News archive - 2009
December 28: UW News
Depression saps endurance of the brain's reward circuitry. A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that depressed patients are unable to sustain activity in brain areas related to positive emotion. See also Scientific American and BusinessWeek.
November 18: U.S. News & World Reports
Try Meditation to Lower Your Blood Pressure and Protect Your Heart. Cheap, low-tech stress relief may also protect against depression, insomnia, and anxiety.
November 13: University Communications
Can Meditation Sharpen our Attention? A new study led by UW-Madison scientist Antoine Lutz suggests that people can train their minds to stay focused.
October 13: WPR Here on Earth
Richard Davidson was Jean Feraca's guest on Radio Without Borders. They discussed the topic of his involvement with the Mind and Life Institute’s “Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century" conference.
October 7: Calgary Herald
Meditation influences brain function. Buddhist monks believe mental attributes and positive emotions such as compassion, love, kindness and empathy are skills that can be cultivated. And science is beginning to back that up.
September 25: Vancouver Sun
Health: Mental exercise like meditation can literally change our minds. Richard Davidson, one of the world’s top brain scientists, believes mental exercise, specifically meditation, can literally change our minds.
September 8: WisBusiness
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters: Announcing the live webcast of the Academy Evenings series opener for "Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future". For the September 15 "Wisconsin 2050" season opener, Richard Davidson, William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UW–Madison, will discuss how the development of certain positive human qualities may foster not only greater personal happiness but change the way we relate to one another as a society.
August 3: Xconomy
Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes, Says Merck Vet Ben Shapiro. One of the big opportunities in biotech over the coming decades may come from neuroscientists who team up with Buddhists.
July 21: Huffington Post
Joyful Wisdom: How Happy Can We Be? Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence, writes about Mingyur Rinpoche, the Tibetan lama billed as "the happiest man in the world," and the author of a book with an upbeat title, Joyful Wisdom.
June 7: USA Today
'Mindfulness' meditation being used in hospitals and schools. A cutting-edge approach to meditation practice starts with children. In scattered pockets across the USA, students are learning meditation at school.
May 20: NPR All Things Considered
Series on The Science Of Spirituality: Prayer May Reshape Your Brain ... And Your Reality. Scientists are making the first attempts to understand spiritual experience — and what happens in the brains and bodies of people who believe they connect with the divine.
March 26: You Tube
U.S. Representative Tim Ryan D-Ohio holds a Labor HHS Subcommittee Hearing exploring current research into low-cost, behavioral methods to improve citizens’ health and educational outcomes for youth through meditation.
March 19: Isthmus
Building a better brain: UW Scientist Richard Davidson puts meditation under the microscope. The adult brain makes about 5,000 new cells per day. It is ever changing, or “plastic,” throughout life, meaning that human beings may be able to produce physical changes in their brains that can improve their lives – even if they are hardened criminals.
February 26: UW Press Release
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Meditation in the Prisons: Can it make lasting change? Can meditation transform the hearts and minds of violent criminals? An award-winning documentary film based on a program in an Alabama prison looks at the issue. A free, public screening of The Dhamma Brothers will be followed by a panel discussion with CIHM Director Richard J. Davidson at the Friends of the Waisman Center Auditorium, 1500 Highland Ave., Madison.
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