There is a myth of multitasking, which many have bought into, but which reduces their effectiveness and productivity. I still remember when I was struggling with this in my job and an article in Time magazine from 2006 struck a cord with me as I read it: There’s substantial literature on how the brain handles multitasking. And basically, it doesn’t. The Time magazine article focuses on what a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study dubbed "Generation M," a group of young people (ages 8 to 18) who were increasingly engaging in "media multitasking." The article found that while the total time spent with electronic media hadn't increased significantly, the amount of media consumed within that time had, thanks to activities like instant messaging while watching TV or doing homework. The key scientific finding highlighted in the article is that the human brain does not truly multitask. Instead, it performs a rapid toggling between tasks . When an individual attempts ...
Is Sugar Toxic? - NYTimes.com The hour and a half long video lecture from UC : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM Small Excerpt The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.” It doesn’t hurt Lustig’s cause that he is a compelling public speaker. His critics argue that what makes him compelling is his practice of taking suggestive evidence and insisting that it’s incontrovertible. Lustig ce...