-
Another Year of Brain Tweets
No comments yetPosted in Brain Tweet ArchiveFeb 29, 2016
It’s that time of year again!
Every day I trawl the internet for fascinating, illuminating pearls of brain wisdom to leak out of neuroscience laboratories across the planet.
So each year I look back on a year’s worth of brain tweets to see what’s been trending recently.
This year the topic I appear to have been tweeting about the most, with over 50 separate articles shared on this topic via the social networking site Twitter, is brain technology.
In second spot are the tweets drawing attention to the science podcast I’ve been doing with RadioX’s Lliana Bird for the past 18 months. Incidentally we’re currently turning this into a book. We’re literally writing it right now. She’s sat right opposite me as I type. We’re 50,000 words down and have just 30,000 to go. It’ll be in all good book shops and online repositories in time for Christmas 2016. We’re tremendously excited.
In third place with just over 40 citations is the topic Youth Brains – which is what I label any cool science that is of relevance to baby brains, infant brains, teenage brains and brain development in general.
Anyway, I could go on – but a glance at the following histogram should tell you everything you need to know about the topics contained in this digest of my tweets from Feb 2015 to Jan 2016. Enjoy…
BRAIN TECH
“implant-free means2provide brain stimulation&mapping” magnetic iron oxide particles (22nm diameter)injected in2brain http://bit.ly/1x0TBsq
Deep brain stimulation of PFC triggers increased growth of new hippocampal neurons – hope is this will help dementia: http://bit.ly/1Jk8Deh
Digital bee brain flies quadcopter drone (rather well by all accounts) Check out this video clip from BBC news: http://bbc.in/1DLhFSF
Dissolvable wireless sensors to monitor head injuries http://bit.ly/1RxzdrB
EEG-controlled telepresence robot for the disabled http://bit.ly/1PVr2EA
Fantastic interview w/ Karl Deisseroth – psychiatrist, vagus nerve stimulation dabbler, inventor of optogenetics etc: http://nyr.kr/1cI6xu
Finally a tech innovation that results in fewer rather than more distractions. If your brain’s busy, all alerts off: http://bit.ly/1W5CQoT
For the proper geeks amongst you – a potted history of the neuromorphic chip; past, present and future: http://tcrn.ch/1DtyCwq
Forget that article on tiny brain made from skin cells..no evidence. Until we see some..pretend it never happened: http://bit.ly/1Ky91Vg
Futuristic “rolled up mesh” electrodes inserted into brain frozen don’t cause scarring as very flexible when thawed: http://rsc.li/1RtB39N
Good Grief:unwinding w/ electrical brain stimulation http://huff.to/1IOm75M “wouldn’t describe the feeling as zen so much as vaguely stoned”
Hacking the nervous system http://bit.ly/1SA7dC8 New @mosaicscience feature about vagus nerve stimulation by @WanderingGaia
Human brain + Computing power = better, faster processing of visual intelligence than the sum of their parts: http://bit.ly/1PFsQjk Scary!
If spiderman was a neuroscientist he’d be using this new injectable electrode webbing from Harvard to wire up brains: http://bit.ly/1GuVLoj
Imagine knowing what someone else is thinking simply by seeing splashes of light in your mind’s eye: http://bit.ly/1R2LdxD #usetheforceluke
Making sense of MEG: a different type of brain scan helping us understand how top-down & the bottom-up fit together! http://bit.ly/1P1LOxr
manipulating the “gatekeeper protein” p53 can ramp up conversion of skin cells into dopamine neurons: http://bit.ly/1N6Be9E
Memory-boosting devices tested in humans http://ow.ly/UcroE
Motion sickness may soon be remedied by applying weak electrical current to scalp via wire plugged into mobile phone: http://bit.ly/1KSb0rN
Neural dust & injectable brain webbing should help circumvent problems associated with conventional brain electrodes: http://bit.ly/1FZhrTM
neurosurgeon practises surgery on 3D printed patient’s brain: http://bit.ly/1SulGhH ..but without blood vessels,how useful is this really?
Neurotech overview – (nearly) everything you need to know about the past, present and future of brain augmentation: http://tcrn.ch/1FjvQz9
Now the parents are at it!! Using DIY brain zapping in the hope it will improve their kids grades: http://ab.co/1D76FNs #sgonnaendintears
Remote control neurons implanted with gold/iron nanoparticles heated up by infrared/magnetic fields, respectively: http://bit.ly/1Bqb1K5
SpaceX for the brain: http://bit.ly/1QqAqgy
Surgically implanted chip translates thoughts into words at average rate of 6 words/minute – MUCH faster than before: http://bit.ly/1N4cBgd
The tone in this article may be a bit cheesy but some of this neuroscience future-casting gives food for thought: http://huff.to/1tRe4IY
This book on DARPA’s research over decades into augmenting human brain function with technology looks tantalising: http://fus.in/1PJ4tiJ
2015, the year a student used EEG to drive a cyborg cockroach along an S-shaped path http://bit.ly/1Pktodi
7T MRI brain imaging can now identify in which layers of the cortex activations & suppressions are happening: http://bit.ly/1RqHSJb
A big step closer to communication for those with locked-in syndrome – speech decoded directly from brain activity: http://bit.ly/1J1Ntom
A paralysed man learns to walk again with the help of a robotic exoskeleton http://bit.ly/1IN2bK3
addicted2the quick fix..tasty junk food..electronic cocaine of the Internet..painless ease of a credit card purchase http://on.wsj.com/1PdB445
Blind people in bionic eye trial have “‘ceramic tiles’ the size of a small fingernail implanted into…visual cortex” http://bit.ly/1KJeUAI
Brain balls: http://wrd.cm/1F6yUs2
Brain dipstick: http://bit.ly/1M2Twc1
Brain implants to help” criminals behave better instead of death penalty? Discuss… http://bit.ly/1MrVPXA
Brain implants to improve memory no longer preserve of films like Jonny Mnemonic – testing in real humans right now!! http://bit.ly/1LvVw8Q
Brain stimulation in kids holds great promise for those with learning disabilities but could end in tears for others: http://bit.ly/1gNmFM9
BRAIN ZAP / Transcranial direct current stimulation – who would you rather wire your brain up? Oxford uni or DIY man? http://bit.ly/1OJcDZD
Brain-controlled computer cursor getting better&better: http://bit.ly/1Re40GC But how long before we find ourselves chucking out the mouse?
Brain-controlled smart home. I for one have had quite enough of having to manually flick light switches on/off: http://bit.ly/1QIy2SB
Brain-powered prosthetics: http://tcrn.ch/1R3r6zO
Cerebellum – involved in fine motor control&balance – may be good target for developing new brain-machine interfaces: http://bit.ly/1uUNG19
Christof Koch discusses machine intelligence in the cinema, including a review of Ex Machina: http://bit.ly/1BpqRG8
Computer hackers & neuroscientists join forces in an effort to create algorithms that automatically spot sick neurons http://n.pr/1OWGuxG
Consumer device “zaps” your brain – this time to change your mood. Reeks of codswallop… http://ind.pn/1BHuGGV
One day we’ll log onto our computers using super-secure Brainprints http://tcrn.ch/1AQGTht Unique/unfakeable EEG responses to visual stimuli
Paralyzed Rats Walk Again With Flexible Spinal Implant http://bit.ly/1C279Dr #science
Pencil-eraser-sized brain, equivalent to 5wk old foetus,engineered from adult human skin cells (no blood vessels yet) http://bit.ly/1EAXNwX
GEEK CHIC
NASA alien predictions, pointless sport supplements + brontosaural revivals: Geek Chic’s Weird Science Podcast Ep28: http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
“@PopSci: Scientists are making chocolate tastier&more cancer-fighting http://pops.ci/P50bKk ” __@GCweirdscience @Xfm_Lliana @DrJackLewis
#GeekChicPodcast Ep30 out now! Midnight feasts,defeating ear worms& 1/6 species to go extinct by 2100 http://bit.ly/1IVQg0M @GCweirdscience
1st Geek Chic Weird Sci podcast of 2015 is a Superhuman Special courtesy of the lovely @heather_berlin Available now: http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
Check out the armor on this #FossilFriday! Panochthus frenzelianus is a giant glyptodont: http://trib.al/zHdKvF2
Chimps Would “Cook” Food If They Could http://bit.ly/1BJerJp
Dodging killer robots, reflections on magic mirrors, lego roads & pluto’s tail – all in @GCweirdscience ep40: http://apple.co/1KEJu22
Don’t do Apple? All episodes of Geek Chic Weird Science podcast still available at the touch of a button: http://bit.ly/1E5JwJY @Xfm_Lliana
Don’t lie to your dog – he might rumble you. Dogs know if you’re untrustworthy http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150220-dogs-know-if-youre-untrustworthy …
EP 28: The return of the brontosaurus,possibilities of alien life & Is fast food actually good for you?Find out NOW! http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
Ep36 of our Geek Chic podcast covers “Seeing in Tongues, Dangers of Skinny Jeans & Hotties Getting Away With Murder”: http://bit.ly/1EZuvcw
Finally – a flying car to get excited about – made in…. Slovakia: http://cnn.it/1BQoIpf
Fluorescing #corals: nature’s glow sticks! Bask in their glow: http://mbayaq.co/1843aez
For non-apple folks… Geek Chic podcast ep26 rainbow gravity, antibiotic mayhem & panning sewage for precious metals: http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
Geek Chic podcast ep37: http://apple.co/1rpMfIh
Geek Chic podcast episode 26 OUT NOW – rainbow gravity, antibiotic mayhem and panning sewage for precious metals: http://apple.co/1rpMfIh
Geek Chic podcast is back!! ep42 includes Johnny mnemonic brain chips, batband headphones and mice crooning for love: http://apple.co/1gDcwl2
Geek chic podcast. Very cool range of topics, including this one on BioMusic 🙂 @DrJackLewis http://tinyurl.com/peprmmf
Geek Chic’s Weird Science made it to iTunes best of 2014 (debut section): http://itunes.com/bestpodcasts2014 … This week: solar planes, robo-roaches et al
Graphene spacecraft could fly on starlight http://wired.uk/itY6QO
Have a listen to all the geek chic weird science podcasts by following us on @audioBoom https://audioboom.com/channel/geekchic …
How creepy a robot seems is strongly influenced by it’s likeness to the human form: http://bit.ly/1OH2n6k
I gotta get me one of these octopus-inspired marine robots: http://bit.ly/1I8zAoi @GCweirdscience @Xfm_Lliana
In ep39 we discuss the search for ET, pink rhino horns & the latest from the moon on 46th moon landing anniversary: http://bit.ly/1IoavW3
In ep51 of @GCweirdscience podcast we discuss our solar system’s newly discovered 9th planet. Ace vid explains more: http://bit.ly/1V8yxGX
In the latest Geek Chic Weird Science podcast we discuss Pluto pics, a forthcoming mini-ice age & mini-hearts: http://bit.ly/1gK5bAZ
In this week’s @GCweirdscience podcast we’ve got dogs holding grudges, internet rationing, boozy chimps & philae: http://bit.ly/1E5JwJY
In this week’s DRUGS SPECIAL podcast we discuss origins & investigations into psychadelics & MDMA with @zoecormier: https://itun.es/i6Lb74f
In this week’s GCSW podcast (released earlier in the week) we discuss – Should Dolphins Be Granted “Personhood”? http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
Is Eminem’s brain different from yours? Find out in ‘The Science of Rapping’ #GeekChicPodcast special – http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
Kick your week off with a bang (literally) as @gcweirdscience’s @DrJackLewis & @Xfm_Lliana talk the science of music: http://bit.ly/1F2wMkK
Listen to our new #GeekChicPodcast NOW on iTunes and on http://geekchic.libsyn.com/ !
Missed last weeks #GeekChicPodcast on ‘The Science of Sex’ have a listen here – https://audioboom.com/channel/geekchic @audioBoom
Monkey ball transplantations, the discovery of clitoris&”posh wanks”… love the latest episode, @GCweirdscience _! @Xfm_Lliana @DrJackLewis
New #GeekChicPodcast is UP! ‘The Science of Rapping’ explored w/ guests @heather_berlin & @BabaBrinkman. Listen here http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
New #GeekChicPodcast is UP!! Download here https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/geek-chics-weird-science/id921816230?mt=2 … OR listen here http://geekchic.libsyn.com/ @GCweirdscience @DrJackLewis
NEW GC! This week we talk flying cars, powdered alcohol & how scientific accidents can help the battle against cancer http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
NEW GC! We look at why cats & classical music could make surgery safer,how to make chocolate healthier & robot birds http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
Not yet listened to this week’s @GCweirdscience podcast? Click here for our Marine Special w/ tales from @TheBlowfish http://apple.co/1rpMfIh
Nursing a hangover? Geek Chic Weird Science podcast BOOOZE episode should sort that out: http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh @GCweirdscience @Xfm_Lliana
On a more light-hearted note GeekChicWeirdScience podcast is back with memory boost chips, crooning mice & bat bands: http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
Our @GCweirdscience Marine Special = Jellyfish Apocalypse, Metal-Loving Sharks, Thieving Whales & Guff-Talking Fish: http://apple.co/1rpMfIh
This week on Geek Chic’s Weird Science: sesame seed clitoris, monkey ball transplantations & more in our Sex Special: http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
This week’s @GCweirdscience in emojis gotta be ___, ___, ___, _! Exciting!_here –> http://geekchic.libsyn.com/
This week’s @GCweirdscience podcast features Underwater Strawberries, Reversing Memory Loss & Heavy Metal Happiness: http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
This week’s edition of @GCweirdscience completes our Sex Drugs & RocknRoll trilogy with a Science of Music special: http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
This week’s geek chic podcast will enlighten you with weird science tales of dogs,kittens,chimps,satellites&asteroids http://bit.ly/1EZuvcw
Today’s @GCweirdscience podcast take us from starlight-powered spacecraft to grow-your-own drug kits (using yeast): http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
We love this – why IS late-night snacking so tempting? Listen to @Xfm_Lliana & @DrJackLewis finding out why: http://bit.ly/1F6MBvC
What happens when a neuroscientist marries a rapper & starts experimenting on his brain! Find out here http://geekchic.libsyn.com/ #GeekChic
YOUNG BRAINS
“..altering the electrical properties of these cells can dramatically change how the ensuing brain develops..” http://bit.ly/1EU4n4t
babies’ brains are building connections at an incredible rate..particularly sensitive2changes in the last trimester” http://bit.ly/1bugB8K
Boys raised in better-educated adopted family end up with higherIQ than brothers raised in lowerIQ biological family: http://bit.ly/1EFwLni
Brain scanning study differentiates between raw talent (natural predisposition) versus hard graft (neuroplasticity): http://bit.ly/1LXQjvV
Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore did a TED talk in 2012 on the adolescent brain. It’s now been viewed 1.5 million times! http://bit.ly/1fUgG6e
RESPECT MY AUTONOMY!” Foster closer bonding by giving your 2yr old space OR How to make your offspring like you 😉 http://bit.ly/1zgzu6P
Sadly, impacts of child abuse don’t just include damaging brains for life, it can even shorten life expectancy too: http://ab.co/1HFPjYC
Scientists hope..findings will help to drive fresh interventions to boost brain growth in children who need it most http://bit.ly/1EVgY42
The devastating impact of childhood neglect on the human brain emphasises the vital importance of emotional support: http://bit.ly/1JyukYt
Two brain cannabinoids are critical for all aspects of brain function, differences in developing brain & adult http://bit.ly/1IDx3gP #brain
When kids get outside more often, incidence of short-sightedness plummets. Gotta exercise those eyeball lens muscles! http://bit.ly/1NuYZZL
Why I think it’s irresponsible for advertisers to encourage/normalise use of technology to silence kids: http://bit.ly/1FkJYIK
“Malaria blocks brain blood flow, inducing inflammation, causing pressure build up on brainstem in infected children”: http://n.pr/1MLoEf5
10am start at school for 16yr olds, 18yr olds at 11am – could explain why I never made it to morning lectures at uni! http://bit.ly/1UrqusX
Brain imaging of 1-6 day old babies suggests they probably have better ability to perceive pain than we realised: http://ti.me/1HQhaqg
Can you detect the signs that your child is cyberbullied? http://bit.ly/1bECeUv #bullying #cyberbully
Childhood adversity linked2psychiatric disorders via cellular changes e.g. telomere shortening (also assoc w/ ageing) http://bit.ly/1EqMaJO
correlation between weaker working memory&the likelihood that a teen would have..unprotected sex – at a younger age” http://n.pr/1FnvFMG
Cunning analysis of very premature baby EEG data “correlated significantly w/ child’s cognitive development at age2”: http://bit.ly/1SAoDOY
Differences between 1st-borns & “later-borns” are so small that they have no practical relevance to people’s lives”: http://bit.ly/1CIRNHa
Do you routinely give your infant a smartphone or tablet to play with to keep them occupied? If so, think again: http://bit.ly/169vVF0
Exciting to think that in the future teens at risk of psychosis might be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs: http://bit.ly/1yg4SSq
first study suggesting that a mother’s education affects her child at cellular level from birth http://bit.ly/1jNA9Jo
fMRI evidence suggests:“When kids are hearing stories,they’re imagining in their mind’s eye when they hear the story” http://nyti.ms/1IYUBx5
From mother to daughter – emotional inheritance http://bit.ly/1NDdEOH
Give kids more opportunities for unstructured play at school and it may well lead to all sorts of benefits: http://n.pr/1JSbeLE
Given impacts on brains&impulsivity,might drinking booze whilst pregnant contribute to our overflowing prison system? http://bbc.in/1K92wwK
Great resources to help teach kids about the human brain: http://bit.ly/1NBcIxV
How to best build babies’ brains? http://bit.ly/1LTAdyk or just don’t worry too much / give them plenty of emotional support / stimulation
I’d almost certainly have been diagnosed as ADHD (had it been invented when I was at school) so I love “Squirm2Learn” http://bit.ly/1O7JGso
If more infants played regularly w/ building blocks,spatial cognition boost might bolster interest in STEM subjects! http://bit.ly/1v8XCtK
In adolescents with bipolar disorder, key areas of the brain that help regulate emotions develop differently” http://bit.ly/1J8khvP
Japanese rat study suggest that balance of omega-3 vs omega-6 is key to ensuring healthy foetal brain growth: http://bit.ly/1WmOWJf
more you read to your child the more you help the neurons in this region to grow and connect: http://cnn.it/1g8PimZ
Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide To Raising Adolescents and Young Children – sounds like a good read: http://bit.ly/1AIf32V #SYKBO
Persistent nightmares aged 2-9 predict higher incidence of psychotic episodes aged 18: http://bit.ly/1Pv6rY1
Premature baby brains: “immature,fragile blood vessels struggle2provide tissue with enough oxygen4normal development” http://bit.ly/16ufGDA
BRAIN HEALTH
Pet lovers – this one’s for you… Having a pet is good for the health of your brain. Here are some reasons why: http://bit.ly/1DTONnt
70yr study focuses on “how lifetime experiences interact w/ genetics2determine individual’s risk4developing dementia” http://bit.ly/1K4GPhC
Air Polution / Shrinking Brains… discuss! http://bit.ly/1Owd9g5
All that daily spinach probably kept Popeye’s brain in very good nick; holding dementia at bay well into old age: http://bit.ly/19vKbK5
As far as heart disease is concerned “trans” fats (margarine) are more dangerous than saturated fats (meat, dairy..): http://bit.ly/1P7XKOS
Certain brain cancers grow faster if they are in a region of high as opposed to low activity: http://n.pr/1FiFS1O
Cheesy but true… The pursuit of gratitude and compassion will make you happier than the pursuit of happiness”: http://youtu.be/GZZ0zpUQhBQ
Cooling brains of head trauma patients might reduce blood pressure but leads to worse outcomes 6months after injury: http://bit.ly/1RvzsQB
Craniotomy (trepanning) saves lives by reducing pressure on brain when people suffer brain injury – but is it safe? http://bit.ly/1zPSRSt
Deep brain electrodes implanted in woman’s reward pathways in an effort to ameliorate her anorexia (oxford uni) http://bit.ly/1NyeajI
Diabetes… Can play havoc with your brain: http://ti.me/1G7XGbo
Does the National Academy of Sciences really call glioblastoma multiforme “the Terminator”? Anyway-now there is hope! http://bit.ly/1CGZDdf
Does TV Rot Your Brain? – via Scientific American – http://bit.ly/1YVCsbk –
From East to West diabetes is associated with increased cognitive impairment: http://bit.ly/1GwQRAI
From the tiny Pacific Island of Guam to a potential treatment for neurodegeneration via cyanobacteria: http://bbc.in/1NmnQuL
Get up&dance: “regular exercise, at least 5 days per week, is a way to sharpen our cognitive ability as young adults” http://bit.ly/1yJwAXR
Great study investigates PTSD development in people required 2make serious decisions for relatives in intensive care: http://bit.ly/1JgtcKS
Green Tea – fad or genuine “smart” drug? http://bit.ly/1CetNnX I’ve been reading up on green tea, so I wrote a blog about it.
