• October 20, 2012 - CBC Radio - Quirks and Quarks
    Dr. Patrick Gill has invented a new kind of camera, called a Planar Fourier Capture Array (PFCA) which requires no lens, and thus can be made incredibly tiny - the size of a flake of pepper - and very cheaply as well.
    [Listen Here]
  • April 9, 2012 - CBC Radio - Happiness
    Jenny Howe hosted a one-hour special this long weekend called "Happiness."
    [Listen Here]
  • April 3, 2012 - Scientific American - Decoding the Body Watcher
    "Contrary to the conventional assumption that all attention relies upon the frontal lobe of the brain, the researchers found that this was true of only exteroceptive attention; interoceptive attention used evolutionarily older parts of the brain more associated with sensation and integration of physical experience."
    [read more]
  • December 6, 2010 - New York TImes - Searching the brain for the spark of creative problem-solving
    "The findings fit with dozens of experiments linking positive moods to better creative problem-solving. The implication is that positive mood engages this broad, diffuse attentional state that is both perceptual and visual," said Dr. Anderson. "You're not only thinking more broadly, you're literally seeing more. The two systems are working in parallel."
    [read more]
  • August 4, 2010 - Oprah.com - Learn to be still with mindfulness meditation
    "How can you learn to slow down time, quiet the mental chatter, and savor life's breezes? With mindfulness, one snowcapped mountain meditation at a time."
    [read]
  • June 20, 2009 - CBC Radio, Quirks & Quarks - Rose-Coloured Glasses (Interview with Dr. Adam Anderson)
    "Putting on a figurative pair of rose-coloured glasses makes a spectacular difference in how our brain interprets the world around us."
    [listen]
  • June 5, 2009 - WebMD - Mood Literally Affects How We See World
    "Research Suggests That People in a Good Mood Take in More Information When They Look at Something"
    [read more]
  • June 4, 2009 - Examiner - Rose-colored glasses help you see more
    "Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses may be more than a metaphor. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto (UT) has found that mood can actually affect the way a person processes visual information, with those in a happier mood taking in more than those in a bad one."
    [read more]
  • June 4, 2009 - Telegraph - Positive outlook improves your vision, claim scientists
    "Seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses improves your eyesight, according to new research. "
    [read more]
  • February 28, 2009 - CBC Radio, Quirks & Quarks - The evolution of moral disgust (Interview with Hanah Chapman)
    "Ms. Chapman suggests that our tendency to react to unpleasant behaviour with a look of disgust evolved from our aversive reaction to toxic or putrid food."
    [listen]
  • February 27, 2009 - Globe and Mail - What's that smell? Moral indignation
    "Moral disgust involves the same primitive emotional circuitry that makes us wrinkle our noses at the sight of a dirty toilet, Canadian researchers have found."
    [read more]
  • February 26, 2009 - New Scientist - Did aversion to bitter tastes evolve into moral disgust?
    "People's visceral reaction to incest or betrayal by others could stem from a natural aversion to potentially toxic foods, researchers argue."
    [read more]
  • February 26, 2009 - MSNBC - Bad behavior? Bad smell? We react the same
    "When we see bad behavior, we often do feel sick. The hand goes to the mouth, the nausea sets in, and we turn up our noses as if something foul just walked by. Researchers at the University of Toronto have also just discovered that people react to repulsive photographs, unpleasant liquids, and moral disgust with similar facial movements � the curled upper lip and wrinkled nose."
    [read more]
  • February 26, 2009 - CBC - Moral judgments linked to physical disgust, study suggests
    "Moral disgust in the face of unfair treatment and primitive disgust in reaction to a poison or disease may be more closely linked than we believe, say Canadian researchers."
    [read more]
  • February 26, 2009 - Discovery Channel - Moral, Physical Disgust Hard-Wired Alike
    "Disgust over an unfair or immoral social situation is hard-wired into the human body as strongly as the reaction to a foul taste, according to research published today in the journal Science."
    [read more]
  • February 26, 2009 - Discover Magazine - Moral Disgust May Have Evolved From the Response to Rotten Food
    "Being treated unfairly in a game triggers the same facial expression as stomach-turning tastes and images, a new study has found, suggesting that the brain mechanism of disgust evolved to help humans avoid not just rotten food, but also immoral behavior."
    [read more]
  • August 15, 2008 - Globe and Mail - Meditating through mental illness
    "[Dr. Segal] and colleague Adam Anderson, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, recently reported the preliminary results of a study done at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto. It involved two groups of patients suffering from depression, anxiety or chronic pain. One group had taken eight weeks of mindfulness training." [read more]
  • August 8, 2008 - New York Times - Visual Science - The Origins of Fear and Disgust
    In expressing fear, the movements of the skin generally lengthen the face. In disgust, the opposite movement closes down the openings of the eyes and nostrils. [read more]
  • June 30, 2008 - American Museum of Natural History - Making faces for survival: Are facial expressions more than emotions?
