Year: 2011
The Thanksgiving Day Hangover
Yes, I know it’s a little bit early to be bringing this up. While the holiday itself may have already passed, many of you are probably still recovering from the hangover that the entire country was forced to endure. I mean really, this isn’t even a good feeling to wake up from this hangover, not […]
Scared Stiff: The Story Behind "Fainting Goats"
Have you ever seen a goat (or any animal, for that matter) do this? Neither had I. But these are the sorts of things that come up at family parties and pique my curiosity. Perhaps the nickname and title of the YouTube video “fainting goats” is a misnomer (as National Geographic pointed out) as the […]
Lolo, Ubongo, Cerebro, Cervello, Cerveau, Brein = BRAIN!
Know any of the above words from ubongo to brein? If so, you can (surprisingly to you of course) say BRAIN in Hawaiian, Swahili, Spanish, Italian, French, or Dutch. And if you can (read this and) fluently speak at least one of these languages, or another not shown, you are multilingual (again, SO surprisingly to […]
The Zombie Brain
Ever wonder why zombies are after brains? Perhaps because their own brains don’t function as they should. Based on the clear cognitive deficits exhibited by zombies, UC Berkley neuroscientist Bradley Voytek and colleague Timothy Verstynen have modeled what their brains might look like. All of the zombies’ “symptoms” would likely be caused by loss of […]
Insights from a Failing Brain
For years, scientists have investigated cases of human brain damage as a means of further understanding the function of specific neural regions, but neuroanatomist, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, received the unique opportunity of experiencing this function-impeding damage firsthand. She awoke one morning to find herself having a stroke, and years later has recovered to share […]
A Diet to Boost Your Brain's Performance
Our culture obsesses over self-image and appearance, and people are always trying to find the next miracle diet to make them thin, buff, and beautiful. However, tailoring a diet to ensure the fitness and optimal function of the most important organ, the brain, is just as important. The search for the perfect brain diet has […]
It Seems The Beatles Were on to Something.
The year is 1966. After months of extensive preparation and creative troubleshooting, three scientists studying the brain’s unique split personality eagerly awaited the results of their carefully designed experiment. By placing an electrode into a cat’s corpus callosum, they were hoping to decode the brain’s elusive internal code. What they ended up finding was something […]
Run Crustaceans, Run!
When humans fall ill, we can go to the doctor to receive a diagnosis and treatment. We have a form of communication, and our body has good indicators that can help the doctor diagnose the problem. But what happens when we are trying to diagnose organisms that have no way to tell us what is wrong, and […]
A Knitted Brain
Art is popular. There are many people that enjoy, support, or make a living off of art. It has the power to evoke emotion and also to allow one to express emotion through shapes, color, and patterns. Brains are popular too, but in a different sense. Everyone has a brain. Some may use it more […]
LSD and Creativity
In 2007, Albert Hofmann, the creator of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), wrote a letter to Steve Jobs on behalf of his friend Rick Doblin, who was the founder of the nonprofit organization Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Hofmann was with hopes, at the age of 101, that Jobs might want to make a donation […]