The Blind Spot

This morning, on my way to work, I was reminded of a fun piece of human physiology. The guy in front of me had two Apple stickers on the back of his car, one on each side of the license plate. (You know, those free stickers that come with any new Apple device that I end up either throwing away or throwing in a drawer.) I glanced at my rearview mirror and realized one of the Apple stickers had disappeared.

Don't worry, that's not an alarming experience. You have a literal blind spot - a part of your retina with no photoreceptors - because this is where the optic nerve connects.

Your brain fills in missing information with the surrounding pattern (this is why you generally don't notice the blind spot). So small items that break up that pattern can seemingly disappear if you look in the right place.

Here's a demonstration of the blind spot, as well as some other "eye tricks":

Beam Me Up, Scotty

Over the years, fans have loved pointing out various technologies that seem inspired by elements from Star Trek, the series that started my lifelong love of sci-fi. From cell phones and tracking devices to 3D printers (which could arguably be early-stage replicators) have all been highlighted as potential Star Trek-inspired technologies.

Today, Nerdist focused on what they consider the best technology from Star Trek - and no, not one we have yet...

John Hinckley Jr. and the Insanity Defense

In March of 1981, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster.

By United States Federal Bureau of Investigation - FBI Field Office Washington, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16853842

Though his assassination attempt was unsuccessful, Reagan was wounded, as were three other men: a secret service agent, Timothy McCarthy; Reagan's press secretary, James Brady (who was critically injured and partially paralyzed as a result); and a police officer, Thomas Delahanty. In his trial, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and has been confined to a mental hospital for the last 35 years. In August, he is scheduled to be released.

The verdict in the case resulted in national outcry, and fueled public belief that the insanity defense is too easy to get (and that insanity is too easy to fake). It's important to note, though, that prior to the Hinckley case, the insanity defense was used in only 2% of cases, and when used, was successful only 25% of the time. This case resulted in the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, which made it more difficult for individuals to plead not guilty by reason of insanity in federal cases, and changed the burden of proof. Before this law was passed, the prosecution had to prove the defendant was sane beyond a reasonable doubt; after the law was passed, the defense now has to prove the defendant was insane by clear and convincing evidence. Expert witnesses who are brought in to provide testimony on the defendant's sanity are also prohibited from discussing opinions on the ultimate issue (that is, "is the defendant insane?"). All they can do is provide information from their assessment of the defendant and potentially interviews with significant others, and the jury must decide on the issue of sanity.

The Insanity Defense Reform Act remains controversial, especially among psychologists and psychiatrists, since lay people tend to have very different definitions of sanity and may also believe many myths (such as that people who use the insanity defense are faking). Taking away the option to provide opinions on the ultimate issue allows jurors to put words in experts mouths, and draw on their current understanding of mental health/illness - which may be completely wrong.

In fact, even in the Hinckley case, much of the public thought he was faking to "escape justice." Never mind the fact that the has been incarcerated (yes in a hospital, not a prison, but still) for 35 years. His diagnoses include narcissistic and schizoid personality disorders (with some characteristics of borderline personality disorder), and dysthymia (a form of depression). And in the past, he has shown that his obsession with Jodie Foster remains, though he has been provided some home visit privileges since 2005. So it is disconcerting to me that the case that made it more difficult to people to use the insanity defense was one in which (in my opinion), the defendant was clearly insane and not taking advantage of some legal loophole.

The changes in burden of proof in the policy may or may not be warranted - I'll leave that to people who know more about law than me, though it seems that since in criminal cases, the prosecution must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (while the defense technically doesn't have to prove anything), shifting the burden to the defense when the insanity defense is used is a bit asymmetrical. Though the Insanity Defense Reform Act applies to federal cases only, some states have followed suit by shifting the burden of proof onto the defendant.

I kind of wish I were still teaching Psychology & Law, so I could discuss these new events and see how they shift people's perspective on the insanity defense. For my part, I suspected Hinckley would spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital, considering his diagnoses, though he will remain supervised for the foreseeable future.

New Research Discoveries Thanks to the "Ice Bucket Challenge"

You may remember the Ice Bucket Challenge from a couple years ago, where people across the internet challenged others to dump a bucket of ice water on themselves to raise money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating neurological condition. People who were challenged could either record themselves dumping ice water on themselves, or make a donation to the ALS Association.

While people criticized this challenge, saying it would be better to simply challenge people to donate - rather than giving them an option to "get out of" giving money to the cause - the challenge actually did raise money.

$115 million, in fact. Which has funded 6 large-scale research projects on ALS. One of these studies has identified a new gene contributing to the disease:

Research by Project MinE, published in Nature Genetics, is the largest-ever study of inherited ALS, also known as motor neurone disease (MND). More than 80 researchers in 11 countries searched for ALS risk genes in families affected by the disease. "The sophisticated gene analysis that led to this finding was only possible because of the large number of ALS samples available," Lucie Bruijn of the ALS Association says. The identification of gene NEK1 means scientists can now develop a gene therapy treating it.

The Man Behind "The Dude"

The Big Lebowski is my favorite movie of all time. I knew that the character of "The Dude" (Jeffrey Lebowski, played by Jeff Bridges) was based off a real person named Jeff Dowd. But I never knew where the similarities begin and end. Here's a video someone sent me about the real-life Dude:

How Important is Healthcare in this Election?

Pretty important, according to a recent poll by the American Journal of Managed Care:

As this poll shows, 81% of respondents considered healthcare to be an important issue to them, either one they consider most important or one they consider with a small number of other issues. Obviously, the specific opinions about healthcare could vary among these respondents, with some voting for a candidate who would uphold certain policies, such as the Affordable Care Act, and others voting for someone they think would repeal or lessen the impact of ACA. Either way, candidates would do well to make their stance of these issues clear. Or you could just check out this site.

Busy Day

I missed getting to post yesterday, due to a fun but very busy day. From about 9:30 am to 2 pm, I was outside with the grills. Probably not a good idea considering how hot it was, and I wasn't feeling too great by 2:30. Fortunately I rallied in time for evening plans. And I slept like the dead last night.

Here's so photos from yesterday's successful picnic.

My first job was cleaning the grills, which the previous users left dirty for us:

 

The trick to getting it done fast - snow shovel:

Much better!

At this point, I realized I should get a picture of myself before I get hot and sweaty:

Our theme was cartoon characters, but since I couldn't talk a couple of my coworkers into dressing as the Powerpuff Girls, I didn't really dress for the theme. But apparently my admin staff agreed I should have been a Powerpuff Girl:

I didn't get many pictures of the action, since at that point I was grilling. But I did take a break to play water balloon toss. I may have lost but I think I also won considering how hot it was: