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Killar som i 15-årsåldern åt fisk en gång i veckan var tre år senare sex procent smartare än sina jämnåriga. Fisk dubbelt så ofta innebar en fördubbling till tolv procent, visar undersökningen av nästan 4 000 tonårskillar i Västra Götaland.

Pojkarna hade i 15-årsåldern deltagit i en undersökning av matvanor i Västra Götaland. Resultaten jämfördes sedan med de intelligenstester som görs vid mönstringen i 18-årsåldern. ...

Resultatet stod sig även med hänsyn tagen till socio-ekonomiska faktorer, bostadsstandard, föräldrarnas utbildning, tonåringens hälsotillstånd, motionsvanor och vikt.

It's in difficult economic times that customer experience matters most -- you don't want to make it even easier for your customers to walk away because they've been so frustrated working with you.

The key to delivering a great experience for is to have empathy for your customers. And the best way to develop that empathy is obvious, yet it requires constant repeating: Go to them. It's shocking how many methods companies have for learning about customers (surveys, focus groups, phone questionnaires), and how hesitant they are to engage in the simplest approach. I suspect its because they're afraid of what they'll find when engaging customers directly, and prefer to hide behind the reports and charts those other techniques produce, and which provide endless opportunities for interpretation.

When you go to your customers and encourage them to talk to you, you should speak only to break the ice and get them comfortable, and then to ask questions. The rest of the time, stay quiet and listen. Ideally, you will spend a lot of time just watching -- if they're at home, how do they go about their domestic rituals? If at an office or out in the world, how do they get things done? Pay attention to their context, their environments. What tools and artifacts do they use? What does their language reveal about their state of mind?

Record everything you can.

* Women’s brains have more distributed functions than men, especially for language and memory. Women’s brains have stronger connections between the two hemispheres.
* Women have a larger hippocampus, a major area of the brain that is involved in memory function. Women rely more heavily on brain areas that contain mirror neurons during empathic interaction. Mirror neurons enable a person to feel what they see another person is feeling.

Does this all sound too scientific and irrelevant to the marketing equation? She goes on to discuss how women respond significantly more strongly to certain styles of packaging designs, branding, advertising messages, and store layouts. Here is a small sampling of NeuroFocus’ guidelines for marketing to women:

* Be authentic
* Focus on cooperative, reciprocal, collaborative conversations
* Keep messaging exploratory, not flatly declarative
* Provide plenty of information
* Acknowledge that she’s integrating many goals with every shopping experience and purchase

Under en arbetsresa i Indien helt nyligen fascinerades jag av med vilken besatthet vi människor fotograferar. Kamerorna knäppte från morgon till kväll, framför allt under förflyttning mellan olika platser. Genom taxibilars nedvevade rutor dokumenterades främmande människor på trottoarer och motorcyklar, det omgivande landskapet och arkitekturen, små detaljer, kricketspelande barn och heliga kor. När kvällen kom var det solnedgångar och utsikter som omvandlades till digitala filer och strax laddades allt över på internetsajten Flickr.

Vad handlar detta dokumenterande om? Vad får oss att med sådan beslutsamhet skapa bilder som inte tycks ha något direkt syfte, inget särskilt kommersiellt värde, och knappast är bärare av juridiska bevis. Vad betyder bilden på det namnlösa, motorcykelåkande paret när den läggs upp på internet, eller den på pojken som tittar in i kameran och ler? ...

Vi som lever i dag kan sägas tillhöra den första generation där det mesta vi upplever först har presenterats för oss via tekniska bilder – film och fotografi. Filosofen Vilém Flusser säger att vi därför tycks navigera i världen utifrån dessa tidigare inpräntade bilder, och vi rör oss som i en tillvaro av bildskärmar där den ursprungliga tolkningsförmågan gått förlorad: vi känner igen i stället för att upptäcka.

Idealet för oss tycks vara att ta plats bland bilderna och själva bli bildlika – genom konsumtion och ytterst genom att ”bli bild”. Kulten kring, och vurmen för, fotografiet har också andra skäl. Själva det lustframbringande i att betrakta bilder är kanske det allra viktigaste. För samtidigt som fotografiet bevisar något ser vi på det och njuter.

