February 6, 2007

O’Neuro: the insula

Curious bit of the brain that could come in handy if you’re trying to say give up the smokes or interior decorating magazines..

From today’s NY Times:

According to neuroscientists who study it, the insula is a long-neglected brain region that has emerged as crucial to understanding what it feels like to be human.

They say it is the wellspring of social emotions, things like lust and disgust, pride and humiliation, guilt and atonement. It helps give rise to moral intuition, empathy and the capacity to respond emotionally to music.

The rest is here

Based on that last sentence all my mutterings about Dvorak and human despair may only be apparent if you’ve got the same insula. At the risk of repeating myself it would be very helpful for everyone to carry a diagram of their particular brain, thus in a moment of intense conflict people could whip out their various diagrams (rather than usual left hook style reaction) and compare and contrast instead of creating new patients for maxillo-facial surgery on a Monday morning.

December 18, 2006

Mr Pamuk’s take on his dad’s suitcase — audio

Here’s a radio link to an English translation of Orhan Pamuk’s Turkish essay/speech given in response to his recent Nobel Prize cheque.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/56ujd/?focuswin

Is it my imagination or are there a remarkable number of unpublished dads behind published male writers?  I’ve never noticed this trend with women. Or mothers handing over their notebooks. Of course, it could be that dads forget to mention their literary ambitions to their daughters. It’s also highly likely that having a writer for a parent would sincerely put you off ever lifting your pen. It’s not exactly like having a footballer or snooker player for a parent, where you can go a few rounds out by the front hedge or bond over the green felt.