A Fat Question

People with great compassion for others deserve admiration and respect. Responding to others’ pain, misery, or even ill-will through simple intentions of benevolence… this is more powerful than the thugery or posing of those generally desiring control.

The Dalai Lama, for example, maintains his compassion despite the Chinese government’s repressive response to peaceful demonstrations in his Tibetan homeland. The Buddhist leader can be considered an expert meditator, so why doesn’t he threaten the PRC with the razor-sharp intentions of his focused mind?

The Dalai Lama must have a generous heart, but the answer to his benevolence may rest inside his cranium.

A study published March 26 in the journal PLoS ONE shows that, like the Dalai Lama, we can learn to become more compassionate through mindfulness.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison research team placed 32 subjects, experienced or new to meditation, under a magnetic resonance imaging scanner and exposed them to sounds that evoke empathy. Sounds included a baby laughing, a woman crying, ambient noise in a restaurant.

The researchers discovered significant activity in the insula, the frontal portion of the brain that maps emotional response. In effect, people who meditate cultivate tendencies that are empathic and altruistic.

The study was part of an effort to investigate reflection, self-control, generosity, and other-oriented behaviors typical of mindfulness practitioners.

Neuroscientists have begun searching for clues that link meditation with improved cognitive function and immune response as well as with stress reduction. Mindfulness is also being investigated as a treatment option for disorders, such as ADHD and depression.

Harvard researcher Sara Lazar led a study that found mindfulness practitioners had thicker gray matter in the frontal portion of the brain responsible for attention and sensory processing. UMass Medical School researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn has documented meditation’s positive effects on patients with chronic pain and stress related disorders.

Mindfulness practitioners have claimed since Buddha that loving-kindness can be developed through the practice of meditation. Not only does being present and focusing on the breath have beneficial effects on the physiology of the brain. Now, science is proving that the 2,500-year-old practice can help us learn to be kinder.

If you’re planning an annual spring roadtrip to the Texas Hill Country to view wildflowers, you might reconsider your route.

Central Texas will make for an “average” display of wildflowers because of sparse precipitation last fall.

But, don’t count out wetter areas closer to the Gulf Coast, such as La Grange or Brenham.

So say the native plant experts at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which has released the 2008 Wildflower Forecast.

Please visit the link to read more.

How feasible is a database on Earth’s biodiversity that is accessible to anyone? A new collaborative Web site is ensuring that scientists as well as amateur biologists both share in the knowledge. The Encylopedia of Life features images, descriptions, videos, maps and links to research about the diverse species of our planet.

The EOL project was funded through a $12.5 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Many of us believe we have an optimal learning time during the day when memory is at its sharpest.

We think this peaks for some people in the morning, others in the afternoon, and still others in the evening.

How about during a break with relaxing music and a cup of tea? Can spending some time chilling be good for your brain?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientist David Foster has found that interrupting learning activities with periods of rest or distraction can actually prime memory to work more efficiently.

Yoga, meditation, daydreaming, or even checking email increases the memory cementing capacity of the brain’s hippocampus. During a learning activity, neurons in the hippocampus fire, locate preferred places, and replay in a mapping sequence each time the activity is repeated.

Foster and his colleagues gave research rats routine breaks while they explored unfamiliar areas on a track. Neural activity in the hippocampus was monitored during the routine breaks. The researchers claim that during the breaks, a rat’s mapping sequence replayed in reverse and at a rate 20 times faster.

Foster’s research supports previous findings that intense “cramming” sessions are only futile. This bit of news might be helpful to students looking for advice on developing study habits.

The research suggests short study sessions of 30 minute intervals spaced over a longer period of time. Or encourage students to take 15 minute breaks for every 50 minutes of study.

Hand gesturing when you speak could make you a more successful communicator, particularly if you’re attempting to teach or train a group of people.

University of Rochester researcher Susan Wagner Cook has discovered a possible link between gesturing and memory and learning.

Cook’s work with elementary students shows that teachers who use gestures to explain a concept convey their messages more effectively. And students who move their hands as they work through new concepts are more likely to retain the knowledge than those who do not gesture.

Please read the Washington Post article.

A guru took note of a novice yogi struggling to bend into a head-to-knee pose. After weeks of meditation and practice, the yogi should have become somewhat more flexible, aware, and relaxed.

“Your movements flow like water, your breath is a calm breeze,” the guru finally said to the exhausted yogi. “And, your dogma is sitting on your karma.”

As if by magic, the yogi bent effortlessly into the pose and could actually touch the floor with the palms of her hands.

Guru helps yogi change self-theory. Yogi performs pose first thought implausible.

Stanford pyschologist Carol S. Dweck supports the punch line in her research. She wrote a book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, that discusses self-concept and its role in motivation and learning.

Dweck proposes that some people perceive intelligence as something that is cultivated. These people tend to welcome challenges despite the risk of failure. By contrast, those who see intelligence as a fixed trait only prefer activities they can perform well enough to avoid appearing obtuse.

According to Dweck, when we teach learners that their abilities can be cultivated, what flows naturally from this mindset is “the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort.”

Dweck studied two groups of students enrolled in an eight week workshop. One group learned study skills and the growth mindset—that the brain is like a muscle becoming stronger with use—that learning occurs when neurons are making connections. A control group also learned study skills but had no lesson in the growth mindset.

What results would you expect from the group that learned the growth mindset? Within the span of a semester, these students were showing significant signs of academic improvement. Dweck suggests that the students were highly motivated because they became aware they could impact their own learning.

Dweck suggests as growth mindset gurus, we can use language that praises effort and not intelligence, attributes, or skill.

Help learners think about the EFFORT (practice, study, persistence, strategies, choices) they put into tasks and how they have improved over time.

Avoid phony praise and reassurances, placing of blame, or judging and labels.

Teach learners to understand that setbacks are never permanent.