First, the sheer number of teenagers now using the Internet has transformed the technology into a true social networking tool. Even in the late 90s, only about one in ten adolescents were online, which meant that kids actually had to choose between online relationships and real relationships. There was very little overlap, so it was very difficult to maintain flesh-and-blood relations while exploring cyberspace. Today, Valkenburg and Peter say, the vast majority of teenagers in Western countries have access to the Internet, and most appear to use the technology to nurture their existing relationships rather than to forge new ones.

Second, the newer communication tools also encourage building on existing relationships rather than isolating. In the 90s, the few teens who did spend time on the Internet tended to hang out with strangers in public chat rooms and so-called MUDS, multi-user dungeons. The appearance of instant messaging and social networks like Facebook has changed all that, according to the psychologists. Today, more than eight in ten teenagers use IM to connect with the same friends they see at school and work.

Recent studies document the positive effects of these technological changes. But what exactly is going on in the minds of the teenagers to produce this greater sense of well-being? Valkenburg and Peter believe that the 21st century Internet encourages honest talking about very personal issues - feelings, worries, vulnerabilities - that are difficult for many self-conscious teens to talk about. When they communicate through the Internet, they have fewer sounds and sights and social cues to distract them, so they become less concerned with how others perceive them. This in turn reduces inhibition, leading to unusually intimate talk.

First, the sheer number of teenagers now using the Internet has transformed the technology into a true social networking tool. Even in the late 90s, only about one in ten adolescents were online, which meant that kids actually had to choose between online relationships and real relationships. There was very little overlap, so it was very difficult to maintain flesh-and-blood relations while exploring cyberspace. Today, Valkenburg and Peter say, the vast majority of teenagers in Western countries have access to the Internet, and most appear to use the technology to nurture their existing relationships rather than to forge new ones.

Second, the newer communication tools also encourage building on existing relationships rather than isolating. In the 90s, the few teens who did spend time on the Internet tended to hang out with strangers in public chat rooms and so-called MUDS, multi-user dungeons. The appearance of instant messaging and social networks like Facebook has changed all that, according to the psychologists. Today, more than eight in ten teenagers use IM to connect with the same friends they see at school and work.

Recent studies document the positive effects of these technological changes. But what exactly is going on in the minds of the teenagers to produce this greater sense of well-being? Valkenburg and Peter believe that the 21st century Internet encourages honest talking about very personal issues - feelings, worries, vulnerabilities - that are difficult for many self-conscious teens to talk about. When they communicate through the Internet, they have fewer sounds and sights and social cues to distract them, so they become less concerned with how others perceive them. This in turn reduces inhibition, leading to unusually intimate talk.

The results showed that, when playing under stress, social support could improve performance by nearly one shot per round of golf. The researchers believe that this significant difference is the result of the increased confidence brought about by social support. For players with the lowest levels of support, increases in stress caused a performance deterioration of up to three shots per round.

The results showed that, when playing under stress, social support could improve performance by nearly one shot per round of golf. The researchers believe that this significant difference is the result of the increased confidence brought about by social support. For players with the lowest levels of support, increases in stress caused a performance deterioration of up to three shots per round.

This broader view promised an advantage.

[It] has enabled the identifications of innovation opportunity that truly provide meaningful solutions to her household and personal-care needs and wants that otherwise wouldn't have been discovered through more-traditional, more-narrow, and often more-superficial methods. (p. 36)

In an entirely perfect world, the ethnographer understands the consumer with Lafley-esque nuance. He or she gets the cultural context, the life context, the aspirational context down to the ground. But the ethnographer also gets what we might call the McKinsey-esgue context, the one that comes from a deep mastery of the structure of the market, the industry, the competitors, and the competitive state of play right up to the heavens.

At it's best, ethnography supplies the biggest picture. The trick is how to do those interviews in home but still generalize to the larger cutural, competitive and strategic factors that make it make sense. From a parochial point of view, I like to think of this as putting the anthropology back in the ethnography. But if I too am obliged to take the larger view, it's also a matter of putting the IDEO, the Lafley, and the McKinsey back in ethnography.

The risks are fantastically high. As the Tesco CEO put it two years ago:

“Clearly it’s high risk,” agrees Sir Terry. “But we’ve carefully balanced the risk. If it fails it’s embarrassing. It might show up in my career [and] it’ll cost an amount of money that’s easily affordable by Tesco—call it £1 billion if you like. If it succeeds then it’s transformational.”

