Scholars, critics and viewers have noted that some TV newscasts can be momentarily mistaken for Victoria’s Secret specials. In an apparent attempt to capture channel-surfing male viewers, stations have hired attractive female anchors, often outfitting them in attire that emphasizes their sexuality. This strategy may boost the ratings, but in terms of the programs’ purported purpose — informing the public — recent research suggests it has a definite down side. Males may be drawn to those alluring anchors, but they may not remember what they were talking about. Two Indiana ... Read More
Neuroscience: Is it All in Your Mind?
January 10, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
“Brain’s God Spot Discovered By Scientists.” That’s the headline the Huffington Post ran with after a team of neuroscientists discovered that profound religious and spiritual experiences light up discrete portions of the brain. That the media termed these chunks of mystical gray matter the “God Spot” was both clever and predictable; thus reduced, the research became instantly famous and immediately controversial: People didn’t want to see their deepest beliefs reduced to a simple biological explanation. Neuroscientists are now able to use sophisticated technology to peer ... Read More
The Gadgets Among Us
January 5, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The editorial on computer gadgetry by John Mecklin ("The Gadget in the Gray Flannel Suit," November-December 2010) was particularly precious. I LOL'd at the comment from The Onion: "New Social Networking Site Changing the Way Oh Christ, Forget It/Let Someone Else Report on This Bullshit." Computer illiteracy isn't so shameful! Albert J. Kubany, Ph.D. Flint, Mich. The appalling inevitability of virtual addiction I do find myself happier after a good dinner party or a night spent in bed with my girlfriend or talking with my mom on the phone than I do sitting in front of a computer terminal ... Read More
Robert E. Lee Without the Halo
January 3, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The thing about Robert E. Lee is that he’s practically the poster child for what a general is supposed to look like. The trim white beard, the noble brow and piercing gaze, the way he sat erect upon his famous horse, Traveller. The aura the man projected was noble, upright, almost saintly. But as Robert E. Lee, a documentary being broadcast Jan. 3 on PBS’ American Experience suggests, he was something else entirely: a reactionary slave owner whose overweening ambition helped destroy his homeland and kill a generation of young men in the process. Guaranteed not to warm the cockles of ... Read More
10 Memorable Threads from 2010
December 28, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
The short days in the Northern Hemisphere produce a peculiar journalistic crop, the Top 10 list. At Miller-McCune.com, we’re not immune to the pull of that chestnut, but the wonk rays so prevalent here force a mutation. Instead of a Top 10 list, here’s 10 for 2010, stories that are popular and memorable but without the baggage of perfection as determined in a year-end frenzy of instantaneous deliberation. Of course, some of the best movies never get nominated for Oscars, and so it is here. We’ll make apologies to stalwarts like Jai Ranganathan (of Curiouser & Curiouser fame) or ... Read More