Bookmarks (47) clear filters

Back in 2009, the musician who goes by the name "Cheesy Nirvosa" began experimenting with ambient music, before eventually launching a YouTube channel where he "composes longform space and scifi ambience." Or what he otherwise calls "ambient geek sleep aids." Click on the video above, and you can get lulled to sleep listening to the […] 42 Hours of Ambient Sounds from <i>Blade Runner,</i>...

Above, The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, answers basic questions you might have about the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. What are the symptoms? Where have cases been confirmed so far? How is the virus transmitted? What are the available treatments? Should I be panicking? and more... For more information, visit the CDC website. What Is the Coronavirus?: Answers to Common Questions About the...

I always champion anything that will improve the lives of people with disabilities and put it on the front burner. - Itzhak Perlman At its best, the Internet expands our horizons, introducing us to new interests and perspectives, forging connections and creating empathy. The educational children's series Sesame Street was doing all that decades earlier. Witness this brief […] Itzhak Perlman Appears on <I>Sesame Street</I> and Poignantly...

After his dismissal from Harvard for researching LSD with Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert left the U.S. for India in 1967. He devoted himself to the teachings of Hindu teacher Neem Karoli Baba and returned to the States a permanently changed man, with a new name and a message he first spread via the collaboratively-edited and […] Ram Dass (RIP) Offers Wisdom on Confronting Aging...

Photo by Abhisek Sarda, via Wikimedia Commons I tend to be somewhat skeptical of scientific research that focuses solely on what practices like meditation do to the greyish-pinkish-white stuff inside our skulls. Humans are too complex to be treated like brains in vats. Holistic disciplines like meditation and yoga emphasize the union of mind and […] How Yoga Changes the Brain and May Guard...

A two- (and three- and one-) wheeled revolution is upon us. Dubbed “micro-mobility” by start-up marketers and influencers, the trend incorporates all sorts of personal means of transport. While the buzz may hover around electric scooters and skateboards, the faithful bicycle still leads the pack, as it has for over a hundred years. And advocates—who […] How Bicycles Can Revolutionize Our Lives: Case Studies...

In the app-rich, nuance-starved culture of late capitalism, we are encouraged to conflate two vastly different concepts: the simple and the easy. Maybe no better example exists than in the marketing of meditation—the selling of an activity that, in essence, requires no specialized equipment or infrastructure. What mediation does require is a good instructor and […] Meditation for Beginners: Buddhist Monks & Teachers Explain...

As an insomniac in a morning person’s world, I wince at sleep news, especially from Matthew Walker, neuroscientist, Berkeley professor, and author of Why We Sleep. Something of a “sleep evangelist,” as Berkeley News calls him (he prefers "sleep diplomat"), Walker has taken his message on the road—or the 21st century equivalent: the TED Talk stages […] What Happens To Your Body & Brain If...

“In forty years of medical practice,” wrote Dr. Oliver Sacks near the end of his famous career, “I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical ‘therapy’ to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.” The comment might not surprise us, coming from such an unorthodox thinker as Sacks. But we […] The Therapeutic Benefits of Ambient Music: Science Shows...

No, he didn’t help defeat an implacable zombie army intent on wiping out all life. But English obstetrician John Snow seems as important as the similarly-named Game of Thrones hero for his role in persuading modern medicine of the germ theory of disease. During the 1854 outbreak of cholera in London, Snow convinced authorities and critics […] The 1855 Map That Revolutionized Disease Prevention &...

"I'll sleep when I'm dead": those words have been a mantra to hard-living types everywhere since Warren Zevon first sang them back in 1976, but as Berkeley sleep scientist and Why We Sleep author Matt Walker sees it, taking them to heart is a "mortally unwise" choice. The example of Zevon himself, who died at the […] How Sleep Can Become Your “Superpower:” Scientist Matt...