Open source brain-computer interface for makers
Joel Murphy (co-creator of the nifty PulseSensor, an Arduino sensor that detects pulse) teamed up with Conor Russomanno to create the OpenBCI, a Bluetooth-enabled, Arduino-compatible, 8-channel EEG...
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fMRI mind-reading of faces
Yale University researchers used brain scans to "read" and reconstruct the faces that individuals were picturing in their minds' eye. The scientists ran fMRI scans on six people as they looked at 300...
View ArticleAudio illusion: understanding gibberish
WHYY's The Pulse radio show visited The Franklin Institute's new exhibition "Your Brain" where chief bioscientist Jayatri Das demonstrated an incredible audio illusion. (more…)
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Beautiful brain images take over Times Square
Brain City, this beautiful film by Noah Hutton made from neuroimagery collected at leading brain science labs, will screen in New York City just before midnight on Times Square's massive electronic...
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What I learned from Lumosity: fluid intelligence doesn't matter
One of the controversies surrounding brain training sites has been the creators' claims that they build fluid intelligence. (more…)
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Genetic links between creativity, schizophrenia, and autism
How is creativity related to schizophrenia and autism? Psychology professor Scott Barry Kaufman looks at a scientific paper suggesting that "creativity and psychosis share genetic roots" in the...
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Could you possibly transfer your consciousness to another body?
https://youtu.be/5r1Sl8DKjf4 From Ben Kingsley to brain stimulation, dream recorders to optogenetics... (more…)
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A breakthrough mind-reading experiment turned thoughts into text
No, it's not science fiction. For the first time ever, scientists in Albany, NY were able to use a "brain-to-text" interface to read thoughts and translate them into text. But it wasn't as simple as...
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California woman killed by brain-eating amoeba
A 21-year-old California woman died from an amoeba that settles in the brain and destroys its tissue. The disease she contracted is called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It is rare, with...
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How neurotech will transform the way we work
Over at Backchannel, I wrote about how brain tech could transform how we work in the future, from displays that react to our mental state to offices that respond to our brainwaves. Stanford and...
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Psychological disorder causes you to hallucinate your doppelgänger
In the book The Man Who Wasn't There, Anil Ananthaswamy explores mysteries of self, including the weirdness of autoscopic phenomena, a kind of hallucination in which you are convinced that you are...
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New neuroscience-based platform to get to know your mind
My friend Stanford neuroscientist Melina Uncapher and her colleagues are piloting a new public project called mymntr meant to create a "user guide for your brain" through brain tests for...
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Man missing for 30 years realizes that he's someone else
This is Edgar Latulip of southwestern Ontario. The developmentally disabled man has been missing since 1986 but was just found about 120 kilometers from his hometown. Or rather, he found himself....
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Split brain explainer video: You Are Two
https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8 The narrator uses a near-parody of the "youtube voice" to explain what happens when the bundle of neural fibers (corpus callosum) connecting the left and right hemispheres...
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Blow half of your mind with this explainer on brain hemispheres
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfYbgdo8e-8 CGP Grey explains that it might be better to think of your brain as two intelligences, with the mute right hemisphere forced to play sidekick to its...
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Brain's "reward system" also tied to sleep-wake states
According to Stanford University researchers, a primary circuit in the brain's reward involving the chemical "feel-good" chemical dopamine, is also essential for controlling our sleep-wake cycles....
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"Self-control" can be switched off with electromagnetic brain stimulation
University of Zurich researchers used transcranial magnetic stimulation, a noninvasive method of inhibiting activity in parts of the brain, to "turn off" people's ability to control their impulses....
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Zapping the brain with magnetic pulses boosts libido
In a curious study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles showed that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) -- altering brain activity by zapping specific regions with magnetic...
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How to get rid of ear worms
Annoying song stuck in your head? This BrainCraft video explains that listening to it from beginning to end may free you from its burden. It's a technique based on the Zeigarnik effect, the tendency...
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Can you "hear" flashes of light? Do you have synesthesia? Take a test.
Can you "hear" motion or light flashes? If so, according to new research from City University London, you may be experiencing a not-so-rare form of synaesthesia. Synesthesia is the fascinating...
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Amputee monkeys learn mind control methods to manipulate robotic arm
Neuroscientist Nicho Hatsopoulous and his team taught monkeys that lost limbs through accidents how to control a robotic arm. The work has profound implications on what they call the brain-machine...
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Scientists discover hundreds of new genes that may affect cognitive ability
Scientists analyzed almost a quarter million DNA samples in the UK Biobank and found 538 new genes that appear to have a role in intellectual capabilities. (more…)
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How brain imaging is getting a boost from video game engines
Unity 3D game-engine lies at the heart of Glass Brain, data visualization of real-time brain function. (more…)
View ArticleWatch this journalist uncover how games mess with his brain
There's a lot of text out about how, for better or worse, playing computer games will mess with your brains. Instead of adding to the pile of words already scrawled on the subject, WIRED's Peter Rubin...
View ArticleNew study discovers why coffee can protect the brain, and it has to do with...
Although scientists already believed that drinking coffee could possibly reduce the risk of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, a new study by Krembil Brain Institute in Toronto,...
View ArticleTHE BUREAU: Part Eleven, "Your Supervisor Disintegrates"— with a Gysin Dream...
Aloha, Office Participant! This is the second to last installment of the Bureau series. Today has you pondering life's meaning. Meditation is a helpful way to consider our role in the world and find...
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Sleep is a brain-repair mechanism, new study proves
Scientists Lior Appelbaum and David Zada in Israel publish new proof that sleep serves to help our brains repair damage. Their study, published in the journal Nature, used genetically engineering...
View ArticleWatch: Patient plays violin during brain surgery, a UK first
In this video, a brain surgery patient is filmed playing violin during an operation. Dagmar Turner was woken up after her skull was removed, and played the violin while surgeons removed her aggressive...
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What exactly is intelligence? Watch this simple explainer
Intelligence is a surprisingly difficult thing to define. Kurzgesagt jumps into the debate with an interesting overview of where intelligence begins. Is a slime mold intelligent? Are plants...
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Concussions can cause changes in gut bacteria
Researchers at the Houston Methodist Research Institute have discovered that brain injuries, such as concussions, can change your gut bacteria. From New Atlas: The Houston Methodist team investigated...
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