Power and Love

First, does power corrupt, or are the corrupt drawn to power? The Economist reports on a rather interesting set of studies about the psychology and ethics of people and power. I'd have liked to see some more "direct" studies, like the blind dice reporting rather than what I think as "indirect", where people report their thoughts, but it's fascinating nonetheless.

Secondly is an article that hits a little closer to home, an exploration of love. Or rather, the lack thereof. I kind of identify with the guy, although maybe more in terms of the immaculately decorated bedroom and culinary obsessions than the emotional issues...

Epigenome

This article in Time brings up a fascinating subject. Some of the studies it talks about seem pretty fantastic and a little unbelievable, but the basic science seems certainly to be there. The article is about the epigenome, which is the set of instructions that your body uses to actually interpret the genes in your genome. I've certainly always believed that it's a combination of nature and nurture that make you who you are, but apparently the nurture can be passed on too...

Culture and Mental Illness

Good old NYT Magazine. Today's link covers the issue of whether or not our definitions of mental illness are shaping the expression of disorders world-wide. In some ways it seems obvious, anorexia is not likely to be a problem in a culture where people don't care about getting fat. The article raises some good points, although it's frustratingly incomplete and spends too much time talking about the risks of medical imperialism rather than focusing on the much more interesting question of just HOW culture affects mental disorders. *sigh* oh well.

Jurisprudence of Siamese Twins

The title says it all: If a Siamese twin commits murder, does his brother get punished too?. I love you slate.

Evolution and Universities

Today we bring you two thematically unrelated topics. This video is primarily a debunking of the blind watchmaker straw man but it's also a great example of the power of mathematical modeling and just physics in general. You take a set of simple governing assumptions, put in some initial conditions, and then run the equations forward, and poof! Out comes meaningful results describing the world. Gotta love it.

Second link is a little more depressing. NYTimes has an article up about how universities are changing curricula in response to student and parental pressure to make their studies more directly relevant to finding a job. I'm all for useful educations, but people need to think more long-term! Higher education really should be about developing a life philosophy and learning HOW to think as well as how to do. *sigh*