Have resisted posting this story cos I hate unnecessary scaremongering, but such white matter loss is worth noting: http://nyti.ms/1LuCg0h
How much sugar is lurking in your cereal? Here are the top five worst offenders http://bit.ly/15OC3lZ #health
Imagine being able to pack soldiers off to war with a vaccine that protects against Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder..! http://bit.ly/1LepsI5
Mugabe effect revisited. How proteins found in young blood might rejuvenate old bodies and brains: http://bit.ly/1M2hhkr #SortYourBrainOut
Omega-3 Shown to Reduce Antisocial, Aggressive Behavior in Kids http://buff.ly/1JUtYuO #psychology #feedly
Protect your brain: http://ind.pn/1KjnpFj . #SortYourBrainOut
Scary how much time some people spend watching telly – time better spent interacting with people: http://on.wsj.com/1MMU5FC #SortYourBrainOut
Several brain illnesses all involve reduced grey matter in same areas, but why are dACC/bilat. insula so vulnerable?: http://bit.ly/1DIJA17
Sitting is the new smoking: http://bit.ly/1KHFWvf Sofa sloths and couch potatoes are slowly but surely killing themselves…
some studies have linked a regular fish habit over a lifetime to..lower risk of cognitive decline” http://n.pr/1EsRKQk #SortYourBrainOut
Synopsis of Vagus Nerve stimulation treatment for various illnesses plus a great illustration of its meandering path http://bit.ly/1QEzR4B
The debate over whether or not drug treatments for ADHD can “normalise the brain” http://nyti.ms/1z8nxwC
These are some of the surest ways to preserve your brainpower, says @d_a_robson http://bbc.in/1hJorPI
Treadmill desks lead to health benefits overall but for highly demanding cognitive tasks – better to step off: http://bit.ly/1QiSsTa
Vid on new philosophy on how to be strong and flexible has the ring of truth to it: http://bit.ly/1iCg6gU
What high blood pressure does to the brain, as revealed by MRI scanning that focuses on white matter tracts (DTI): http://bit.ly/1LCg5Ay
subgenual prefrontal cortex broodiness assuaged – easy as a walk in the park: http://nyti.ms/1JxCmyl
The case against e-readers: Why #reading paper books is better for your mind. http://oxford.ly/1ywWPkn by @justbluffing @washingtonpost
MISCELLANEOUS
Sponge-filled syringe that plugs gunshot wounds in seconds to be used by US ambulance crews http://wired.uk/yoeWEd
A repository of recent, useful, high quality, brain research news articles (categorised by theme) at your disposal: http://bit.ly/1zyk8Oq
All have same mean, variance, correlation, & regression line. Lesson: Always Visualize Data http://bit.ly/1y3MMju
Also explore @KnowledgeCiv’s website for loads vids & articles http://www.the-knowledge.org
Although an enormous amount of research has been done on the HIV virus, much is still unknown. http://bit.ly/1AjT9jK
BBC Radio 4’s Animated Short – No.9 Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths – narrated by Stephen Fry, is ace! http://itun.es/i6L77Ck @GCweirdscience
Best medical images of the year: a mesmerising nano-world where science becomes art http://bit.ly/1Aa4hR5 #2015wia
Brain surgery for beginners @GCweirdscience https://instagram.com/p/491ygGjLEN/
Can you grow a human bone outside the human body? The answer may soon be yes! http://ow.ly/ONtem
combined action of2naturally-occurring hormones can trigger..conversion of..white fat2brown..which is easier2burn off http://ab.co/1yrPiTZ
Gastrophysics is changing the way we understand food http://wp.me/p5ozmk-q via @DomNicholls
GIF (1987) and ZIP (1989) must be some of the oldest file formats that we use every day.
Greenland is basically a great lie MT @flashboy: How map projections are weird http://thetruesize.com
Huge prehistoric monument found near Stonehenge http://on.mash.to/1VItZIz
I like memes – this one deserves particular attention due to it’s cultural multiplicity! (Spanish, Arabic & Ukranian) http://bbc.in/1LwUOOp
If only there were always a dolphin to fetch your phone when you drop it into the lagoon http://on.mash.to/1FEzJ2z
If viruses never existed, neither would you “8% of our genetic material is made up of absorbed forms of retroviruses” http://bit.ly/1KXJmZe
Imagine how it would feel to discover that your embryonic twin had been hitching a ride in your brain for 26 years!!: http://huff.to/1Gik6wA
Interesting that murderous neuroscience student chose2research topics that could shed light on his own brain errors: http://yhoo.it/1EexQ89
It often occurred to me during my PhD that without excellent maths I’d never be a great neuro researcher – here’s why http://bit.ly/1h05PKl
Just press play” to watch living standards rise around the world over time. http://buff.ly/1Mm2VYm #progress
Nearly two-thirds of Earth’s minerals were created by life http://to.pbs.org/1W5f37d
Neural waves: http://bit.ly/1ntn5ew
Now I’ve heard it all! Ayahuasca (S.American psychedelic) may promote growth of pancreatic BetaCells (cure4diabetes?) http://bit.ly/1BxkeUe
Offspring of Inside Out, this one imagines a brain’s inner stakeholder meeting as it struggles through a typical day: http://nyr.kr/1gPCi69
Oslo will be completely car-free by 2019 http://wired.uk/aLSeZ3
Podcasting is perfect for people with big ideas. Here’s how to do it http://gu.com/p/4fy7b/stw #HE #SciComms
Protect Your Cat With a Suit of Armor – http://bit.ly/1BUDmgb
This extreme slow motion of a paint-covered drill is mesmerising http://on.mash.to/20eepa4
Understanding the human brain – the story so far… http://bit.ly/1Su85bN
Wake up & smell the @Neuro_Skeptic – Is Your Brain Really Necessary? [revisited]: http://bit.ly/1U1O0ce
Why do we hate waiting in some queues more than others… even if they’re the same length? http://bbc.in/1LOgHTF
Why people leave their bodies to medical research – and what happens http://gu.com/p/466b3/stw
Brain speedometer discovered: http://bit.ly/1K8WFVF
Nobel Prizes in Science for 2015 done and dusted. Catch up on all three here: http://bit.ly/NobelSci2015
Numbers processed in both brain hemisphere’s not just the right as previously thought: http://bit.ly/23u9DYm
FOOD
“obese teens are especially vulnerable to…brand seduction” http://onforb.es/1LBAx5P
“overeating..partially a matter of our fullness meters being unknowingly broken by the abundance of fat in out diets” http://bit.ly/1NNYGqW
“you eat to get rid of the unpleasant feeling of hunger” – relevant neurons to target for obesity therapy established http://nbcnews.to/1zg21gt
Don’t usually post worm articles but this one on dopamine circuits for increasing appetite for risk is mind-boggling: http://bit.ly/1aQxg71
Eat yourself happy: http://bit.ly/1OAgAjQ
FOOD PORN – why do people obsess over taking beautiful photos of every single delicious meal that is set before them? http://theatln.tc/1HnJLCR
Food provides less pleasure (less reward activation) when consumed late vs early -> eat more at night2feel satisfied http://bit.ly/1JtdVUm
Food-related reward processing in obese brains assoc w/ “neural changes similar 2 those found in substance addiction” http://wb.md/1fUUgTM
Great NYT blog concisely explaining the “effect of stress on food choices/brain responses” study: http://nyti.ms/1UUW2UO #SortYourBrainOut
High fat and high sugar diets may lead to loss of cognitive flexibility: http://bit.ly/1Rss6Mb
How does gastric bypass change people’s taste for sugary and fatty foods? #obesity #RYGB #WLS http://tinyurl.com/ppz748a via @BariatricNews
Impact of food porn” on your poor defenceless brain by @Psych_Writer http://sciof.us/1jyKb1J
individualised medicine coming soon? “same food would cause huge sugar spikes in some people…tiny blips in others” http://theatln.tc/1HbCsRJ
infusion of oleic acid..in the brain ‘triggers’..signal from the hypothalamus 2 the liver 2 lower its fat secretion” http://bit.ly/1Bn2lVi
Investigating how stimulating obese kids with scent of tasty food impacts brain areas associated with impulsiveness http://bit.ly/1OduYz0
Keeping food visible throughout the house is linked to obesity: Low self-esteem also identif… http://bit.ly/1Et96t9 #psychology #news
Knowing You’re Overweight May Lead to Further Weight Gain: http://neurosciencenews.com/obesity-weight-gain-psychology-2386/ … #psychology
MILK+BRAINS: http://bit.ly/1BPzpVu It just makes me happy to know NHS Choices are always there to rain clarity down upon the sensationalism
MSG/umami – is probably not too bad for us after all & it may even help stimulate a healthy appetite in the elderly: http://bit.ly/1ykIrrU
New fMRI study examines brain mechanisms involved when control over impulse to eat tasty snacks is reduced by stress: http://reut.rs/1IYBdWe
Our favourite foods are not the ticking time bomb we’ve been led to believe (even bacon) http://bbc.in/1GAKG5G
Poor diet assoc. w/ accelerated shrinkage of hippocampus in humans for 1st time (animal studies showed this earlier): http://ab.co/1VRyDnS
The basis of a “sweet tooth” is…… the liver! (and its FGF21 production) http://bit.ly/1OfLhet
This guy thinks we could curb overeating by eating more delicious food. I’m skeptical, but…I volunteer anyway. 🙂 http://ow.ly/T6gxA
Unravelling the mechanisms by which brains interact with body fat via hormones to generate stress-eating behaviours: http://yhoo.it/1eFYCgY
Volunteers consume 6000 calories/day to induce insulin-resistance (in just 2days!) in study to investigate mechanisms http://bit.ly/1L3YANy
Why does food taste different on planes? http://bbc.in/1EM6q8L
Why is late night snacking so tempting? Find out NOW! #GeekChicPodcast http://bit.ly/1IoavW3
Our #POSTnote on Novel Food Production http://bit.ly/1e8HnWr Insects for dinner anyone?
DRUGS
11 Odd Facts About ‘Magic’ Mushrooms http://www.livescience.com/48704-odd-facts-about-magic-mushrooms.html …
2 for the price of 1: Could this be the drug breakthrough we’ve all been waiting for? Targeting mis-folded proteins.. http://bit.ly/1fhzZIi
Aversive memories dependent on cannabinoid receptors in habenula – perhaps accounting for paranoia assoc w/ high THC? http://bit.ly/1P1k5QE
Brain in a dish” technology could save time, money & millions of animal lives when it comes to screening new drugs: http://bit.ly/1LF1M2C
Clever way of using anti-insomnia drugs so that they are effective for longer, w/ fewer side effects & less addiction http://bit.ly/1KVlVPL
Contraceptive pill associated with thinning of specific brain areas possibly accounting for emotional side effects: http://ind.pn/1FS6qmE
Death by deliberate caffeine overdose: 258 empty blister packs (200 mg/tablet) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4337497/ … over 50 grams of caffeine!
diabetes patients who took Viagra for erectile dysfunction had fewer symptoms of peripheral neuropathy”: http://bit.ly/1Cs3Doi
Does a fry-up really help a hangover? @d_a_robson explores http://bbc.in/1OvQdb5
doses required to achieve..same anesthetic state in older patients can be..half what is needed for younger patients http://bit.ly/1J8wPSV
Drinking the pain away? Those who work longer hours tend to drink more booze: http://bit.ly/1yj9Pd3
Good to try&account for effects tobacco separately from cannabis but a smaller hippo correlating with better memory?! http://bit.ly/1LlpoHw
Have we reached peak coffee? Climate change is threatening the source of our caffeine fix http://bbc.in/1DOcFaT
I’ve never ever heard MDMA referred to as “Molly”..so ..here’s an interesting article on the brain effects of “Mandy” http://bit.ly/1C4cnRA
Insights into the experiences of the world’s only psychiatrist allowed to prescribe LSD for therapeutic purposes: http://bit.ly/1kXAZUN
Lancet study evaluating 24yrs of data concludes that legalizing cannabis does NOT lead to increase use in teens: http://bit.ly/1R3KACq
Medics do it, school kids do it, even educated silicon valley entrepreneurs do it… Nootropics are all over the place: http://bit.ly/1CvySzq
More intrinsic brain connectivity means more anaesthetic required to knock you out: http://bbc.in/1RJMqhe
Poorly thought through legislation will yet again hamper research into new therapeutic uses for psychoactive drugs: http://bit.ly/1HWjJGc
Runners high more to do with endocannabinoids than endorphins: http://bit.ly/1NsVg0F (i.e. more cannabis-like than opium-like so to speak)
Smoking lots of skunk (v strong weed) seems to knacker the bundle of cables that connects L/R halves of the brain: http://bit.ly/1jmrUne
St John’s Wort -why you shouldn’t mix prescription drugs with alternative medicines willy nilly (ask your doctor 1st) http://bit.ly/1GO0jku
Still drinking too much booze? Might be time to get married… http://bit.ly/1IDscLX
The chemistry secrets behind the perfect cup of #coffee | Andy Brunning http://gu.com/p/4dh5q/stw
The pleasure of sex, drugs AND rock n roll all seems to depend upon the old opiods: http://bit.ly/1OTxqI0
Until cannabis is legalised, users will risk brain damage | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett http://gu.com/p/4etc2/stw
Ultra detailed site for caffeine geeks http://www.caffeineinformer.com/ via @SamOltman @danielas_bot
Are you a tea or a coffee person? What do you think it says about your philosophical outlook? http://bbc.in/1eaQ6XH
NEUROANATOMY
5 arguments backing the importance of complex carbs consumption in driving evolution of our over-sized brains: http://bit.ly/1IQToeG
Ancient Ancestor of Humans With Tiny Brains http://dlvr.it/C6TspH
Brain folding arises “not from subtle developmental processes.. but rather from the same simple physical process”: http://bit.ly/1RVUBSH
Check out how dolphin brains compare to human brains in terms of the complexity of the ridges and folds of the cortex
Choroid plexus cells are the center of activity between brain & immune – determining what enters the brain http://bit.ly/1iqZRTm #brain
Forget 1.5T, Cardiff Uni to get 7T MRI scanner & world’s 2nd Connectom3T MRI to trace brain’s white matter highways: http://bbc.in/1DuntL7
Functional anatomy of interhemispheric cortical connections in the human brain http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2100336/ …
Glia are no longer considered to be “just” support cells; they’re critical in various aspects of neuroplasticity too http://bit.ly/1QpDUR0
Human brain evolution with tennis ball scale to depict size – 8-balling ain’t bad – but neanderthals were 9-balling! http://bit.ly/1KIYqNh
IBM neuroscientist proposes interesting hypothesis to explain why the human brain consumes so much energy at rest http://bit.ly/1Ph5LG1
If injectable webbing isn’t futuristic enough for you, how about using 20 billion nanoparticles to measure the brain? http://bit.ly/1IrZZdR
In the search for better measures of brain cell activity: “activated neurons swell due to the massive entry of water” http://bit.ly/1geMepy
Injecting microbubbles into bloodstream enables 3D pic of rat brain to be constructed from 5000 coarse images / sec: http://bbc.in/1Nf76tT
Is your brain a quantum orchestra? A question usually posed by crackpots. But this guy seems very cogent: http://huff.to/1LZ2GHB Just maybe…
It is now possible to predict a person’s “genetic ancestry based on the geometry of their cerebral cortex” http://bit.ly/1SiEaA6
Living without a cerebellum provides clues to what the cerebellum actually does: http://n.pr/1DrRGim
Looking at brain circuitry in intimate fine detail reveals some surprises re: how one neuron is wired up to others.. http://bit.ly/1GbbtVu
Micro-map of hippocampus lends big hand to brain research http://bit.ly/1leNeNj
New maths helps unravel fundamental organisation of brain areas, even for neurons whose functions remain a mystery: http://bit.ly/1hQaXAQ
New technique for preparing brain for study with electron microscopes reveals it’s not as squished as we 1st thought: http://bit.ly/1L2fLxk
Project to find consensus on how many different types of neuron there are likely to get scientists’ axons in a twist: http://bit.ly/1CsjakT
Protein imaging reveals detailed brain architecture: http://bit.ly/1NJEF9H
Radio Thalamus – broadcasting to the rest of your brain on multiple frequencies: http://stan.md/1RdVzxM
Retracing white matter pathways likely to have been severed in most famous cases of brain damage (HM, “Tan”, Phineas) http://bit.ly/1UwsDOA
The Candy Anatomy project http://bit.ly/1HVfE7a
World’s first deep brain microscope can magnify structures deep within a living brain: http://bit.ly/1IyGt09
SLEEP
19 patients’ medial temporal lobe recordings during REMsleep suggests eye movements = ‘moving onto..next dream frame’ http://bbc.in/1hx3nvw
Analysis of Crocodile behaviour suggests that – like dolphins – they sleep half their brain at a time: http://bit.ly/1jVNPlY
Brain scanning study identifies mechanism that could account for why we react more emotionally when sleep deprived: http://bit.ly/1Fv9pro
Further from recent talk at #EphMRA in Amsterdam.. more on the relationship between work strain & sleep disturbances: http://bit.ly/1It3lPH
Getting plenty of sleep in ur young-adult&middle-age yes..can actually boost mental health&lessen chance of disease http://fxn.ws/15ORyKN
high spindle activity helps sleepers resist waking/low spindle activity predicts development of insomnia post-stress: http://bit.ly/1GsmZXW
Histamine & GABA – two neurotransmitters fighting it out over how awake & energised you should feel: http://bit.ly/1MUyfQa
Insomnia and the brain: http://bit.ly/1Trnn1L
New research suggests that,when sleep deprived,little pockets of your brain really do go into slow wave “sleep” mode http://bit.ly/1PrwLAw
Poor sleep quality in elderly people associated w/ hardening of brain’s arteries http://bit.ly/1RSamx3 (brains were examined after death)
Short sleepers may catch more colds http://nyti.ms/1JQrQlQ @nytimes
Side sleeping double bubble – not only does it prevent snoring but it even facilitates toxin removal from the brain: http://bit.ly/1KTB2fe
SLEEP CLEANS YOUR BRAIN: http://bit.ly/1e3Khf8 If you want your brain to serve you well… give it the sleep it needs!! #SortYourBrainOut
Sleep deprivation dulls our ability2accurately read facial expressions: http://bit.ly/1J02lCQ (should we encourage CU kids2get more sleep?)
