darksilenceinsuburbia:

Tom French.

Painter Tom French just posted a number of new paintings in preparation for his upcoming exhibition titled Don’t Look Back at Zero Cool Gallery in London later this month. French’s acrylic works often depict couples in seemingly amorous relationships that create the optical illusion of a skull, pieces that walk the line between beautiful and unsettling. Just squint or take a few steps back from your monitor for maximum effect. You can see much more of his work on Flickr, and prints are available at Zero Cool. (by Christopher )

dofmagazine:

You probably already saw these ones some time back in the past, but here I am once more, doing what I do best… keeping track of the good stuff.

Seth Casteel, a lifestyle pet photographer from Los-Angeles was struck by the lightning of fame when we posted these photos on the internet.

“Underwater dogs” is a series of dog portraits that would scare even the meanest deep water beasts…

Seth Casteel

(Source: gofuckingnuts)

Madly in love with this romper. Free people, why do i desire everything on your website and why is it all 4 times my budget.  

(Source: awnelly)

psydoctor8:

Suicide Cells

Researchers find that people have have committed suicide have more of a particular kind of neuron -call von Economo neurons- which are believed to be an import cell for social emotions, maybe even empathy and guilt.

These cells bear receptors for neuro­transmitters that help to regulate emotion, such as dopamine, serotonin and vasopressin. Because they are found in highly gregarious animals such as whales, elephants and apes—with humans possessing the highest densities—scientists believe they might specifically deal with complex social emotions such as shame. (via)

The density of VENs (von Economo neurons) was significantly greater in the ACC of suicide victims with psychotic disorders compared with psychotic individuals who died from other causes. This effect was restricted to the right ACC. VEN density in the ACC seems to be increased in suicide victims with psychosis. This finding may support the assumption that VEN have a special role in emotion processing and self-evaluation, including negative self-appraisal. 

Full article here.

My research now is about the lack of empathy relating to cruelty to others and what neural correlates are involved -so I have to wonder to what degree would a significant absence of these von Economo neurons explain the low levels of empathy in psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists, and people with borderline personality disorder?