The brain. Nestled cozily inside its skull and properly integrated with its body’s peripheral nervous and circulatory systems, the organ is revered as a sacred abode for our thoughts, emotions, and identity. But extracted from this natural habitat, its slimy cortex and gyrating gyri can make one squeamish. Don’t worry, we neuroscientists aren’t offended. It’s […]
Category Archives: Neuroscience
October
27
The Shape of Things to Come
posted by erikkaestner
Experts overwhelmingly agree: Robots will soon overthrow humanity. The only question is whether they will merely enslave us1 or will entirely destroy the human race2,3,4. To better face our coming downfall, it is important to understand how machines will gain the powers to destroy us. They have already bested us in chess5, game shows6, and […]
October
17
Who Do You Think You Are?
posted by socogal42
The young woman lies in a hospital bed, her head wrapped in bandages, a handsome man asleep at her bedside. She opens her eyes and we can immediately see her eyes move wildly around the room, taking in the surroundings with a panicked look on her face. The man jerks awake and tries to […]
October
10
neurophilosodiction
posted by jasonakeller
Neuroscientists and philosophers swim together in a pool of loaded words and phrases: “consciousness”, “free will”, “attention”, “decision making”, and so forth. Because defining these concepts is important to both fields, semantic debate tends to muddy the water. For instance, do we have free will? Don’t worry…I’m not here to convince you that my view […]
August
29
Ye Olde Neuroimaging
posted by Andy Peters
Technology has rocketed neuroscience forward since the middle of the 20th century. From probing single cells to recording from the entire brain at once, longstanding questions from the past can be answered with the turn of a few knobs and the push of a few buttons. None of the tools in neuroscience are more familiar, […]
July
02
The hippocampus: Going the distance beyond space and time
posted by Emilie Reas
Anyone who’s spent a day exploring the streets of New York City will understand the importance of integrating accurate representations of space, time and distance. That hipster dive-bar you’re dying to check out is twelve streets from tonight’s dinner spot, whereas that hot new rooftop bar is just four avenues away. Which do you choose […]
June
24
When shown a picture of a middle-aged male…
posted by erikkaestner
When shown a picture of a middle-aged male actor, how is it that we can easily tell Matt Damon from Mark Wahlberg? The actual differences in their faces are not huge in absolute terms, though it feels obvious when looking at them. Faces are all pretty much the same: two eyes, a mouth, a […]
June
18
Do monkeys play fair? Staging an ultimatum game in the ultimate social primate
posted by Ashley Juavinett
Every now and then, my roommate will lean in the frame of my door and pose a simple scenario: “Will you mop the floors if I wash the dishes?” I usually respond positively to the ultimatum (I really can’t stand doing dishes), and when the moment is right, put on some Enya and graciously clean […]
June
10
Impaired interval timing and Free Willy (not really)
posted by kkiritah
This is really about: The role of interval timing dysfunction in the formation of first-rank symptoms in patients with schizophrenia? Note 1: This is the first in a “series” of posts by the second- (or third-?) year students to tell you a little about our minor prop topics. We all Some of us worked very hard on our […]
June
02
Of Mice and Microscopes
posted by Ethan McBride
The world is a complicated and dangerous place. In order to survive in an ever-changing environment, animals (including us humans) have to be able to appropriately change their behavior to suit their current situation. For example, if a mouse is scurrying around your basement searching for food and suddenly smells a cat, it will probably […]
NeuWrite San Diego 
You must be logged in to post a comment.