HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE SOMETIMES STRANGE SPECIAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SIBLINGS WHO LIVE FAR AWAY FROM EACH OTHER?

(Asked by Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic of “Today”, National Nine T.V., Sydney, Australia)

There are many instances where siblings report that they have a special communication bond with their brother or sister. For example, a sister in London “knows” what her sister in Sydney is thinking and doing at that precise moment. She rings her sister on the telephone and confirms that what she “knew” is true. Conventional science explains this as a coincidence, nothing more, nothing less. Psychologically, we tend to focus upon the few times when we accurately guess what someone else is doing and tend to ignore the many more times when we do not guess accurately or fail to guess at all. However, there is what is known as The Corsican Brothers Syndrome. “The Corsican Brothers” is a classic French novel by Alexandre Dumas (Sr.) (1802-1870) written in 1845. It tells the story of conjoined identical twin brothers who are orphaned at birth, surgically separated soon afterwards, and reared apart. One is raised as a nobleman, the other as a highwayman. Although leading completely separate lives and not knowing of each other’s existence until adulthood, throughout their lives there is a strange connection. When one is injured, the other feels the pain. As this classic novel illustrates, this type of sibling “communication” has deep roots in our folklore and culture. It is not uncommon for siblings, mothers and daughters, other family members, or sometimes merely close friends to establish such close ties that a Corsican Brothers-type “communication” occurs. In a case communicated to “Today”, a woman who experienced pain in her arm later found out that the pain occurred at the precise moment her sister broke her arm in another part of Australia. This is an example of the Corsican Brothers Syndrome---or perhaps just coincidence after all.

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY ABILITY TO REMEMBER MY DREAMS?

(Asked by Helen Woodruff of Larkspur, California, U.S.A.)

Experts at the International Association for the Study of Dreams contend that you can improve your memory of dreams by following some easy steps: 1) Before you fall asleep, make a point to remind yourself that you want to remember your dreams. 2) Keep a notebook and pen close by. 3) Keep a tape recorder close by unless you talking into it will disturb a sleeping partner. 4) As you awaken, try to move as little as possible and try not to think right away about your upcoming day. 5) Write down all of your dreams and images since they can fade fast if not recorded. 6) Keep distractions to a minimum. Any distraction will cause the memory of your dream to fade. 7) If you cannot remember your dream in full, write down or record the last thing that was on your mind before awakening, even if you only have a vague recollection of it.

WHAT ARE THE MOST TYPICAL THEMES IN DREAMS?

(Asked by Helen Woodruff of Larkspur, California, U.S.A.)

Although the variability of dream content is large, typical dream themes that occur quite often and are reported by many people fall into one of 55 categories. The most popular dream themes are being chased, falling, flying, failing an examination, and being unable to find a toilet or restroom. This is according to Drs. M. Schredi and three colleagues from the Sleep Laboratory of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany in their November 2004 article in the JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY.

ARE MOBILE PHONES DANGEROUS IN HOSPITALS?

(Asked by Michelle Darlene of Chalons-sur Marne, France)

There has been no case of a mobile phone causing a death in any medical facility anywhere in the world. However, Drs. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine point out in their article in the 22-29 December 2007 BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL that “Less serious incidents, including false alarms on monitors, malfunctions in infusion pumps, and incorrect readings on cardiac monitors, have occasionally been reported.” The doctors add that in one government report there is a case described where a mobile phone somehow managed to trigger an adrenaline pump to malfunction in an intensive care unit at a hospital in 2002. Drs. Vreeman and Carroll conclude that now “Recent technological improvements may be lessening even this minimal interference.”

THE ODD GRAB BAG

A cup of coffee and a half-hour nap each improve late-night driving performance in young and middle-aged adults. But naps work better for younger drivers while coffee works better for older drivers. [PSYCHOLOGY TODAY May-June 2008]

Archaeologists have determined that there were no Neanderthal families as such because women and children lived in separate areas from the males in caves. So claims Dr. James Shreeve in THE NEANDERTHAL ENIGMA (1995).

Men and women each have 12 sets of ribs despite a persistent myth that men have one less rib. This myth originates from the Bible story of God using one of Adam’s ribs when he slept to fashion Eve. This is the only time in the Bible where God used a tool---if you do not count the burning bush in the Moses story.

In 1978, the autism rate was 4 in 10,000 children. In 2006, the autism rate was 1 per 100 children.

The medical term for the sensation you feel when you hear chalk screech across a chalkboard is saccular acoustical sensitivity.

There is no sense of pain within the brain itself. This fact allows neurosurgeons to probe areas of the brain while the patient is awake. Verbal feedback from the patient during these probes is useful for identifying important regions such as those for speech. In one survey, 63 per cent of Americans aged 18 to 29 not currently in a steady romantic relationship say they are not looking for one.

