Tag Archives: brain

On Godel and Game Theory (what I find interesting in math and sciences, May 2022)

Math education: here’s some good pieces on that topic. First up, Susan Fowler (now Rigetti) on how you can learn more math. One way to learn is to see how others do it. Here’s Fields medalist Tim Gowers working through math problems on YouTube. Also this is a good resource on YouTube: math channel.

Speaking of learning math, here’s a piece on how to fix math class.

Math theory: For fans of game theory: Game theory and Cuban Missile crisis. Here’s two more good theory pieces, one on Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems and one on Fermat’s last theorem.

Philosophy: Here’s two good pieces on math and philosophy: How Julia Robinson helped define the limits of mathematical knowledge and another on how math and philosophy need each other.

Physics and space: this is cool, Visualizing Black Holes with General Relativistic Ray Tracing. So is this: SpaceX’s Starship and NASA’s SLS Could Supercharge Space Science. This is odd,  NASA Will Test Gigantic Centrifuge for Hurling Objects Into Space. This is fun, measuring the earth using the traceroute command! This is fascinating, what I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists.

Brain: here’s two good pieces on the brain. First, Your brain expands and shrinks over time. Second, Deep sleep drives brain fluid oscillations.

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13 good links concerning the mind and mental health November, 2021

A sign tha says use your brain
Here’s 13 good links on the mind and mental health I’ve gathered over the last few months. Most of them I’ve read at least twice.

  1. An interesting idea:  Can a short behavioural boot camp really grind anxiety to dust?
  2. A good way to think about feelings, from Austin Kleon:  What to do with your feelings.
  3. I can’t vouch for this, but it is interesting:  How to Microdose Weed for a Super-efficient Subtle High.
  4. On  Loneliness: coping with the gap where friends used to be.
  5. A thoughtful study on loss and grief:  Nothing Could Prepare Me for Watching My Wife Slip Away.
  6. This Theory Explains How Consciousness Evolved. Worth reading.
  7. Also worth reading:  Why We Choose to Suffer
  8. I found this really thought provoking:  What if emotions aren’t unniversal but specific to each culture?
  9. I didn’t really agree with this, but it is worth reading:  The Difference Between Hope and Optimism
  10. This was very sad:  LISA LUCAS: All the love in the world couldn’t save our son from drugs.
  11. This is good to read after the one above, I think:   An Artist Describes His Brother’s Struggle.
  12. This is a great way to approach things:  Everything is a Practice 
  13. And finally:  The Empty Brain 

(Photo by Jesse Martini on Unsplash)

It’s Monday. You want to stop procrastinating. You need to use your brain (better)


It’s Monday. If you are struggling with procrastinating, here is a good article on how to finally stop procrastinating for real this time. Basically in order to understand why you are procrastinating, you need to understand there are two parts of your brain that are influencing your behaviour. Knowing this can help you change. Here’s a key quote:

…there’s a part of the brain that accurately weighs the benefits of a behavior against its costs. This is your neocortex, and it’s one of the newest and shiniest parts of our brains. Very often, the neocortex comes to quite reasonable conclusions—that, for instance, the benefits of exercising outweigh the costs. But there’s another part of your brain that’s been around for millions of years—the limbic system—and it only seems to care about what’s happening right now. So if a behavior incurs more upfront hassles than upfront benefits, the limbic system isn’t interested in participating.

For more on this, read the article. It will help you get your neocortex and your limbic system working together. If you do that, you will definitely procrastinate less.

(Photo by Jason Strull on Unsplash )

On my tweeting and my working

Someone today highlighted my tweeting while working. I thought it useful to explain how I work and how tweeting fits in.

For the past many years I have mostly worked in solitude. I get assignments and projects where I am mostly working by myself. I have some meetings where I talk to people, but 50-90% I don’t speak with anyone, day in and day out.

For many people that would be unbearable, but mostly I like it. Mostly. I do like to have company and I do like to stay in touch with the world. For that I use work tools from time to time. But I also use twitter.

On days where I am not slammed with work, I will use the pomodoro approach. I will set a timer for 15-25 minutes (depending on how good or bad my ADD is that day). Then I will take a 5 minute break and check out and respond on twitter. Then I will set a timer again. By doing this, I can get my brain to stay focused. I can do my work in focused spurts and then let my squirrelly brain go for a few minutes.

I have found by doing this I am the most productive I can be. So if you think, “how can this guy be productive if he is on twitter all the time?”, well, now you know.

P.S. If you say “why can’t you just stay focused like me”, I can just say my brain isn’t like yours. You may as well ask: “how come you can’t be the same height as me?”

(Photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash)

How complicated is the brain?

The brain is a complex organ. Even in something as small as a fruit fly (whose brains are mapped in the image above). Yet…

Scientists from Google and the Janelia Research Campus in Virginia have published the largest high-resolution map of brain connectivity in any animal, sharing a 3D model that traces 20 million synapses connecting some 25,000 neurons in the brain of a fruit fly.

The model is a milestone in the field of connectomics, which uses detailed imaging techniques to map the physical pathways of the brain. This map, known as a “connectome,” covers roughly one-third of the fruit fly’s brain. To date, only a single organism, the roundworm C. elegans, has had its brain completely mapped in this way.

It’s a fascinating story of both biology and computer science. (It takes a lot of computing power to do this). For more details, see: Google publishes largest ever high-resolution map of brain connectivity – The Verge

It’s Wednesday. Your brain is tired. Maybe you need to feed it better.

And by feed it I don’t mean drink more coffee. I mean eat foods that have been shown to help our brains work better. The author of this piece ate food considered best for our brains for a week and recorded what happened. Surprise: you don’t turn into a genius. But you will see some benefits. And that’s a good thing.

(Image from healthline.com)

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Your brain is dirty. There’s only one way to clean it

Sleep. At least according to this:  ‘Waves’ of fluid clear the brain of toxins during sleep, say researchers – Big Think.

When you sleep, your brain is designed to wash away toxic chemical buildup in your brain. If that toxic buildup is allowed to stick around (due to lack of sleep), bad things happen to your brain and you.

So clean your brain. Get some sleep. See the article to understand more of this.

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How to make your brain healthier

Easy. Follow these five tips:  ‘I’m a neurologist, and these are the 5 things I do to keep my brain healthy’ | Well+Good

Some of them are easy and obvious, some not. And some are a 2 fer: exercise your body and you help your brain, too.

 

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Not all mindfulness is the same


If you think all mindfulness is the same, then read this: Different Types Of Meditation Change Different Areas Of The Brain, Study Finds.

Key quote:

a new study from the Max Planck Institute finds that three different types of meditation training are linked to changes in corresponding brain regions. The results, published in Science Advances, have a lot of relevance to schools, businesses and, of course, the general public.

Mindfulness can be helpful for many reasons. But how you pursue it can yield different results. Something to keep in…mind.

It’s Monday. Your brain is barely functioning. Great news! You don’t need it!

Damaged brain due to fluid

You might think I am joking but I am not.

Take a look at the photo above. This is a scan of a living man’s brain: the black part is fluid, while the part around the black part is his remaining brain. Essentially 90% of his brain has been displaced by the fluid. And yet he was considered a functioning person, despite only have 10% of a brain mass most people have.

The story behind the scan and the questions that it raises is in this article: A civil servant missing most of his brain challenges our most basic theories of consciousness.

Fascinating. Perhaps in a few years / centuries we will understand how the brain works. For now we are mostly clueless, much like you are while you wait for your coffee to kick in. 🙂