I welcome one and all again to my roundup of all that is well with my surfing the internet for hidden treasure of knowledge relating to all things mind, soul, and body. This week I have great posts on death, death, and death. Also parasitic stalkers, forbidden fruit, and Heavy Metal, and smell receptor farming to name just a few. So dig in and enjoy the very best I could find-
Regarding the Mind-
The Situationist has an interesting post on the forbidden fruit phenomenon and how a perceived restriction in our freedoms causes us to act, or want to act, directly against any prohibition, especially adolescents and young adults. It has led to a counter-intuitive, “don’t vote” campaign aimed at youth. Whatever you do, don’t read it!
Vaughan at Mind Hacks has a wildly entertaining post about the mind and popular music in which he makes the claim that “Everything I know about psychiatry I learned from Heavy Metal”
The Eide Neurolearning Blog takes a look at a new study that supports the idea that we use different methods to learn as we grow and mature. It appears children tend to respond more to positive reinforcement and adults tend to respond more to their own mistakes.
Regarding the Soul-
At Blogger of Jared, Eric Nielsen has a delightfully funny and touching series inside the mind of one Earl Johnson, Ordinary Latter-day Saint with a heart of gold and an overactive imagination. Think Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Krueger’s Christmas going about the routine of Mormon church life.
First Things on the Square has footage of a wonderful interview of Bruce Porter, a member of the first quorum of the seventy, or general authority, in the LDS church, and Gerald McDermott, a religious scholar and episcopal priest, with interviewer R. R. reno, a devout Catholic, partly in response to an essay by an evangelical, in which Reno does an amazingly perceptive job delving into the tired old question of whether Mormons are Christian.
At Mormon Organon, Steve reflects on an Islamic author who laments the loss of a once vibrant and flourishing Muslin culture to whom the West owes much more than it realizes, Steve argues that the cultural switching of Dark Ages stagnation and Renaissance has come about largely through the rise and fall of religious fundamentalism in each culture.
Regarding the Body-
The Discovery channel reports that scientists have found a way to grow smell receptor cells in the lab, perhaps paving the way for artificial bomb and drug sniffers to replace dogs in the future.
At Musings of a Distractible Mind, Dr. Rob, a fellow “connoisseur of the infant,” continues his humorous, yet educational look at the physician examination of the baby, this time going in depth into matters of the heart.
At Dr. Gwenn is in, the good doctor shares a very important reminder for parents that over the counter cough and cold medicines are actually very bad for children.
or All the Above-
At PalliMed, Thomas Quinn examines the 40 year history of Brain death, in a post sparked the head line “Are you Brain Dead? Depends on the Hospital.“ I should note that while I often feel brain dead when post call, I have yet to find a hospital that would declare me so. Rest easy, if you can read this, brain dead you are not.
My Google reader seems to have and dying on the mind this week, as the Anesthesioboist shares her own agony faced with actively participating in the futile prolonging of life in a situation we doctors face all too often, ending with information on how you can keep this from happening to you.
For a complete death and dying hat trick, I again return toPalliMed, where Amber Wolleson, MD takes an interesting look at the portrayal of death by Walt Disney movies and how it has changed over the past century, both reflecting and forming many of our cultural notions about death today.
Edwin Leap, MD shares a unique and beautiful take on the biblical notion of the Gift of Tongues, as he describes the aches and pains of the heart and soul that lead so many to the Emergency room, and the frustrations and pain caused by the lack of fluency on the part of physicians everywhere.
and just because I Liked it-
At Not Exactly Rocket Science, Ed Yong has a rather creepy post that informs us that parasitic worms that like to live in the human gut are actively tracking us by our chemical trail even as we speak. Try and rest easy, now that I have opened your eyes to what it is that stalks you.
At Movin’ Meat, Shadowfax, an ER Doc in the Pacific Northwest and self proclaimed “card carrying member of the angry Left,” argues a need for clearer language in the health care debate, boldly stating that Health Care is not a right. Lest you think he is a turncoat, he does assert that health care for all in our society is a true moral obligation, mirroring and yet clarifying my own thoughts on how health care is both right and privelege.
The annual Ig Nobel prizes have been announced at Improbable Science. This is a entertaining and intlligent look at scientific studies that at first make you laugh, then make you think. Brilliant!
Grunt Doc has announced the winner of his caption contest with this hilarious entry. Check out the runner up captions at his site. (note the “Doc” that won the prize is not me, but a Psychiatrist in Virginia. No doubt he stole this supremely original and unique handle idea from yours truly.)
“North Carolina Prescription Drug Plan”
That’s all I got for this time. This month has been so busy, I am amazed I got anything in, but no worries, for me, its all about you, the reader. See you next time, whenever it is that I get around to it. See you then 
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