Is There a Difference between the Brain of an Atheist and the Brain of a Religious Person?

Ask the Brains | Mind & Brain See Inside

Andrew Newberg, director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia, responds

By Andrew Newberg ?| January 16, 2012?|

Is there a difference between the brain of an atheist andthe brain of a religious person?
?Emma Schachner, Utah

Andrew Newberg, director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia, responds:

Researchers have pinpointed differences between the brains of believers and nonbelievers, but the neural picture is not yet complete.

Several studies have revealed that people who practice meditation or have prayed for many years exhibit increased activity and have more brain tissue in their frontal lobes, regions associated with attention and reward, as compared with people who do not meditate or pray. A more recent study revealed that people who have had ?born again? experiences have a smaller hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in emotions and memory, than atheists do. These findings, however, are difficult to interpret because they do not clarify whether having larger frontal lobes or a smaller hippocampus causes a person to become more religious or whether being pious triggers changes in these brain regions.

Various experiments have also tried to elucidate whether believing in God causes similar brain changes as believing in something else. The results, so far, show that thinking about God may activate the same parts of the brain as thinking about an airplane, a friend or a lamppost. For instance, one study showed that when religious people prayed to God, they used some of the same areas of the brain as when they talked to an average Joe. In other words, in the religious person?s brain, God is just as real as any object or person.

Research also suggests that a ?religious brain exhibits higher levels of dopamine, a hormone associated with increased attention and motivation. A study showed that believers were much more likely than skeptics to see words and faces on a screen when there were none, whereas skeptics often did not see words and faces that were actually there. Yet when skeptics were given the drug L-dopa, which increases the amount of dopamine in the brain, they were just as likely to interpret scrambled patterns as words and faces as were the religious individuals.

So what does the research mean? At the moment, we do not have a clear way to connect all the dots. For now we can say that the religious and atheist brains exhibit differences, but what causes these disparities remains unknown.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.: How would American life be different without him?

Institutional racism in the United States has declined greatly thanks to the work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet 'we have not reached the promised land?MLK talked about,' says one scholar, nor has the economic equality King sought for all races been achieved.

Awaiting a panel discussion titled, ?What if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had Tweeted the Civil Rights Movement,? Franklin Henderson sits in the darkened?Steve Allen?Theater, talking about the life he didn?t have to lead because of King.

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?We didn?t have a poll tax in?Miami,?Florida?where I grew up or a lot of the other hurdles blacks had,? says the retired, Past National President of the Ninth & Tenth (Horse) Calvary Association. ?He brought civil rights in?America?a very long way.?

?But not far enough,? says his wife, Doris. ?There is still a long way to go.?

The two comments echo the discussion today among scholars, activists, and African American community leaders in cities across?America. A brief newsreel of civil rights marches, the fire hosing of blacks in the streets, and the discriminatory practices of the South sets the backdrop for the evening?s discussion of how today?s social media ? as harnessed by several countries during the Arab Spring ? would have eased the ability of King to organize his marches and boycotts.

But would it have lengthened his legacy?

?There are lots of whites, Latinos, and African Americans themselves who thought that with the election of Barack Obama, we had ventured into an?America?without racism,? says history professor Maghan Keita, director of Villanova?s Institute for Global Interdisciplinary Studies. ?Yet, here we are, four decades after King, with encampments in public places still calling for the kind of equality he was after.?

President Obama has weighed in with his official proclamation of the federal holiday.

?On a hot summer day nearly half a century ago, an African American preacher with no official title or rank gave voice to our Nation's deepest aspirations, sharing his dream of an?America?that ensured the true equality of all our people,? says the presidential declaration. ?From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired a movement that would push our country toward a more perfect?Union.?

Interviews with scholars, academics, and sociologists across the country show that assessment under question.

