Alexandra Carmichael

February 26, 2012

Seven Sunday snippets to stimulate your synapses…

Zap your brain into the zone: Fast track to pure focus. Can hooking up your brain to a battery induce a state of flow? New Scientist explores this question.

The Zynga Abyss: A fascinating excerpt from an essay by Benjamin Jackson in the new Distance quarterly on games and design that highlights the use of dark patterns in social game design.

The “Unhyped” New Areas in Internet and Mobile: A dozen predictions by investor Vinod Khosla of where disruptive new technologies will emerge. Mentions Quantified Self, for all you amazing QS toolmakers!

We, the Web Kids by Piotr Czerski: An essay on what is means to be part of the generation that grew up with the web as an omnipresent part of their lives. Touches on ideas of information, creation, and democracy. A great read.

Quantified Health Prize results: We didn’t catch this earlier, but Less Wrong did a contest asking “What are the best recommendations for what quantities adults (ages 20-60) should take the important dietary minerals in, and what are the costs and benefits of various amounts?” The winner explored potassium and sodium, and they will be running another contest soon.

The Patient of the Future: A look into Larry Smarr’s quantified self journey and possible future of truly personalized medicine.

Light Therapy for Seasonal and Nonseasonal Depression: Efficacy, Protocol, Safety, and Side Effects. (PDF) A very interesting review of light therapy for different flavors of depression, including SAD, bipolar, and major depression. Interestingly, it covers both dosage and *timing* of light administered.

Thanks to Ernesto, Gary, Daniel Reda and Simon Frid.