Bora Zivkovic

A Brief History of Mental Illness In Art

blogs.scientificamerican.com — "Historically, many cases of demonic possession have masked major psychiatric disorder[s]."- Kazuhiro Tajima-Pozo et. al. BMJ Case Reports 2009 "Juana (also known as Joanna and Joan) of Castile was born in Toledo, Spain on 6 November 1479, the third child of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.

Deciphering the Strange Mathematics of Cicadas [Video]

blogs.scientificamerican.com — "Periodical cicadas have the longest life cycles known for insects. They are called 'periodical' because in any one population all but a trivially small fraction are exactly the same age.

The Cataclysm: “From Unbaked Fragments to Vitreous Charcoal”

blogs.scientificamerican.com — There's a fundamental fact one learns about trees when growing up in dry country forests: they're flammable. Folks in Flagstaff, Arizona can tell what part of summer it is by the smell.

Illusion of the week: It Kind Of Looks Like a Building

blogs.scientificamerican.com — Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L. Macknik are laboratory directors at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Follow on Twitter@illusionchasers. The New York Daily News sums up this story better than I can: Apparently, after thinking long and hard, the mouthpiece for China's Communist Party was cocksure that the erection of a new headquarters would be warmly received - but they blew it.

Advice for editors: You’re a role model; be a good one, like Dave Witke

stevebuttry.wordpress.com — Editors should be aware that we're role models for the future editors on our staffs. The editor who most shaped my own leadership is David Witke, who was managing editor of the Des Moines Register when I started working there in 1977 (the editor who hired me, in fact).

CC-Bye Bye! Some Consequences of Unfettered Reproduction Rights Become Clearer

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org — Yesterday, an investigation by the Scientist magazine revealed rampant republishing of PLoS articles in two scientific journals. All PLoS articles are published under the Creative Commons CC-BY License, a license that permits "unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited."

Predators and Prey - The Plot Thickens

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org — On Monday of this week, I posted a brief piece about a threatening letter sent to University of Colorado-Denver librarian Jeffrey Beall by the attorney for OMICS Publishing. Beall is the proprietor of Scholarly Open Access, a blog that tracks what Beall calls "potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publishers," in which company he includes OMICS.

Fasting: The New Fad Diet?

lastwordonnothing.com — A couple of weeks ago I found myself in a beautiful rural home that belongs to my parents' friends, a slim and sophisticated couple who enjoys bird watching and international travel. I was meeting this pair-let's call them George and Marsha-for the first time.

Journalism news v opinion: Andrew Crook speech to media panel

crikey.com.au — Crikey 's senior journalist joined a panel in Sydney last night including Mike Carlton, Judith Whelan and Sally Neighbour on the murky divide between news and opinion. Here's what he said ...

Dissecting the controversy about early psychological response to disasters and trauma

blogs.scientificamerican.com — Hilda Bastian tweets @hildabast and comments on the science of unbiased health research in a cartoon blog called Statistically Funny. She has been analyzing and communicating the results of trials and systematic reviews for a couple of decades, and is completing PhD work on the subject. Follow on Twitter @hildabast.