?For most whites the playing field has been leveled and what has cemented this perception in the?psyche of most whites was the election of a black president,? adds?Dr. Charles Gallagher, Chair of the Sociology Dept. at?La Salle?University,?who studies race and ethnicity.?Yet, he adds in an email, ?the social?science data is?unequivocal: institutional racism continues to shape the life chances of racial minorities in?America. We have not reached the promised land?MLK talked about, but much of white?America now?believes we have.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/HU58HJwHMl8/Martin-Luther-King-Jr.-How-would-American-life-be-different-without-him

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Cognac sales hit record as demand soars in China (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Global cognac sales reached a record last year, with more than five bottles sold every second, boosted by soaring demand in China, the BNIC industry body said on its website.

The number of bottles sold rose by 6.4 percent to 162.9 million in 2011, with volumes up 20 percent in China, the BNIC said.

The Far East, which accounted for more than one-third of demand, was the biggest market and the fastest-growing with volumes up 14.4 percent, according to BNIC.

Sales in Europe inched up just 0.4 percent to 46.9 million bottles, while demand in NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) countries rose 3.2 percent to 50.8 million bottles.

The head of French spirits group Remy Cointreau told Reuters this week that he was optimistic about 2012 despite economic woes in Europe thanks to strong demand for its premium cognac in Asia and a recovering U.S. market.

The maker of Remy Martin cognac and Cointreau liqueur had "very good" Christmas sales, while October-December sales sharply exceeded its expectations thanks to strong cognac shipments ahead of the Chinese New Year, Chief Executive Jean-Marie Laborde said.

(Reporting by Claude Canellas; Writing by James Regan, editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120114/lf_nm_life/us_france_cognac

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Video: Remembering Bonnie Craig

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/45987342#45987342

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Fed officials say not time to buy bonds now (Reuters)

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) ? Two top Federal Reserve officials, including a policy centrist, said on Friday the central bank should hold off buying more bonds to boost growth given a strengthening in the economy.

"The data has been stronger in recent weeks and months, and so I think there's probably a good case to stand pat for now," St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told reporters after a speech here.

"If the economy did deteriorate substantially in 2012, then I think (quantitative easing) would come back on the table, but that's not where we are right now," said Bullard, who is viewed as being in the middle when it comes to Fed policy debates.

The spectrum was on display on Friday as officials honed arguments ahead of a January 24-25 policy meeting.

The central bank is expected to provide more information about the expected path of interest rates and perhaps lay out an explicit inflation target, but it is not expected to announce a further round of asset purchases.

The Fed cut overnight interest rates to zero in December 2008 and has bought $2.3 trillion in government and mortgage-related bonds in a further effort to spur growth after the worst recession in decades.

Several Fed officials, including the influential head of the New York Fed, have suggested in recent days that further bond buys may need to be considered, but Bullard's reticence suggests that is a debate for another day.

While the economy appeared to strengthen toward the end of last year, analysts believe growth will soften again in 2012.

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, one of the officials most skeptical of the need for more bond purchases, warned that further easing would lead to higher inflation without additional economic growth.

"Given the data I've seen, I'm still where I was a month or two ago when I said I didn't see a compelling case for further stimulus," he told reporters after a speech in Richmond, Virginia.

Lacker is a voter on the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, while Bullard is not.

WARY EYE ON INFLATION

Speaking earlier to a group of financial sector executives, Lacker said U.S. inflation will probably hover around 2 percent this year but that prices could rise even more. Most Fed officials want to aim for inflation around 2 percent or a littler lower, while Lacker wants to aim for 1.5 percent.

Lacker reiterated his forecast for the U.S. economy to expand between 2 percent and 2.5 percent in 2012. He acknowledged a more pronounced recession in Europe could significantly dampen U.S. prospects.

At the other end of the policymaking extreme, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said the central bank could bring the U.S. economy back to full health one or two years quick if it acted "very aggressively."

The central bank should purchase more bonds if the labor market does not make sufficient progress quickly enough, he said in Carmel, Indiana, adding that mortgage-related securities would be a "perfectly fine" option.

"We want to make sure we have enough accommodation in there so that we give it a chance," Evans said.

The comments from Evans suggest there will be a lively debate when Fed officials gather.

Evans, who does not have a vote on the Fed's policy-setting committee, said he was worried that improvement in the labor market could be "transitory" and that unemployment could even rise slightly in the next few months.

