Social whirl of a life? Thank your amygdala

I guess this is something we already knew or at least suspected. If your social life is a full of friends and family, you might want to thank an almond-shaped clump of nerves at the base of your brain.

Researchers have found that part of the brain called the amygdala, a word derived from the Greek for almond, is larger in more sociable people than in those who lead less gregarious lives. The finding, which held for men and women of all ages, is the first to show a link between the size of a specific brain region and the number and complexity of a person's relationships.

The team of researchers, led by psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett, found that participants with larger amygdalas typically had more people in their social lives and maintained more complex relationships.

According to the theory, those with the smallest amygdalas listed fewer than five to 15 people as regular contacts, while those with the largest amygdalas counted up to 50 acquaintances in their social lives. Older volunteers tended to have smaller amygdalas and fewer people in their social group.

This research also corresponds with that done on primates who tend to have a bigger amygdala when they live in large social groups. However, we should be aware that a word of caution should be observed. As Lisa Feldman Barrett states,

"It's not that someone with a larger amygdala can do things that someone with a smaller amygdala cannot do. People differ in how well they remember people's names and faces and the situation in which they met them. Someone with a larger amygdala might simply be better at remembering those details," Barrett added.

What a sad day for journalism - two famous journalistic faces gone from public life - RIP

What a sad day for journalism - two famous journalistic faces gone from public life...makes you feel old...

...Brian Hanrahan -"I counted them all out and I counted them all back..." http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/20/brian-hanrahan-bbc-foreign-correspondent-dies



...and Anthony Howard with his unmistakable voice..."http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12035026"



RIP

Why can planes take off from Canada but not land in London?

Why can planes take off from Canada but not land in London? Given the temperatures are close to -20 C in parts of Canada, you have to wonder at the level of ineptness of the British authorities, the BAA, who don't seem to have the wherewithal to organise safe take off and landing procedures during this period of inclement weather. Hundreds more flights were cancelled on Monday morning as criticism of BAA's response to the recent bad weather intensified.

According to David Millward, Martin Evans and Stephen Adams of The Daily Telegraph, "Anger towards BAA – which operates Heathrow Airport – increased as the Christmas travel plans of half a million air passengers continued to be ruined."

Surely it can't be that hard to de-ice the planes' wings and the runways as countries that deal with perpetually bad weather patterns are used to dealing with such scenarios every winter?

One million passengers were due to pass through Heathrow alone this week and with warnings of further bad weather in the next few days, some travellers whose flights have been cancelled were told they faced waits of up to five days. As passengers were forced to sleep in terminal buildings for a third night, there was mounting criticism of BAA, the airport operator.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, rang Colin Matthews, the chief executive of BAA, to demand answers over why the airport had failed to cope. “I stressed the huge economic importance of Heathrow. I also expressed my hope that they would pull out all the stops to ensure that the planes get moving again. Most people realise that it has not snowed at Heathrow for some time so it is vital everything is done to get the aircraft and passengers moving again.”

BAA, which is controlled by Spain’s Ferrovial, claimed it had spent an extra £6 million on equipment to deal with snow and ice compared with last year. But with pre-tax profits expected to near £1 billion this year, the operator has been accused of failing to invest properly in equipment to cope with the extreme cold.

This reminds me of another well-known institution in Britain, Barclays Bank which, before the Credit Crunch, was making pre-tax profits of between 3-4 billion pounds per quarter. You don't have to be a genius to see that profits as usual have been put over and above the needs and indeed comfort of the customers.

Is a rose a rose by any other name? Or a sandwich?

Is a rose a rose by any other name? Or a sandwich? Well, not when it refers to a human being it seems. In fact, you have to marvel at how the media and sociologists love to come up with catchy names that we'll all remember. I guess this is because we have such short attention spans these days that we get this kind of thing. The latest is what have been called the "sandwich" and "club sandwich generations". Who sits down and thinks these things up?

"The newly identified group is being described as the “club sandwich” generation, as they will be called upon to support three layers of their family, one more than today’s so-called “sandwich generation” who put their children through school and university while also caring for their parents in retirement."

Don't know about you, but if I was nearing retirement and had a lifetime of service to others, and had raised a family too, I'd be unhappy at being referred to as a "club sandwich" kind of person!! Perhaps I'm just being too sensitive but it invites parallels with expressions like "a sandwich short of a picnic" if you know what I mean!

"This generation, the club sandwich generation, are taking on quite a lot, providing the care both to children and to older people that would otherwise have to be provided by the state."

Given that these people are the backbone of any society, shouldn't we be just a little bit more respectful?

Why Michael Moore's posting bail money for Julian Assange is a noble act worthy of our attention

It's refreshing and noteworthy to see that many people from the world of the arts and elsewhere have come out in support of Julian Assange. It comes as no small surprise that free speech is now under attack after the Bush years. If you look around you, there are rarely ever any instances any more of whistle blowing from large corporations or even governments. Why have so many capable journalists been muzzled and the so-called Guardian of the Fourth Estate, the Media, been so silent when so many civil rights' abuses seem to be everywhere from China and Tibet, to Burma and Thailand, and from the USA and the UK sending soldiers to their deaths in the thousands which, as we all know, was based on a lie e.g. that Saddam Hussain had chemical and/or nuclear weapons.

It seems too that the venom with which US politicians have gone after Mr. Assange is quite shocking and the way large mostly US corporations have been cowed into dropping his Wikileaks accounts: Mastercard, PayPal, Amazon.com but to name a few. Why too have none of the other news organisations not been attacked? They too published the documents but appear to have done so with complete impunity. Isn't there a double standard being applied here?

Thank goodness then that Michael Moore has done something noble by offering to post bail for the entrenched whistle blower and also to provide website space to continue to enable Wikileaks to post the other documents:

"Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars."

He is not alone in offering help. Ken Loach, the noted film director has also lent his financial support along with Jemima Khan and John Pilger. Many others too have helped such as the new cyber-bandits known as "Hacktivists', who have attacked and in some cases, brought down the likes of Visa and PayPal.

It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out as Assange clearly has a lot of grassroots support, and I am for one count myself among them. I think it's about time someone stood up to these demons of the world who spout rhetoric about free speech but then plant hollow rape charges against you and then try to get you locked up! I predict that this is the start of an new era in cyber-terrorism as the Internet has been policed far too rigidly and suppressed free speech. Watch this space as they say.

What have Captain Jack Sparrow and Keith Richards got in common?

Actor Johnny Depp has said that his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean was not liked by Disney bosses. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor says former chief executive Michael Eisner "couldn't stand" the way he interpreted the role. Depp went on to earn an Oscar nomination for his performance.

Depp now says it was Michael Eisner, the head of Disney at the time, who declared,'he's ruining the movie'," The actor now also reveals that Mr Eisner had questioned whether he was "some kind of simpleton" or even drunk when acting in the movie.

The reason is actually quite simple: the role of Captain Jack Sparrow was modelled on the Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards! For me, it means that while the movie was about piracy, there was nothing fake about Depp's performance. Ok, so now we know.