We are not all the same when it comes to our reactions to stress, I rediscovered on Tuesday afternoon during a workshop sponsored by the International Brain Research Organization to mark Women’s History Month.
For example, the idea that our bodies’ involuntary stress reactions serve us well in the case of acute stress (short-term) but can [...]
For a peek into the life and past of famed neuroscientist Eric Kandel, check out the new documentary “In Search of Memory” (which also happens to be the name of his well-regarded memoir). Here in Chicago, it’s playing through the week of Neuroscience 2009, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, at the Facets Cinémathèque in [...]
It’s time for Neuroscience 2009, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, Oct. 15-22 in Chicago. I arrived last night, and swung up to the Hancock Building’s 95th floor for a reception for members and friends of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives tonight. The hostess commiserated with me that it wasn’t sunny enough to see [...]
Someday, socially engaging robots that provide an individualized curriculum for every student could transform the future of education, Terrence J. Sejnowski tells the Dana Foundation in an interview this week. Sejnowski founded Neural Computation, the top journal in neural networks and computational neuroscience, and has developed pioneering algorithms for decades.
In this Q&A, he talks about [...]
Here’s another chance to read and review a Dana Press book before it’s released to the general public. July’s title is TREATING THE BRAIN: WHAT THE BEST DOCTORS KNOW, by top neuroscientist Walter Bradley.
Even in this information age, people dealing with often-serious neurological problems face the daunting task of finding accurate, credible and understandable information—the [...]
Over at the Dana Foundation site, there’s a package of news and commentaries (with more coming) on “neuro-education,” the effects of arts training on the brain and the use of what we know about the brain to improve how we teach. Stories include:
NEWS: Attention May Link Arts and Intelligence
Arts education causes “profound changes” in [...]
Go ahead, celebrate your brain—it’s certainly a writer’s best tool. Brain Awareness Week, this year from today through Sunday (March 16–23) is organized and promoted by The Dana Foundation, whose Web pages I edit. Well into its second decade, BAW can boast more than 2,200 partners offering lectures, lab tours, movies, “brain fairs” and other [...]
update: see video from the event at TheScientist.com (you may have to register)
Next Tuesday, March 3, neuroscientists including Dan Levitin (“This is Your Brain on Music) and Joseph LeDoux (“Synaptic Self”) will burn up the Highline Ballroom in New York City along with Rufus Wainwright, Dee Snyder, Lenny Kaye, The Kennedys, Dream Syndicate, and, [...]
The Neurocritic plays host to Encephalon 64, the latest brain-blog carnival. We didn’t make the cut this time (someone may have sent the e-mail too late), but it’s still chock-full of goodies. Highlights for me this time were the images: Jane Mackay’s painting “Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto,” a synesthetic composition bridging the gap between sight [...]
Might the beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles of Alzheimer’s be symptoms and not causes? Some scientists are coming around to that idea, according to a story on the Dana site this week. This is a follow-on from earlier stories on the series of failed amyloid drug trials this past year.