Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which people’s senses seem to be crossed. Some people with the condition can feel tastes or see sounds; others taste voices (think of the opposite of anesthesia, literally “no senses”). Neurologist Richard Cytowic has studied such people for more than three decades, starting with a man in the rare latter [...]
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Posted 03 November 2009
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While the recent deluge of stimulus money to fund science research is very welcome, the chief of the National Institutes of Health said on Monday, the devil is in the details—will the support continue?
“Science is not a 100-yard dash—it’s a marathon,” said Francis Collins during an address at Neuroscience 2009, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual [...]
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Posted 21 October 2009
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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 [...]
If you are in New York City on Friday, Sept. 11, consider spending the day being mindful of morality. The United Nations will play host to a free all-day conference, open to those who pre-register and sponsored by the Nour Foundation, Georgetown University, and Blackfriars Hall at Oxford University, called “Toward a Common Morality.”
It’s the [...]
Thanks to researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and elsewhere, we now can hear the music of our minds at work. A chewy feature story in the Hartford Courant today describes the work of Dan Lloyd, who has developed software that assigns pitches to various regions of the brain, as seen in action via [...]
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Posted 10 August 2009
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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 [...]
Musician and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, who followed his popular-science book THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC (2006) with THE WORLD IN SIX SONGS: HOW THE MUSICAL BRAIN CREATED HUMAN NATURE last year, is co-host of an interesting-looking two-hour documentary that explores the science behind music. The program will air on many PBS stations starting at [...]
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 [...]