The latest issue of the science & Consciousness Review is out, with some intriguing items. For example, have you ever wondered why the world doesn't go dark when you blink? (No, I hadn't, actually -- I assumed it just happened too fast to notice) Apparently part of our brain switches off at the same time. And there's a clinical condition where stroke victims deny they're paralyzed. No, they're not just "in denial"; there's a reason they don't think they're paralyzed -- the vagaries of the human brain, isn't it amazing?

And here's yet another article on gender differences, this time on the whole socialization question. I must say I'm in complete agreement with it. I'm fond of saying I believed completely in the "give me a child until he's seven" ideology, until I had children. When my male toddler -- raised in a tv-free household, only educational toys, friends all similarly inclined, etc -- started making guns out of his duplo blocks, I lost my faith!