News and Insights

By Marc Egeth “ Theory of Mind”  refers to individuals’ cognitive ability to represent other individuals’ mental states. It is the sort of thing that is theorized to be somehow central to the human condition, underlying the ability to take into account other people as thinking, feeling individuals. Psychologists have examined the development of Theory of Mind as it emerges in toddlers and along with biologists have looked at the evolution of Theory of Mind by considering primates, dolphins, birds, and other seemingly smart animals’ ability to take others’ perspectives. A Theory of Mind deficit has been theorized to explain, or at least describe, the social interaction difficulties present in the autism and asperger’s neuro-atypical continuum personalities. A person with deficient Theory of Mind has a hard time understanding other people’s points of view. Some research has pointed to  tradeoffs  where the types of people who are employed to design and develop devices ...

By Christopher Kim Imagine that, a couple of times this past month, you had some difficulty catching your breath after a routine, morning jog. You tell your doctor about it, and after some questions and tests to  assess your lung function, you are diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma. Your primary care physician (PCP) prescribes you a standard, short-acting beta agonist (SABA) in the form of an albuterol inhaler, and now the saga begins! You are asked to schedule a visit with your PCP to follow-up and discuss your treatment plan, and you schedule a visit for next month. In the meantime, your physician tells you to follow the instructions and use the inhaler as a prophylactic prior to vigorous exercise or PRN ( pro re nata  – use when necessary). In the mean time… As Dennis Hopper’s character famously said in one of my favorite movies from the 90’s, “ What do you do, Jack? What do you do?!”  (Speed) With over 18.4 million adults and 6.2 million children in t...