This broader view promised an advantage.

[It] has enabled the identifications of innovation opportunity that truly provide meaningful solutions to her household and personal-care needs and wants that otherwise wouldn't have been discovered through more-traditional, more-narrow, and often more-superficial methods. (p. 36)

In an entirely perfect world, the ethnographer understands the consumer with Lafley-esque nuance. He or she gets the cultural context, the life context, the aspirational context down to the ground. But the ethnographer also gets what we might call the McKinsey-esgue context, the one that comes from a deep mastery of the structure of the market, the industry, the competitors, and the competitive state of play right up to the heavens.

At it's best, ethnography supplies the biggest picture. The trick is how to do those interviews in home but still generalize to the larger cutural, competitive and strategic factors that make it make sense. From a parochial point of view, I like to think of this as putting the anthropology back in the ethnography. But if I too am obliged to take the larger view, it's also a matter of putting the IDEO, the Lafley, and the McKinsey back in ethnography.

The risks are fantastically high. As the Tesco CEO put it two years ago:

“Clearly it’s high risk,” agrees Sir Terry. “But we’ve carefully balanced the risk. If it fails it’s embarrassing. It might show up in my career [and] it’ll cost an amount of money that’s easily affordable by Tesco—call it £1 billion if you like. If it succeeds then it’s transformational.”

For all groups, morality in the real world was related to morality in the virtual world. In other words, the more important good moral character in the real world was, the less acceptable morally questionable virtual behaviors were. ...

The frequency of exposure to information technology also had an effect. The more children used the Internet, the more they found invasion of privacy online, videogame violence and online pornography acceptable.

For all groups, morality in the real world was related to morality in the virtual world. In other words, the more important good moral character in the real world was, the less acceptable morally questionable virtual behaviors were. ...

The frequency of exposure to information technology also had an effect. The more children used the Internet, the more they found invasion of privacy online, videogame violence and online pornography acceptable.

You’ll find no mention of the glaring faults (The lack of MMS, Copy and Paste, etc) in this list - we’re talking about the stuff that we just can’t believe made it through Apple’s user experience team.

Long text messages are auto-split without any indication or character counter...

Things would be a whole lot easier if the iPhone email client had even the simplest search functionality - but it doesn’t. Want to find that email your boss sent you a few days ago? Nope. Know a keyword or two that’ll filter your mountain of mail down to 2-3 important ones? Thats nice. Have fun hitting the “Load more messages” button and reading every subject line until you find what you want.

You’ll find no mention of the glaring faults (The lack of MMS, Copy and Paste, etc) in this list - we’re talking about the stuff that we just can’t believe made it through Apple’s user experience team.

Long text messages are auto-split without any indication or character counter...

Things would be a whole lot easier if the iPhone email client had even the simplest search functionality - but it doesn’t. Want to find that email your boss sent you a few days ago? Nope. Know a keyword or two that’ll filter your mountain of mail down to 2-3 important ones? Thats nice. Have fun hitting the “Load more messages” button and reading every subject line until you find what you want.

"The best way to improve children's performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it."

The paradoxical lesson of this story is relevant not just for school children but for us grownups, too: taking time out to restore and rejuvenate ourselves results not in reduced performance caused by less time dedicated to work, but to increased performance caused by the stronger, more focused effort you bring to work after fruitful rest.

But in the midst of this soul-crushing, terror-inducing recession, how can anyone think seriously, and without guilt, about undertaking activity that isn't directly reducing costs or increasing revenues? The short answer is that you can't afford not to.

Our minds, our bodies, and our spirits can only go so far without some care and feeding.

"The best way to improve children's performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it."

The paradoxical lesson of this story is relevant not just for school children but for us grownups, too: taking time out to restore and rejuvenate ourselves results not in reduced performance caused by less time dedicated to work, but to increased performance caused by the stronger, more focused effort you bring to work after fruitful rest.

But in the midst of this soul-crushing, terror-inducing recession, how can anyone think seriously, and without guilt, about undertaking activity that isn't directly reducing costs or increasing revenues? The short answer is that you can't afford not to.

Our minds, our bodies, and our spirits can only go so far without some care and feeding.

