Of all the issues around brain development, the most interesting to me has always been that of language learning- especially relating to second language learning. It probably has to with my background: my Dad is from Iran, and in my early childhood I spoke Farsi with him and English with my Mom. Eventually, though, my [...]

There are three trends driving convergence of entertainment of computer science and entertainment. The first is the customers’ expectation is that content will follow the customer across multiple devices. The second is creators, the people and companies who produce the content, are becoming a much broader group. And the third is the canvas, as the underlying technology being used for the creation of the entertainment experience, is broadening the interactions consumers can have with content.

Does thinking burn calories? I’ve often wondered about that, and today I came across a Q&A article in New Scientist on that very topic. According to behavorial neuroscientist Ewan McNay, who has conducted research in this area,
“A rough calculation suggests that thinking hard about a task for 30 minutes might burn about 1/30th of a [...]

As someone with a deep interest in music, I’ve often wondered about that age-old question: where does music come from? It’s become a cliché for musicians to wax philosophical about how their creative impulses come from “deep within” or that improvisation is a way of expressing their “true self”, but good luck getting anything more [...]

Posit Science is dependent upon many, many relationships inside and outside of the company.

People have been talking about Temple Grandin quite a bit lately, partly because HBO recently released an original movie about her life and achievements starring Claire Danes. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it. (If you don’t have HBO, you can make a note to check it out when it’s released [...]

There was an intriguing article in Scientific American last week called “Think Twice: How the Gut’s ‘Second Brain’ Influences Mood and Well-Being.” Although I work at a neuroscience company, I was unfamiliar with the “second brain.” It turns out it’s a mass of tissue in our intestines that shares many qualities with our brains–millions of [...]

Learn the way your customers will shop, buy, and use your products … and keep listening for feedback.

Science magazine is reporting on a new study that found that oxytocin, the so-called “trust hormone”, may be beneficial in dealing with the symptoms of autism. In two small studies conducted in Toronto, researchers administered oxytocin inhalers to children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Following the oxytocin dose, the children, who previously had difficulty interacting [...]

Recently, I read an article about the promise of a nutritional drink called Souvenaid for Alzheimer’s treatment. (My co-worker wrote a great blog post about it a couple of weeks ago.) As reported in CNN, early studies showed the drink had the potential to improve certain types of memory in Alzheimer’s patients.
Then I found another [...]