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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: mind

mind stories: 10 news summaries

The Power
of Negative Thinking

Better to acknowledge bad feelings than recite phony good ones

Jul 8, 09 2:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Deliberate positive thinking—from Norman Vincent Peale to Stuart Smalley—has long been touted as a way to overcome feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt. But a new study suggests that repeating positive mantras may often backfire, making people with low self-esteem feel even worse about themselves. For many, it may... More »

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study • psychology • mind • self-help • psychotherapy • psychological research • positive thinking

Toyota Rolls Out Mind-Controlled Wheelchair

Chair can translate thoughts into commands within milliseconds

Jun 30, 09 3:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - Toyota has unveiled research on a mind-controlled wheelchair that can read its user's thoughts much faster and more accurately than any previous efforts, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The chair's interface reads brainwave activity and responds to imagined hand and foot movements within 125 milliseconds with up to 95% accuracy,... More »

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Toyota • mind • wheelchair • brain waves

 Think Hard: 
 Telekinetic Toys 
 On Their Way 

Concentration 'magically' lifts ball in tube

Apr 23, 09 12:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - Two companies are set to release toys this fall that kids can operate using only their minds—and that’s just the beginning of a telekinetic revolution, experts say. To use one toy, intrigued individuals wear a headset and concentrate on anything. The toy senses the brain’s electrical activity... More »

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technology • toys • mind • Mattel • neurons • gadget • telekinesis

Darwin Skeptics Separate Mind From Gray Matter

Debate focuses on whether the brain and mind function in tandem

Feb 21, 09 6:24 PM CST
(Newser) - To undermine Darwinian theories about the emergence of life, skeptics have a new weapon in mind: the brain, NPR reports. They’re challenging the notion that a cluster of cells could produce such high-level mental processes as consciousness and free will. “It doesn’t hang together,” says one... More »

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evolution • brain • Charles Darwin • mind • consciousness

 Jacko Needed 
 $350K 'Mind Guru' 

Bahraini prince paid consultant to help juice singer's creative process

Nov 19, 08 12:19 PM CST
(Newser) - The sheikh who is suing Michael Jackson says he spent nearly $350,000 on a brain guru for the star, the New York Daily News reports. Mind-mapping and motivational guru Tony Buzan spent one week with the King of Pop in an effort to unlock his creativity, thus allowing him... More »

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music industry • celebrity trials • trial • brain • celebrity • mind • Michael Jackson • Bahrain • Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa

(Newser) - Superstitions and conspiracy theories all boil down to control issues, a new study says. When subjects in a University of Texas test were made to feel out of control, they saw more patterns that did not exist—whether images in a fuzzy picture or links between unconnected actions. Which is... More »

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study • science • research • psychology • conspiracy • mind • superstition

Mind-Reading Edges Closer
to Reality

New computer can determine what
you're looking at

Mar 6, 08 3:30 AM CST
(Newser) - Mind-reading has taken a step toward possibility with a new computer that can decode brain activity to determine what a person is looking at with up to 90% accuracy, the Independent reports. With improvements, the technology could be able to reconstruct any image a person could conjure up—and someday,... More »

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brain • research • mind • neuroscience • neurology • neuroimaging • fMRI

Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind

From memories to sleep to consciousness itself, scientists still can't agree

Jan 19, 08 11:49 AM CST
(Newser) - Debated for centuries, the human mind still holds a mystery or two in modern times. Here are LiveScience's top 10:
  1. Consciousness. Still the biggest human puzzle since Socrates.
  2. Cryonics. Can gray matter be revived from a 320-degree deep freeze?
  3. Aging. An unappreciated benefit, or simply cell decay with
... More »

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sleep • memory • science • list • brain • mind • mystery • top 10 • laughter

The Mind Thinks More Than It Knows

Subconscious works behind the scenes of decisions, judgments

Jul 31, 07 3:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - After just handling a stranger’s coffee, people make subconscious judgments about personality, psychologists say. Asked to hold a lab assistant’s cup of hot or iced coffee, Yale students associated cold drinkers with selfish personalities, the Times reports. The experiment is part of a body of research that... More »

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evolution • Yale University • brain • psychology • subconscious • mind

10 Books
to Blow
Your Mind

Best takes on psychological journeys, from a British novelist/therapist

Jul 17, 07 1:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sebastian Beaumont, the author of Thirteen, offers his list of books that "blur the boundaries of consensus 'reality' and psychological reality."
  1. Journey to the East, Hermann Hesse
  2. Le Grand Meaulnes, Henri Alain-Fournier
  3. Fight Club, Chuck Palahnuik
  4. Vurt, Jeff Noon
  5. Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
More »

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literature • list • psychology • Sebastian Beaumont • mind • book

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