How Americans Really View Free Speech
Plus: Humans Brains are Less Simple Than We Think
Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbour is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.
—Paulo Coelho
Americans Treasure Free Speech… For Their Own Views Anyway
Americans strongly agree that free speech is crucial to democracy, a new survey finds, but many think it's OK to block certain subjects or speakers.
But on average, people’s positions are not all about whether they agree or disagree with the views of those they’d wish to block:
Our surveys found that the public has a nuanced view of free speech. … More respondents were comfortable with a pro-Palestinian speaker than a leader of Hamas and with a scientist who believes that IQ varies by race rather than an outright white supremacist.
—John G. Geer and Jacob Mchangama
Here’s a related article from our archives that might interest you:
The Overwhelming Lack of Intellectual Humility
We humans all think we know more than we really do. That’s why we argue about everything.
Humans Brains are Less Simple Than We Think
When scientists began peering into the brain with MRI and PET scans, they could map out neural pathways. Each brain function was studied in isolation, as though all our circuits functioned independently. Likewise, mental health conditions got assigned to certain impaired networks. We know better now. The brain is super complex, and its circuits don’t operate in isolation. This means the anatomy and circuitry and function of the brain is far more complex than conventional depictions. As just one example:
Regulation of emotions involves an interplay between logical, calmer, circuits of the prefrontal cortex modulating the volatile, reactive impulses generated in the amygdala and other limbic structures. These are referred to, respectively, as “top down” and “bottom up” forces.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
Brain ‘Pacemaker’ Lessens Parkinson’s Symptoms, Shows Promise for Depression and Other Conditions
Taking a page from the manual of heart maintenance, researchers have developed an implantable brain pacemaker of sorts that lessened symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in a small test group. The devices suggests similar approaches could be used to reduce the effect of certain mental health conditions, and even help some people sleep better. There’s more testing to be done, however, before the devices might be available to the public.
When it detects symptoms — such as involuntary movements or its inverse, stiffness or an inability to move — the device “intervenes with precisely calibrated pulses of electricity,” the researchers explain. They call the process adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS). It’s seen as an adjunct to medications, a personalized device that adjusts its pulses according to how active a drug might be at any given moment.
—Robert Roy Britt
14 Risk Factors for Dementia Identified, Pointing to Prevention
New research finds 14 risk factors for dementia, behaviors and conditions which, if addressed early on could reduce the dementia prevalence by 45%. This doesn’t mean dementia would go away, nor that everyone can avoid all the factors. It means an individual can do many things during life to lower their risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias down the road, and/or delay its onset and make life better in old age.
The rapid growth of aging populations worldwide is a triumph of better public and personal health throughout the entire life span. Yet, given the lack of a dementia cure, this report highlights the importance of prevention as well as supporting quality of life for those with a dementia diagnosis.
—Eric B. Larson and Laura Gitlin
Also from our sister site, Aha! Science:
The Menace Lurking in Your Mattress
Bed bugs are on the move, a two-decade resurgence that has them showing up in every corner of the globe, including in homes and hotels across America. Cleanliness is no guarantee they won’t find your bed (especially if you live in Chicago or New York, or the Southeast, or Ohio…). Find out how to distinguish these tiny bloodsuckers from other pests, and what you can do about them.
They like hanging out in bedrooms because they’re attracted to the carbon dioxide (CO2) that people exhale.
—Annie Foley
Our There: More Wisdom & Wellness
Brain scans of some unresponsive hospital patients show detectable activity
Patients who don’t wake up are often deemed to have lost consciousness. But a new study “suggests that a quarter of brain-injured patients who don’t physically respond to commands are doing so mentally.” (NBC News)
What the new Medicare drug-price negotiations mean for you
“I do expect that many older adults will reap substantial savings on their out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs over the coming years. But that will primarily happen due to other Inflation Reduction Act provisions.” (The Conversation)
World’s oldest woman dies, which is something she expected
“What do you expect from life?” a doctor once asked Maria Branyas Morera, who died this week at age 117. “Death,” she said. Morera was not a particularly gloomy person, it seems, just a realist. And don’t expect to learn much about longevity from her. “I haven’t done anything special to get to this age,” she once said. (The New York Times)