What did they find? In all three conditions, subjects who relied more on their emotional system made a more consistent set of decisions. In other words, the property of transitivity - which, along with "completeness" is one of the basic assumptions of rational preference relations in economic theory - seems to depend not on rational thought processes but on those subtle emotional signals emanating from the limbic system. Here's the irony: In order to behave like a "rational agent" one needs to rely on the emotional brain.

... For example, if one buys a house and relies on very cognitive attributes such as resale value, one may not be as happy actually living in it, as opposed to a person who attends to his or her emotional reaction to the house prior to purchasing it. Indeed, our results suggest that the heart can very well serve as a more reliable compass to greater long-term happiness than pure reason.

One additional interesting implication of this research is how online shopping might influence our decision-making process. The scientists speculate that the internet leads consumers to engage in more rational deliberation, since there are fewer affective cues. (This certainly fits with my own experience - before I buy something online, I always check the price at other stores, read consumer reviews, etc.) And yet, this sort of thinking might also lead to consumer inconsistency.

What did they find? In all three conditions, subjects who relied more on their emotional system made a more consistent set of decisions. In other words, the property of transitivity - which, along with "completeness" is one of the basic assumptions of rational preference relations in economic theory - seems to depend not on rational thought processes but on those subtle emotional signals emanating from the limbic system. Here's the irony: In order to behave like a "rational agent" one needs to rely on the emotional brain.

... For example, if one buys a house and relies on very cognitive attributes such as resale value, one may not be as happy actually living in it, as opposed to a person who attends to his or her emotional reaction to the house prior to purchasing it. Indeed, our results suggest that the heart can very well serve as a more reliable compass to greater long-term happiness than pure reason.

One additional interesting implication of this research is how online shopping might influence our decision-making process. The scientists speculate that the internet leads consumers to engage in more rational deliberation, since there are fewer affective cues. (This certainly fits with my own experience - before I buy something online, I always check the price at other stores, read consumer reviews, etc.) And yet, this sort of thinking might also lead to consumer inconsistency.

The startling warning from Lady Greenfield, professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln college, Oxford, and director of the Royal Institution, has led members of the government to admit their work on internet regulation has not extended to broader issues, such as the psychological impact on children.

Greenfield believes ministers have not yet looked at the broad cultural and psychological effect of on-screen friendships via Facebook, Bebo and Twitter.

She told the House of Lords that children's experiences on social networking sites "are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity". ...

"The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction. So we should not underestimate the 'pleasure' of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people."

Greenfield also warned there was a risk of loss of empathy as children read novels less. "Unlike the game to rescue the princess, where the goal is to feel rewarded, the aim of reading a book is, after all, to find out more about the princess herself."

The startling warning from Lady Greenfield, professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln college, Oxford, and director of the Royal Institution, has led members of the government to admit their work on internet regulation has not extended to broader issues, such as the psychological impact on children.

Greenfield believes ministers have not yet looked at the broad cultural and psychological effect of on-screen friendships via Facebook, Bebo and Twitter.

She told the House of Lords that children's experiences on social networking sites "are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity". ...

"The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction. So we should not underestimate the 'pleasure' of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people."

Greenfield also warned there was a risk of loss of empathy as children read novels less. "Unlike the game to rescue the princess, where the goal is to feel rewarded, the aim of reading a book is, after all, to find out more about the princess herself."

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research report measured economic stability by the real costs to eat, travel and pay for medical costs and housing in each of California's 58 counties.

Its findings reveal 47 percent of state residents 65 and older are unable to pay for their basic needs. That's 864,000 seniors, more than half of whom struggle at home alone.

The new data reveal far deeper poverty rates among seniors than was previously known.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research report measured economic stability by the real costs to eat, travel and pay for medical costs and housing in each of California's 58 counties.

Its findings reveal 47 percent of state residents 65 and older are unable to pay for their basic needs. That's 864,000 seniors, more than half of whom struggle at home alone.

The new data reveal far deeper poverty rates among seniors than was previously known.

Smerter i nakken, skuldrene, albuerne og håndleddene. Og på sigt slidgigt. Det kan være konsekvensen af at bruge en bærbar computer - både på jobbet og derhjemme - hvis du ikke passer på.

Nye tal fra markedsanalysebureauet IDC viser, at der sidste år blev solgt over én million bærbare computere i Danmark, mens der til sammenligning kun blev solgt 400.000 stationære. ...

