Saturday 7 August 2010

Friday 9 July 2010

MIND-BRAIN INTERACTION: MENTALISM, YES; DUALISM, NO

MIND-BRAIN INTERACTION: MENTALISM, YES; DUALISM, NO

Roger Wolcott Sperry

Roger Wolcott Sperry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In his Nobel-winning work, Sperry tested ten patients who had undergone an operation developed in 1940 by William Van Wagenen, a neurosurgeon in Rochester, NY [1]. The surgery, designed to treat epileptics with intractable grand mal seizures, involves severing the corpus callosum, the area of the brain used to transfer signals between the right and left hemispheres. Sperry and his colleagues tested these patients with tasks that were known to be dependent on specific hemispheres of the brain and demonstrated that the two halves of the brain may each contain consciousness. In his words, each hemisphere is
indeed a conscious system in its own right, perceiving, thinking, remembering, reasoning, willing, and emoting, all at a characteristically human level, and . . . both the left and the right hemisphere may be conscious simultaneously in different, even in mutually conflicting, mental experiences that run along in parallel
—Roger Wolcott Sperry,�1974"

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Naan bread

Ingredients
150ml hand-hot milk
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp dried active yeast
450g plain flour
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus a little extra
150ml natural yogurt
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Method
1. Put the milk in a bowl. Add 1 tsp of the sugar, and the yeast. Stir to mix. Set aside for 15-20 minutes or until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture is frothy.

2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the remaining 1 tsp sugar, the yeast mixture, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and the yogurt and egg. Mix and form a ball of dough.

3. Empty the ball of dough on to a clean surface and knead it for 10 minutes or more, until it is smooth and satiny. Form into a ball. Pour about 0.25 tsp oil into a large bowl and roll the ball of dough in it. Cover the bowl with a piece of cling film and set aside in a warm, draught-free place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

4. Pre-heat your oven to the highest temperature. Put the heaviest baking tray you own to heat in the oven. Pre-heat your grill.

5. Punch down the dough and knead it again. Divide into 6 equal balls. Keep 5 of them covered while you work with the sixth. Roll this ball into a tear-shaped naan, about 25cm in length and about 13cm at its widest. Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and slap the naan on to it. Put it immediately into the oven for 3 minutes. It should puff up. Now place the baking tray and naan under the grill, about 7.5-10cm away from the heat, for about 30 seconds or until the top of the naan browns slightly. Wrap the naan in a clean tea towel. Make all the naans this way and serve hot.

Wednesday 30 June 2010