Medic and researcher Jake Young has started an online neuroscience carnival where anyone can submit their recent writing on neuroscience to see it collected and digested for the dedicated readers.
The first one is due to be published on June 25, so contact Jake if you want to point him in the direction of your online insights.
Link to more details (via A Blog Around the Clock).
New York Academy of Sciences webzine Science in the City has a been archiving a series of interviews, conversations, and lectures by noted scientists and authors, including some of the brightest and best in cognitive science.
Some of the recent events have been:
* Mind Versus Soul panel discussion [mp3]
* Eric Kandel on In Search of Memory [mp3]
* V.S. Ramachandran on Synesthesia and Art [QT]
* How Human Minds Make Human Kinds [mp3]
* The Chemical Roots of Romance [mp3]
* How Trauma Changes Us [mp3]
* Facts, Ethics, and Policy Guiding Neuroscience [mp3]
* Ethics in the Age of Neuroscience [mp3]
The QT link for the Ramachandran talk is an ‘enhanced podcast’ that displays relevant links and images as the talk progresses if played in Quicktime.
Link to Science in the City podcasts (thanks Ben!).
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
The Nobel Prize website has an online game to illustrate Roger Sperry’s work on split-brain patients – with Mr Split-Brainy!
Brian Ethics has a cutting-edge update on the science of genetic influences on mind and brain.
American Scientist talks to neuroscientist Eric Kandel about his current reads and favourite books.
The synaesthesia-like links between taste and smell are investigated by Cognitive Daily’s faultless account of a recent scientific study.
New campaign video for wonder drug Panexa hits the net.
Ultra-sensitive material may pave the way for remote human touch technology.
The increasingly compulsive Developing Intelligence tags up a series of recent posts on neuroscience and transhumanism.
The brain’s left caudate may mediate the switch between language in bilingual speakers, reports Science.
The UK’s Dana Centre regularly hosts free science events for the public and has been webcasting them live. They’ve now put the archives online and there’s a fantastic selection of high-quality programmes for mind and brain enthusiasts.
It’s now quite common for video of lectures or science events to be put online, but they tend to be filmed by a camera vaguely pointed at the speaker with the audio taken from the PA – making the whole thing quite difficult to watch.
In contrast, I was impressed by the fact that the Dana Centre webcasts are produced like a TV show, meaning you can actually see and hear what’s going on.
They’ve had events touching on eclectic range of mind and brain issues, including:
* Van Gogh: Method in his madness?
* Deep Brain Stimulation
* Creating Brains: the science of genius
* The Origins of Magical Beliefs
* Drugs and the Brain: Pills to make you normal
* Drugs and the Brain: Recreation or Therapy?
* The Ethical Brain
* Is It You or I Who Should Be in the Asylum?
All these events were streamed live before they were archived, and the website has details of whatever the next live webcast will be. The events often take questions via email from people watching over the internet.
A thoroughly impressive use of the internet and video technology. Well done Dana.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
BBC radio programme uses computational lingustics on to uncover new patterns in spoken and written english use.
Parapsychology study uses email to test for psychic ability.
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy… Intriguing website from Cambridge University about widely circulated internet meme.
New Scientist report on a robot hand controlled by thought alone (and some electronics).
Such a clich√©, it’s hardly news anymore: Drug company funded studies tend to support the effectiveness of their drugs.
BBC Radio 4 to launch The Memory Experience season this summer.
Tests for ‘face-blindness’ (prosopagnosia) reveals disorder may not be so rare after all.
Are we addicted to internet porn? No, is the short answer, not that you’d believe it from the newspaper headlines.
“Sexual desire traced to genetics”: clumsy headline obscures interesting study showing that a gene coding for a dopamine receptor can account for 5% of reported sexual desire.
I just found a couple of Flickr groups that have caught my imagination. The first is the ‘Brains‘ group for “fans of neuroscience, cognitive science, and other studies of how the mind and brain work”, and the second is ‘Deep Thoughts‘ which has some beautiful portraits of pensive people.
The Brains group is not without its striking images though, including this photo of ‘the apical tufts of 2 cortical layer V pyramidal cells’.
By combining the groups you can move from the level of biological action of the brain to the moment of intellectual discovery revealed on the face of the thinker.
Link to Flickr ‘Brains’ group.
Link to Flickr ‘Deep Thoughts’ group.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Mixing Memory looks at research on how much children believe from what they’re told.
Canine Epilepsy Guardian Angels! No really.
A strangely vague news story suggests that measuring ‘brainwaves’ (EEG / MEG?) explains how optical illusions trick the mind. More details gratefully received.
Smile! You’re on CogSci camera! Researcher aims to record every waking hour of his child’s first three years to study development of speech. More details at this pdf.
BPS Research Digest reports that the individual characteristics of therapists may have more influence on outcome than type of therapy.
Cognitive Daily reports on the immensely cool SNARC effect.
What would be the psychological strain of immortality?
Developing Intelligence picks up on a video lecture on the mathematics of visual hallucinations.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
As much sci-fi brain art as you can shake a stick at (via BrainWaves)
…and one amazing picture of neuronanoart (via Neurofuture).
Professor Alan Harvey discusses neural transplantation on ABC Radio’s In Conversation.
The New York Times on the neuroscience of chronic pain.
BBC Five Live broadcasts an investigation into illicit drugs on UK psychiatric wards (called ‘Drugs on the Brain’).
1 in 20 neothlithic skulls show evidence of early neuroweapon injuries.
This week’s New Scientist has a letter on the treatment of ADHD and the ethics of conformity.
PLoS Biology has a paper on how a relatively simple computational model can produce a realistic simulation of the brain’s visual system.
