“Extraordinary Things That Happen to Brains & Bodies during a Digital Detox” – Fast Company, Elizabeth Segran, July 2015
We instinctually know that always-on technology is doing something very bad to our bodies and brains, but studies of how hyper-connectivity impacts human behavior are still taking baby steps. This article details what happened when 35 CEOs were taken out into the Moroccan desert and totally cut off from their devices. The neuroscientists who observed them saw “life-changing” transformations, from improved memory and more efficient sleep to deeper friendships and even better posture…Read more
“Easy DNA Editing Will Remake the World—Buckle Up” – Wired, Amy Maxmen, July 23, 2015
Scientists now have the power to quickly and easily alter DNA (what genes are made of and the basis of heredity). This has the potential to achieve amazing things such as solving world hunger, eliminating diseases and providing clean energy, but it also risks getting completely out of hand and becoming a nightmare scenario, with designer babies, invasive mutants, species-specific bioweapons, and so on. This article does a great job at explaining in simple terms what’s going on and what is at stake. Read more
“Rethinking Exercise as a Source of Immediate Rewards” – The New York Times, Jane Brody, July 20, 2015
This is a short piece about the research of Dr. Segar, a psychologist who specializes in helping people adopt and maintain regular exercise habits and the author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness. Her research shows that immediate rewards that enhance daily life—more energy, a better mood, less stress and more opportunity to connect with friends and family—offer far more motivation that [k2] the pursuit of health. Read more
“How Cereal Got a Sugar High” (Or: How the New Cereal Players Pile on a Ton of Health Claims…and Sugar) – Bloomberg View, Justin Fox, July 17, 2015
There are new entrants in the cereal market that have two things in common: 1.) claims that they are very healthy; and 2.) much too much sugar. Obviously, the two don’t go together, but this short piece explains why the surest way to wrest market share for a new cereal is to sugar it up. Read more