Sleep is incredibly important for your brain, so why don’t you stop (compulsively) using your smartphone at bedtime?! http://bit.ly/1FaGlFl
Sleep is vital for memory; we all know that. The mechanisms at play,however,are only just unfolding http://bit.ly/1JPNdc7 #SortYourBrainOut
Small study indicates that obstructive sleep apnoea (blocked airways during sleep) might damage blood brain barrier: http://bit.ly/1JJGMXl
Study links healthy sleep duration to less sick time from work http://www.psypost.org/?p=27851
The six strangest sleep studies ever performed at http://ift.tt/1UWkqnb
Time to get nap happy: http://bit.ly/1ha3I7u Napping good for brains but don’t go over 20mins & try to do it on the regs #SortYourBrainOut
What happens in your brain when you sleep and which bits see the greatest change: http://bit.ly/1GL3snR #SORTYOURBRAINOUT
When it comes to sleeping we get an awful lot done in a comparatively short space of time http://bit.ly/1QN7eCb
Why a good night’s sleep helps memory – Melvyn Bragg explores circadian rhythms #inourtime http://bbc.in/1T3rxdZ
Why you shouldn’t wear “not needing much sleep” like a badge of honour: http://bit.ly/1MR29HO
Your brain flushes out neurotoxins as you sleep: http://bit.ly/1dOb91R #SortYourBrainOut #GetMoreSleep @polarbearpirate
SOCIAL
“..predictions about how participants made social judgements by gauging activity in..dorsomedial prefrontal cortex” http://onforb.es/1BzZ7yR
~1yr old babies appear to have more sophisticated grasp of the rules of social interactions than previously thought: http://bit.ly/1D65PQz
A Scientific Theory of Humour http://bit.ly/201hjSF
An Invisible” Body Could Reduce Your Society Anxiety http://ift.tt/1EJHnYr
Another “neurological footprint of gratitude” – this time with long term benefits: http://sciof.us/1Ry70iD
BEWARE: Loneliness kills… http://bit.ly/1ByIDc4
Brain areas involved in empathising with others’ pain are not activated when person in question has outclassed us: http://sciof.us/20yP3oc
Brains and blame: http://bit.ly/1NBJXxG
Excess serotonin in amygdala implicated in studies of social phobia (shame it’s been treating with SSRIs up ’til now) http://wb.md/1JZAWCe
Feeling cold is contagious: http://bit.ly/1AYPD3H
Friendships keep you healthy http://bit.ly/1O3ix7i
How dark is your personality? Put your Machiavellianism to the test in our quiz http://bbc.in/1NrT7Bf
Human brain area specifically sensitive to moving faces confirmed in non-human monkey using fMRI: http://bit.ly/1DtmWwO
Humans are wired for cooperation as much as for competition. Via research @Stanford by primatologist Robert Sapolsky http://buff.ly/1Qg3qGZ
I concur re: specific features of medium used to find a date fundamentally influences how people engage with them http://ow.ly/VmjAb
I feel your pain (with the same brain networks that generate my own feelings of pain): http://bit.ly/1LZGnwY
Importance of striking the right tone: “brain detects & assesses confidence in another’s voice in as littles as 0.2s” http://onforb.es/1yvGGts
Octopi are misunderstood: They’re surprisingly social animals, study finds http://on.mash.to/1PF2AC1
Researchers are still working out the nuances of #oxytocin in the brain, http://bit.ly/1LrNXDR
When you move in synchrony with another person, your brain starts to blur its sense of self http://bbc.in/1Wd1a7i
When You Think Your Brain Is Doing Nothing, It’s Really Getting You Ready To Socialize http://onforb.es/1JkByjQ
ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY
Prof Wang “created a camera that shoots at 100Bn frames/sec,fast enough2freeze an object traveling at speed of light” http://n.pr/1fz8tG4
“..it looks like he & Jessie J are interacting & singing together this is not actually the case” http://bbc.in/1J8Lu1n #welcometothefuture
21st Century Falconry; amazing autopilot camera drone hovers overhead to capture ultimate in action sports narcissism http://bit.ly/1EDKsTi
A Visual Introduction to #MachineLearning, with examples: http://bit.ly/207c55s #abdsc #BigData #DataScience
Acoustic levitation! – How cool is this?! http://youtu.be/669AcEBpdsY
Designer brain circuits drawn in thin air using 3D pen with “ink” containing immature neurons PHENOMENAL: http://bit.ly/1EmFYBM via @mocost
Disney’s robot car uses propellers to climb walls http://wired.uk/qHWz2C
Ehang says it has built a drone you can ride inside #CES2016 http://wired.uk/mLgW8B
Forget wires. You can use Wi-Fi to power your gadgets at home http://ow.ly/NKYXs
Get ready for Li-Fi, a technology 100 times faster than Wi-Fi: http://on.mash.to/1IeBiVM
In 1963, a French engineer built a hovercraft on rails. http://on.mash.to/20hxrfA
Intelligent food factory robots perform dazzling movements and expert feats of coordination http://bbc.in/1CUmORI
L’Oreal is 3D printing human skin tissue in order to test cosmetics http://wired.uk/wEKkEs
Meet the neurosurgeon who uses a 3D printer before operating http://wired.uk/xneHZk
Organ-On-Chip wins prestigious Design Museum award and could revolutionise future development of pharmaceutical drugs http://ind.pn/1LqZi89
releases of a virtual reality film for Oculus and Samsung Gear VR http://on.mash.to/1MCjuzo
Scrap over Onewheel/Surfing Electric Scooter patent infringement results in firm setting US marshals on rival at CES http://bbc.in/1O8kf7s
Smart knife: http://bbc.in/1KvpH4k
Smart shoe devices generate power from walking http://ow.ly/I4hyC
The DJI Phantom 3 Standard is the drone you’re looking for: http://on.mash.to/1M43rAE
This braille watch enables blind people to read their smartphones! http://bit.ly/1SJa6Ol
KEEPING YOUR BRAIN FIT
Twin study (males, mid-30’s) indicates that exercising more regularly increases grey matter volume (in PFC/striatum): http://huff.to/1c60ijl
What is Cognitive #Enhancement? https://www.academia.edu/10090218/What_is_Cognitive_Enhancement … via @academia
“We think leg strength is a marker of the kind of physical activity that is good for your brain” Claire Steves, KCL http://bbc.in/1Y1oLsx
10 perfectly reasonable tips on how to improve your brain function: http://bit.ly/1AKmKEf #SortYourBrainOut @polarbearpirate
15 mins daily mediation will keep those newly formed connections strong and those unhelpful ones of the past at bay” http://bit.ly/17Vlpmy
5 (not-particularly-unique-but-nonetheless-relevant) ways to keep your brain in shape;for anyone keen2age gracefully http://huff.to/1NEY87d
BBC reporter suspects brain training might work after being cognitively trounced by one of Kawashima’s octogenarians http://bbc.in/1JEfwqs
Born to run – incentivised by hedonistic chemical release – if only we’d get up off our arses&find out for ourselves: http://bit.ly/1LTnVpy
Brain training improves memory and performance of everyday tasks in older people: Playing on… http://bit.ly/1Hpg1TM #psychology #news
Brain training studies are finally getting their act together… http://bit.ly/1PrgF9I
Brain Twisters anyone? There are some classics in this selection: http://bit.ly/1KU9Z26
Differences in MRI brain activations induced by talking a walk in the park vs along a busy road: http://wapo.st/1U3UVCU
I wrote a blog about the Runner’s High & the brain benefits of regular exercise, hope you like it: http://bit.ly/1Lkrp5y #SortYourBrainOut
If you can bare the lame title/slightly cheesy writing style – these 5 tips to “improve brain growth” are not untrue: http://bit.ly/1R2JlJd
Immersive, exploratory, problem solving video games can boost memory beyond world of game itself: http://for.tn/1M2ZzJm #SortYourBrainOut
Now that you’re all gonna have to ditch your rubbish brain drinks here’s some real brain foods that may benefit you: http://bit.ly/1BQU7d7
Omega-3 can now be made from algae, not overfished sardines http://wired.uk/pXUC8z
Reminder of some of the many simple lifestyle tweaks that can keep your brain in shape: http://entm.ag/1Nr23H2 #SortYourBrainOut
We knew exercise increase rate at which new brain cells are born.Now it seems to have +’ve functional consequences:) http://bit.ly/1QKb7cp
What goes on in the brains of generous, giving people? http://bit.ly/1N4PQJ2 #SortYourBrainOut
ALZHEIMER’S
AlzCycle? Ageing compromises Blood Brain Barrier – interfering w/ beta-amyloid removal which further compromises BBB: http://bit.ly/1Gpny4U
Alzheimer’s spares brain’s music regions: http://bit.ly/1FWCDtA
Amyloid plaques might be screwing with the brain’s blood supply in Alzheimer’s disease: http://bit.ly/1QFsLhf
Beware of using over-the-counter anti-cholinergic drugs long term, it might accelerate brain decline into Alzheimer’s http://bit.ly/1CIJ2u3
Chemicals plants make “to ward off pests stimulate nerve cells in ways that may protect..brain against..Alz’s&Park’s” http://bit.ly/1Lft1Qk
Could proliferation of microglia really be the main cause of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms? http://bbc.in/1mHhZv9
Detecting Alzheimer’s with computerised voice analysis is surprisingly accurate (82% hit rate) http://bit.ly/1ORZgpp
Direct evidence linking brain injury from bangs-on-head to development of protein pre-cursor of Alz (misshapen tau): http://bit.ly/1O6ZQ0O
Earlier this week Alzheimer’s from leaky brain blood vessels, now depression from overactive inflammatory response: http://bit.ly/1y9gx36
Experimental treatment uses ultrasound to break up amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s: http://cbsn.ws/1BAaEBa – but will that improve anything??
High iron levels in brain may accelerate development of Alzheimer’s (as 1st indicated in clinical trial decades ago) http://bit.ly/1KjjqZq
How brain fires (fMRI) whilst navigating a virtual environment may predict risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease http://bit.ly/1W8gzJG
Insulin nasal spray shows promise as treatment for adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s http://www.psypost.org/?p=30657
Interesting Alzheimer’s blog on study that measured decrease in rate of beta-amyloid removal aged 80 vs those in 30’s http://bit.ly/1W11OFQ
Might we become a little less cavalier with our eating habits if we accept insulin resistance speeds us towards AD? http://bit.ly/1MvV5kc
One town in Columbia has the highest density of early onset Alzheimer’s in the world, now we know who’s to blame: http://bit.ly/1HcAssD
Research trying to untangling the link between diabetes & dementia finds increased tau protein in those with type II: http://bit.ly/1N58aQv
Traces of fungus discovered in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers raise the question of infectious origin http://bit.ly/1jrzC0f #brain
Women appear to be more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s than men http://n.pr/1HPbLN0
MEMORY
Fascinating new clues about how brains integrate current experiences with memories of previous experiences: http://bit.ly/1Qs3FAh
How does the brain’s memory system work?
