Is it ethical to frighten people for the 'greater good'?
Long before David Attenborough brought his soothing voice to the explication of animal behaviour for the BBC Life series, the North American television public had been introduced to the majesty and oddities of the natural world through Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. I remember lying on my stomach in my grandparent’s living room watching programs…
Daily positive messages are designed to help emergency personnel cope with trauma of the job, similar to successful Text4Hope
Two free text messaging services have been launched to support the mental health of Alberta’s first responders. Text4PTSI and Text4Well-being are designed to help emergency personnel cope positively with feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, disturbed sleep and suicidal thoughts, said project lead Vincent Agyapong, clinical professor of psychiatry and global mental health in the University of Alberta Faculty…
Without safeguards, the abuse of dream tech is inevitable
By 2030, could an agency record everything we dream? Danish member of parliament Ida Auken thought so. In her 2016 blog post on the World Economic Forum’s website and republished by Forbes, “Welcome to 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy and Life Has Never Been Better,” Auken envisioned a person saying, “Once in a…
As the world’s favoured search engine, dominant email service and most popular video provider, Google has immense power over public opinion
“The Google of today is a monopoly gatekeeper for the internet,” reads the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the tech giant. The document filed on Oct. 20 alleges the company has used exclusionary agreements to block out competitors. Google accounts for 80 per cent of U.S. internet searches and 30 per cent of U.S.…
Your intuition works by drawing your attention to something your analytical brain can’t see. And it has your best interests at heart
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts rushed to provide advice and offer expertise on how to respond in the face of crisis. Much of it was very helpful – and overwhelming in its sheer volume. That has subsided significantly. Perhaps consultants got busy with other things or ran out of things to say.…
New wearable tech by U of A scientists could help improve the speed and accuracy of stroke diagnosis
A new technology developed by University of Alberta neuroscientists is the first step in developing a low-cost, portable method to improve the diagnosis and detection of stroke – before patients arrive at the hospital. “We used a portable headband with embedded EEG sensors, a gyroscope and an accelerometer to see if this can help improve…
Now a professor of music psychology, Susan Rogers will also discuss music and psychology in two virtual presentations for the U of A’s music department
Susan Rogers needed just one more lucrative gig to go back to school. It wasn’t that she didn’t already have a hugely successful career. She cut her teeth as a studio technician with David Crosby and Graham Nash after dropping out of high school, and was hired by Prince as staff technician in the early…
Digital mental health treatment can work just as well as in-person therapy according to newly published research by a team of rehabilitation, psychology, psychiatry and military experts based at the University of Alberta. The researchers carried out a scoping review of studies about mental health treatment delivered by telephone or computer to military members, veterans and…
Do we really believe that deception, dishonesty, manipulation and lack of accountability lead to peace, happiness and meaning in life?
If we look honestly at the media that much of the world consumes, we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re living in a time of crisis. One of the goals of education is to develop the capacity for critical thinking in young people. This doesn’t mean we condemn anyone else, but it does mean we learn…
It’s time for government officials to focus on helping old and vulnerable people re-integrate into mainstream society
No doubt many Canadians remember drinking from school water fountains long before students carried water bottles. When the school day began, some elementary students would rush to get a drink while the other children queued in an orderly fashion. Learning about queuing culture was a major lesson for students in elementary school. There were, of…