PET and MRI show differences in cerebral asymmetry and functional connectivity between homo- and heterosexual subjects

1. Ivanka Savic * and 
2. Per Lindström

+Author Affiliations

1. Stockholm Brain Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden

1. Edited by Jan-Åke Gustafsson, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and approved April 30, 2008 (received for review February 27, 2008)
   
   
   

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Abstract

Cerebral responses to putative pheromones and objects of sexual attraction were recently found to differ between homo- and heterosexual subjects. Although this observation may merely mirror perceptional differences, it raises the intriguing question as to whether certain sexually dimorphic features in the brain may differ between individuals of the same sex but different sexual orientation. We addressed this issue by studying hemispheric asymmetry and functional connectivity, two parameters that in previous publications have shown specific sex differences. Ninety subjects [25 heterosexual men (HeM) and women (HeW), and 20 homosexual men (HoM) and women (HoW)] were investigated with magnetic resonance volumetry of cerebral and cerebellar hemispheres.

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Athene's Theory of Everything

Professor of Communication Studies Corey Anton at Grand Valley State University reviews AToE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK9-KQZbnHQ
Rocket Engineer Evie Marom's review: 
http://bit.ly/gCvM8e

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Web addicts have brain changes, research suggests

Brain scans of white matter in the brain

Web addicts have brain changes similar to those hooked on drugs or alcohol, preliminary research suggests.

Experts in China scanned the brains of 17 young web addicts and found disruption in the way their brains were wired up.

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Coast To Coast AM - 19.10.2011 - Deathbed Visions & Grief

Guests: Carla Wills-Brandon, Jeff O'Connell
Deathbed Visions & Grief:

On Wednesday's show, licensed Marriage and Family therapist, Carla Wills-Brandon, discussed her work documenting and compiling evidence of contact with the afterlife through deathbed visions. Such visions of the dying typically include conversations and visitations from deceased loved ones or relatives, as well as religious figures, and beloved pets.

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Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree?Science suggests no

 

President Obama and House Republicans may have narrowly averted a government shutdown last weekend, but as the two sides prepare to engage in another round of intra-party feuding over budget proposals, a new study suggests that basic brain science might stand in the way of bipartisanship.

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.
"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," lead researcher Ryota Kanai writes of the study in the latest issue of Current Biology. "Our study now links personality traits with specific brain structure."
Observers will notice a familiar name on the report: Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, who commissioned the report while serving as a guest host of the BBC Radio 4's Today program in London last year. (Neurological sources of stammering don't come into play.)
The study, which was conducted with the help of 90 young adult volunteers, comes on the heels of other research that linked political beliefs to genetic differences between liberals and conservatives. Last year, a joint study by the Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, found there might actually be a so-called "liberal gene" that influences political leanings.
While the London study does find distinct differences between Democrats and Republicans, its authors caution that more research needs to be done on the subject. One unknown is whether people are simply born with their political beliefs or if our brains adjust to life experiences--which is a possibility, Kanai writes.
"It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said in a statement accompanying the study. "More work is needed to determine how these brain structures mediate the formation of political attitude."
(Photo of John Boehner and President Obama: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Spiritual Reality: Near Death Experiences (2010)

There is a spiritual awakening going on right now in mass proportions and is growing exponentially. By the end of this video, you'll have no doubts about our true, divine reason for being here. You'll feel uplifted and re-energized! Please share this with others!

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David Lynch: Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain

The inside story on transcending the brain, with David Lynch, Award-winning film director of Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Mullholland Drive, Inland Empire (filming); John Hagelin, Ph.D., Quantum physicist featured in "What the bleep do we know?;" and Fred Travis, Ph.D., Director, Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition Maharishi University of Management.

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We'll be immortal in 20 years, says Kurzweil

by  Chris Matyszczyk

I want to live forever. I want to learn how to fly. High. I feel it coming together.

And, thankfully, so does celebrated large brain and, who knows, maybe "Kids from Fame" aficionado Ray Kurzweil.

In an article reported by the Telegraph, Kurzweil says that our technological and genetic know-how is marching at such a furious pace that in 20 years' time we should be holding in our sweaty, excitable hands the nanotechnological secrets of our existence.

This charmingly optimistic view is but another string hanging from the nano-forecasting bow he's been wearing for years, along with his rather singular vision of the way men and machines will cohabit happily ever after.

Extraordinary nanotechnological secrets should allow us, according to Kurzweil, to replace our kidneys, livers, hearts and, hey, what about minds, with functioning vital organs made by human hands.

They say Kurzweil is 61. He doesn't look a day over 43 to me.
(Credit: Null0/Flickr)

Kurzweil's contemplations, first published in The Sun, offer us these vast nuggets of hope: "I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, aging. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever."

Yes, you can be 28 again. You can drink yourself stupid and let those nano-nano folks just slip you a new liver. You can have sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and still be able to perform Whitney Houston karaoke better than Whitney herself can these days.

"If we want to go into virtual-reality mode, nanobots will shut down brain signals and take us wherever we want to go," said Kurzweil. "Virtual sex will become commonplace. And in our daily lives, hologram-like figures will pop in our brain to explain what is happening."

One can only hope those hologram-like figures don't resemble the chaps from Google too closely.

And I am not entirely sure I am persuaded by the concept of virtual sex. Perhaps worse would be the concept of some Googleperson-like hologram talking one through virtual sex. And whispering to one after it.

Still, Kurzweil's passionate certainty offers us all hope for a very different future from the one we might have imagined.

I can't wait. No, really. I can't.

Ray Kurzweil book "The singularity is near: when humans transcend biology"