Have you ever heard about the distinction between Type 1 and Type 2 fun? Don’t worry, this isn’t some scientific attempt to quantify fun and render it anything but. Type 1 fun is basically anything you do that is actually fun. Playing with puppies, hanging out with friends, annoying your significant other – that sort […]
May
25
Cranium-bound Ultrasound: A Novel Brain Stimulation Method
posted by Christian Cazares
Over the last few years, the application of ultrasonic stimulation has been heading towards a rather intimate part of the human body: the brain. Researchers have engineered a way to transmit ultrasound through the skull to influence brain activity, remarkably without the necessity of brain surgery. While non-invasive brain stimulation has been […]
May
11
Identity Crisis
posted by Barbara Spencer
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 […]
April
27
Half Asleep
posted by megkirch
Sleep, though one of my greatest joys in life, is frustratingly unproductive. As much as I love to curl up in bed, close my eyes and flip the off-switch on my consciousness, the realization that I spend 24-33% of my day just staring at the backs of my eyelids is exasperating. Imagine the possibilities if […]
April
20
A Crisp(r) Explanation of Biology’s Coolest New Tool
posted by Caroline Sferrazza
[En español] If perusing the headlines is a regular part of your daily routine, you’ve probably noticed that one acronym has been exceedingly popular in the Science and Technology section for last couple of years: CRISPR. Even once you figure out what CRISPR stands for – Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats – it’s not […]
April
13
Read because you can
posted by Elena Blanco-Suarez
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Once upon a time, when I was fairly young, my mom invested her time to teach me to read, so I learned just a bit earlier than my […]
April
06
AN update: disease in a dish
posted by Catie Profaci
While the phrase “stem cells” used to spark bitter controversy, scientists can now take a harmless skin biopsy from a human patient and transform those (skin) cells into a bunch of stem cells capable of becoming many different types of cells in the body, including brain cells.
March
31
Golden Retrievers, Terriers, and Artificial Neural Networks
posted by egeyalcinbas
Usually when someone tells you that they are studying something, it’d be safe to assume that they interact with whatever it is that they study. So you might be surprised to hear that there are neuroscientists who don’t spend much time manipulating and observing the dynamics within the physical brain of an organism or collecting […]
March
23
Are computers like brains?
posted by Elena Blanco-Suarez
[En español] A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an article, after a friend of mine (and fellow neuroscientist) posted it on one of the multiple social media outlets we manage these days. I felt immediately curious about its content, with a title that cleverly teases neuroscientists: Could a neuroscientist understand a microprocessor? After reading […]
