Category Archives: Sensory Systems

October 10

Why do neuroscientists study weird animals?: A primer on neuroethology

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Why do neuroscientists study weird animals? And I don’t mean borderline weird; I mean the kind of extraordinary animals that can create electric fields and lift 100 times their body weight. The sort of animals that can camouflage despite being colorblind and can capture flying prey in fractions of a second. The kind of creatures […]

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May 02

Interview with an Oxford Food Psychologist

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The surprising ways our brains steer our eating experiences, and how to use them to our advantage According to Dr. Charles Spence, when it comes to experiencing food, taste is the least important factor. But can that really be true? To learn about food psychology – or how our brains process multisensory information about what […]

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January 31

Stars for Eyes – The Neurological Wonder of the Star-Nosed Mole

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Beneath the eastern wetlands of Canada and the United States, there lives underground a bizarre and unique animal with an impressive list of evolutionary adaptations. This creature holds the world record as fastest eater among mammals [1], can smell underwater [2], and has a very unique sensory organ that basically operates as its eyes [3]. […]

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December 20

A Pirate’s Life is NOT for Me: A Deep Dive into Motion Sickness

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A few months ago, I spent three and a half anxious hours on a rickety motorboat on western Tanzania’s Lake Tanganyika. The cause of my anxiety was not the fact that we were floating over the second deepest freshwater lake in the world in a boat that had already begun to take in some water […]

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August 02

Snake Eyes: The Fear That Built Your Brain

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Indiana Jones is a quintessential American hero, his fedora, satchel, and whip instantly recognizable around the world. He lives a double life, a scholarly professor of anthropology in public and a globetrotting treasure hunter in private. He defeats the Nazis and always gets the girl, displaying daring and fearlessness, with one notable exception. He has […]

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September 21

Scratch that itch

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[En español] One of the greatest pleasures in life is to scratch an itch – in both the real and figurative sense. Although scratching an itch provides immediate (albeit temporary) relief, it may actually trigger the mechanism that makes us itch. So the more we scratch, the itchier we get, turning the short-lived pleasure into a […]

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July 20

Genomes, Circuits, and the Roundworm: C. Elegans as a Model Organism

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A nematode can do much to help our understanding of human biology.

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May 11

Identity Crisis

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Who are you? How do you know? I’ve been thinking a lot about identity this week. It all started when I received a letter from the IRS that began “Dear TAXPAYER” and essentially asked, “Are you who you say you are?” (Yes, it’s me! Please send me my tax refund!) To validate my identity, I […]

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May 05

Hello Darkness My Old Friend: How Echolocation Lets Bats Rule the Night

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When I asked my boyfriend, a 15-year-old stuck in 28-year-old’s body, who would win in a battle between Batman and Superman in anticipation of the now-in-theaters “smash-flop” blockbuster, he responded, “Obviously Superman with his powers of x-ray vision and superhuman strength.  Batman is just a human with fancy technology.”  Such gadgets as a tape erasing […]

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March 17

We Are All Actually in the Matrix

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I’m not kidding: you, me, and everyone else are actually in the matrix. But it’s not quite the same matrix as in the movie “The Matrix.” We are (probably) not being grown and harvested by robots who (somewhat inexplicably) have chosen to use us as a power source.

No, I’m talking about your brain. Your brain is your own personal matrix. It enables your consciousness, your sensations, your positive and negative feelings.

It lies to you. All the time.

Let me show you.

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