Humans file away trivial sights & sounds just in case they’re useful later. Who knew? http://nyti.ms/1CBJLdP @bencareynyt
Imagine getting lost in your own house http://theatln.tc/1ESOXcN ..that’s what happens when the hippocampus & prefrontal cortex aren’t synch’ed
Its mind-blowing to think that every human brain potentially has a memory capacity equivalent to the world wide web! http://onforb.es/1SLJpwF
Keeping your memory banks organised, efficient & clutter free. Brain deletes memories that have low predictive power: http://bit.ly/1DPFftF
Memory: “an adaptive process, continually updating itself according to what knowledge may be important in the future” http://nyti.ms/1CgE9rU
Novel theory about how brains store long term memories (and why we recall so little of the first few months of life) http://bit.ly/1O2DZpR
Phenomenal research in humans aims to bypass damaged areas of hippocampus to turn short-term memories into long-term: http://bit.ly/1h9coKk
Repeated remembering now thought to *actively* wipe similar memories in effort to keep most recent ones clutter-free: http://bbc.in/1BQiAyy
Resting brain connectivity differs according to how strong your autobiographical memory is http://bit.ly/1NfMIYz
Short-term memory – like writing your name with a sparkler http://bit.ly/1YbsdSp
Sniffing rosemary improves memory (&lavender makes it worse) Statistically significant results from Northumbria Uni: http://bbc.in/1K5WZ7E
Some people can remember everything, says @d_a_robson, and it’s a blessing and a curse http://bbc.in/1lNxLTV
The ability to forget is arguably as important as the ability to remember: http://bit.ly/1Rz5VaH
The brain forgets in order to conserve energy http://bit.ly/208ylvL
Watching the human hippocampus make new memories and perform pattern completion: http://bbc.in/1CiveJd #neuroscience
What goes on in the brain of a super-memoriser versus untrained (mere mortal) brains like yours and mine? http://bit.ly/1MGuSjB
Where did I put those 30kg dumbbells?” Anabolic steroid use among body builders is associated with memory problems: http://bit.ly/1HfzDLS
MENTAL HEALTH
..depressed feelings & lots of time on Facebook & comparing oneself to others tend to go hand in hand” Steers M.-L.: http://bit.ly/1NQ6Eis
“People hospitalised 4 anorexia [show greater activation of dorsal striatum] while making decisions between..foods” http://reut.rs/1Lnzmsc
$217 million says time is right for Genetech neuro-heavyweights to branch off and tackle Alzheimer’s / Parkinson’s: http://onforb.es/1Fghc9V
1/5 of the Chinese population suffers from a neurological disorder,” Nancy Ip – Hong Kong University of Sci&Tech: http://bit.ly/1Jvvsvq
1st:new arthritis drug that could slow cognitive decline http://bit.ly/Wq88MT Now:similar hope 4 anti-asthma drug http://bit.ly/1OuQ8Zc
Brains of psychopaths have reduced grey/white matter in areas implicated in empathy and don’t learn from punishment: http://bit.ly/1v2uMLt
hyperconnectivity between thalamus&sensory areas of the brain” seems to precede development of full blown psychosis: http://wb.md/1Tx20J7
Neurosurgeon Emad Eskandar Thinks He Can Cure Complex Psychiatric Disorders Using Implanted Electrodes | MIT Techno http://ow.ly/T9Fda
New research investigating causes of Seasonal Affective Disorder points to dorsal raphe nucleus (brain serotonin hub) http://bit.ly/1E1VTUi
Retinal neurodegeneration may be associated w early signs of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) http://ow.ly/HzpGw and http://bit.ly/1J3r6Kg
Science finally starting to understand why autistic brains have more/less brain cells&different connectivity pattern http://bit.ly/1P2Wq11
Study shows that ‘testosterone can help people with social anxiety’ http://bit.ly/1Wa1h3F
Trying to gain a better understanding of the suicidal brain: http://bit.ly/1IPj9ZQ
Two different fear pathways in the brain? … with implications for post-traumatic stress disorder: http://bit.ly/1yDotfE
Victims of childhood bullying AND the bullies themselves have increased incidence of adult mental health issues http://bit.ly/1lSywLM
Weak link between month of birth and dementia risk uncovered in data analysis of 150,000 German medical records: http://bit.ly/1RFcnv1
Ever suspected someone you know of being psychopathic? Simply yawn in front of them x100 & see if they ever yawn back http://bit.ly/1Lm2n7i
A window into what it’s like to work with neurologically compromised individuals: http://bit.ly/1X0Gtzp
QUOTES
“single most important lesson my colleagues & I have learned is that you can literally change people’s brains..” AMEN http://bit.ly/19b4dIZ
“Brains are as unique as snowflakes” – @davideagleman http://bit.ly/1gJqYYJ
“Fairness seems a bit like air – its absence is a lot more noticeable than its presence” from SOCIAL by Matthew D Lieberman @social_brains
“It is easier to ship recipes than cakes and biscuits” John Maynard Keynes
“Just as kidneys produce urine, the brain produces mind” Jacob Moleschott (1822-1893) via Dick Swaab in We Are Our Brains
“Making milk is a costly process-mums quite literally liquify their own bodies to churn out this fluid” Ed Yong http://bit.ly/1GKDyk4
“Science must be put first. These data are not scientific, they’re not evidence-based & this is a bad law” Prof Nutt, Daily Politics, BBC2
“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease” Voltaire (1694-1778) via Swaab (2014)
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven” Milton
“The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
“There’s increasing evidence that what’s good for the heart is also good for the brain” Prof Manson, Harvard Uni: http://n.pr/1JcF2Fd
“We are pulled by many currents, but it is the people we swim with who make us who we are” Michael Bond (2015)
Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.” – Terry Pratchett
He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals” I. Kant
Hippocrates:”Proper exercise & nourishment, not too little or too much, is safest way to good health”. Best sol’n for diabetes
Kahneman on writing Thinking, Fast and Slow: ‘it was an acutely miserable experience’ #BX2015
Life is a sexually transmitted disease that is invariably fatal” Mark Twain (who always cracks me up) via Dick Swaab in We Are Our Brains
Vernon Mountcastle, Brain Explorer “no greater thrill in life than to make an original discovery,no matter how small” http://nyti.ms/15kV688
BRAIN INJURY
Kiwi strategy for reducing prisoner re-offending factors in high incidence of traumatic brain injury in this pop’n: http://bit.ly/1T37omV
People who suffer brain injuries tend to heal quicker if they get up and moving again as soon as they are able to: http://n.pr/1exDN7J
People with damage to sagittal stratum don’t “get” sarcasm: http://bit.ly/1a5BVR2 FYI here is the sagittal stratum: http://bit.ly/1yd6jol
People with past traumatic brain injury more likely to have ADHD than those who’ve never had a major bang on the head http://bit.ly/1NoqKVe
Perhaps rugby medics should have telmisartan on touchline to suppress production of brain swelling-inducing protein?: http://bit.ly/1gFRbrd
RWC2015 rugby players will be happy to hear MRI’s getting better at spotting brain micro-bleeds/prompting treatment: http://bit.ly/1KcAoGN
Shape memory alloy implant designed2protect brain aneurysms before they burst (haemorrhage) goes into clinical trial http://bit.ly/1PN1Jnq
Strategic cognitive training programme at Uni of Texas Centre for Brain Health boosts performance after brain injury: http://bit.ly/1JcbTd5
Study tracking pro fighters for 5yrs shows greater brain shrinkage/compromised cognition in boxers vs martial artists http://bit.ly/1A6aQsy
Two-minute flashcard test detects concussions in athletes http://nyti.ms/19bnviP
Using Virtual Reality to investigate what networks are affected by brain trauma, establishing best course of therapy: http://bit.ly/1LZPgMl
When a brain injury makes you forget how to read: http://bit.ly/1gzJ0gD – can you imagine having Alexia? Dunno what I’d do with myself…!
100yrs later cause of ShellShock found:’distinctive honeycomb pattern of broken&swollen nerve fibres’in frontal brain http://ind.pn/154kuPs
A scarily high proportion of US soldiers with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury show evidence of brain scars in MRI scans http://bit.ly/1ROUdJ1
All in the dose…Carbon monoxide can be neuroprotective for subarachnoid haemorrhage (brain bleed) in small amounts: http://bit.ly/1RnISy1
SENSES
Ever experienced body parts seem to suddenly change size? Me neither.. but it’s called Alice In Wonderland Syndrome! http://theatln.tc/1EKgpNL
Cool multisensory trick enables punters to feel like they’ve teleported out of the MRI scanner: http://bit.ly/1JX9cdF
Human inferior frontal gyrus responsive to changes in sound patterns that monkey brains just don’t seem to register: http://bit.ly/1gRkmZ5
I’ve never really thought of hearing as “vibration sensitivity” before, now I feel a greater kinship with bacteria: http://n.pr/1KFYVaK
For Nick Johnson, losing his sense of smell was a bigger loss than he could ever have imagined http://bbc.in/1DJKq2o
Limbic system reimagined: “you see (& hear & smell & taste) what you believe…believing is largely based on feeling” http://bit.ly/1Qp1ZW5
Noradrenaline tunes&filters auditory cortex sensitivity in noisy environments to pick out” sounds from the clamour: http://bit.ly/1CtPfak
Occipital face area is activated by visual perception of single features of face, Arcurio et al (2012), FFA is more interested in whole face
Occipital lobes (back of head) enable you or I to see, yet process language by age of 5 in those blind from birth!: http://bit.ly/1gXMZDL
Social media meme inspires serious scientific investigation into.. The Dress Effect (blue/black, white/gold or both?) http://ind.pn/1PocDks
The Purpose of Our Eyes’ Strange Wiring Is Unveiled http://bit.ly/1FAm0XJ #science
When it comes to writing well “there are things the ears pick up which the eyes don’t” – I couldn’t agree more: http://bit.ly/1H3P0a8
Why scratching that itch feels so good: http://bit.ly/1KVaRDA
Ever wondered if you have synaesthesia? University of Radboud, Netherlands have created an App so you can find out: http://bit.ly/1P24NKR
For some people, chocolate smells pink and stripey – how radical is that?! http://bit.ly/1RJT2ca
BRAIN AGEING
..vocabulary skills, written and verbal, require many more years before they peak in our 60s and 70s..” http://onforb.es/1xrM1an
Curiosity may kill cats but it might just help us humans to dodge age-related cognitive decline: http://bit.ly/1DjMj60 #SortYourBrainOut
If you want to live to the grand old age of 100 then you’d better try and, er, keep your inflammation down… http://bit.ly/1NiUiQT
Imagine eyedrops that can treat cataracts without surgery &protect against need for reading glasses in old age? Wow! http://bit.ly/1HEUQwS
It might not feel like it but having more children actually seems2slow the ageing process (via telomere lengthening) http://bit.ly/1UIXqc3
Keeping coffee intake steady appears 2b key in keeping mild cognitive impairment at bay for longer: http://onforb.es/1OOy8Hg #SortYourBrainOut
Molecule implicated in old age memory loss identified, becomes drug target for halting age-related cognitive decline: http://bit.ly/1dKtg8x
most physically active elderly volunteers..better oxygenation & healthier..brain activity than the more sedentary” http://nyti.ms/1L4BQbY
Older people getting smarter, but not fitter-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150831144100.htm
Twice weekly “light resistance training may also slow the age-related shrinking of some parts of our brains” http://nyti.ms/1hSTXK8
What properly-controlled, clinical investigations into interventions trying2help elders improve cognition have found: http://nyti.ms/1K46RAW
Who’d have thought that your blood type could affect your cognitive function in later life?! http://bit.ly/1uvLRNs
Yet more evidence suggesting that playing music in youth protects brains against cognitive decline in later life: http://bit.ly/1z7rypG
..age-related cognitive decline seems to be mostly associated with loss of myelin rather than loss of neurons..” http://bit.ly/1GL2YfB
LANGUAGE AND THE BRAIN
“..that mammalian crying serves as a cue 4 maternal support rather than as a dinner bell,is a major evolutionary difference Lieberman(2015)
Whilst language predominantly relies on left brain hemisphere for most, ancient whistling languages use both sides: http://bit.ly/1TRaa4w
“The rise of audio-only narratives & why stories told in just the right way are so engaging to the human brain”: http://theatln.tc/1PRBSJO
Dimensions are..encoded in..sound of..words kekere vs tobi – guess which means big/small in Yoruba language?! http://bit.ly/1LIn6nF
Is it funny or sad that computers can now detect sarcasm in text yet whole nations of English native speakers cannot? http://bit.ly/1HBYYTn
Linguistic analysis of email phrases that signal hierarchy in the workplace http://bit.ly/1MyM7l3
Neurons in Broca’s area (just above left temple) become active when you read aloud, but also when you read silently: http://bit.ly/15EIMyY
Never heard of “octopus cells” before – yet they might well lead to cochlear implants with better speech recognition: http://ab.co/1JZZcCu
Pro motor mouths show less activity in Broca’s area reflecting “fact that they simply find speech less effortful” http://bit.ly/1Hzf1Po
Resting brain connectivity between various language areas predict how quickly people will pick up a 2nd language http://bit.ly/1OF8naZ
Some of the many brain benefits of speaking more than one language: http://bbc.in/1NsA21P
Speech Quilts – they might not keep you warm at night but are helping us understand how brains process spoken words http://bit.ly/1Gr0FRB
Talk to me: Humans and birds share language-producing brain structures http://bbc.in/1QJbX6B (via @BBCEarth)
Two words is all you need to hear to recognise a good friend or relative’s voice: http://bit.ly/1jgTmDh ..still 1 step ahead of AI…just!
BRAIN BENEFITS OF MINDFULNESS
I wrote a blog on “brain benefits of mindfulness” based on a review of latest neuroscience studies -hope you like it! http://bit.ly/1iOdeNN
mindfulness meditation has been linked with shrinkage 2 the amygdala..neural region involved in processing emotions” http://sciof.us/1L6tOnc
Mindfulness meditation may make people more susceptible to false memories http://bit.ly/1JWddBS
Mindfulness study to track effect of meditation on 7,000 teenagers http://gu.com/p/4ay58
Mindfulness treatment as effective as CBT for depression and anxiety http://www.psypost.org/?p=29751
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may reduce the demand for primary care visits http://thementalelf.net/?p=10069 #mhaw15 @ag2460
Mindfulness-based stress reduction diminishes chemo brain http://ln.is/ift.tt/p4pzB #feedly
How to do mindfulneess meditation: http://ti.me/1QOhZ6X .. if Steve Jobs found it stimulated his creativity, surely it’s worth your time
I had no idea that a neuroscientist pioneered flotation tanks way back in the 1950’s: http://bit.ly/1K4aBDp
Nice synopsis of brain benefits of meditation: http://onforb.es/1M6fP07 – inspires me to actually do some whilst on holiday later this month..
TED-ed’s latest video “How stress affects your brain” & how exercise / meditation can reverse the damage: http://bit.ly/1OEgzwZ
The Neuroscience of Meditation, and the Virtues of Just Shutting Up http://www.snsanalytics.com/1rliy3
We think mindfulness could recalibrate the imbalance in the brain connections associated with childhood obesity” http://bit.ly/1PjVPvi
Yoga and your brain: http://huff.to/1Fwmk5k
BRAIN HACKS
The extraordinary tale of the neurosurgeon who hacked his own brain: http://bit.ly/1QpmF2e
The Future Is Here – Paraplegic man walks again via EEG decoding brain’s intention to move -> relayed to leg muscles: http://bit.ly/1LaIKlT
More on consumer brain-wearables: http://onforb.es/1JUcbqG
Wanna upload your brain to evade death? It may be a trickier undertaking than you ever imagined: http://nyti.ms/1Pad017
Wearing an EEG baseball cap to monitor fatigue/reduce accidents in dangerous jobs is a great idea -but does it work? http://bit.ly/1I8UaG0
Will we soon be ditching remote controls for our brain machine interfaces to switch between shows on the BBC iPlayer? http://bit.ly/1H0gQa8
Wireless brain-machine interface is a great stride forward in giving paralysed folks control over their environment: http://bit.ly/1DGHKRG
Worrying surge in neurotechnology patents indicates intention2measure consumer brain openness to advertising on sly: http://yhoo.it/1QpDfib
You have to ask whether you’d want to have invasive surgery to not have to press a button on a remote control” http://bit.ly/1PPpBrG
Would you consider freezing your brain at death in hope that medicine would catch up with sci-fi&bring you back2life? http://nyti.ms/1gm7DNh
Firing patterns in inferotemporal cortex perfectly match human visual object recognition in many different contexts: http://bit.ly/1KVZDxt
Nice synopsis of research into electrical brain stimulation to help Alzheimer’s, memory, smokers, stroke repair&more: http://bit.ly/1YyHahz
Hero or nutcase? US doc has electrodes he made himself implanted in his own brain to do research on thought decoding http://bit.ly/20GYVwn
Using focused ultrasound & gas microbubbles to temporarily break blood brain barrier to help treat aggressive glioma http://bit.ly/1HqDNUv
DECISION MAKING
In case you missed it here’s a blog I wrote about books, podcasts & my appearance on BBC1 doing the Marshmellow Test: http://bit.ly/1xVucQw
“..damage to the LOFC leads people to base their vote on simpler information, namely the candidate’s good looks” http://bit.ly/1FENtEm
after making lots of insignificant decisions, we can end up making truly bad decisions about something important http://bit.ly/1zpraEk
Ask Ariely: Surge Charges, Moving Costs, and Expiration Dates http://wp.me/p5oiR-1l1
Boom/bust of global financial cycles attributed to brain’s penchant for quick small gains over greater long term ones http://ti.me/1V7sW8o
Brain training for weight loss? In principle this could work (despite reputation of the newspaper it’s printed in 😉 http://dailym.ai/1CkmwKn
Love the concept that Cookie Monster taught infants principle of delayed gratification -but didn’t he always give up? http://econ.st/1I8Z0N3
New study sheds light on how “serotonin and dopamine affect people’s willingness to harm others for personal gain” http://bit.ly/1epipBD
Nucleus accumbens stimulation gets mice coming back for more, but stimulation 1mm alongside leads to strong aversion: http://bit.ly/1EBU47P
Old but still fascinating: judges suffer cognitive bias too i.e. more lenient when they’ve returned from a nice break http://bit.ly/1JjSa9d
On 2nd thought “A person’s decisions are not at the mercy of unconscious & early brain waves” Prof John-Dylan Haynes http://bit.ly/1ZLNIt5
