empathy

Virtually Virtuous: Are Video Games the Future of Medicine?

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:28:26 +0000

One day in 2014, I came home from school only to see my uncle fiddling with a small cardboard box on the couch. This wasn’t any old cardboard box, but one that looked like the world’s chunkiest pair of binoculars. He called me over and told me to hold the strange apparatus up to my eyes. Suddenly, I was transported from my living room to the great outdoors. Despite making me quite dizzy, I was able to look around and even move within this unfamiliar place.

Does Tylenol Affect Human Empathy?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 03 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Tylenol is a trade name for acetaminophen, a medication that has been used for over a hundred years to treat pain and fever. Unlike acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) it does not affect blood clotting and can safely be used by people who are on “blood thinners.” Metabolism of acetaminophen occurs in the liver with its breakdown products being readily excreted. However, an overdose can result in exceeding the liver’s ability to safely eliminate metabolites and one of these, N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine, can damage the liver to the extent that a liver-transplant is needed.

You’re Annoying

OSS — Wed, 24 May 2017 23:17:10 +0000

Scientists are now beginning to believe that people who annoy us are actually changing the way our brain works when we look at them. According to a study done that the University of Southern California, our brain mimics movements of people that we are watching. For example, if someone stubs their toe, we feel a form of physical empathy towards them. However, this process changes when we look at someone that annoys us – someone we don’t want to empathize with. In fact, if someone that annoys us begins to move, our brain perceives them as moving much slower than they actually are.