I want to clarify at the outset that this article is not about any actual differences among ethnic groups. Instead, the theory I will be discussing, from Francisco J. Gil-White’s paper, “Are Ethnic Groups Biological “Species” to the Human Brain?”, addresses why our brains fixate on the perceived differences among groups to the point of…
Scientists, researchers, and physicians alike still have not been able to pinpoint the precise cause of phantom pain, a term coined by Silas Weir Mitchell in 1871. Phantom limb is used to reference a syndrome in which patients experience pain or other sensations originating from a nonexistent limb. There may also be discrepancies between the…
In the film Lucy, a student asks his professor “… what would happen if … somebody unlocked one hundred percent of the cerebral capacity?” While the professor replies “I don’t know,” the informed reader of this article might scoff and respond: “Dude, that myth is absurd.” The myth in question is the so-called “ten…
When people find out I don’t have Facebook, they always look so puzzled. “Why not?” they ask. It’s been two years since I deactivated my account and, yet, I still can’t find a coherent answer to this question. More times than not, I respond with an “uhhh” until somebody eventually changes the subject. I do…