bottle-it-up:

Mesmerizing video on what the world eats for breakfast (Italy, that’s not enough!!!)

things, lately

my thoughts on the med school process, now finally in the rear view. final decisions pending, but incredibly grateful, and happy with how it all unfolded

beautiful things, sold brilliantly, particularly the oversized sweaters. I might fall for this as deeply as I have for all things Everlane

Chocolatey chips* 

Adding to the SF todo list, and some self assigned wine school homework 

In general, in line with my outlook on brunch

agentlewoman:

First Kiss (creator asked 20 strangers to kiss for the first time)

kateoplis:

NY Magazine: 50 Runny, Yummy, Crumbly Cheeses to Eat Now

[photos: Bobby Doherty]

medicalschool:

Orphans’ Lonely Beginnings Reveal How Parents Shape A Child’s Brain

More than a decade of research on children raised in institutions shows that “neglect is awful for the brain,” says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. Without someone who is a reliable source of attention, affection and stimulation, he says, “the wiring of the brain goes awry.” The result can be long-term mental and emotional problems.

A lot of what scientists know about parental bonding and the brain comes from studies of children who spent time in Romanian orphanages during the 1980s and 1990s. Children likeIzidor Ruckel, who wrote a book about his experiences.

When Ruckel was 6 months old, he got polio. His parents left him at a hospital and never returned. And Ruckel ended up in an institution for “irrecoverable” children.

But Ruckel was luckier than many Romanian orphans. A worker at the orphanage “cared for me as if she was my mother,” he says. “She was probably the most loving, the most kindest person I had ever met.”

Then, when Ruckel was 5 or 6, his surrogate mother was electrocuted trying to heat bath water for the children in her care. Ruckel ended up in an institution for “irrecoverable” children, a place where beatings, neglect, and boredom were the norm.

Researchers began studying the children in Romanian orphanages after the nation’s brutal and repressive government was overthrown in 1989. At the time, there were more than 100,000 children in government institutions. And it soon became clear that many of them had stunted growth and a range of mental and emotional problems.

When Nelson first visited the orphanages in 1999, he saw children in cribs rocking back and forth as if they had autism. He also saw toddlers desperate for attention.

“They’d reach their arms out as though they’re saying to you, ‘Please pick me up,’ ” Nelson says. “So you’d pick them up and they’d hug you. But then they’d push you away and they’d want to get down. And then the minute they got down they’d want to be picked up again. It’s a very disorganized way of interacting with somebody.”

The odd behaviors, delayed language and a range of other symptoms suggested problems with brain development, Nelson says. So he and other researchers began studying the children using a technology known as electroencephalography (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain.

Many of the orphans had disturbingly low levels of brain activity. “Instead of a 100-watt light bulb, it was a 40-watt light bulb,” Nelson says.

As the children grew older, the researchers were able to use MRI to study the anatomy of their brains. And once again, the results were troubling. “We found a dramatic reduction in what’s referred to as gray matter and in white matter,” Nelson says. “In other words, their brains were actually physically smaller.”

The scientists realized the cause wasn’t anything as simple as malnutrition. It was a different kind of deprivation — the lack of a parent, or someone who acted like a parent.

Continue reading.

Top photo: Izidor Ruckel, shown here at age 11 with his adoptive father Danny Ruckel in San Diego, Calif., says he found it hard to respond to his adoptive parents’ love. (Barry Gutierrez for NPR)

Middle photo: In the Institute for the Unsalvageable in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania, shown here in 1992, children were left in cribs for days on end. (Tom Szalay)

Bottom: Izidor Ruckel dons a hat of a style common in his birthplace, Romania. He now lives in Denver. (Barry Gutierrez for NPR)

Heard him give a talk at work a couple of months ago. Fascinating stuff.

This Is The ONE Thing You Must Do In Each U.S. State →

mollybierman:

Texas, Illinois, and Maine down; just 47 to go!?

jcrew:

if you’re anything like us, you may have nearly forgotten that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. here, a few tips for our fellow procrastinators from some of our office lovebirds. P.S. most J.Crew stores are open until 8pm (hint, hint…)

To shop our Valentine’s Day shop, click here.

scholasticreadingclub:

nprbooks:

It’s the perfect day (and month) to revisit our coverage of Ezra Jack Keats’ classic The Snowy Day, which celebrated its 50th anniversary a few years ago. The Snowy Day, a 1963 Caldecott winner, was the first mainstream children’s book to feature a non-caricatured African-American protagonist.

In 2012, Ezra Jack Keats Foundation director Deborah Pope told NPR:

“There was a teacher [who] wrote in to Ezra, saying, ‘The kids in my class, for the first time, are using brown crayons to draw themselves.’ These are African-American children. Before this, they drew themselves with pink crayons. But now, they can see themselves.”

You can see the rest of that story (and hear the book read, in its entirety, by Reading Rainbow superstar Levar Burton) here.

(OK, I’m tooting my own horn a little here, because I produced this piece, back in my Weekend All Things Considered days, but come on — LEVAR BURTON! Who, by the way, was one of the most pleasant and delightful people I’ve ever dealt with.

The Snowy Day always cheers us up (except for when the snowball disappears) and there’s something really magical about having a view that’s similar to Peter’s.

“When I won the gold medal, my dad laughed and said, ‘I guess this skiing thing might work out.’ ”
— The American skier Ted Ligety, who was not always considered Olympic material.