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Tuck into our latest round-up of the best psych and neuro links.

30 March 2012

By Christian Jarrett

New brains exhibition (free entry) at London’s Wellcome Collection “Brains: The Mind as Matter” has now opened. Includes samples from Albert Einstein’s brain. There’s a new pictorial blog to accompany the exhibition, and an online game called “Axon” based on real brain science!

Smartphones and other gadgets make it increasingly difficult to escape work, even when our minds really shouldn’t be on the job, says Grahan Snowdon for The Guardian.

The winner of this year’s Art of Neuroscience competition has been announced.

Boing Boing interview with Daniel Everett who studies the languages of remote tribes. In related news,  Noam Chomsky has a new book out – “The Science of Language – Interviews with James McGilvray“.

Is a project to map the brain’s full communications network worth the money? Jon Bardin with a free Nature news feature.

Why do people suddenly lose it? Answers from the WSJ and Mind Hacks.

Why did ancient peoples cut holes in their heads?

Mark Changizi argues that we didn’t evolve to produce language and music, they evolved to suit our needs and our brains.

Employees with “virtual” managers get less feedback, an unbalanced workload, and feel less empowered – from our sister blog The Occupational Digest.

More thoughts from social psychology professor John Bargh on the recent failure to replicate one of his classic studies.

Is neuroscience over-reaching itself? Two writers think so, “It’s not always clever to use brain science as an explanation for the most complex human problems,” says psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed. “Neuroscience wants to be the answer to everything. It isn’t” says philosopher Roger Scruton.

The illusion of being human”, conference report by blogger Jason Goldman.

What it means to be human”, video of panel discussion.

Using Twitter to teach psychology.

Tom Stafford on our predilection for superstition.

Review by Sam McNerney for Scientific American Mind of Jonah Lehrer’s new book “Imagine: How Creativity Works. Meanwhile the Observer newspaper had a profile of Jonah.

The latest (April) issue of The Psychologist magazine is online. There’s a free digital preview for non-members. Check out the new Viewpoints feature, which focuses on the person in psychology research and practice.

The Radio 4 programme “Feathered apes“, about the intelligence of crows and other corvids, is available to listen on iPlayer. In related news, there’s a new book out “Bird sense: What’s it like to be a bird?“.

If you like Mad Men and you like psychology, this new book is worth a look.

Is free will an illusion – debate with Paul Bloom, Michael Gazzaniga and more.

Apparently the average IQ in Britain is falling – a reversal of the Flynn effect.

The latest edition of In-Mind, the online social psychology magazine is up, with articles on gossip and choice.

Radio 4’s Writing Madness explores the representation of mental illness in twentieth century and Victorian fiction.

Ask Steve Pinker anything.

Jon Ronson reviews “The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain.

That’s all for now. I hope you have a relaxing Easter. Feast will return in a few weeks.