen to what some scientists have to say on the subject. The audio below is taken from a recent podcast on the science of happiness, from the canadian science radio show Quirks and Quarks. pretty useful.

Listen to or download the mp3 audio file or Ogg audio file . (what's ogg?)

(i'm off to try and stimulate my left prefrontal cortex ;-)

12 June 2006

Mind Hacks: Suicide itself now an act of war

saw the following post ridiculing the US (and media) response to Guantanamo Bay suicides on the MindHacks blog -a blog focused on neuroscience, but that is quite generally interesting.
A motivation not yet mentioned in the extensive scientific literature on suicide was offered by the US Government for why three inmates killed themselves in Guantanamo Bay - apparently, it was a well-planned 'act of asymmetric warfare'."

Perhaps, someone could email the organisors of the US Department of Defense 2006 Military Suicide Prevention Conference and let them know that their opening talk on the Theoretical Considerations of Suicide by Dr. David Jobes (powerpoint slides here) obviously missed out this important explanation in an otherwise comprehensive coverage of the medical literature?

UPDATE: Six hours after the first story, the suicides are now being explained as a 'PR move'. Doesn't science move fast.