»Tastaturet på en bærbar er kun cirka halvt så stort, og skærmen er også mindre end på en stationær computer. Det indskrænker arbejdsfeltet utroligt meget. Hvis man sidder med den bærbare en hel arbejdsdag, eller bruger den meget i fritiden, kan det gå rigtig galt,« advarer arbejdsmiljøkonsulent i HK Svend-Erik Hermansen og pointerer:

»En bærbar duer kun til at tjekke mail i sommerhuset eller til at arbejde på i en halv time på togturen. Hvis du bruger den for meget, risikerer du at få så ondt i for eksempel håndleddene, at du ikke kan vride en karklud uden at skrige af smerte.«

Smerter i nakken, skuldrene, albuerne og håndleddene. Og på sigt slidgigt. Det kan være konsekvensen af at bruge en bærbar computer - både på jobbet og derhjemme - hvis du ikke passer på.

Nye tal fra markedsanalysebureauet IDC viser, at der sidste år blev solgt over én million bærbare computere i Danmark, mens der til sammenligning kun blev solgt 400.000 stationære. ...

»Tastaturet på en bærbar er kun cirka halvt så stort, og skærmen er også mindre end på en stationær computer. Det indskrænker arbejdsfeltet utroligt meget. Hvis man sidder med den bærbare en hel arbejdsdag, eller bruger den meget i fritiden, kan det gå rigtig galt,« advarer arbejdsmiljøkonsulent i HK Svend-Erik Hermansen og pointerer:

»En bærbar duer kun til at tjekke mail i sommerhuset eller til at arbejde på i en halv time på togturen. Hvis du bruger den for meget, risikerer du at få så ondt i for eksempel håndleddene, at du ikke kan vride en karklud uden at skrige af smerte.«

1) Fan-submitted videos represent a significant number of the videos on the artists’ sites, but account for only 5% of views, as Carmen explained it: “Fans came to see the bands, not each other.”; 2) People who use the audio player on the site rarely ever also watch videos, she attributed it to an age thing, the bands that attract young audiences have fans that want to watch stuff, the bands with more aged followers have fans that have yet to catch on to video but understand streaming audio.)
In the Q&A someone raised the very valid point that everyone’s talking about how video is the next big thing, but nobody’s talking about how hard and expensive it is to produce decent-quality video.

1) Fan-submitted videos represent a significant number of the videos on the artists’ sites, but account for only 5% of views, as Carmen explained it: “Fans came to see the bands, not each other.”; 2) People who use the audio player on the site rarely ever also watch videos, she attributed it to an age thing, the bands that attract young audiences have fans that want to watch stuff, the bands with more aged followers have fans that have yet to catch on to video but understand streaming audio.)
In the Q&A someone raised the very valid point that everyone’s talking about how video is the next big thing, but nobody’s talking about how hard and expensive it is to produce decent-quality video.

Wired.com: How do these interruptions affect us?

Jackson: This degree of interruption is correlated with stress and frustration and lowered creativity. That makes sense. When you're scattered and diffuse, you're less creative. When your times of reflection are always punctured, it's hard to go deeply into problem-solving, into relating, into thinking.

These are the problems of attention in our new world. Gadgets and technologies give us extraordinary opportunities, the potential to connect and to learn. At the same time, we've created a culture, and are making choices, that undermine our powers of attention.

Wired.com: Has a direct link been measured between interruptions and neurophysiology?

Jackson: Interruptions are correlated with stress, and a cascade of stress hormones accompany that state of being. Stress, frustration and lowered creativity are pretty toxic. And there are studies showing how the environment shapes brain development in kids.

But I can't say if attention fragmentation really rewires our brains. When you sit at a desk for six hours multitasking like a maniac, are you actually rewiring parts of your attention networks? That's difficult to say right now.

Wired.com: How do these interruptions affect us?

Jackson: This degree of interruption is correlated with stress and frustration and lowered creativity. That makes sense. When you're scattered and diffuse, you're less creative. When your times of reflection are always punctured, it's hard to go deeply into problem-solving, into relating, into thinking.

These are the problems of attention in our new world. Gadgets and technologies give us extraordinary opportunities, the potential to connect and to learn. At the same time, we've created a culture, and are making choices, that undermine our powers of attention.

