Just to let you know the latest newsletter and companion podcast are up. This month I talk about mnemonics and attention.

A fascinating new idea from an "evolutionary psychiatrist" (there's an interesting concept in itself) has been reported -- psychological neoteny, meaning, retaining a child-like mind. This isn't as bad as it sounds. The theorist suggests that the movement has occurred because of the increasing need for adults to keep learning and keep changing, because of the instability in the labor market and the need to keep up with technology. So retaining mental immaturity is a good thing. Except of course that there is also a downside -- shorter attention span, sensation- and novelty-seeking, cultural fads, cultural 'shallowness'. It's certainly an interesting idea.

And in yet another erosion of the difference between humans and the rest of animalkind, a study has found evidence of empathy in mice. Now the really interesting question is whether the observed behavior is underscored by the same brain mechanisms that they are in humans.