Episode #1076
News Items
- Gene That Provides Resistance for Bananas
- Drug Advertising
- AI Powered Prosthetics
- Laser Written Glass Storage
- UFO Balloons
Question #1: Mental Illness and Culpability
- Hey y’all. Since there is both a neurologist and a psychologist on the show, I figured you would be a good place to ask this. If you didn’t see the entertainment news, Kanye West recently put out an open letter apologizing for his past behavior and explaining it as a manifestation of untreated bipolar disorder. This opened up a chain of comments on Reddit dismissing it by saying “bigotry is learned, it’s not a side effect of mental illness”. Others would try to explain that they witnessed people in their own lives slip into destructive chains of thought due to mental illnesses like bipolar disorder. A similar thing happens when it comes to dementia or drug/alcohol intoxication. People say things like “alcohol only reveals a person’s true thoughts”, as if it’s some kind of truth serum. People with dementia can suffer dramatic personality changes, including developing bigoted views they never held before, at least openly. I feel like this idea is misguided. My understanding of modern neuropsychology is that we are ALL awash with intrusive thoughts or flashes of ideas that go against our values, but those with a healthy mind and psyche are able to quash them before they take root, sometimes before we’re even aware of them. And yes, while disinhibition can sometimes reveal thoughts we hold true but seek to suppress, I feel like there’s a point where it’s just plain delusion and not an automatic representation of who we are and what we stand for. What are your thoughts on this? I imagine the full explanation is complex and situational, and I’d love to hear more. Derick
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
A new study finds that living at high altitude significantly reduces the risk for diabetes. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413126000185
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Item #2
Fiction
Researchers demonstrate that mouse-derived brain organoids are able to learn and remember tasks often used to train AI, using reinforcement learning. https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(26)00062-8
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Item #3
Science
A recent review of research finds that animal behavior, such as vigilance and foraging, has a variable response to interactions with humans, with fear-driven behavior increasing, changing little, or even decreasing. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70287
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘Astrology is a disease, not a science. It is a tree under the shadow of which all sorts of superstitions thrive. Only fools and charlatans lend value to it.’ Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon Maimonides (1138–1204), philosopher, jurist, and physician of the Middle Ages, authored ten influential medical works covering topics like asthma, diabetes, and hygiene. A practitioner of the ‘natural sciences’ who championed empirical observation over blind reliance on ancient authority.