At long last, it has returned.  It’s time again for the fabulous fruits of my travel over the vast concourses of the internet.  Every time I try to go more than a week, I just end up with more I feel compelled to include.  So I have provided a bounteous helping of the the best of  the internet’s mind, body,  and soul.  Dig in and enjoy.

Regarding the Mind-

At Medical News Today, Leah Suepersad reports on a study that explodes the stereotype of the mentally ill, finding they are much more likely to be victims of violence rather than perpetrators when showing increased symptoms.

Sharp Brains shares a wonderful article in Greater Good Magazine that castigates the way the Arts are defended in our education system and evaluates and defines more exactly what exactly the benefits of the Arts really are for developing cognitive skills.

At Wired Science, Lizzie Buchen reports on a fascinating study in which a powerful optical illusion, the hollow mask is found absent in Schizophrenics, evidence of a top down processing malfunction, complete with a video demonstration.

Regarding the Soul-

The Economist reviews the writings of Ali Allawi, who asks what went wrong with Islam over the past 200 years,  as a once vibrant spiritual culture has been twisted and distorted by its reaction to western modernity.

At By Common Consent, Margaret Young ponders the way our memorials often weaken the great and terrible events of history by sanitizing the radical and revolutionary, writing beautifully on the necessity of context in religion.

At Waters of Mormon, the Baron imagines the world from the perspective of a prophet, with an interesting commentary on the double bind they find themselves in and the burden of their calling.

There is nothing on Earth better than a good conversion story, and Mormon historian Ardis Parshall has a magnificent one she found digging through the archives at Keepapitchinin.

At Times and Seasons, Nate Oman eloquently uncovers the absolute fundamental of Mormonism, missing from the “fundamentalist” sects grabbing headlines in the news, the much maligned, but vital principal of Missionary work, without which a pure, flowing stream quickly becomes a stagnant pool.

Regarding the Body-

Natasha Singer, in the New York Times, probes into the Mushrooming number of uses for the Botulinum Neurotoxin, or BoTox, noting it’s not just for wrinkles anymore (never was!).  She reports some of the dangers ahead as off label use races ahead of regulations.

The Economist has an excellent article on the emerging science of connectomics, which in English means using very cool new technology to map out all the interconnections of the brain.

At Health Skills Weblog, Amiedusfree asks if medical therapy and healing should be more art, or science, as she ponders the power of each role.

At Other Things Amanzi, Bongi shares the counter-intuitive secret behind remaining calm and focused in a crisis, good for sugeons and all medical professionals, with emergency staring them in the face, the importance of taking a moment.

Or All the Above-

At Man without Qualities, Stephen Pinker contemplates our genes, ourselves.

At Slate, Meghan O’Rourke publishes a series of reflections that occurred during the long slow process of death for her mother, in a thoughtful, anguished, emotional, and fully human way.

Svasti: a Journey From Assault to Wholeness takes a humorous yet poignant turn, as she personifies the inadequacies of language, mind, and self as the three stooges.

At Notes from an Anesthesioboist, T shares her unexpected delight finding when animal carcass with her children, in which a beautiful and spontaneous spontaneous comparative anatomy lesson erupted.

and just because I Liked it-

At the Covert Rationing Blog, Dr. Rich examines the American fascination with Dr. House, who embodies everything physicians are no longer supposed to be, springing into a wonderful philosophical discussion about the inherent tension between autonomy and beneficence in medical ethics.

At What Mormons Like, Brigham entertains himself (and me) by answering some of the wacky search engine queries that have brought people to his blog.

And finally, words can simply not describe the hilarity of these Greek Irish dancers from the TV show Britain’s got talent.  Warning- may bust a gut from the belly laughs.

Tagged: anatomy, animals, art, autonomy, beneficence, BoTox, carcass, cognition, connectomics, context, conversion, crisis, dancing, death, Diffusion tensor imaging, dying, education, emergency, expression, genes, greek, grieving, healing, history, hollow mask, House MD, humor, irish, Islam, language, memorialization, missionary work, modernity, optical illusions, prophets, proselyting, schizophrenia, self, sterotypes, stigma, surgery, therapy, tractography, Westernism