Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling. Related posts: Dual Action not Better Than Mono Action Antidepressants When Leaders Sacrifice Group Goals for the Sake of Self-Interest Biomimicry In Action ..read more »

Thomas Dolby has been composing music in the uniquely inspirational setting of a restored life-boat. Here he premieres a gorgeous, evocative song from that album -- about one night with a legend. He's backed by members of the modern string quartet Ethel. I wish he could sing, neverteless interesting project and nice song about Billie Holiday Related posts: How to Write a Love Song Golden Age of Jazz in Pictures The Brain in Love ..read more »

Growing up in New York City, Neil didn’t get to see much of the night sky — it’s lost in the 24-hour glow of neon signs and skyscrapers. When he was nine, his parents took him to the Hayden Planetarium at the Natural History Museum. When the lights dimmed and the voice-over thundered “We Are Now in the Universe,” the experience hit Neil like an asteroid. It was as if the universe was calling him. And after walking dogs every day to save up for a telescope, he has been answering ever since. See Neil deGrasse Tyson's homepage or his office .....read more »

When I am traveling the planning mostly is done behind my computer these days. Computers in Human Behavior has a new special issue coming up about studies on the impact of web 2.0 and how these web 2.0 tools change the profile, the role and behavior of tourists. Examples of applications in web 2.0 and tourism are: tripadvisor.com (a customer review website) is currently regarded as a major travel intermediary online social networks such as facebook.com are frequently used for developing and promoting the services of many destinations and tourism suppliers and/or for enabling travelers to get support and travel advice from each .....read more »

In this study psychiatrists have the highest mean empathy score on The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy. They were folowed by Internists, general pediatrics, emergency medicine and family medicine. The differences in empathy scores among psychiatrists and physicians in internal medicine, pediatrics, and emergency medicine were not statistically significant, but physicians in all other specialties scored significantly lower than psychiatrists. In the middle were physicians in general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology. Anesthetists scored the lowest followed by orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, radiology and cardiovascular surgery. These differences might reflect the notion that different individuals have different empathy scores and are attracted .....read more »

This blog carnival collects together the best non-technical science writing that has appeared around the blogosphere in the last few months, to promote and celebrate science, nature or medicine blogs written for the public. It's up at Mauka to MakaiRelated posts: Scientia Pro Publica 24 is up Scientia Pro Publica #14 is up at Genetic Inference Scientia Pro Publica is up at Lab Rat ..read more »

It's been a while since my last post on this blog about transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Myself 'm not impressed by it's efficacy for treatment resistant depression. Especially in treatment resistant depression, whatever that may be, rTMS is probably best avoided for more evidence based form of treatments with proven efficacy. The reason for this post about TMS is a recent publication in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. FDA approval for rTMS was based on a large, industry-sponsored, multicenter, double-blind, monotherapy study with 325 patients with "moderately treatment resistant depression" also discussed on this blog here. My opinion on this trial was This .....read more »

This post is about the neurobiological gender differences in empathy. For a description and definition of empathy which isn't always strait forward please read about it in this previous post: Patient Doctor Relationship Series: Empathy. This post is one of many on the subject. A number of studies suggest that women may be more empathic than man, on average this is obviously true. From experience alone this statement seems reasonable. Nevertheless, some men can be more empathic than women but overall women are more empathic. A number of brain regions have been suggested to be involved in empathy. Two recent studies .....read more »

Impressive video with all black and white pictures taken at "Negro Hamlets" of which I had never heard before. Background music of this documentary is also worth your while. What are "Negro Hamlets"? The clusters of homes on hilltops and creek bottoms around Lexington, Ky., were built on land bought by newly freed slaves in the 1860s and 1870s. They have names like Frogtown, Maddoxtown, Zion Hill. Many of these towns still survive today, six or seven generations later, though some are fading fast into history. Clabber Bottom is down to just a few houses. The photographer Sarah Hoskins prefers to call these .....read more »