Should you rely on first instincts when answering a multiple choice exam? http://goo.gl/etVsoZ
Marshmallow Test with cute kids from last night’s show: http://bbc.in/1x47cJl @BBCWatchdog Remember: Deferring gratitude wins bigger prizes
EXPLORING OUTER SPACE
11 years ago @esa’s #Huygens probe landed on Titan http://go.nasa.gov/1P3cS4H
A new look at Saturn’s moon Prometheus, one of the highest resolution views ever. Details: http://go.nasa.gov/1m8Vs9T
Check out some of the closest ever views of Mars, Charon, and Pluto http://wired.uk/K0yS9Q
Exciting. First exoplanet visible light spectrum http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/e-fev042015.php …
In 2018 Hayabusa2 will collect samples of asteroid Ryugu, reenacting a Japanese fairy tale. http://bit.ly/1Pe7omt
Nasa is looking for new astronauts — here’s how to apply http://wired.uk/N8Uo1h
Our cover story: how Babylonians tracked Jupiter with geometry 1400 years ahead of its time http://scim.ag/1nqRVEh
Peering at the ‘heart,’ @NASANewHorizons reveals evidence of carbon monoxide ice: http://go.nasa.gov/1KbzMB4 #PlutoFlyby
Planet Earth now has a flag. Take that, several billion other planets. http://wired.uk/PKuli1
Sweet! Deep-Space Sugars May Reveal Clues About Origins of Life http://shar.es/1bgqRl by @cqchoi for @SPACEdotcom
Thank you @newscientist for the link to the Live Pluto flyby on 14th July (at ~50,000km/hr): http://bit.ly/NSpluto #worldfirst
What we can see of Pluto, and what’s to come: New Horizons’ Pluto Flyby http://nyti.ms/1HqUHip
You can now look at over 130,000 pages of declassified US Air Force files related to UFO sightings – http://www.theblackvault.com/
ALL THINGS ADDICTION
Anatomy of addiction: opiods http://n.pr/1OK261c
Brain circuits for loss prediction disrupted in cocaine users, accounting for not taking steps to avoid losses? http://bit.ly/1D1I23R
Brain scans show compulsive gamers have hyperconnected neural networks http://sco.lt/7qbChV
Cocaine addiction is often compulsive (not primarily motivated by pleasure seeking) & new studies might explain why http://bit.ly/1TREK9W
Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | via TED Talk | http://bit.ly/1To8xrk by @johannhari101
Happy birthday, William James! The father of American psychology on habit http://buff.ly/1DLdpi4
If stroke damages the insula more people manage to quit smoking cigarettes, so it might be a good target for therapy: http://bbc.in/1KYscMk
Increased ventral-striatal activity during monetary decision making is a marker of problem poker gambling severity http://bit.ly/1CK7cEY
Insula functional connectivity differs in brain scans of people who successfully quit smoking vs those who relapsed: http://bit.ly/1EeIjgp
Medical treatment for cocaine addiction on horizon after breakthrough in basic science of dopamine transporter: http://bit.ly/17E4AMz
Scientists are giving hallucinogens to smoking addicts to help them quit: http://bbc.in/1R07Lxw
Step closer to understanding mechanisms of alcoholism: http://bit.ly/1JDB7AI (booze potentiates dm-striatal “go” neuron D1 receptors)
CREATIVITY
10Hz (alpha wave) transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation boosts creativity (slightly): http://bit.ly/1DnBmcJ
A step-by-step guide to stimulation creative breakthroughs courtesy of @sciammind http://bit.ly/1KFS4LH #behindthepaywall @Xfm_Lliana
Capturing the moment an idea is recorded in the human brain… http://bit.ly/1IJoeXL
Creativity can be thought of as a capacity, independent of intelligence, that enables assimilation of contradictions http://bit.ly/1Z0SuAH
Creativity is really about neuroplasticity and this might actually be helpful in preventing and healing disease http://ab.co/1T1bTSs
How our brains comes up with original, creative & workable ideas: http://bit.ly/1I2q8n2
New research reveals unexpected brain regions contribute to #creativity, http://bit.ly/1GFP411
Overseas travel can increase creativity and openness – so long as you actually engage with the local culture: http://bit.ly/1ZGOxXr
Surely there’s a huge confound in this fMRI study that finds greater cerebellum activity in more creative drawings? http://bit.ly/1FPU1ne
Taking pen to paper inspires more creative thought..it is a slower process than just typing something on a keyboard” http://on.mash.to/1CdoF7u
The excuse we’ve all been waiting for: Want to be more creative? Go travelling: http://theatln.tc/19ENs9G …like Hemmingway, Huxley, Twain…
When your brain gets knackered it can think more creatively, allegedly.. http://bit.ly/1B30GKy Personally I nap to come up with novel ideas
PAIN
I do love a counterintuitive headline.. High intensity interval training helps ease pain of arthritis: http://bit.ly/1KAPsAN
Chilli Pepper Jeckyl & Hyde: http://bbc.in/1j8VbTc
Dorsal posterior insula brain region identified as key to generating “hurting” aspect of pain says Prof Irene Tracey: http://bit.ly/1FFnsWw
Grey matter thickness changes in various important brain areas after just a month on morphine pills for back pain! http://reut.rs/1PtEmut
Ice cream head explained..consensus points to: dynamics in blood flow to brain when back of palate is rapidly chilled http://bbc.in/1iRDdV1
Mo Costandi on chili peppers: Catching fire http://bit.ly/1HRp0hi
New research points to novel drugs that might reduce pain & declutter cognition for peripheral neuropathy sufferers: http://bit.ly/1L7t3Ji
Studying roots of migraine..protein regulating trigeminal nerves (which innervate face) could be key to future cure: http://bit.ly/1WNI3kN
Teasing apart the brain networks for physical vs psychological aspects of pain: http://bit.ly/1u6uRNW
The burn of wasabi could lead to new pain meds http://wrd.cm/1IKpaqV
These findings demonstrate a novel role for how dopamine contributes to maintaining chronic pain states: http://bit.ly/1PpmXn4
yoga can be an important tool for preventing or even reversing the effects of chronic pain on the brain” http://bit.ly/1ELwrTS
SEX AND ATTRACTION
“The breadth of circumstances that seem to be affected by facial attractiveness is mind boggling”: http://bit.ly/1QatVy4
Denmark bans bestiality in move against animal sex tourism http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN0NC1Z620150421?irpc=932 …
Don’t skip sex when you have a headache” http://fxn.ws/1zQyBnm 30% cluster-headache sufferers reported partial or total relief thru’ sex
Dutch study finds the more sexually active older people are, the better their memories and brain function” http://bit.ly/1BvH1AY
How much human brain cortex is dedicated to processing touch sensations arising in the penis versus other body parts? http://bit.ly/1H7dvAi
Human pheromone debate: Hedione (magnolia/jasmine) scent “..generates sex-specific activation patterns in the brain”! http://bit.ly/1NWJfMl
Just discovered the supporting actor’s 1st scene in “Epic of Gilgamesh” involves a marathon 7day/6night sex session #GoodInnings #6000BCporn
Love is…http://onforb.es/1MHo0PI
Scientists confirm two forms of female ejaculation http://bit.ly/1FIs42b
Sex, pheromones, monogamy: http://bit.ly/1diRsih
The Relationship Between Digit Ratio (2D:4D) and Sexual Orientation in Men from China. | Arch Sexual Behavior http://ow.ly/3xRZ2C
Women’s sexuality has been a source of controversy throughout the ages, says @LindaGeddes http://bbc.in/1KgHhct
CONNECTOME: WORKING OUT THE BRAINS CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
“digital lump of rat brain…mimics the behaviour of about 30,000 neurons connected to one another by 40m synapses”: http://bit.ly/1NsUu3I
3D brain map reveals neuronal connections in nano-scale http://gu.com/p/4b59m/stw by @hvthomson
Allen Institute for Brain Science launches database of neuronal cell types in key step towards 1st *real* brain model http://wrd.cm/1JgNROp
Allen Institute unveils new science search engine http://buff.ly/1LNK8IA (via @NatureNews) @allenai_org
Boosting connections via molecule influencing synapses at micro level (NMDA receptors) shows up at macro level (EEG) http://bit.ly/1ONxJHH
Cool vid explains how all those beautiful HD 3D images of mouse brain were created http://bit.ly/1IVXYdp (DanBerger is a really nice guy 🙂
How to make a map that plots brain functions in a way that mankind can really grasp, utilise and drive progress: http://n.pr/1CfOMbL
Huge volumes of brain scan/genetic data + Paul Thompson + Big Data methods = insights linking genes to brain size: http://bit.ly/1yMgQ6w
NeuroElectro, an open access database of electrophysiological properties of different types of neurons http://www.neuroelectro.org/
Prospect of GPS for tracing neuronal pathways is particularly exciting in light of Seb Seung’s brilliant CONNECTOME: http://bit.ly/1GATI1l
Very, very funny: Neuroscience lab manager talks about the Human Brain Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhsZll_P1iA … via @jpeelle
MICROBIOME: HOW YOUR GUT AFFECTS YOUR BRAIN
Are we master or slave to the bugs in our guts? You are what you eat 2.0? http://bit.ly/1ZukzFT
big question right now is how the microbiome exerts its effects on the brain Christopher Lowry: http://bit.ly/1xgTlyl #gutbrainconnection
Biotech getting in on the gut-brain excitement: http://bit.ly/1Nkkf1D
Gut Feelings–the “Second Brain” in Our Gastrointestinal Systems [Excerpt] http://bit.ly/1IvtKM5 #science
Gut microbe dynamics in 98 new mothers and their babies during the first year of life http://bit.ly/1AfPlq5
Is Your Nervous System Being Hacked by Bacteria in Your Gut? http://swyy.co/rrz6oUS @Gizmodo #bacteria #brain @getswayy
Metformin Users Have Different Gut Bugs | The Scientist Magazine® http://bit.ly/21JCBTg What other Rxs are affecting gut bugs
Understanding how gut/brain interacts2induce satiety leads to development of foods that make us feel full for longer: http://bit.ly/1SCDJ5I
When it comes to truly understanding impact of gut microbes on human brain function, here’s our progress so far: http://bit.ly/1hE5dtL
When the gut is healthy, you create more serotonin. Approximately 80-90% of our serotonin comes from the gut”: http://cnn.it/1KMufAD
ADVANCES IN ARTICIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“We can take GPS coordinates and feed it into an artificial brain and it understands, no problem” http://wrd.cm/1Prm4dR
Google offering free online class abt deep learning http://bit.ly/1SCb82W #machinelearning #DataScience #analytics
Having beaten human champions to win US quiz show Jeopardy in 2011 IBM’s Watson is now in training to become a doctor http://bit.ly/1IHnwpq
Machine learning approach using 182 fMRI brain datasets can identify negative emotion with 90% accuracy: http://bit.ly/1L4kTkp
Not to be outdone by Google, Microsoft have now made their own deep learning tools open sourced: http://bit.ly/1Qpsqx1
Part of me hopes that they never achieve this goal of helping Artificial Intelligence to catch up with human brains: http://bit.ly/1ORG21l
Practical everyday application of neural computing No.1 – cleverer smartphones without using wifi or killing battery: http://wrd.cm/1NADIfA
What happens when robots are given “grid” & “place” cells (like those found in human brains) to help them navigate?: http://bit.ly/1OOiWvi
Will computers ever really *get* the subtle nuances of human speech e.g. the influence of context over word meaning? http://bit.ly/1RPCIYX
INNOVATIONS IN BRAIN SCANNING
Measuring brain connectivity using fMRI to predict whether someone has a diagnosis of ADHD: http://n.pr/1R2M4Al
MRI study identifies changes in brain processing that occur as a result of practice doing two things simultaneously: http://ab.co/1REdlro
PET scanning demonstrates changes in density of dopamine receptors after weight loss surgery: http://bit.ly/1wCKtnA But WHY though?
Predicting the future using brain imaging techniques is starting to show promise: http://n.pr/143uVkG Good, bad or ugly? #neuroethics
Psychiatry’s holy grail: Can brain activity predict how depressed patients will respond to drugs or psychotherapy? http://bit.ly/1LkRh5p
Reward learning fast and slow: http://bit.ly/1PZ15QT (simultaneously scanning brains with MRI & EEG is just showing off)
Scanning kids’ brains to predict educational attainment – interesting insights,but I don’t like where this is going.. http://bit.ly/1gbjoG6
Scary prospect of kids in 2020 being screened by their schools with MRI to decide what set/stream they’ll be in: http://wrd.cm/1LJIpHc
Therapy for anxiety=like wheel of chance..brain imaging2help provide more reliable predictors of treatment response” http://bit.ly/1Tx0uqd
UNDERSTANDING COGNITION
“..how dynamic flexibility of brain networks can predict cognitive flexibility” (ability to switch from task to task) http://bit.ly/1KrzhGG
Homing in on the genes of cognition with a study spanning 12 countries and involving over 30,000 people: http://bit.ly/1cQ634T
Is “pregnancy brain” a myth? http://ti.me/1WRzP9b
It’s not everyday that neuroscientists discover a whole new brain network, this one’s sensitive to familiarity: http://bit.ly/1DSMRjj
Super-forecasters: Meet the ordinary people who may be better at predicting world events than experts. http://ow.ly/HDeVF
The odd hallucination here and there is perfectly normal: http://sciof.us/1kPnOG3
Theory of “Threaded Cognition” suggested as explanation for why some forms of multitasking seem to work… http://huff.to/1LCst4Z
This is why I work out of libraries rather than cafes or at home – turns out effort is contagious! http://bit.ly/1grmNkf
What gives the human brain it’s highly complex behavioural repertoire? Glial cells might be the key: http://n.pr/1lstcyI
CONSCIOUS AWARENESS
Consciousness reimagined: http://bit.ly/1K0ID69
Consciousness: here, there and everywhere? http://bit.ly/1aeaHHZ
Consciousness: http://theatln.tc/1RJs8mj
Double-good – @mocost writing up science (on learning, consciousness, and pain) by @neuroconscience @francescafardo http://gu.com/p/4b67d/stw
Embodied cognition suggests that the body / brain divide is fuzzier than you might have thought: http://sciof.us/1MX5EI9
Freud’s Model of the Human Mind – http://journalpsyche.org/understanding-the-human-mind/ … #psychology #journalpsyche
How colour perception could unlock consciousness, and other science stories http://bbc.in/1N3P3EG
Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh on the conceptual leap between brain tissue and person https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/mysterious-starry-sky-above-me … Taster from @psychmag
New brain monitor used in Australian hospitals makes possibility of coming round during surgery virtually impossible http://bit.ly/1GEcpNj
DEPRESSION
Elevated levels of FGF9 ID’ed in major depression. Rat studies show tweaking level pushes anxiety up/down accordingly http://bit.ly/1FxgxOB
Global study finds the more episodes of depression the greater the reduction in hippocampus size” – but reversible! http://bit.ly/1g6Itmj
Hmmm, video gaming as an antidote to depression. Susan Greenfield is gonna LOVE that notion… http://slate.me/1MS0hjF
If Facebook makes you feel envious of others, consider deleting your account before it develops into depression: http://bit.ly/1CZ24fv
New drug tinkering with cAMP levels in nucleus accumbens improves stress response, provides new target for depression http://bit.ly/1Kjriba
Should depression be treated more like a stroke? http://on.wsj.com/1Qkm67E
those who experienced multiple episodes of depression showed ‘decoupling’ between the amygdala..&emotional network http://bit.ly/1S5Kujg
To suggest that anxiety & depression are caused by too little serotonin is far too simplistic. Here’s 1 reason why: http://bit.ly/1S8O34s
Your phone knows if you’re depressed http://bit.ly/1Rzc48A
DIGI-BRAIN: THREATS POSED BY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
“..as your brain becomes accustomed to checking a device every few minutes, it will struggle to stay on task..” http://ti.me/1FdILkc
“Ah, such delicious irony… Minds are in some ways more flaccid – especially if we’re dabbling in social media”: http://ind.pn/1SoFKQT
Hardly scientific, yet musings of these “mystery” neuroscientists on 4day desert digi-detox provide food for thought: http://bit.ly/1MzQuxx
METRO says: too much screen time screws you up.. http://bit.ly/1GnIYAD
Now you can coerce your kids into going out to play by telling them that staying indoors will make them short-sighted http://bit.ly/1CsHvsp
oh dear .. separation anxiety from iphones #psychology #tech http://ow.ly/H3AeY
To begin a digital detox, we need to identify what is causing the need in the first place http://ow.ly/M7Z6Z #digitaldetox #addiction
Two new books dig into the philosophical roots of why our lives are so filled with distraction http://ow.ly/MHTPi
Can EEG measurements whilst subjects watch film trailers predict box office success? http://bit.ly/1EQATED
UNDERSTANDING HOW BRAINS DO EMOTION
Interesting article explaining why/how the brain triggers the torture of a broken heart: http://bit.ly/1MhvM49
LeDoux’s been studying the amygdala for decades & he’s NOT happy that you keep referring to it as the “fear” centre: http://bit.ly/1EoEbfw
Our brains begin to register any emotion in non-verbal sounds in just a tenth of a second http://bit.ly/1OuueUG
“The acoustical properties of the human scream poke at the neural circuits that control fear” http://bit.ly/1KAFtLU
The more graphic the description of the murder, the greater the activity in the amygdala: http://on.wsj.com/1FPYdUo
Using pupil size to objectively measure people’s emotional responses to music: http://bit.ly/1X1R4F5
Women are better than men at telling how someone’s feeling from the look in their eyes…but not if they’re autistic: http://bit.ly/1LeXKt6
only way to get through fear is to be exposed to it..finding ways to get through it..training yourself 2 manage it” http://cnn.it/1QOgyUq
INTELLIGENCE
Are you as clever as a bright 15 year old? Test your Grey Matter general knowledge with this Brain Bee quiz: http://wapo.st/1FX31X3
Are you as clever as the UK’s finest codebreakers? Try this Christmas puzzle from GCHQ http://bit.ly/1QgHjEr
Crows recognize human faces, mourn their dead, and may even fear death http://bbc.in/1KXkFtm by @melissasuzanneh
Fats in the Brain May Help Explain How Human Intelligence Evolved http://bit.ly/1DkpVJZ
Flynn Effect: steep increase in IQ score over 20th century attributed to.. “more challenging learning environment” http://bit.ly/1CafTXu
Intuitive evaluation of attacking vs defensive strategy recruits different parts (back vs front) of cingulate cortex: http://bit.ly/1QeEeme
Octopus ancestors are, perhaps, the first intelligent beings on Earth. http://bit.ly/1jqU4hQ
The prospect of human-machine superintelligence rears it’s potentially ugly head http://bit.ly/1O8rM3Z
LEARNING
“Sleep almost doubles our chances of remembering previously unrecalled material” http://bit.ly/1HUhL9y
Have a listen to this “Teachers tap into brain science to boost learning” PBS item: http://to.pbs.org/1CbnrNf …& let me know what you think!!
