Last night I dreamt (in part) that I went to the Olympics, but there was only one event. It was called “track.” Each competitor had to do a front flip, swim in a circle, and then do a triple jump out of the pool. The scoring was subjective, and the athletes were all middle-aged English gentlemen in sweater vests. Quite a civilized sport.

I’m not rich with blog inspiration at the moment, but I did read an article today that I think is pretty neat: Timewarp: How Your Brain Creates the Fourth Dimension. (I forget where I saw the link, sorry.)

It’s about how the brain processes time, which is a subject I’ve always found fascinating. I used to believe the theory that time seems to run in slow motion during an accident or scary situation because your brain actually runs faster, but this article points to studies that more or less shoot that down. The new theory, it seems, is that you lay down richer memories during stressful situations, so when you think back on them, you get the impression that the events must have taken longer than they actually did. Both theories are so attractive conceptually that I hardly care which one is correct—they’re just fun to think about.

I especially recommend the bit at the end about the relationship between schizophrenia and problems with time perception. Chilling stuff.