The MindFields College Blog

 
“Scientists have discovered the first gene which appears to increase the odds of being left-handed. The Oxford University-led team believe carrying the gene may also slightly raise the risk of developing psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia.
The gene, LRRTM1, appears to play a key role in controlling which parts of the brain take control of […]

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I found a snippit on the science blog Neurophilosophy about an Islamic textbook on surgery and illness, published in 1465, of which the above illustration is from. The picture is thought to show the burning of small areas of tissue (cauterization) to treat various mental health problems. Apart from anything, this book is an […]

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Mobile phone masts are not responsible for the symptoms of ill health some blame them for, a major UK study says.
Dozens of people who believed the masts trigger symptoms such as anxiety, nausea and tiredness could not detect if signals were on or off in trials.
But when they thought the signal was on they reported […]

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Dreaming evolved to resolve emotions that haven’t been de-aroused during the day (the expectation fulfilment theory of dreaming).
However the question remained, why do some emotions NOT get dearoused during dreaming and thus result in problems such as phobias/trauma/molar memories or PTSD?
Watch a video of Joe Griffin, who proposed the expectation fulfilment theory of dreaming, […]

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Rob has reviewed the Freedom from Addiction (Human Givens Approach) paperback on his book review blog!
“I picked up this book and started reading it in a Starbucks one rainy Friday afternoon. Why? Because I was addicted to something! For sure, I had kicked both my nasty habits of drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes - […]

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Here is a popular puzzle that went round my group of friends at University. Apparently the longer it took you to figure out, the cleverer you were - as it took Bill Gates weeks to solve.
Of course I solved it instantly, while my physics studying friend wrestled over it for several agonising days.
If you already […]

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In The Times on Tuesday doctors, nurses and other employees of the NHS gave their views on what should be done to improve the healthcare system.
A Gynaecologist stated: “The service has changed out of all recognition over the past five years because of a dominating centralisation by administrators and managers who have no real understanding […]

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“Do you know the old story about the Sun and the North Wind having a bet about which one of them could get some guy to take his coat off? Well, the North Wind had a go and blew his hardest, but the guy just clung to his coat with all his strength. But all […]

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An article in the Times 2 yesterday on how the modern phenomenon of excessive choice (38 choices of milk, 154 different kinds of jam, and 107 varieties of pasta to choose from in one supermarket!) can make us unhappy reminded me of how important having the right amount of control in our lives is […]

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I’ve always wondered why we yawn - and this might be the answer - yawning is a mechanism designed to maintain attention!
The common wisdom is that people yawn because they need oxygen, but the researchers at the University of Albany in New York said their experiments showed that raising or lowering oxygen and carbon dioxide […]

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