How to cram effectively – spaced repetition: http://bit.ly/1nfkKmX
I will not bring neuromyths into the classroom Well written and well argued essays at:http://bit.ly/1RIHsRz
Learning sequence of notes involves tight association of brain modules at first followed by functional disconnection: http://lat.ms/1O2zKNn
Learning with All the Senses: http://neurosciencenews.com/vocabulary-learning-sensory-perception-1742/ … #neuroscience #psychology
strong links between epigenetic marks at birth & a child’s ability to learn” in2culturally diverse sets of children: http://bit.ly/1OgKlIc
Studies investigating importance of sleep for learning incorporate findings into teaching strategy recommendations: http://bit.ly/1OPga7Z
MUSIC
Brains that sync to the musical beat (all of us at fast tempos, musicians only at slower tempos!) http://bit.ly/1GWIUMj
Got an annoying song stuck in your head (an ear worm)? Wanna get rid of it? Chew some gum. No, really… http://bit.ly/1PSmjAL
Music lessons spur emotional and behavioral growth in children, new study says http://ow.ly/Ho9ds via @washingtonpost
Musical instruments reinvented to study the brain in MRI scanners – from plastic trumpets/harmonicas to cello: http://wrd.cm/1C27gBT
Musical marmosets http://bit.ly/1RoZdDP
Piano man learned control over his Tourette’s (which developed overnight aged 7) through classical performances: http://ind.pn/1GW6gN2
The BaAka people of the Congo have developed “water drumming” in complete isolation – and they are brilliant http://bit.ly/1uno8dr
The beautiful things music does to your mind cogs x here’s a science of rock n roll podcast x @GCweirdscience https://audioboom.com/boos/3254177
NEUROPLASTICITY
Brains subtly remodel themselves over periods of intensive smartphone use: http://reut.rs/1xgOxQd
Miracle gene therapy cure for certain forms of blindness couldn’t possibly work without adult neuroplasticity: http://bit.ly/1MEVi1g
Mirrorbox therapy, facilitates rehabilitation after stroke, but also good for other conditions affecting single limb: http://ab.co/1J5xkZJ
MIT’s Tara Swart’s tips on what it takes to truly re-wire a brain after the age of 25 are bang on: http://bit.ly/1PSltE5 #SortYourBrainOut
More tales of triumphs of neuroplasticity from Norman Doidge in his new book “The Brain’s Way of Healing”: http://ab.co/1DbjRvT
New research indicates that tinnitus & chronic pain results from the brain reorganising itself in response to injury: http://bit.ly/1jeeBpC
Pirate eye patch experiment supports idea that moderate exercise promotes neuronal adaptability in visual cortex: http://nyti.ms/1SLnliD
Psychotherapy that changes brains: http://bit.ly/1QodS39
PERSONALITY
107chimp brain MRI’s indicate personality traits (eg dominance,reactivity) linked to differences in brain structure: http://bit.ly/1GeKEdY
Increased grey matter density in different brain areas in those who tend to respond emotionally versus rationally: http://bit.ly/1Ch583N
Nothing Personal: The questionable Myers-Briggs test http://gu.com/p/3egzq/stw via @deevybee
Restless Berserker – what your choice of avatar name in a battle video game says about your temperament: http://bit.ly/1LlnWSm
Strong connectivity in specific default mode network indicative of many different positive traits: http://1.usa.gov/1NZyR9L
Too Much Praise Promotes Narcissism http://ift.tt/1dw1kW1
Want to be happier? Choose a neighborhood that meets your #personality! http://ow.ly/HenMh #socialpsychology
When Good People Behave Badly: http://neurosciencenews.com/temptation-ethics-psychology-behavior-2100/ … #psychology
ANIMAL BRAINS
Fly whisperer” conducts study of fly brain that finds new doughnut-shaped neuronal network that acts as a compass: http://bbc.in/1HfOkOH
Scanning dolphin brains reveals surprising similarity to bat brains: http://nbcnews.to/1KNqe1Q
Thai macaques are veritable artisans – wide repertoire of tools and actions observed, documented and published: http://bit.ly/1ILEDJp
The NIH will retire all research chimpanzees and send them to sanctuaries http://bit.ly/1LoG121
Would you trust a bird brain to diagnose your biopsy for signs of cancer? Turns out pigeons are pretty good! http://nbcnews.to/1MVJmqm
Squirt of fast-acting insulin enables cone snail to gobble hypoglycaemic fish whole: http://bit.ly/1CKEFfR @GCweirdscience #newscientist
What boney creature has a big head, a tiny brain, lives at the bottom of the sea and has an unflattering name? http://bit.ly/1lcDYsj
BRAIN TRAINING
Plenty of video games are improving working memory and attention: http://bbc.in/1gq8UCP
Report published today details specific features of video games that can lead to improvements in cognitive abilities: http://bit.ly/1WA5VrQ
Simple game helps people cope better with distraction to reduce anxiety,courtesy of Jason Moser at Michigan State Uni http://bit.ly/1NcNp5N
For future generations of soldiers “brain training might be just as important as pushups” http://bit.ly/1YnH9ua #SortYourBrainOut
Is this “Brain Training Doesn’t Work” article: http://bit.ly/1Gwy9yE reporting a new study? Or simply re-hashing: http://bit.ly/1ybKSDL ?
Lumosity fined by regulator for vastly overstating the benefits of their brain training games: http://1.usa.gov/1MR1LEl
ECOLOGY MATTERS
Poor bumblebees. A climate vice is squeezing their habitat from the north and the south http://ow.ly/PqCWS
Poor sealions http://bit.ly/227mGyf
Rhino horn is now being bioengineered in the hope it will deter poachers http://wired.uk/kLtPQr
The world’s smallest and rarest dolphin could be extinct within 15 years http://bbc.in/1SzE4XD
This rare butterfly is half male, half female http://wapo.st/1IuZmxW via @washingtonpost
Poor outlook for Borneo’s mammals http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30924523 …
EVENTS
30,000 neuroscientists descend on Chicago; SfN2015 is GO!! So finding tweetworthy brain news becomes much easier 😉 http://n.pr/1GlDAlu
Anyone at a loose end in London next week(13-16th) should check out this ‘NeuroArt Exhibition’ in UCL! @DrJackLewis
Cannabis, neuroscience & TV: A ‘joint’ enterprise http://gu.com/p/46gvm/stw by @m_wall and other researchers involved in @Channel4’s Drugs Live
Cracking review of “Brainstorm” – new play devel in conjunction with WT & Prof S-JB where teens play the teen brain: http://bit.ly/1fz8Qk5
Hard Problem”Sir Tom proves that it is possible to construct a tight100mins of drama around neuroscientific conceits” http://econ.st/1velJao
Sounds like Beano comic’s Numskulls conception of brain function gets a trippy 21stC upgrade in Pixar’s latest film: http://ti.me/1d5IXXC
PERFORMANCE
Hunting down those pesky brain areas responsible for making us crack under pressure http://bit.ly/1nyJG9w
If dual-tasking study/Facebook leads to bad grades: http://bit.ly/1J7Hmfi Is keeping 1 eye on Twitter at work messing with your efficiency?
If optimal sporting prowess varies according to chronotype(lark/owl) does the same go for optimal cognitive function? http://bit.ly/1u8Bdfh
Routine behavioural sequences governed by rostrolateral Prefrontal Cortex: http://dailym.ai/1gXjUYK (yes I do realise this is a DM article!)
Would you like to be smarter, more confident, kinder, more resilient under stress &more successful? http://ti.me/1UbKddp #SortYourBrainOut
Want to feel more relaxed and enthusiastic at work? New experiment proves that this intervention works http://bit.ly/17z3aTd
ROBOTS
“one more step toward making brain control of a robotic limb or computing device a reality”: http://bbc.in/1HzetL9
MIT has developed a robot that uses human reflexes to stop it from falling over http://wired.uk/BJXOsK
Apt that i’m tweeting this “robots learning from the example of infants” article from a robot-run hotel in Japan!!! http://ow.ly/Vmndh
Robots that do experiments on fruit flies: http://nyti.ms/1G2Osni
Who knew drones could be so pretty? Watch a video of drone butterflies fluttering about http://pops.ci/IpVnhe
Would you like to see 100 robots perform a synchronised dance routine? Of course you would. http://ow.ly/HJZ5s
SCHIZOPHRENIA
Cambridge Uni Wizard game improves episodic memory in those with schizophrenia;helping them get back on their feet: http://bbc.in/1M64BL0
In #schizophrenia it’s what we’ve been waiting for – a way to prevent it progressing in those showing the first signs http://bit.ly/1L4W2gs
New genetic study suggests that one possible trigger for schizophrenia in teens is overactive synaptic pruning: http://bit.ly/1KbbKtA
Schizophrenia may involve faulty inhibitory circuit between thalamus (sensory junction box) & prefrontal cortex http://bit.ly/1aLAt7G
schizophrenic hallucinations linked to specific valley in the landscape of the human frontal cortex: http://bbc.in/1Pyqzb9
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation at forehead helps normalise schizophrenic brain response to error detection: http://bit.ly/1D2PclW
ATTENTION
How the brain blocks out distractions: http://bit.ly/1LLSP6w
It’s nice to hear that TED realise how hard it is on brains to concentrate for hours on end: http://bit.ly/1GQoFuC
Major brain junction box (thalamus) seems vital for ability to ignore irrelevant sensory information: http://1.usa.gov/1hUdtGb
Study identifies part of brain key to controlling attention – http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287692.php
Why We Become Temporarily “Deaf” When Focusing Hard via @Braindecoder http://rbl.ms/1OWg40j
GAMES AND QUIZES
It’s an interesting/scary concept that Lumosity brain game achievement tracking might one day come back to haunt us: http://bit.ly/1HVL6zt
Video games will soon compete with drugs as a form of medicine http://wired.uk/xywEIQ
Video-game robot helps to accelerate injured kids’ recovery: http://bit.ly/1lRfwgu
Want to be a GCHQ spy? Play this game http://wired.uk/dIxwRq
You’ll soon be hunting Pokemon in the real world http://wired.uk/4f9oKM
HAPPINESS
We use laughter as a way of breaking down boundaries, making new friends..showing that we like people @sophiescott: http://bit.ly/1BsaGHL
Cunning study provides evidence to suggest that we use the sound of our own voice to gauge how happy or sad we feel http://bit.ly/1ONdZUh
Why is happiness so difficult to measure, and other science stories from around the web http://bbc.in/1g9dDd0
Why we laugh: http://bbc.in/1IkfLqn Fascinating interview with @sophiescott
I find it very hard to believe that the precuneus is seat of all happiness -can someone independently replicate pls? http://bit.ly/1S8Pxf0
JOKES
Asked librarian for a book on Pavlov’s dogs and Schrodinger’s cat. She said it rang a bell, but couldn’t say if it was there or not.
IQ and BMI walk into a bar. They see Phrenology in a corner, scoff, and then each order alcohol in different-equally useless-measurements.
Love that Nature gets in on the April Fool “Climatic conditions are rapidly reaching an optimum for breeding dragons” http://bit.ly/1CLL2BZ
Sadly, I can imagine the “neuroelectric cosmonaut look” hitting our streets in not too distant future http://bit.ly/1LfFsgF #futureiscoming
I’ve literally got tears streaming down my face -truly remarkable! http://bit.ly/1RvrCXH
NEUROMYTHS
Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore slates those who peddle the myth that people are either left brained or right brained: http://bit.ly/1B8apbK
Neuro-hit or neuro-myth? great new resource from @UoL_CEN on 12 common neuromyths: http://tinyurl.com/z5pk9qe #neurohit_or_miss
Neurosophism, “a sophisticated but fallacious application of neuroscientific language” http://bit.ly/1QnMijr Rife in education & business
Religious zealotry could be temporarily dampened with a simple jolt of magnetism to a specific brain area (pmPFC): http://bit.ly/1RJS3Zv
The existence of ‘Learning Styles’ is a ‘neuromyth’ that is thriving in Higher Education. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26696947
PRE-HUMANS
compelling evidence for the co-evolution of early Stone Age slaughtering tools & our ability to communicate & teach” http://bit.ly/1B0OcSo
Human DNA is 1 to 2% Neandertal, or more, depending on where your ancestors lived http://bit.ly/1QyNpzv
Human migration out of Africa left its mark in mutations http://sco.lt/6p7qSX
Monkey “brain net” … “has a high ‘gosh’ factor”: http://bit.ly/1KTDmme
Who’d have thought that cannibals in Papua New Guinea could teach scientists something about brain disease/evolution? http://ab.co/1QO5zcg
REVIEWS
I first heard of this Pixar project 5years ago. They are the only movie house I would trust with a tale of the brain: http://wapo.st/1J5DqMl
The Brain: The Story of You by @davideagleman is out soon, here’s an extended extract… If you’re curious http://on.ft.com/1GYQ5On
Do No Harm by Henry Marsh is an excellent read. Reviews by moi: http://bit.ly/1bQFLiC and the New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1FqNI9m
Inside Out is ‘a work of simple genius’ says WIRED’s @olifranklin http://wired.uk/hz1tgz
Last month I wrote a book review on “DO NO HARM” by neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, take a peek… http://bit.ly/1bQFLiC
VIRTUAL REALITY
I’ve been meaning to build one of these for ages. Now GE has I don’t need to 🙂 Navigating Brains in Virtual Reality http://engt.co/1IqsngD
Virtual brain surgery http://bit.ly/1YhsXTh
Virtual reality comes in very handy when studying human communication http://bit.ly/1Vu4UAg
Visual feedback in form of 3D images of tongue movements hold promise as a tool to aid speech rehab after stroke: http://bit.ly/1I1FhQ9
Visualising brain microcircuitry in3D enables rotation+view from different perspectives=better understanding of data http://bit.ly/1PDqx1l
LEGAL
“fundamental problems that brain images bring into the courtrooms” http://bit.ly/1SrzFru
Neurojurisprudence :-p Guilt/innocence judgements, penalty severity pondering & the brain http://bit.ly/1KjlaxA #onemoreneuroprefixcanthurt
Neuroscience and the Future of the Insanity Defense http://www.snsanalytics.com/1nlvy4
Re-offending rates can be reduced by as much as 20% if those leaving jail have stable accommodation to go to http://buff.ly/1KrBYWV
IMMUNE BRAIN
Great article outlining key experiments supporting concept that gut health fundamentally impacts upon brain health: http://bit.ly/1KZkMGM
Why discovery of brain lymph vessels might be missing link that helps us understand Alz & MS http://bit.ly/1GWKCd0
Discovery: lymphatic system (tubes ferrying immune cells around body) extends into the brain alongside blood vessels: http://bit.ly/1ERp5hg
CSF provides pressure..necessary to build&maintain the brain..pressure is too low, brain can’t grow..if it’s too high..tissue is destroyed
MIND OVER MATTER
Bringing a smile to one’s face, even if it’s fake, can induce physiological benefits of a smile & make us feel better http://bit.ly
Control over pain enabled through mindfulness is superior to mere placebo effect: http://bit.ly/1SM4MLI
Neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan lifts the lid on psychosomatic illness http://bit.ly/1KFEauD
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Bacteria responsible for causing stomach ulcers may help to protect against Multiple Sclerosis, but only for women!: http://bit.ly/1BdWZOG
Melatonin, which regulates sleep/wake cycle, may protect against seasonal multiple sclerosis relapse as well as vitD: http://bit.ly/1LOiY1a
Two drugs already on the market .. may potentially take on new roles as treatments for multiple sclerosis” http://1.usa.gov/1E2HqfA
PARKINSON’S
Now we know it takes 3-5yrs to really kick in, treating Parkinson’s with foetal stem cells is getting its 2nd wind: http://bit.ly/1evvXf6
The woman who can smell Parkinson’s disease!!! http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34583642 …
Using nano-particles to ferry fully-formed dopamine across blood brain barrier to improve symptoms of Parkinson’s: http://bit.ly/1aUvMrk
PEOPLE
In 2003 i got chatting to Russ Poldrack on a plane, 1000miles later I knew he was destined to achieve great things.. http://stanford.io/1OjIw7Q
Oliver Sacks is a truly remarkable human being: http://nyti.ms/1Or3GlF
Prof Nancy Kanwisher gives herself a skin head to help students see exactly where each different brain area resides: http://bit.ly/1b4sCli
SELF
The bizarre things that happen when you see your doppelgänger http://bbc.in/1EsDR4K
Damage to the default mode network disrupts autobiographical memory retrieval http://bit.ly/1Ezh46f
The Science of Self: http://n.pr/1KwOLpg
BRAIN BANK
Sneaky peak into the daily activities of a brain bank: http://bit.ly/1F1NxAT What? Where? How? and most importantly Why?…
50’s Brain Rush People were collecting brains – it was a thing” and Einstein’s brain got dragged into it: http://bbc.in/1G1fW9u
GENDER
Take a female brain, inject large quantities of testosterone, et voila, the brain undergoes some interesting changes; http://slate.me/1KphHD2
This is why, when people ask “what ARE the differences between male&female brains?” I’ve always ducked the question: http://ow.ly/Vml9R
MULTITASKING
In case you’d forgotten… multitasking always comes at a cost: http://cnn.it/1INM80f
Organising the mind & so-called multi-tasking: you’ll find this fascinating @JoeDyble @AnnaCookson @DrJackLewis http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0505zw1
PROSTHETIC
Extensive use of bionic arm should lead to significant neuroplastic rearrangement – Bionic Man’s Likely Brain Change http://bit.ly/1TeV985
Prosthetic hand, wired directly into man’s brain, enables him to feel when his fingers touch something: http://bit.ly/1UP5BYX
SCI ART
Who says science and art don’t overlap? http://on.mash.to/1wY14by via @conversationuk
Winners of the 2015 BioArt Image and Video Competition http://bit.ly/1NqAlMo
TALKS
Phenomenal TED talk covering everything from formation of universe through to human global connectivity in 18 mins: http://bit.ly/16XEva8
This guy’s a great speaker… how a mayor helped the obese people of his city to shed 1,000,000 pounds in just 5 years: http://bit.ly/1d3oEtq
TIME
Scientists amass evidence indicating that NOW “lasts on average between 2 & 3 seconds”! http://bit.ly/1BP2Wks
Very comprehensive series of articles about how brains do time&various factors that can make it run faster or slower: http://bit.ly/1K7jX13
PREGNANCY
What pregnancy does to a woman’s brain: http://theatln.tc/1KoRPo7 Witnessed the whole process take place in my sister last year! Phenomenal 🙂
RELIGION
Time2ditch religion?“..similarity across countries in how religion negatively influences children’s altruism” Decety http://bit.ly/1kxtVOu
STRESS
StressGoldilocks&TheBrain – when it comes to stress hormones the aim is: not too little, not too much, but just right http://bit.ly/1MtVUYv
TINNITUS
“signals relating to..constant ringing noise of tinnitus..mapped across the brain of a patient undergoing surgery” http://bbc.in/1DiLao4
TOURETTE’S
Verbal/motor tics associated with Tourette’s may be remedied with GABA (not the techno music..the neurotransmitter:-) http://bit.ly/1JJueug
-
Dr Jack Lewis – Motivational Speaking Update
No comments yetPosted in Dr Jack on TV Radio StageJul 11, 2015
I’ve now been on the motivational speaking circuit for over 5 years. I’ve traveled the length and breadth of the country to perform at speaking engagements in schools, science conferences and a wide variety of businesses. As of this year, on the business speaking front, I’ve been very happy to find myself in great demand not just in the U.K. but all over Europe. In light of this I thought I’d write a quick update to describe which topics have been most popular with my clients.
