Around the Blogs, Vol. 70: Snark & Compassion

1. I had long suspected that saying something like "sight of food activates the same brain area in overweight people as sight of alcohol does in alcoholics" is just the neuroimaging way of saying "anticipation of positive stuff activates same brain area in all kinds of people." So it's nice to see someone knowledgeable (called Tal Yarkoni) say something roughly along these lines. (via)

2. At Ian Leslie's place, my theory of penalty shootouts confirmed.

3. "I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that bioethicists are simply really bad people — that they delight in the idea of sick and injured people suffering and dying on months-long waiting lists for organ transplants, and of impoverished would-be donors forced to ever more desperate measures in the absence of an open and well-regulated legal market for donor organs, and spend their days dreaming up ever-more-absurd justifications for their sadistic tendencies." Matt adds a valuable perspective to the discourse on organ donations.

4. Mean! Sociologist Fabio Rojas takes cheap shot at economists.