Diverse perspectives on science and medicine
When I first ran across Asifa Majid’s article with Ewelina Wnuk in Cognition, about how speakers of Maniq, a language indigenous to southern Thailand, have a vocabulary for talking about smell, I was taken aback.
One of the prominent ways to think about culture is as a system of symbols or beliefs. For example, Clifford Geertz wrote in 1973: Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in
An important new meta-analysis of brain imaging research came out this week in JAMA Psychiatry, “Identification of a Common Neurobiological Substrate for Mental Illness” which highlights the importance of the insula and anterior cingultate in
By Steven Folmar, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Anthropology, Wake Forest University On September 15 of this year, I learned from my Program Officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) that the House of
The subtitle of Nicholas Wade’s new book, A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race, and Human History, is transparent. In combining genes, race, and human history, Wade makes a simplistic argument: genes determine race, and race determines
By Alexis Winter Greg Downey, in his recent post on language and smell, opened a carton of expiring milk and poured himself into an exploration of cross-cultural variation in sensory experience. While humans have evolved
By Trevor Duke A few days ago I was walking around Ybor City, a place near downtown Tampa known for its eclectic feel and mix of restaurants, alternative shops, and party spots. While Ybor is
By Sarah Fishleder The way we learn can determine not only our brains, but also the kinds of choices we make, from big to small. You call THAT an elephant? Eight graduate students sat down
By Farah Britto What do you see when you watch TV? A movie? Do you perceive staring into a screen that when not lit up is simply a dark, flat abyss? Or, when deeply absorbed
The sanitary and mechanical age we are now entering makes up for the mercy it grants to our sense of smell by the ferocity with which it assails our sense of hearing. – Havelock Ellis