U.S. hiring accelerated in December and the jobless rate fell to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent.

(Additional reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in Richmond, Virginia; Jonathan Spicer in Carmel, Indiana; and Edwin Chan in Santa Barbara, California; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120113/bs_nm/us_usa_fed_lacker

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Managing private and public adaptation to climate change

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2012) ? New research has found that individuals and the private sector have an important role to play in the provision of public policies to help society adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Writing in the journal Global Environmental Change, Dr Emma Tompkins and Hallie Eakin from the University of Southampton, say that public investments alone cannot reduce our vulnerability to climate change.

Their research shows evidence of individuals, households, firms and corporations are deliberately supporting the wider public to adapt to climate change by incurring the social costs of the adaptation themselves. This apparently altruistic behaviour is both surprising, and of interest to governments who (given the current financial conditions) may have to rely on private actors (individuals, households, firms and corporations) to enable widespread adaptation to climate change. Adaptations are the processes and actions that enable people to cope better with increasingly challenging weather and climatic conditions -- they can play an important role in improving society's climate resilience.

More specifically, Tompkins and Eakin's research found that to generate these public benefits a range of institutional mechanisms are required. This special case of adaptation has been neglected in climate policy so far.

Dr Emma Tompkins, a Reader in Environment and Development at the University of Southampton, says: "Adaptation to climate change is already occurring, it is being delivered by public and private actors, yet there has been little analysis of this underexplored area, where individuals and private sector groups provide support for public adaptations but see no benefit from the adaptations themselves.

"Actions by individuals and the private sector will undoubtedly be critical in facilitating public adaptation to climate change. For example, homeowners' decisions to have grassy gardens instead of paved decks can have wider adaptation benefits by enhancing drainage and reducing the risk of urban floods. However, scaling up such activities requires institutional mechanisms such as social contracts, modified sustainability reporting, or new forms of payments and charges for adaptation service provision. "

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Journal Reference:

1. Emma L. Tompkins, Hallie Eakin. Managing private and public adaptation to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.09.010

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/DZrN2sqbmP8/120113102056.htm

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Japan to reduce oil imports from Iran

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan will start to reduce oil imports from Iran in support of U.S. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Thursday after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Iran's "nuclear development problem can't be ignored by the world, so from that perspective we understand the U.S. actions," Azumi told a press conference.

Japan's receptivity contrasts with silence on the matter ? at least outwardly ? from China during Geithner's visit to Beijing Wednesday. Earlier this week, China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, had rejected the U.S. sanctions as improper.

Washington is targeting Iran's oil exports in an attempt to halt what Western governments say is its effort to develop nuclear weapons. The sanctions would bar financial institutions from the U.S. market if they do business with Iran's central bank.

Japan imports about 10 percent of its oil from Iran, Azumi said, and has been steadily reducings its reliance on Iranian oil over the last five years.

"We plan to start reducing this 10 percent share at soon as possible in a planned manner," he said.

Experts speculate that Japan will move to diversify its oil imports by turning to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the three top exporters of oil to Japan.

Azumi said working out a plan for non-oil imports would take more time. Japan also imports natural gas from Iran.

China, the world's biggest energy consumer, depends on Iran for 11 percent of its oil imports. China bought about 600,000 barrels of Iranian crude per day in November, nearly one-third of Iran's daily exports of 2.2 million barrels, making Chinese cooperation key to the success of sanctions.

Geithner told reporters in Tokyo that the U.S. was working closely with "countries around the world to substantially increase the amount of pressure we bring on Iran" by cutting off "the central bank from the international financial system and to reduce the earnings Iran derives from its oil exports."

The U.S. was in the early stages of consulting with allies about how to achieve that, Geithner said.

"We very much appreciate the support Japan has provided in standing with us and the international community in support of this very important strategic objective," he said.

During their one-hour meeting, the two men also discussed the eurozone debt crisis and Japan's reconstruction from the tsunami disaster in March.

"The leaders of Europe appear to be making some progress in containing their crisis," Geithner said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-11-AS-Japan-US-Iran/id-2ec5bffbc5c1491fa83ace8be9dc5eac

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