Is Mind Altering Matter? Feb 13 12:19pm In popular understanding blind people are said to develop more acute senses in other areas, but recent research indicates that the brain may actually be able to substitute one sense for another. In a previous post ( Your Brain: Not Hard-Wired ) the... Read more

Your Brain: Not Hard-Wired Feb 08 01:06pm The notion that the human brain is "hard-wired" was a favorite theme even up to recently, because it helped explain how certain behaviors were determined by genes. We were told that depression, addiction, even obesity were not the result of... Read more

Consciousness: The Source for Nature and Nurture? Feb 01 11:26am How do genes influence behavior? On one hand one can look at identical twins separated at birth who lead very similar lives and share many behaviors - this seems to support the dominant role of genes. But you can also point to studies of psychiatric... Read more

Genes & Conditioning: Are We Trapped? Jan 29 11:11am I've been writing about the fallacy that complex behavior is determined by genes, raising the question of whether it is determined at all. Genes should properly be seen as predispositions, the starting gun for a lifelong journey at the level of... Read more

Science vs. Wisdom Jan 19 12:38pm James D. Watson, arguably the most eminent geneticist in the world because of his discovery, with Francis Crick, of DNA, has been causing a flap. Intent bloggers have also taken notice of these racial charged remarks. In the wake of his latest... Read more

The Cure is Compassion Jan 16 12:31pm Modern medicine has reached the stage in which diagnosis runs far ahead of cures, especially in cutting edge areas like genetics and stem cells. The genes that cause many cancers are quickly being isolated, far faster than we are learning how to... Read more

Your Genes Didn't Make You Do It Jan 12 11:35am It's common with exciting breakthroughs in science that perception gets skewed and new facts lead to extreme interpretations. We seem to be in such a phase now with genes, which are being used to explain too many things in ways that are far too... Read more

Bringing Together Eastern and Western Medicine Jan 09 10:57am Western medicine has proceeded on the assumption that the mind is intelligent but that the body isn't. In effect the body is a machine made of meat. This machine needs fixing at times, and being deviously complicated, with billions of... Read more

Alternative Medicine: Where Does it Fit in Treatment? Jan 05 10:21am Even as alternative medicine becomes more popular, it faces a huge challenge. Can it reliably replace or enhance conventional medicine? In earlier posts I sketched in the faults of conventional medicine, which are well known, in any case. I don't... Read more

One Treatment For All? Dec 26 10:11am The great promise of mind-body medicine will never be fulfilled as long as the treatments are unpredictable. This has been a major stumbling block in the West, ever since the original excitement over acupuncture in the '70s and Ayurveda in the... Read more