[En Español] Anna is an Army veteran who served her country and recently lost her arm due to the blast from an improvised explosive device. While this is a life changing event for Anna, current technology in the US allows her to get a robotic arm controlled by a computer chip implanted in her brain. […]
Category Archives: Technology
How Neuroscience Tools Can Help Patients Regain Their Vision
posted by Susan Lubejko
Biomedical scientists, including many neuroscientists, often get into the scientific research game with the goal of seeing a future in which their work can directly impact human health and wellbeing. There is often a disconnect, however, between the long hours in the lab working with cells, rodents, or computers and the eventual future applications of […]
Neuromorphic engineering: how electronics are learning from the brain
posted by JC Gorman
[En Español] “As engineers, we would be foolish to ignore the lessons of a billion years of evolution” -Carver Mead Scientists have been pursuing artificial intelligence that rivals what the human brain can do for centuries. The brain is remarkable in some computer-like aspects; it processes multiple complex tasks in parallel with high efficiency and […]
How do we use magnets to take pictures of the brain?
posted by Seraphina Solders
Magnets are everywhere – they exist in our electronics, cars, refrigerators, and so on. The Earth itself is one giant magnet, which is why we can use compasses to navigate! They also have many incredible biomedical applications, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which allows us to take pictures of biological tissues and organs in a […]
Meet Christopher Lee – Shape matters! Stories of a “model” scientist
posted by Ariane Pessentheiner
What does Lotso, the bear from Pixar’s Toy Story 3, have in common with the research of computational scientist Dr. Christopher Lee? Lotso is created with a similar technology that Christopher uses to create real 3D models of neurons. For those who just started following this interview series, I am a researcher myself and conduct […]
How Light Leads to Darkness: A Neural Link Between Nighttime Light and Depression
posted by Nicole Mlynaryk
Nighttime light exposure can lead to depression. A new study brings us closer to understanding why, and what we can do about it.
Diffusion MRI: Mapping the structural highways of the brain
posted by Seraphina Solders
Some of my favorite scientific images to look at come from scanning the human brain with a tool called diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (or diffusion MRI). These images depict the long fibers that connect one part of the brain to another in a color-coded fashion, with a beautiful result: a colorful map of the brain’s […]
What’s my (brain) age again?
posted by Seraphina Solders
What does it mean to age? Is it a purely time-based process, with each passing moment bringing our bodies along an invariant trajectory of decline? Or is it a function of our behavior, dependent on our daily activities and the damage inflicted upon ourselves over time? Clearly, there is a bit of truth in each […]
Battling A Brain Tumor The Loki Way
posted by egeyalcinbas
Recently a friend of mine took on the duty of bringing me up to speed on the Marvel cinematic universe. When we got around to watching the first installment in the Thor series, I was expecting more levelheadedness on the part of Thor, the soon-to-be crowned king of Asgard. Shortly after the opening sequence however, […]
A Recipe for the Brain
posted by Peter Osseward
How confident would you be in making a Victorian Tennis Cake, given a set of ingredients and the recipe? What about with a vague list of instructions instead of a detailed recipe? If you’ve ever watched The Great British Baking Show, this concept is familiar to you as the “technical challenge”. Britain’s best amateur bakers […]
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