In no particular order some of the news that interested me the last few days:
- My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables) – New York Times — “But consumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers’ markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect.”
- How disease, therapy, drugs and meditation reshape the brain — WildMind — “Leading neuroscientists will gather at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the 16th annual symposium on emotion in April to discuss how the human brain changes in response to disease and treatment.”
- Want to Be Sustainable? Ditch the Bottled Water | Water | AlterNet
- First direct evidence of neuroplastic changes following brainwave training — Science Daily — “A pioneering collaboration between two laboratories from the University of London has provided the first evidence of neuroplastic changes occurring directly after natural brainwave training. Researchers from Goldsmiths and the Institute of Neurology have demonstrated that half an hour of voluntary control of brain rhythms is sufficient to induce a lasting shift in cortical excitability and intracortical function. Remarkably, these after-effects are comparable in magnitude to those observed following interventions with artificial forms of brain stimulation involving magnetic or electrical pulses. The novel finding may have important implications for future non-pharmacological therapies of the brain and calls for a serious re-examination and stronger backing of research on neurofeedback, a technique which may be promising tool to modulate cerebral plasticity in a safe, painless, and natural way.” — This is my favorite disciplines in neuroscience. There is quite a lot about both neurofeedback and neuroplasticity on this blog.