    Ask any person, from any country� to make a fearful face and you'll get the same response-eyebrows raised, eyes wide open, flared nostrils. A disgusted face, on the other hand, shows brows furrowed, eyes narrowed, and a tight mouth. The universal nature of certain facial expressions like fear, disgust, and sadness has led evolutionary scientists to wonder if facial expressions play a more fundamental biological role than just conveying emotion. To find out, a team of researchers at the University of Toronto's Affect and Cognition Laboratory recently tested the effects that the faces of fear and disgust have on our ability to intake sensory information. The findings show that the expressions of fear and disgust have not only opposite patterns of muscle movement but also opposite effects on sensory functions. [read more]
  • June 21, 2008 - Los Angeles Times - A protective trait in the face of fear
    The look of fear is unmistakable: wide eyes, raised brows, a dropped jaw. But is it more than a social signal? Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience this week, University of Toronto researchers reported that fearful expressions evolved to heighten the senses and improve detection of physical threats. [read more]
  • June 19, 2008 - NPR - What Facial Expressions Are Really Saying
    A study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience says that facial expressions � such as a frown of disgust � may actually have a purpose that goes beyond simple communication. [read more]
  • June 17, 2008 - Telegraph - Science: why we scream
    It is a familiar scene from countless horror films: the heroine, eyes wide and mouth gaping, prepares to scream as the killer approaches. But now scientists have discovered that, in doing so, she is obeying not the dictates of her director but the laws of evolution. The reason for this is that our facial expressions have a purpose. Even if there is nothing scary around, pulling a scared face will make you more alert. Similarly, the disgusted face we make when encountering a bad smell is designed to cut out the offensive odour. [read more]
  • June 16, 2008 - ScienceNOW - The Importance of Being Frightened
    Summary unavailable. [read more]
  • June 16, 2008 - The Guardian - Face of fear: how a terrified expression could keep you alive
    The evolutionary mystery of why our faces contort when we are scared has been solved by a team of Canadian neuroscientists. When our facial expression shifts to one of eye-bulging, nostril-flaring fear, our ability to sense attackers or other imminent danger improves dramatically, researchers found. [read more]
  • June 16, 2008 - Good Morning America - Fear Written All Over Your Face
    University of Toronto looks at physical response to fear. [watch video]
  • June 15, 2008 - LiveScience - The Face of Fear Explained
    Upon beholding the chainsaw-wielding ax-murderer in a slasher movie, the damsel in distress usually widens her eyes and flares her nostrils in horror. It turns out this expression isn't merely for cinematic effect, but actually serves a biological function, scientists have found, by altering the way our senses perceive the world. [read more]
  • June 15, 2008 - Metro UK - Looking scared helps you detect danger
    It may not be the most heroic of expressions - but looking afraid when we are scared could have its benefits. Faces contorted with fear may be better equipped to detect threats, say scientists. Expressions of fear are usually characterised by wide eyes and flared nostrils - as famously depicted in Edvard Munch's painting The Scream. [read more]
  • June 15, 2008 - Channel 4 News - Fearful faces 'spot threats better'
    Faces contorted with fear may be better equipped to detect threats, say researchers. [read more]
  • June 13, 2008 - New Scientist - Why a scared expression brings a survival advantage
    You wrinkle your nose and squint when you see a dead rat in the road, but open your eyes, nose and mouth wide when you see a live one in your bedroom. Why? Common facial expressions like disgust and fear, new research suggests, do more than just convey how you are feeling - they alter your sensory relationship to the world around you. [read more]
  • Spring 2008 - U of T Magazine - Meditate Your Troubles Away
    Feeling stressed or depressed? You may one day be prescribed meditation rather than medication, following a University of Toronto study that helps explain why meditation improves one's mood. [read more]
  • December 19, 2006 - ABC News - Happy Emotions Boost Creativity
    Seeing the world "through rose-colored glasses" may not just be a metaphor anymore. Increasing evidence suggests that our mood literally affects the way we visually process information. "Having a positive mood affects your attention -- it can broaden your visual field, literally," said Dr. Adam Anderson, assistant professor of psychology at University of Toronto and senior author of the study. [read more]
  • December 18, 2006 - Scientific American - Happiness: Good for Creativity, Bad for Single-Minded Focus
    Seeing the world "through rose-colored glasses" may not just be a metaphor anymore. Increasing evidence suggests that our mood literally affects the way we visually process information. "Having a positive mood affects your attention -- it can broaden your visual field, literally," said Dr. Adam Anderson, assistant professor of psychology at University of Toronto and senior author of the study. [read more]