Wired.com: Has a direct link been measured between interruptions and neurophysiology?

Jackson: Interruptions are correlated with stress, and a cascade of stress hormones accompany that state of being. Stress, frustration and lowered creativity are pretty toxic. And there are studies showing how the environment shapes brain development in kids.

But I can't say if attention fragmentation really rewires our brains. When you sit at a desk for six hours multitasking like a maniac, are you actually rewiring parts of your attention networks? That's difficult to say right now.

"Expressing one's thoughts and feelings to a supportive listener can certainly be a good thing, whether it is to family and friends or to a professional therapist or counselor. However, this does not mean that it is bad or unhealthy to not want to express thoughts and feelings when given the opportunity."

Seery's perspective results from his research of people's responses following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. He and colleagues studied a national sample of people, most of whom did not witness the events in person or lose a loved one. They did, however, experience the events through media coverage.

"We found that people who chose not to express at all or who expressed only a small amount in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy were better off over the following two years than people who expressed more. Specifically, they reported lower levels of mental and physical health symptoms."

From this research Seery concludes there is no single correct or healthy way to deal with a tragedy such as the crash of Flight 3407, which claimed 50 lives.

"Expressing one's thoughts and feelings to a supportive listener can certainly be a good thing, whether it is to family and friends or to a professional therapist or counselor. However, this does not mean that it is bad or unhealthy to not want to express thoughts and feelings when given the opportunity."

Seery's perspective results from his research of people's responses following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. He and colleagues studied a national sample of people, most of whom did not witness the events in person or lose a loved one. They did, however, experience the events through media coverage.

"We found that people who chose not to express at all or who expressed only a small amount in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy were better off over the following two years than people who expressed more. Specifically, they reported lower levels of mental and physical health symptoms."

From this research Seery concludes there is no single correct or healthy way to deal with a tragedy such as the crash of Flight 3407, which claimed 50 lives.

Nu har jag hittat ett kul sätt att beställa också. Jag tittar runt i restaurangen/caféet och försöker hitta den människa jag tycker verkar mest Sympatisk/Irriterad/Glad/Udda av alla gäster. Poängen är att jag bestämmer mig för ordet innan jag går in. OBS! Du får inte titta vad folk äter! Sen tar du ett bord, och när servitören kommer fram så pekar du på den du identifierat och säger "Jag vill äta och dricka EXAKT samma som vad han/hon har beställt."

Jag har testat det några gånger nu, och det är verkligen skitkul. Senast på Wiens flygplats på i lördags. Jag bestämde mig för att kopiera den som såg mest deprimerad ut. När jag kom in så fanns det MASSOR av ledsna människor (Wiens flygplats kl. 9 på morgonen en lördag, what's up with that?!). Men mest deprimerad av alla var en dam som satt i ett hörn, kanske i 60-65:årsåldern. Jag blev glatt överraskad av att se att hon även hade en tallrik framför sig, så jag skulle inte behöva stilla min morgonhunger med en slät kopp te.

Det fanns en ledig plats två bord bort, och jag satte mig med ryggen mot henne. När servitören kom fram och undrade vad jag ville ha så vände jag mig om, pekade på damen och sa i vanlig samtalston "I would like to have EXACTLY what she is having!"

Här vill jag varna - det finns ingen klämkäck poäng om att hon åt ren ister till frukost, eller att hon drack en vodkadrink på morgonen - och att det blev pinsamt eller så.
Kyparen höjde bara ena ögonbrynet och sa: "You want one coffee, one freshly squeezed orange juice and one portion of warm topfenstrudel with vanilla custard?"

Nu har jag hittat ett kul sätt att beställa också. Jag tittar runt i restaurangen/caféet och försöker hitta den människa jag tycker verkar mest Sympatisk/Irriterad/Glad/Udda av alla gäster. Poängen är att jag bestämmer mig för ordet innan jag går in. OBS! Du får inte titta vad folk äter! Sen tar du ett bord, och när servitören kommer fram så pekar du på den du identifierat och säger "Jag vill äta och dricka EXAKT samma som vad han/hon har beställt."