A team of University of Chicago psychologists led by Dr. Benjamin Lahey claim that the way a mother interacts with her baby in the first year of life is strongly related to how the child will behave later on. Both a mother’s parenting style and an infant’s temperament reliably predict challenging behavior in later childhood.

More evidence has emerged that humans live longer if they have more social interactions. This research was headed by Drs. Chun-Fang Wu and Hongyu Ruan at the University of Iowa.

Smoking appears to be associated with increased risk of poor memory among middle-aged adults. This is according to a report by Dr. Severine Sabia and colleagues from the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in Villejuif, France and published in the ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE in June 2008.

Some experts contend that weight standards based on the actual direct measurement of body fat in populations is more accurate than surrogate anthropometric measures such as body mass index (BMI). BMI can provide misleading information because it does not account for age (body fat increases and muscle diminishes with aging), infancy and childhood, ethnic differences, physical training and athleticism (world class competitive weight lifters would be considered obese), special clinical circumstances of individuals, and other factors.

There is a suicide in the U.S. every 17 minutes.

Statistically, given your date of birth, height, and weight, in India there are 1,100 people just like you.

Although researchers have long agreed that girls have superior language abilities than boys, until recently no one has clearly provided a biological basis for this difference. Now, in unambiguous findings, researchers from Northwestern University near Chicago and Haifa University in Israel have shown both that areas of the brain associated with language “work harder” in girls than in boys during language tasks and that boys and girls rely on different parts of the brain when performing these language tasks. The study by Drs. James Booth and Tali Bitan appears in the March 2008 NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA.

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

Some brain surgery can now be done through pulling a tumor out through the nose. This leaves no scar.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney provides more convincing evidence that complex mental activity across people’s lives significantly reduces the risk of dementia. Psychiatrists Dr. Michael Valenzuela and Permider Sachdev report in PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE in 2006 that such activity almost halves the incidence of dementia.

Pain is measured in units called “dols”. The instrument used to measure pain is called a “dolorimeter”.

According to WORLD’S CHRILDREN (Number 2, 2007) published by Save the Children, “Each year more than 10 million children---28,000 a day---die before they reach the age of five.”

In the U.S. states of Indiana and Ohio, skating instructors cannot have sexual relations with a female student. It is a felony. The age of teacher and student does not matter, even if both are elderly. If the student is male the law does not apply.

Summers are hot not because the Earth is closer to the Sun, but because the tilt of the Earth’s axis allows sunlight to strike one hemisphere more directly.

Aeropolluerephobia is the morbid fear of air pollution.

Keeping an oven mitt in your car can make life a lot easier should you need to handle a hot radiator cap in an emergency.

On average it takes three months for a recycled aluminum/aluminium can to go from being thrown away to again appearing on a shelf.

The Australian state of Western Australia has two nicknames “Golden State” and “Wildflower State”.

70.9 percent of the surface of the Earth is covered by water.

“Never trust a husband too far, nor a bachelor too near”---Helen Rowland (1875-1950), U.S. journalist and wit.

The world’s largest ruby is housed in Beijing, China and weighs 8.184 kg (18.043 lbs)

“Carbon justice” refers to the idea that there should be a fair distribution of responsibility for addressing climate change. It is used in relationship to countries that should be required to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions in proportion to their population and per-capita carbon dioxide output. Also, a country’s ability to pay would determine their overall responsibility.

In Australia, incontinence pads are the fastest growing supermarket item in sales.

Add the humpback whale to the list of animals that make complex music. According to Dr. David Rothenberg of the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark in his book THOUSAND MILE SONG (2008), it is not just the “woo, woo, woo”. The songs of whales last 10 to 15 minutes and have definite form, usually consisting of five or six unique phrases. Only males sing.

The state song of the U.S. state of Alabama is “Alabama”.

Some experts think that cocoa could become the next “miracle drug” or at least a vital food supplement. Researchers have found that high consumption of cocoa can help reduce risk of death from heart disease and cancer. The active ingredient in natural cocoa, epicatechin, helps blood vessels relax and thus improves blood flow. This could help improve cardiovascular health as well as reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. [THE FUTURIST November-December 2007]

The Taser Remote Area Denial (TRAD) is a weapon that stands on a tripod, stuns individuals with a force field, and takes photos of its effect upon its target. The weapon is designed to be deployed at checkpoints, facility perimeters, embassies and consulates, airports, and other strategic infrastructures.

Sage Saying: “Push advantages. Strike down your quarry, if you are wise, do not be content merely to flush it out.”---Baltasar Gracian y Morales (1601-1658), Spanish Baroque prose writer.

*Stephen Juan, Ph.D. is an anthropologist and the Ashley Montagu Fellow for Science Understanding at the University of Sydney in Australia. Email questions to him at s.juan@edfac.usyd.edu.au He attended Napa High School as a student and some of his family still lives in Napa.