Brain On a Chip
Are we humans – with our carbon-based neural net “wetware” brains – at a point in history when we might be able to imprint the circuitry of the human brain using transistors on a silicon chip?
What Caffeine Actually Does to Your Brain
For all of its wild popularity, caffeine is one seriously misunderstood substance. It’s not a simple upper, and it works differently on different people with different tolerances—even in different menstrual cycles. But you can make it work better for you.
http://lifehacker.com/5585217/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain
The Defense of Computers, the Internet and Our Brains
If you’re reading this blog post on a computer, mobile phone or e-reader, please stop what you’re doing immediately. You could be making yourself stupid. And whatever you do, don’t click on the links in this post. They could distract you from the flow of my beautiful prose and narrative.
How Albert Einstein’s Brain Worked
In his last years of life, Albert Einstein knew he was ill and refused operations that would save his life. He made his wishes clear: “I want to be cremated so people won’t come to worship at my bones” [source: Paterniti]. Einstein died on April 18, 1955, at the age of 76 of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurism, and he got his wish as far as his bones were concerned; his ashes were scattered in an undisclosed location. But Einstein’s brain was a different matter.
A ‘cascade’ of brain activity as people die could explain near death experiences
Doctors believe that a burst of brain activity occurs just before death and this could account for vivid “spiritual” experiences reported by those who come back from the brink.
Hacking Nerves to Revive Paralyzed Limbs
A neural engineer from Case Western Reserve University is reviving paralyzed limbs with an electricity hack. It’s a brilliant workaround for spinal cord injuries, and it may someday let paraplegics activate their legs just by pushing a button.
http://gizmodo.com/5508116/hacking-nerves-to-revive-paralyzed-limbs
Brain Surgery Frees Runner, but Raises Barriers
SEDALIA, Colo. — In the middle of the night, Diane Van Deren will leave her house against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She will cut west through the dark canyons with her running shoes and a headlamp, but without a kiwi-sized part of her right temporal lobe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sports/09ultra.html?_r=2&ref=sports&pagewanted=all