readings in psychology for devember 7th

Roger made me Crumpets for breakfast! Toast them, then butter and plum jam make them perfect! CLICk on picture for recipe

Here are a few readings for today:

• fish feel pain

“You may not hear them go “Ouch,” but fish feel pain just the same, according to a new book by Penn State professor Victoria Braithwaite. In her book “Do Fish Feel Pain?” (Oxford University Press, 2010), Braithewaite presents her case that fish, like most other organisms, are capable of experiencing pain and that humans can cause fish to suffer.”

• assessing the impact of binge drinking on the teenage brain

“Emergency room nurse Sheila DeRiso stood at the front of the high school auditorium and looked out on her audience of 50 teenagers and parents. From a black nylon bag she pulled out a long, plastic tube, then a stomach pump, a speculum, a catheter and an adult diaper. The group tittered. All these items are used in the ER every day to treat binge-drinking teens, she told them.”

• autism and faulty mitochondria

“AUTISM is a puzzling phenomenon. In its pure form it is an inability to understand the emotional responses of others that is seen in people of otherwise normal—sometimes above normal—intelligence. However, it is often associated with other problems, and can also appear in mild and severe forms. This variability has led many people to think of it as a spectrum of symptoms rather than a single, clear-cut syndrome. And that variability makes it hard to work out what causes it.”