Posts tagged with ‘neurology’

In the future, written passwords may be replaced by pass-thoughts

Typing in a password is so 20th century. In the future, you may be able to unlock your phone, check your email, access online accounts and unlock your car or house with your thoughts. Right now, the technology to do so is bulky, expensive and inconvenient, but so were computers themselves decades and decades ago.

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Playing the mirror game just got a whole lot easier: Scientists link the brains of two rats together

“In an experiment that sounds straight out of a science fiction movie, a Duke neuroscientist has connected the brains of two rats in such a way that when one moves to press a lever, the other one does, too — most of the time.”

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Obama administration funding a 10 year effort to study the human brain

In addition to funding space exploration and the possibility of American high speed rail, the Obama administration has the frontier of the human brain as part of its new scientific initiative. The administration promised funding for a 10 year program to thoroughly map the human brain, so Obama will be able to methodically convert everyone to radical atheist Muslim Communists.

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A peek inside a rapper’s brain while they’re freestlying

To watch a skilled rapper improvise lyrics on the fly is impressive, but what exactly is going on in that brain in those split seconds that rhyming verses are strung together? Scientists have looked inside the brain of a freestyling rapper to see the roots of improvisation.

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Anxiety about math can cause real, physical pain

Some people love math, but for many others, “hate” isn’t a strong enough word… something that causes fear and anxiety and even physical pain. Apparently, if you’re not a math person and you have to perform math in school for a test or something, that anxiety about mathematics can actually cause a physical pain response in the brain.

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Pokemon once inspired the US military to research a seizure weapon

You may remember way back in 1997, also known as “The Beforetime” before 9/11, when there was an episode of Pokemon that was blamed for giving kids seizures. This gave an idea to the US military, who then went on to research the idea of creating a weapon that would induce seizures in the enemy.

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Study reveals how green tea can boost brain cell production and improve memory

Green tea has been popular in east Asia for centuries, and it’s only been the last few years that it’s gained traction in the US. And as study after study has pointed out, green tea is not only tasty, it’s a little bit magical— full of antioxidants and with the power to increase brain cell production and brain function.

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Scientists can now extract personal secrets from your brain with commercial hardware

Perhaps this could be the beginning of a world where criminal justice is made easy, your boss or girlfriend or the government could spie on your thoughts and tell if you’re lying or not. That sounds great. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but any time there’s something about scientists making advances in mind-reading technology, it’s hard not to get all hyperbolic. 

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Scientists developing a device to let them read the thoughts of Stephen Hawking. Maybe even the dirty ones.

Scientist Stephen Hawking has an incredible brain, but it’s locked inside a body that’s almost completely immobile from decades of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Right now, there’s only a single cheek muscle that Dr. Hawking has control over, and by twitching it, he can communicate via computer, albeit extremely slowly. Stanford University is working on a device that would hopefully be able to pick thoughts out of Hawking’s brain, so he can continue to theorize and communicate as long as he wants.

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Modern tech allows neurologists to map the brain wiring of Phineas Gage

If you’ve ever studied even the smallest amount of neurology or psychology, even in passing, you’re probably familiar with the story of Phineas Gage, a railroad worker who in 1848, survived having an iron tamping rod run all the way through his skull. His survival and his recovery has been studied by neurologists for over 150 years, and now with the benefit of modern technology, scientists can look at exactly how his brain rewired itself after the accident.

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MIT discovers that memories are stored in individual neurons

The image above isn’t from some sort of candy-coated rave porn. It’s a false color image of mouse neurons holding on to some sort of mousy memory. MIT researchers have shown, for the first time ever, that memories are stored in specific brain cells. By triggering a small cluster of neurons, the researchers were able to force the subject to recall a specific memory. By removing these neurons, the subject would lose that memory.

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