There is a huge amount of insight that neuroscience can provide on a wide variety of topics. It’s always satisfying to find that, in tailoring my talks to the specific needs of a client, I’m constantly stumbling upon new areas of neuroscientific endeavour with which I wasn’t previously familiar . No matter what the organisation’s priorities have been in terms of what they want their staff to take away from my talk, a few days of digging around in the neuroscience literature ALWAYS yields some inspiration; shedding an interesting new perspective on virtually any topic. Do get in touch if you have a new challenge for me!
Talks For Business: Neuroscience of Decision Making
In the last few of years I’ve been working more and more with senior management teams across Europe to help them understand insights from neuroscience that are relevant to their specific business needs. For example, I helped one of Europe’s “Big Four” auditors win a highly lucrative new business contract by sharing with them my Neuroscience of Decision Making talk in the context of reverse engineering the pitch process in light of the flaws in how the human brain evaluates information when making important choices. By exploiting a large corpus of knowledge generated over the past decade or so from neuroeconomic investigations the realities of how risk, uncertainty and benefit are evaluated in the human brain can be explored in order to concoct strategies that improve the likelihood of developing a successful pitch.
Talks for Business: Neuroscience of Creativity
Since the first outing of my Neuroscience of Creativity talk in 2013 it has evolved into a half-day workshop experience. I’ve been rolling this Innovation Workshop out over the course of 2015 with various members of the Senior Leadership Team at one of the world’s biggest broadcasters by sharing with them everything that science has to offer in terms of techniques that work and those that sound good but ultimately don’t. By assisting them to create an environment that genuinely promotes innovative thinking right at the very top of the organisation and convincing them of the worth of approaches in an evidence-based fashion, the idea is to reduce resistance to some of the seemingly unorthodox strategies in order that they might be allowed to permeate freely throughout the rest of the company.
Sort Your Brain Out
Sadly many people proclaim that their busy lives simply leave no time to read books. Adrian Webster and I have turned our best-selling book Sort Your Brain Out into a live event. Since our first booking late last year we have been enjoying a steady increase in demand for our motivational speaking duet over the past few months and very much hope that this trend continues in the years to come. We are both represented by Gordon Poole Agency and our speaking agent James Poole is always on hand to discuss booking enquiries.
Talks for Schools
Over the past five years I’ve been invited to speak at several different schools across the UK. The aim is to engage young learners, usually in the build up to their big exams, with an upbeat neuroscience narrative that brings to life what exactly is going on inside their brains as they learn. Once students grasp that all their efforts are leading directly to huge changes in the wiring of their brains, adaptations that support the new skills that they are developing through trial and error, their motivation levels invariably rise accordingly.
I give them insights into straight-forward techniques to get brains working better: whether memorising information more thoroughly, managing exam stress more effectively and simply encouraging them to see school as the only viable way (currently) of sculpting young brains in preparation for dealing with whatever adult life might throw at them. The 2015-2016 school year will be my fifth consecutive year of doing my Brain Coach talk at two of the schools I regularly speak at.
-
Sort Your Brain Out Retreats
No comments yetPosted in Boost Your BrainApr 28, 2015
Feeling stressed? Need a break? Fancy spending a few days in paradise to learn how to meditate?Better still would you like to learn more about how your brain works AND simple things you can do every day to be more creative, make better decisions, manage your mood?The SYBO retreats might be just the thing for you!!The venue is the beautiful Greek Island of Mykonos.Your hosts are the beautifully-bendy Jasmyn (see photos) & yours truly: the brain-besotted Dr Jack LewisWe are now offering a fantastic, luxurious, Stress-Busting, Yoga & Meditation Retreat by day with a selection of intellectually-stimulating Brain Talks just before lunch each time, freeing up the afternoons for exploration of the island’s many beaches.Meditation is clinically-proven to reduce stress. So if you’re feeling washed out after a particularly tough start to the year this really will help you to Sort Your Brain Out. It might just change your life. Jasmyn talks everyone through the various yoga moves, in a mixed group of beginners and advanced practitioners, and then concludes with a guided meditation session. These dawn and dusk sessions are complemented with several talks that explain, amongst many other things the science of meditation and why it’s so good for brains. Once a person truly grasps why mindfulness meditation is so good for health of body and brain they naturally become motivated to incorporate it into their daily routine back in the “real world.What to expect from the Neuro-Infused Art of Peaceful Living Retreats this spring / summer?The villas are in a very private neighborhood in Mykonos, Greece.The properties have 4-5 rooms each, sleeping maximum 10 per house.These neuroscience-infused Art of Peaceful Living™ programs lasts 5 days and includes:- 21-25th May (now fully booked)
-
Airport Transfers
-
Luxury accommodation
-
Vegetarian breakfast and lunch
-
Twice daily yoga and meditation practices
-
Either a treatment at a local day-spa or an in-room massage
-
Daily brain talks from Dr Jack on:
-
Changing Your Brain
-
Neuroscience of Creativity
-
Neuroscience of Meditation
-
Neuroscience of Temptation
-
All for £1,550 (€2,120) for the Spring retreat during 21st-25th May (SOLD OUT)Did I mention there is a pool?Also please bear in mind that if you want to arrive a few days early or leave a few days later we may be able to arrange accommodation for you at the villa during this time.The rooms each have a queen bed and most have private bathrooms.Every morning, as the host (Jasmyn) prepares your breakfast and lunch, she gives instruction on how to prepare these “plant-based” meals in your kitchen at home as part of the included Look Alive™ Nutrition workshops. These workshops will have recipes, and detailed explanations about why eating a plant-based is beneficial to brain-function and chemistry, physical performance, treatment of psychological disturbances and disorders, as well as a know-how to have your kitchen prepped and ready for easy to make and quick recipes.Yoga classes are all multi-level and while the morning classes can be vigorous exercise, the evening classes are relaxing and recuperative. The morning Vinyassa Yoga classes are more dynamic for beginners to advanced practitioners, and are immediately followed by a meditation class to settle the minds before the day’s activities. And of course there is no obligation to attend classes, so whether you just fancy a lie in or want to go off one afternoon for a wander, that’s totally up to you!Activities include additional excursions on the island, lounging by the on-property pool, or venturing to any of the island’s other many delights.Yoga-Nidra sessions are given at sunset following a gentle Yin-Yoga Flow class incorporating techniques of thai-massage, to restore you and prepare you for the next day’s Vinyassa Yoga sessions or for going out that night! Dinners are not usually included to give attendees freedom to roam in the evenings (unless you request to have a special dinner prepared instead of lunch).Sort Your Brain Out Retreats are 5 days of true luxury living. Treating the body and brain to wholesome, delicious food, body balancing exercise and gentle meditations, all in the privacy of the Maera Villas – with the endless view of the Mediterranean from each of the properties.Bespoke Corporate Retreats for groups of 5 or more people can also be discussed.For enquiries about availability please feel free to drop Jack an email: dr.lewis@neuroformed.com -
Hot Topics in Neuroscience by Dr Jack
No comments yetPosted in Brain Tweet ArchiveJan 28, 2015
On an annual basis I copy a year’s worth of Tweets and paste them into a blog post to preserve them for posterity. Turns out I’m going to have to start doing this biannually. Why? Because Twitter now only seems to allow access only to the last 6 months worth.
Where all those tweets from earlier years have gone I may never know. But assuming that they’ve all been deleted then I’m relieved that I’ve been archiving them myself. This is because, for me, Twitter serves a valuable role in terms of enticing me to find and flag the three most interesting brain research stories from that day. I’d have been very sad to have lost my chronology of favourite breakthroughs and curiosities from the world of neuroscience because I find it useful resource for several reasons (and you might too):
1) Whenever I’m reminded of something I’ve read in the past I often want to go back to the original article to refresh my memory with the details. The re-visiting process helps me consolidate my knowledge and integrate it with other evidence that I’ve come across during the intervening period. I find that internet search engines are pretty useless in this regard. Any particular search term will invariably return huge amounts of relevant information. Far too much to wade through to be genuinely useful when the goal is to track down a specific, but perhaps obscure, article.
2) Having a separate record of the articles that I thought were interesting, insightful and/or useful enough to bother the Twitter-sphere with also enables me to keep track of which areas of neuroscience are making the greatest strides forward. So this year I finally took the time to categorize and tally as many of my recent Brain Tweets as I could get my hands on to clarify what topics have been the hottest in recent times.
This chart features only those blog categories that contained 10 items or more. Unsurprisingly given that it’s a weekly podcast tweets relating to Geek Chic’s Weird Science topped the bill with nearly 50 (click here if you’d like to download all episodes, for free!).
In 2nd place came the Brain Tech category which includes anything relating to augmenting sick or healthy brains with some kind of man-made technology. Implanted electrodes, direct brain-to-brain intercontinental communication, zapping brains with electrical currents, stem cell therapies and so on.
In 3rd place came the Brain Illness category. This encompasses tweets about developments in all neurological and psychiatric maladies excluding brain injuries and dementia. These each have their own category due to the large numbers of articles I tweeted about on these topics.
In 4th place with 30 tweets came the Drugs category meaning articles that I thought were of broad interest relating to psychoactive drugs (i.e. those that can get into and affect the brain).
Many neuroscientists have been getting their knickers in a twist about the rise of Brain Training games despite scant evidence to back up most of the developers claims so it comes as no surprise that this topic should have stolen 5th place. Neuroplasticity was just two places behind and is a category that I reserve for articles relating to behaviour-induced changes in brain structure and function that are unrelated to commercial Brain Training. I’m not going to bore you by explaining every single category but I should point out that Bad Journo is a category for articles that I thought were misleading / poorly written or articles written to correct / clarify misleading journalistic communications.
So now you have a sense of what each of these categories mean you can now navigate this half year’s worth of brain tweets accordingly and hopefully find what your interested in more easily. Categories in order of most to least often tweeted about are:
Geek Chic, Brain Tech, Brain Illness, Drugs, Brain Train, Brain Imaging, Neuroplasticity, Sleep, Creativity, Neuroscientists, Brain Injury, Senses, Dementia, Neuroanatomy, Bad Journo, Brain Art, Eating, Events, Brain Food, Emotion, Young Brains, Brain Health, Memory, Other Brains, Quotes, Holding Onto Marbles, Neurodevelopment, Evolution, Music, Sex, Altruism, Brain Ageing, Brain Hacks, Gut bacteria, Language, Books, Fun, Learning, Neurosurgery, Reward Pathways, Addiction, Artificial Intelligence, Gaming, Optical illusions, Talks, Vision, Brain Education, Coding, Decisions, Heuristics, Mind over Matter, Navigation, Neuromarketing, Pain, Parenting, Stress, Brain-Gender, Consciousness, Exercise, Habits, History, Intelligence, Morality, Personality, Politics, Reviews, TV, Window to the Soul, Body Language, Film, Free will, Hallucination, Immunity, Impulses, Interview, Meditation, Neuromyths, Poverty, Religion
Listed below, in alphabetic order, for your convenience:
Addiction
Quitting smoking leads2release of hormone at heart of stress response (CRF) in key part of brain reward pathway (VTA) http://bit.ly/1xiXeXU
The cycle of addiction – this simple but beautiful animation says it all
Use of e-cigarettes does not discourage, and may encourage, conventional cigarette use among US adolescents @JAMAPeds
Workaholism: The Addiction of this Century — via #Neuroscience News – http://bit.ly/1oRkfbY
Altruism
“necessary role for prefrontal control in generating honest behavior by overriding our tendencies2be self-interested” http://bit.ly/1qf7Nsc
Extraordinary altruists and their oversized amygdalae – would you give a kidney to a stranger for nothing in return? http://n.pr/1C45T1e
People give more generously when the advertising focuses on a needy individual rather than the masses: http://n.pr/13H2Jok
Amazing role reversal in altruistic behaviour (homeless man giving taxi money2damsel) inspires many acts of kindness http://huff.to/1wTEgpv
How the environment impacts childrens’ tendency to be altruistic http://stanford.io/17D7d1h
Kindling altruism in kids is not just for Christmas – “best way2teach generosity is to show it in your own behaviour” http://bit.ly/1Gw03b1
Artificial Intelligence
It finally happened: A robot beat the Turing Test (@qz) http://bit.ly/1kaeiEO
Google #Brain -snapping up every deep learning expert / business they can get their hands on: http://wrd.cm/1r3Mole
“New landmark in..history of brain-inspired computing” Super-fast processing/low power consumption: http://bit.ly/1lH2Pyw
System uses information on internet2teach robots how2interact with world using Markov models: http://tcrn.ch/1qcATqs
Bad Journo
Part of brain responsible for hangover guilt – is an “intriguing hypothesis” with “no direct implications for humans” http://bit.ly/1pGyt6s
FAIL: “..cause for this behaviour may lie in the “anterior insular cortex”, located behind the forehead.” http://bit.ly/VTK3h2
“Wire your brain for gratitude” – this Forbes article is horrible, it actually made me gag… http://onforb.es/1uASaIw
“Brain GPS” is NOT an “exciting NEW part of.. jigsaw of our brain. O’Keefe’s 1st paper was published in 1971!! http://bit.ly/ZAXRP4
Gambling Addiction Related To Brain Reward System – BBC News I’m ashamed of you – that headline is not “news” http://bbc.in/1CL9n7l
Great example of why people who have only the vaguest understanding of neuroscience shouldn’t write about the brain: http://bit.ly/1k3isUv
‘Sci-Fi or Sci-Fact?’- separating the science fiction from the science fact in the media. http://thescifact.wordpress.com
Humans only use 10% of their #brain, right? Wrong! This myth still lurks, e.g. in new movies like LUCY: http://bit.ly/1rwvtXH #neuroscience
Piece by @m_wall on @TheConversation on ‘cargo cult neuroscience’ in business and education: http://bit.ly/1tAR5Eg
Watson/Crick did not discover DNA. That was Miescher 84yrs earlier. W/C worked out its structure. cc @TheAtlanticTECH
Body Language
Body language – how it works, where to look and why it evolved in the fist place
Books
Reading http://bit.ly/1oBHTtY which resonates with the ‘Gone Fishing’ principle of @polarbearpirate and @DrJackLewis #SortYourBrainOut
Memoirs of a neurosurgeon, essential reading, methinks: http://bbc.in/1qqkvq7
NYT book review covers recent tomes that consider impacts of the internet / related technologies on our minds: http://nyti.ms/1uFoZZK #SYBO
Sort your brain out is @AmazonUK’s Kindle Daily Deal! http://ow.ly/GjrS4 @DrJackLewis @polarbearpirate Get it NOW!
I’m reading Do No Harm by neurosurgeon Henry Marsh – it is without doubt the best book I’ve read this year: http://bit.ly/1eRYZ1K #xmaslist
Brain Ageing
Psychology news Why the Elderly Can Die from a Broken Heart http://ow.ly/2NRdjS
In Men, Long-Term Unemployment May Speed Aging – http://psych.ly/I9JfO6 #mentalhealth #health
Older people find it harder to filter out irrelevant info – but retain the mental flexibility of their former selves: http://bit.ly/1z28tT6
2015 looms large and 2014 has flown by, why our perception of time changes as we get older http://buff.ly/1xkMLwV
Older brains work better early: http://bit.ly/1vf4nJy So elders,plan more cognitively demanding chores for the A.M.
Brain Art
Do you want to showcase your artwork or film? Is it about the brain? Show us and feature in our magazine! #NeuroArt http://youtu.be/7mM_8XbhXOo
Cake brains! #MoreBrainz http://bit.ly/1qOVEFL
Can the arts and humanities contribute significantly to the study of the brain? http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627314008368 … by Semir Zeki, so the answer is, of course, yes!
Science graphic of the week – depicting how psilocybin (magic mushrooms) change the brain’s (functional) connectivity http://wrd.cm/1rDv6HZ
Warner Bros style public service announcement re: The Perils of Porn Brain = quite amusing:http://huff.to/1wCqlmu
Nice brain collage BBC news – top notch effort: http://bit.ly/1HEb0c0
One for you @DrJackLewis – Artists and neuroscientists join forces: Art Neuro @theragfactory http://bit.ly/1xdBF90
Beautiful complexity “@andyextance: The ‘brainbow’: Cells tagged with fluorescent proteins”
I WANT ONE!! RT @vaughanbell: 3D-printed Christmas tree decorations of own brain http://3dprint.com/31522/3d-printed-brain-ornaments/ … via @Radiolab
Anyone for a helmet studded with crystals that change colour according to #brain state? No? http://huff.to/1qQMH0o #BCI meets #fashion
Micrograph, created by Spike Walker, depicting dopamine crystals illuminated by polarised light | #WellcomeImages | http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2014/08/01/image-of-the-week-dopamine/ …
Brain Education
Neurobiology for dummies courtesy of the brain science podcast #neuroscience #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO #brain http://bit.ly/XfdKtG
I heard about MOOCs long ago (Massively Open Online Courses) – now I’ve actually enrolled in 1! At Yale; on morality: http://tinyurl.com/lnmhrl5
Hands up who wants to learn how the brain deals with space? (space around us, not outer space!) Here’s a free course: http://bit.ly/1uMESvv
Brain Nutrition
Study suggests higher levels of omega-3 in diet are associated with better sleep: http://www.psypost.org/?p=23550
Brain Food: Superfoods for ultimate brain power and what to avoid … good video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KlMxriH4Cg&sns=tw
I love the idea of actively training people to become addicted to healthy food: http://bbc.in/1ur22qB
Fruit and vegetable consumption could be as good for your mental as your physical health http://ow.ly/C035A
vmPFC activity (above bridge of ur nose!) upon viewing different foods is positively correlated with calorie content: http://bit.ly/1rpPyvW
Scientific American made a film which explains why a turkey dinner makes us sleepy. win/fail? http://bit.ly/1xUCkQp
Space-aged brain food put to the test by amusing Guardian blogger: http://bit.ly/1uqnPO1
Recently published paper indicates there are more anti-oxidants in organic than non-organic foods: http://bit.ly/1rf3j49
Eat fish on a weekly basis (don’t stress to much about which type) for your #brain’s sake: http://ti.me/1mh7YgV
Weight loss probiotics? http://bit.ly/1mTl4Ak Does this just allow people2continue keep eating badly;w/out getting fat?
