Picture this: you’re riding your bike on a cool fall afternoon. You’re blind but have no difficulty navigating through the streets without the aid of your eyes. Rather, the world comes into view through waves of sound bouncing off nearby objects in response to the bursts of clicking noises you create with your tongue. Since […]
Category Archives: Neuroscience
September
10
Remembering Oliver Sacks
posted by socogal42
To celebrate the life and work of Dr. Oliver Sacks, the man who inspired many of us to study the brain, some of the members of NeuWriteSD have chosen a favorite piece or two to share and speak about. Though I’ve been reading his words for over a decade now, Oliver Sacks’ final piece […]
May
14
Beyond Black and White: Gender Identity and the Brain
posted by socogal42
May is Gender Month here at NeuWriteSD! This is the second of four pieces exploring neuroscience and gender; you can read Melissa T.’s excellent post on subtle sexism here. It’s amazing how much of our culture is historically focused on binaries: issues are black or white, characters are heroes or villains, actions are right or […]
April
16
Hacking the Neuronal Recipe
posted by Melissa Lau
Whether it’s Outback’s Bloomin’ Onion or In-N-Out’s secret sauce, the Internet is awash with bloggers’ attempts to recreate iconic foods. Regrettably, as the occasional DIY fail can attest, not all reproductions are indistinguishable from the original. But this isn’t the case for neuroscientist Kristin Baldwin. She and her team have successfully decoded one of […]
April
09
You Do Have a Sixth Sense – and More!
posted by Ethan McBride
Ever wish you had more than just five senses? Sure, it’s cool to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste the world, but wouldn’t it be great to be able to sense other things? Perhaps you would prefer X-ray vision, telepathy, the ability to tell the future, or maybe you want to see dead people (or […]
March
05
“Mind Change”: Does Technology Really Harm Our Brains? A NeuWrite Reads Special Report
posted by socogal42
When I was growing up, there was this idea that the things we did on the Internet were part of a life separate from the one in the “real world” (most literally seen in the online game “Second Life”). The people you met and the things you did weren’t really part of you and the […]
February
14
THE BRAIN IS A BATTLEFIELD (A LOOK AT YOUR BRAIN POST-BREAKUP)
posted by nkoblesky
All couples look forward to Valentine’s night. Flying around the apartment, you quickly assemble everything needed for the romantic evening: nice outfit, box stuffed with chocolates, blood-red envelope holding your oh-so-romantic valentine card. The doorbell rings, and you smile broadly as you pull open the door… to find your beloved standing there, frowning and valentine-less. […]
January
08
“Every Science Story is a Detective Story”
posted by socogal42
This week, UCSD, the Kavli Foundation, and the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind hosted a visit from the amazing actor Alan Alda and fellows from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science,. In addition to a public lecture and workshops for senior faculty and selected postdoctoral scholars, Mr. Alda was kind enough to take […]
October
27
NeuWrite Reads: Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? by Timothy Verstynen and Bradley Voytek
posted by socogal42
If you’ve come to our website via Google, there’s a good chance it’s because you wanted to know about zombies. The search term that brings the most people to our site by far is “are zombies real?”. Ashley’s post is an awesome primer on real-life zombies, but for those of you who want to go […]
October
16
Lithium: Wonder Drug? Part II
posted by kkiritah
Note from the author: This post is dedicated to my biology nerds out there. If you follow my Gene-of-the-Week posts (and you should because they’re the weirdest), you know that I often get lost in the cellular and molecular details of life, and it’s totally overwhelming. I wrote this post specifically to discuss the mechanisms […]
NeuWrite San Diego 
You must be logged in to post a comment.