It is one of these weird things we hear about Japan and makes us wonder if it is true. Do Japanese teenagers really lock themselves up in their room for years? Why? Does this only happen in Japan? And is this an official psychological disorder? Hikikomori, or withdrawn, people are mostly young Japanese men or boys, at around age 15, from middle class families, two BBC journalists write in an article about the phenomenon. The youngsters feel a lot of
Lees verderKatja Keuchenius
In the L.A. Times of April third, 1988, journalist Nicole Yorkin paints a picture of a family’s regular workday in 2013. With the help of futurologists and technology specialists she predicts many things strikingly well, like all sorts of communication via internet. But other fantasies we are still waiting for now that it is 25 years later, if they ever enter our daily lives at all. Five examples: 1. The biggest dream that didn’t yet make it to reality is
Lees verderIt’s tempting and easy to think we are now much more civilized, intelligent and worldly human beings than those hunters and gatherers from the past. But, in fact, our brains barely evolved since then. Societies may have changed dramatically, we are still bound to move about in groups of just a 150 friends. Hunters and gatherers lived in groups of roughly 150 people. When the clan grew bigger, they split up. That number is still alive today, limiting sizes of
Lees verderZeventig medewerkers van Finext waren het in 2011 zatom te werken voor een beursgenoteerd bedrijf. Ze besloten daarom gezamenlijk hun eigen financiële consultancybureau over te kopen. Drie van de eigenaren, Wim Heuvelman, Danielle Gruijs en Thijs Vijverberg, vertellen hoe je een bedrijf met zeventig ondernemers runt. CVBedrijf: FinextWat: financieel consultancybureau. Zusterbedrijven: 360, Springfish, Swap Support, Sonum, TechnisionStart: 1999, overname in 2011Personeel: 130, waarvan 75 aandeelhoudersOmzet: 14 miljoen euroAmbitie: “Wij plannen nietverder vooruit dan één jaar” Heuvelman: “Finext begon als buitenbeentje
Lees verderOur brain may be the key culprit in causing crime, argues neurologist Adrian Raine in his new book The Anatomy of Violence. He talks about the connection between eating fish and killing people, about whether or not we should believe in free will, and about his personal experience with extreme violence. Isn’t it just logical that a criminal act starts in the brain? "It should be logical, and yet it’s a perspective that’s really been ignored for the past 70
Lees verderDe eerste rondvaartboot op waterstof, die Lovers in 2009 onthulde, moest het beeld op de grachten definitief veranderen. Maar de boot van ruim twee miljoen euro ligt al jaren werkeloos aan de kant vanwege tankproblemen. Het was een vooruitstrevend idee: een rondvaarboot zonder schadelijke uitstoot, stank, lawaai of gebruik van fossiele brandstoffen. Oud-wethouder Marijke Vos doopte Nemo H2 in 2009, de boot verscheen even op Sail 2010 en kreeg een nominatie voor Schip van het jaar 2011.Het probleem met de
Lees verderIt’s not only that people gain weight because they are bad at resisting the temptation of a snack. Gaining weight in turn also increases the inability to control eating impulses. Media like Yahoo and LiveScience enthusiastically brought this surprising news a few weeks ago, pointing to a study published in Psychological Science on april 29th. Was this an exaggeration of a vague association that was found? It didn’t seem like it. The offical press release didn’t differ much in suggesting
Lees verderOp een houten tafel in het gras staat een rijtje appel-tomaatcocktails klaar. De garnering wordt ter plekke uit een houten bak met kruiden geknipt. Op een met vuurkorven omringd veldje nemen groepjes mensen nieuwsgierig een slokje, kijken om zich heen stellen zich aan elkaar voor. Het is de tuin van wijngaard en zorgboerderij de Amsteltuin in Amstelveen. Eigenaars Jan Schake en Tieke Roosen kijken nog een beetje beduusd naar de net gebouwde receptietafels van op elkaar gestapelde kistjes. Hun zelf
Lees verderIt’s of course a difficult question with many answers and a lot of them are still unknown . But with some specific health problems we are starting to understand what happened to keep them alive. A new example is Factor V Leiden, a blood mutation present in around 5 percent of Caucasians, that is associated with thrombosis and pregnancy complications, such as miscarriage. The mutation started in just one individual 34.000 years ago, relatively shortly after the Caucasians split apart
Lees verderWhales are one the most fascinating and intelligent creatures we know and we certainly want to protect these biggest fishes, or actually mamals, in the sea. But luckily whales are not helpless against the latest ecological changes. A new study found they work together in adapting to their environments, just like us. For a period of 27 years a team of researchers monitored the fishing habits of a community of American humpback whales. The dimishing of their usual prey in
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