Jag har testat det några gånger nu, och det är verkligen skitkul. Senast på Wiens flygplats på i lördags. Jag bestämde mig för att kopiera den som såg mest deprimerad ut. När jag kom in så fanns det MASSOR av ledsna människor (Wiens flygplats kl. 9 på morgonen en lördag, what's up with that?!). Men mest deprimerad av alla var en dam som satt i ett hörn, kanske i 60-65:årsåldern. Jag blev glatt överraskad av att se att hon även hade en tallrik framför sig, så jag skulle inte behöva stilla min morgonhunger med en slät kopp te.

Det fanns en ledig plats två bord bort, och jag satte mig med ryggen mot henne. När servitören kom fram och undrade vad jag ville ha så vände jag mig om, pekade på damen och sa i vanlig samtalston "I would like to have EXACTLY what she is having!"

Här vill jag varna - det finns ingen klämkäck poäng om att hon åt ren ister till frukost, eller att hon drack en vodkadrink på morgonen - och att det blev pinsamt eller så.
Kyparen höjde bara ena ögonbrynet och sa: "You want one coffee, one freshly squeezed orange juice and one portion of warm topfenstrudel with vanilla custard?"

The vivid images, however, were misleading. A 1994 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine imaged the spinal regions of ninety-eight people with no back pain or any back related problems. The pictures were then sent to doctors who didn't know that the patients weren't in pain. The end result was shocking: two-thirds of normal patients exhibited "serious problems" like bulging, protruding or herniated discs. In 38 percent of these patients, the MRI revealed multiple damaged discs. Nearly 90 percent of these patients exhibited some form of "disc degeneration". These structural abnormalities are often used to justify surgery and yet nobody would advocate surgery for people without pain. The study concluded that, in most cases, "The discovery by MRI of bulges or protrusions in people with low back pain may be coincidental."

In other words, seeing everything made it harder for the doctors to know what they should be looking at. The very advantage of MRI⎯its ability to detect tiny "defects" in tissue⎯turned out to be a liability, since many of the defects were actually a normal part of the aging process. This is the danger of too much information: it can actually interfere with our understanding. We confuse correlation with causation, and make theories out of coincidences. We latch onto medical explanations, even when the explanations don't make very much sense.

... In too many cases, the expensive tests proved worse than useless. All of the extra detail just got in the way. The doctors performed better with less information.

The vivid images, however, were misleading. A 1994 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine imaged the spinal regions of ninety-eight people with no back pain or any back related problems. The pictures were then sent to doctors who didn't know that the patients weren't in pain. The end result was shocking: two-thirds of normal patients exhibited "serious problems" like bulging, protruding or herniated discs. In 38 percent of these patients, the MRI revealed multiple damaged discs. Nearly 90 percent of these patients exhibited some form of "disc degeneration". These structural abnormalities are often used to justify surgery and yet nobody would advocate surgery for people without pain. The study concluded that, in most cases, "The discovery by MRI of bulges or protrusions in people with low back pain may be coincidental."

In other words, seeing everything made it harder for the doctors to know what they should be looking at. The very advantage of MRI⎯its ability to detect tiny "defects" in tissue⎯turned out to be a liability, since many of the defects were actually a normal part of the aging process. This is the danger of too much information: it can actually interfere with our understanding. We confuse correlation with causation, and make theories out of coincidences. We latch onto medical explanations, even when the explanations don't make very much sense.

... In too many cases, the expensive tests proved worse than useless. All of the extra detail just got in the way. The doctors performed better with less information.

Teenagers might have a new excuse for ignoring their parent's orders. Their brain's ability to adopt the viewpoint of others is still budding, new research suggests.

Known as theory of mind, the ability to infer another's perspective – emotional, intellectual, or visual – improves with age.

... brain scans suggest that a teenage mind toils harder when inferring the outlook of others, compared with adults. And a brain region implicated in theory of mind, the medial prefrontal cortex, continues to develop through adolescence, Dumontheil says.

Teenagers might have a new excuse for ignoring their parent's orders. Their brain's ability to adopt the viewpoint of others is still budding, new research suggests.

Known as theory of mind, the ability to infer another's perspective – emotional, intellectual, or visual – improves with age.

... brain scans suggest that a teenage mind toils harder when inferring the outlook of others, compared with adults. And a brain region implicated in theory of mind, the medial prefrontal cortex, continues to develop through adolescence, Dumontheil says.