Monday, November 28, 2011
The Guardian reports "people with lots of Facebook friends have denser grey matter in three regions of the brain" according to a new study.
Researchers at University College London did MRI scans that showed computer users with the greatest number of friends on Facebook have denser grey matter in regions of the brain linked to social skills.
Of course, the Guardian notes, this doesn't mean Facebook interfacing (interfacebooking?) made the brain thicker. The test subjects may have been born with extra neurons in those key parts, essentially making them genetic networking junkies..
Either way, it offers an answer to the old old jape: "How can you be that dense?"
Just tell them Facebook did it ...
My column is neither beat or subject specific, and has ranged from whimsical to hard news. Since I'm primarily an education reporter and a native of the Hazleton area, those often draw my focus.
A West Hazleton native, I worked as a service technician repairing electronic mailing and shipping systems, a bike shop owner and an Emergency Medical Technician (among other jobs) before landing a reporter job at the Times Leader Hazleton Bureau in 1995. I started by covering primarily politics in Hazleton City and outlying municipalities, eventually became "social issues" team leader in the Wilkes-Barre office with the accent on education, and headed the Hazleton Bureau for a spell before returning to full-time reporting, my preferred position. I'm an avid cyclist and rode across the country in 1990, a trip of more than 5,000 miles from New Jersey to Seattle and down the coast to San Francisco. Years in the Boy Scouts made me a life long backpacker and camper, and I've yet to find a better way to enjoy the quiet lure of winter snow than cross country skiing.
Mark also writes a regular blog for timesleader.com.