The last few weeks have been busy – sorry for the lack of posts. Moved last Thursday to a new place, then weathered a hurricane surrounded by boxes of unpacked stuff. Thankfully, and I mean THANKFULLY, the power came back on in my neighborhood 18 hours after the storm. Some of my friends and colleagues still don’t have power, and won’t for at least a week or more.
But, being stuck in the house gave me some time to organize some information and research for some future blog posts, so be on the lookout for those in the near future. In the meantime, here are few more interesting things to check out. They’re more related to the brain than to presentations per se, but as I said in my post on August 7th – being a good presenter means having a good understanding of how our brains work. Anyway, here are two choice items from the goody bag:
1. New York Times article published yesterday:
Gut Instinct’s Surprising Role in Math
By NATALIE ANGIER
Published: September 16, 2008
New studies suggest that two number systems, one that is innate for many animals and one that is uniquely human, may be profoundly related.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/science/16angi.html?ex=1379304000&en=ae36fad78b7d3cbb&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
2. Neuroscience Letters article on how chewing affects working memory:
Yoshiyuki Hirano, Takayuki Obata, Kenichi Kashikura, Hiroi Nonaka, Atsumichi Tachibana, Hiroo Ikehira, Minoru Onozuka, “Effects of chewing in working memory processing,” Neuroscience Letters Volume 436, Issue 2, , 9 May 2008, Pages 189-192. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T0G-4S2MJ14-2/2/2e7d1e522c24324f5c0f5c273e794606) If link above doesn’t work, try the DOI: doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2008.03.033.
or this one (a bit easier to understand for non-neuroscientists):
Lucy Wilkinson, Andrew Scholey, Keith Wesnes, “Chewing gum selectively improves aspects of memory in healthy volunteers,” Appetite Volume 38, Issue 3, , June 2002, Pages 235-236. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WB2-46C0D13-9/2/d1ef5bf3a4cba7e3efc4c23e461cafaf) DOI: doi:10.1006/appe.2002.0473
Please send your good vibes this way. I was lucky to have not suffered a lot from the hurricane, but there are many more folks in our area who are much worse off than me and can use some good energy from you.
If you feel like donating, our Mayor, Bill White, announced a few days ago that a relief fund has been set up. Send your donations to:
Houston Ike Relief Fund
4550 Post Oak Place Ste 100
Houston, TX 77027
Peace,
Lee