Cognitive Daily’s Dave Munger writes on how the psychology of uncertainty can effect the economics of conservation.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
The New York Times examines the factors that contribute to exceptional talents and ‘expert performance‘.
Cognitive Daily analyses research that shows that hypnotism can abolish the Stroop effect.
New Scientist reports that women can pick out which men are child-friendly by looking at their faces. See also pdf of scientific paper. (via BB).
People with autism show different brain activity during resting or ‘day dreaming’ times than others, reports brain-imaging study.
Nobel-prizewinning neuroscientist Eric Kandel is profiled by The Loom’s Carl Zimmer. With audio interview and sample chapter of Kandel’s memoir.
Coventry University starts a two-year postgraduate degree course in parapsychology (via anomalist)
BrainEthics looks at the contribution of genetics to cognition, inspired by a special issue on the topic from the journal Behavior Genetics.
YouTube video of newly developed android woman!
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Mixing Memory examines evidence that craving a cigarette warps your sense of time.
Researchers have located a gene that they believe contributes towards overall mental performance.
New discoveries might lead to a ‘vaccine‘ for a certain type of brain tumour.
Popular Science looks at the use of beta-blocker drug propranolol in reducing the impact of traumatic memories.
Who’s afraid of the third culture? asks Gloria Origgi in boffin clubhouse Edge.
Bring on the replicants! Scientific American on android science.
Boys are being increasingly affected by body image pressure.
Do People Know When They’re Overweight? Science News examines the psychology of obesity and insight.
Drug companies accused of producing misleading adverts and advertsing watchdog accused of being inadequate.
Slate has a collection of streamed video interviews with significant public figures online, including a couple of cognitive scientists.
A comprehensive interview with Daniel Dennett tackles his views on the supernatural, evolution, consciousness and free will.
Stephen Pinker is also interviewed and discuses evolutionary psychology, consciousness and the limits of science, although from quite a different angle.
Apparently, the interview with Francis Fukuyama also strays onto consciousness, although I haven’t listened far enough to discover for myself yet.
For a change, the interviews are in-depth and gives the speakers a chance to develop their ideas and really make their points.
Link to video interview with Daniel Dennett [transcript].
Link to video interview with Stephen Pinker [transcript].
Link to video interview with Francis Fukyama [transcript].
…via 3QuarksDaily.
Dr Raven Hanna is a biochemist-turned-artist who makes fantastic jewelry and clothing in the shape of neurotranmitters at Made with Molecules.
If you ever wanted a necklace adorned with dopamine and acetylcholine molecules, or just a simple serotonin charm around your neck, you could do far worse than check out Hanna’s online collection.
There’s also earrrings, keychains, cards and even clothes for kids appropriately adorned with oxytocin.
A witty and stylish way to display your love for all things brain-related.
Link to Made with Molecules (thanks Mel!).
While on a recent link ramble I discovered the wonderfully anarchic Omni Brain – an electic and entertaining mind and brain blog.
It seems to be powered by cognitive scientists Steve Higgins and Sandra Kiume who are keeping the site posted with news on everything from vetinary psychiatry to the psychophysics of baseball.
Link to Omni Brain.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Scientific American investigate the neuroscience and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in a new feature article.
Researchers devise software that tracks the mood swings of 150,000 LiveJournal users.
The New York Times examines the neuropsychology of investor behaviour – christened neuroeconomics.
The New Atlantis Magazine takes an in-depth look at the trouble with the Turing Test (via 3quarksdaily).
In light of the first ‘female viagra’ The Observer discusses whether it will be a substitute fix for emotional problems in couples.
The New York Times examines evidence about the role of the gene neuregulin in the risk for schizophrenia.
Physicists devise mathematical model to simulate how sensory neurons operate.
UK nurses back harm-reduction scheme to supervise chronic self-harmers.
A curious case-vignette of a person with depression is published in The New York Times.
BBC News reports that female ovulation makes men more wary of ‘rival’ masculine males, according to a new study.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
People who experience ‘near-death experiences’ are also more likely to experience ‘REM intrusion’ – the mometary presence of sleep or dream-like states during wakefulness (see also here).
A study reports that racial diversity within a group of jurors improves deliberation and group decision making.
The New York Times looks at the psychology of bias, promotion and drug company influence.
Artificial intellgience robot football competition won by students from Plymouth University.
Mind grenade t-shirt!
Areas of the prefrontal cortex related to the self are silenced during intense sensory processing according to brain-scanning study.
Cognitive Daily examines an intriguing study of the effect of Barbie dolls on the body image of young girls.
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Study finds more white matter in auditory cortex of people who have a gift for languages.
Male and female brains are differently active, even during rest, reports brain imaging study.
Recent experiment suggests successful community cooperation may rely on a way of punishing noncooperators.
Women have extremely high rates of dissatisfaction with their body image says widely reported but dodgy survey from a magazine.
Clumsy BBC headline of the week – Weak brain links ‘explain autism’ – that actually obscures genuinely interesting research.
Good article in the Boston Globe about research on brain-computer interfaces.
SPET study shows NMDA receptors in left hippocampus of people with schizophrenia may be less efficient.
Futurelab discuss the latest trend in marketing with a neuroscience spin: brain fitness.
Salon feature on “Our crazy mental health system“.
BPS Research Digest reports that people with anxiety disorders suffer less accidents when under 25, but show a higher mortality after.
The Telegraph examines the metaphor of possession in understanding addiction.
As a group, Goths are more likely to self-harm, although probably due to self-harmers being attracted to the group for emotional and peer support reports New Scientist.
Mind Hacks 