I wonder if cold weather increases glucokinase activity in hypothalamus? I ate a whole pack of Matchmakers last night http://reut.rs/12IcilH
Brain Hacks
“How to debug your brain..”is 1 of the strangest blog posts I’ve ever read. Can’t work out whether that’s good or bad: http://bit.ly/1t7z8ch
How the #brain makes and breaks habits via @SciAmMIND http://bit.ly/1oeyU3H
Exercise may leave you feeling less anxious because you perceive your environments as less threatening http://on.apa.org/1rWHF6O
Some of those “old chestnuts” that reduce cognitive burden in a world of info overload: http://bit.ly/1qLRD6zThe power of the green office: Having plants around increases productivity by 15% http://ow.ly/AWqPz
Brain Health
Power of tumeric @bbchealth: Curry spice ‘helps brain self-heal’ http://bbc.in/1vkvlfG
Novel approach to treating brain cancer boosted by new UK system of extra support for Promising Innovative Medicines: http://bit.ly/1qYbkLB
Former Surgeon General for US also has #SortYourBrainOut message – he advises weekly saunas to sweat off the toxins! http://bit.ly/1qhQR5O
Has anyone out there ever tried Prof Bartlett’s Brain Vitality Index? Interesting? Motivating? http://bit.ly/WJElzb
Ever wondered if small blood vessels in your brain are getting clogged up? Try standing on 1 leg: http://bit.ly/1wKKcCG
If you do this Brain Health check over the Christmas break -consider your booze levels before getting too concerned! http://onforb.es/1CWtWzg
Get out in that glorious sunshine! Even mild Vit D deficiency is assoc with increase risk of dementia: http://bit.ly/1r0RhZW #skin+sun=vitD
Imagine: in the not-too-distant future school kids might be asked2donate blood2help rejuvenate grandparents’ #brains! http://bit.ly/1ADTmAO
Shed some fat to #SortYourBrainOut by reducing its inflammatory impact on #brain tissue (which promotes #Alzheimer’s) http://ti.me/1vSSJk4
Crafts like knitting work the brain to produce flow which can help to ease symptoms in people w/ PTSD,depression etc: http://cnn.it/1uWAxnb
Keeping your heart & blood vessels in good nick leads to better #brain function http://bit.ly/1olanqU #SortYourBrainOut #neuroscience #SYBO
Physical fitness in childhood improves white matter in the brain – Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/281269.php#.U_tGfu9i1bY.twitter
Pre-natal exposure to phthalates (commonly found in many consumer products) associated with reduced IQ aged 7: http://bit.ly/1Gg2zSL
Brain Illness
Tell-tale signs that you might have a brain tumour (hypochondriacs – do not click here)
Brain tumour pressing against temporal lobe causes uncontrollable laughter (gelastic epilepsy) in girl
Wii Balance Board Induces Changes in the Brains of MS Patients
Autism appears2involve insufficient synaptic pruning resulting in “too many” connection points between brain wires
Disorganised patches of #brain tissue in frontal & temporal lobes may disrupt high level social function in #autism
From lab to real life – environmental enrichment seems to be very helpful for kids with #autism: http://bit.ly/1ltCkSU
Brain degeneracy (it’s good for you!) and people with bits missing from / creatures burrowing through their brains: http://bbc.in/1sJ1X5C
Brains get sick too – teaching kids about mental illness: http://ind.pn/1spdG8S
Default Mode Network (your ego/where you daydream) connections appear to mature more slowly in kids who develop ADHD: http://n.pr/1qXAjx9
Interesting case of a man born with disconnected brain hemispheres
Living With Schizophrenia: The Importance of Routine | NYT
“Alzheimer’s in a Dish” will hopefully accelerate the process of screening new drugs 2treat this devastating illness: http://nyti.ms/ZWyOXv
Autism re-conceived as a disorder of being able to make predictions about what is going to happen next: http://bit.ly/ZdB2AF
Smoking and mental health, what’s the connection? http://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2014/jul/15/smoking-and-mental-health-whats-the-connection … Important @soozaphone piece
Take two books and call me in the morning, pediatricians say Great column on prescribing books http://ti.me/1pu7db8 from @anniemurphypaul
Talk about a controversial science topic: paedophile #brain processes child faces differently2others.. http://ind.pn/1oRyDWZ
Tale of discovering that, despite seemingly being a well-adjusted person, you are in fact a psychopath http://bit.ly/1osg9sx
Reduced temporal lobe volumes in #brains of homocidal youth offenders http://bit.ly/1khCUB7
I had no idea that the rate of suicide is much higher amongst men than women – interesting speculations here re: why? http://bit.ly/1xRvq9F
Gene implicated in schizophrenia produces too much protein that prevents dendrites (brain cell “antennae”) from branching out http://fxn.ws/1tq3ruY
Bedside EEG uses graph theory maths to establish whether “anybody’s home?” with patients in vegetative state: http://bit.ly/1CrZnj0
Tumour on pituitary gland causes release of too much growth hormone Can you imagine growing 20cm in just 12 months?! http://dailym.ai/1wIpNLv
Exercise Counteracts Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s – Scientific American http://buff.ly/1rftlAK
I remember when people were mocked for having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, now neuroscience defines its brain hallmarks: http://stanford.io/1xEj1Hj
Inspiring story of brain machine interfaces helping people with locked in syndrome communicate with the outside world: http://n.pr/1rINUqk
New Multiple Sclerosis research – make local environment of damaged nerve wrappers more conducive to re-myelination: http://tinyurl.com/prfjvmf
Treating depression w/ implants, tricky given brains are like “a hundred billion people all singing at the same time”
Turning anecdotes of antidepressants killing brain cancers into clinical trials is good e.g. of “no profit, no dice”
When dementia comes early: http://bbc.in/1DThNvO
This piece on face blindness by @KateSzell won the @wellcometrust science writing prize http://gu.com/p/43cta/stw
Tongues are connected directly to the brain stem – electrical stimulation in people with MS can improve their gait! http://bit.ly/1uwXjb9
“Oxytocin…attenuates hyperactive amygdalas in social anxiety disorder…explored as a potential treatment for PTSD”
Are you genetically predisposed to antisocial behaviour?
PTSD can develop even without memory of the trauma: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140814123844.htm
Brain Imaging
A major drawback of MRI is that the machines are big, expensive & immovable – enter DOT: http://bit.ly/1hJsni6
“Sounds create visual imagery, mental images, and automatic projections…” Pattern classifier fMRI experiment: http://bit.ly/1inpfTD
Free will emerges from brain “noise” #neuroscience #EEG http://bit.ly/1l2xbyo
The good, the bad and the ugly of fMRI #brain imaging experiments: http://bit.ly/1lq0DOB
“solid evidence that neural measurement can be useful for..prediction of mass preference” #neuroscience http://bit.ly/1rR9oCr
Using MRI2track human brain white matter volume changes from 7-85 show rainbow-like pattern of expansion&contraction: http://bit.ly/1tDz60c
“decreased #brain activation seen with fMRI may help explain why many chemotherapy patients complain of #chemobrain” http://reut.rs/1nC88D1
Discovery of brain’s Default Mode Network is 1 of best examples of key finding that starts with “huh? That’s weird..” http://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2014-10-brain-mind-rest.html
Reduced blood flow2certain brain areas (posterior cingulate) detected with MRI (ASL) warns of dementia risk early on: http://tinyurl.com/MRIdetectsARCD
How to get disproportionate press coverage of your neuroscience study? Get folks2read Harry Potter in an MRI scanner: http://abcn.ws/1HI8dyF
Heard the 1 about where jokes come from? MRI on 22 improv comedians whilst dreaming up amusing captions for cartoons: http://bit.ly/1ydfwbf
NHS Choices doing what they do so well..this time clarifying news articles on MRI studies of chronic fatigue syndrome http://bit.ly/10NVwl4
“Scientists generate tons of data..nobody uses it. We are building the technology to bring all..that together” http://nyti.ms/1kL9yqA #brain
New #brain imaging technique tracks tau tangles of #Alzheimer’s plus new Alz protein identified: http://abcn.ws/Uc70ec #neuroscience
“#brain scans revealed that..amygdala responded differently to subliminal images of trustworthy &untrustworthy faces” http://bit.ly/1y64NOL
DOT – new way to scan brains. Diffuse Optical Tomography shines light into #brain through scalp/skull: http://bit.ly/1sYQZ95 #neuroscience
Using fMRI to capture transition from counting on fingers to just “knowing” the answer to a sum: http://fxn.ws/1rizTou #SYKBO #neuroscience
Neuroscience Study Finds Brain Can Take Quick Call On Trustworthiness http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/neuroscience-study-finds-brain-can-take-quick-call-trustworthiness-1459915 #neuroscience
Brain Injury
Any #brain aneurysm you might have in your noggin=much more likely to burst (haemorrhage) if you smoke http://bit.ly/1tFpKQf
Wide awake man being fitted with Deep Brain Stimulation Electrodes4Parkinson’s – can’t believe they missed 1st time!! http://ab.co/1wd27Ci
Would Neymar be Neymar if he’d followed recommendations for under14’s to “not head the ball in soccer”? http://bit.ly/1poRGtb
Brain Disorders Might Arise from Starving Neurons: http://bit.ly/1qrxdQe
6 yrs of living w/ flashbacks, strange smells, headaches – caused by parasitic worm, living in brain, captured on MRI: http://bit.ly/1t9bSf7
Progress towards new use for MRI in detecting free radicals to assess severity of #brain injuries #neuroscience http://bit.ly/1tL573h
Could American Football Pro’s brain injuries explain violent behaviour off pitch? Is it even above national average? http://nbcnews.to/1wHl541
“Helicopter view” on EEG data allows spreading depolarisation assoc w/ Traumatic Brain Injury2come into sharp relief: http://bit.ly/1ozhcGK
A single season of American Football can damage a kid’s #brain even if they don’t suffer a concussion: http://onforb.es/1l9JPsf #neuroscience
FIFA’s Dazed and Dated Attitude to Head Injuries http://nyti.ms/1nvxYUV – should player with head injury stay on when 3 subs have been used?
Giving erythropoeitin (EPO) to babies born prematurely protects them from #brain damage: http://bbc.in/VN3rfo #neuroscience #SYKBO
How to help babies deprived of oxygen during birth avoid #brain damage? Cool them to 33 degrees C asap: http://bbc.in/1wa99TL #neuroscience
Don’t forget to breathe! Who ever heard of screen apnoea? http://bit.ly/1r00UwN
Inspiring account of woman adapting 2 new life after traumatic #brain injury: http://bbc.in/1ooCRpj #DiaryOfAHeadcase – her title not mine!
Stimulating #brain cells in the motor cortex improves recovery from stroke (in mice using optogenetics) http://bbc.in/YsP15E
Brain Tech
Interesting paper about potential4hackers to access personal data via consumer-grade #brain computer interfaces #BCI http://bit.ly/1lv8QNn
Don’t dabble in DIY-tDCS until you at least know the real risks (watch out for those known unknowns): http://bit.ly/1giqOXw
Chip implanted in paralysed man’s brain (eventually) enables him to move his hand again: http://bit.ly/1q8JvAt
US military to invest in research into brain implant to monitor/remedy psychiatric problems of veterans: http://bit.ly/1rcvt1X
What social media tech does2brains 1st bit very similar to Cyber Heads chapter in #SortYourBrainOut http://bit.ly/1utTCQb
Mind boggling that severe #OCD is treated w/ deep #brain stimulation despite noone really knowing how/why it works: http://cnn.it/UFdPpm
“beginning of a future in which people with paralysis will be able to leave the wheelchair & literally walk again” http://nbcnews.to/1oZ66eZ
Love of Johnny Cash induced when #OCD man’s Deep #Brain Stimulation electrodes tickle his Nucleus Accumbens, but why? http://wapo.st/1neiB9X
“Telepathy or a Painstaking Conversation in Morse Code?” Pierre Mégevand goes beyond the media hype: http://bit.ly/1qHg9ax
“West Virginia Uni…won a $539,000 grant to engineer a wearable scanner to image activities of the brain in motion” http://tinyurl.com/oo3y5xy
How science of social pressure is being leveraged by wearable tech companies to make getting fit a battle with others http://bit.ly/WGO1db
Look mum no hands! Flying a plane using the power of thought alone: http://bit.ly/1CbdH1b News clip of an EEG-manipulated flight simulator
Advanced prosthesis restores sense of touch to amputees http://bbc.in/1vSTD1J
Even Just the Presence of a Smartphone Lowers the Quality of In-Person Conversations #psychology #communication http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/presence-smart-phone-lowers-quality-person-conversations-85805/
AMAZING: “decoder was able to reconstruct which words several..volunteers were thinking, using neural activity alone” http://bit.ly/1p65zNp
During my NeuroBSc I wrote a theoretical essay about wiring a prosthetic hand into neurons of the arm. We are now one step closer… http://bit.ly/1uAjqeT
Electrodes in to human hippocampus via cheek using bendy,MRI-compatible,robot-controlled needles http://bit.ly/1ocoN3u
People who meditate are better at controlling machines via brain-computer interfaces (BCI) than those who don’t: http://tinyurl.com/ku9m9ww
Can you imagine having ur brain wired into a robotic arm and controlling it just by thinking? From the horse’s mouth: http://bit.ly/1x27NNu
I might get one of these thought-controlled brain chips to squirt dopamine into my reward pathways when I daydream: http://bit.ly/1v3EMDF
Neuromorphic chips take flight enabling miniature drones to learn on the fly (literally): http://bit.ly/1phOMXM
Scary that these brain-to-brain studies essentially treat 2nd person as an inert, arm-twitching, zombie: http://bit.ly/110D4VY #neuroethics
This puts the Q “are you a man or a mouse?” into a new light/brave new world http://bit.ly/1yaywL3 Human astrocytes take over mouse brain..
DIY Brain Zapping Meets the World of Internet Marketing http://bit.ly/1nROJ16
Does controlling the cursor by moving your tongue around in your mouth sound futuristic? Yes? Well – future is here: http://bit.ly/1o5ZWXI
For those who missed this on XFM’s #GeekChic last Sun – wearable robot providing 2extra fingers 4tricky manual tasks: http://bit.ly/1sJLmg6
Progress & stumbling blocks in the development of an implantable chip that might one day boost #memory: http://bit.ly/1wE62Uv #neuroscience
Wearable robotics will really catch on when they produce force illusions to pull hand towards destination, like this: http://bit.ly/1jSZKzZ
“High-tech shower cap” controls glioblastomas 4 longer by disrupting cancer division via local electromagnetic fields http://bit.ly/1EuUgVD
Deaf tech transformation: #GoogleGlass could help deaf communicate @BBCNews http://bbc.in/1qXJbRP
EEG from person1 imagining moving hands/feet (in India) used2induce visual experience via TMS in person2 (in France) http://bit.ly/1tSLqsh
The wisdom in exercising caution with DIY attempts2enhance #brain function w/ TDCS,via the delicious http://bit.ly/1tSLqsh
Deep brain stimulation is big business. Dutch firm Sapiens acquired by Medtronic for $200,000,000 http://on.wsj.com/1q1j92r #DBS #neurosurgery
Navy Uses Exoskeletons for Shipyard Maintenance | Defense Tech http://ow.ly/AGyi1
One for you, @DrJackLewis “@sweatscience: brain stimulation on elite endurance athletes: http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Inside-Red-Bulls-Project-Endurance.html?c=n
Philips & Accenture IT team up to develop brain computer interfaces for people with #ALS: http://fxn.ws/1qVyK1c
IBM’s bee brain capacity SyNAPSE chip soon to be released into the hands of universities, next stop – Skynet? http://bit.ly/1AZOs0O
The man who grew eyes’ fascinating piece by @mocost for @guardian http://ow.ly/ALBrX
Brain Training
Old skool Dr Kawashima’s Brain Age re-launched on the Wii U Virtual Console: http://aol.it/1uy3Pch
Brain training package LearningRX claims new data shows transfer of benefits beyond trained skills: http://bit.ly/1j59rUY
Remarkable documentary detailing Navy SEAL training that enables recruits to control their brain’s fear response: http://bit.ly/1pEgs48
Lumosity brain training (which my parents are now hooked on) tries2expand its 60M users thru android: http://bit.ly/1qVNFci
Top ten #brain training apps courtesy of Huffington Post: http://huff.to/1kN3r3G
Most people “know it is possible to maintain a healthy brain, but more than half of respondents admit they don’t know how” http://huff.to/VdC26n
Excellent summary of the issues surrounding Brain Training by @dana_fdn http://dana.org/Cerebrum/2014/The_Brain-Games_Conundrum__Does_Cognitive_Training_Really_Sharpen_the_Mind_/
“Can you really teach people to be mentally tougher?” http://bbc.in/1qK2t0U
Brain training games must play second fiddle to regular exercise & social engagement if you want to #sortyourbrainout http://ti.me/1DxtiKc
Latest brain training app on the block, Berlin cash-backed Memorado, raises $1.3M in seed funding: http://tcrn.ch/1tZOSCz
Meditation suggests that happiness is…a skill, something you can train just [like training] your body in the gym” http://bit.ly/1qmw9B9
Could a Video Game Be the Key to Stroke Recovery? http://ow.ly/C9BSE
Forget brain training games; spend your lunchtime trying to wrap your noggin around these classic mind benders: http://bbc.in/ZLxwh4 #SYBO
If Brain Fit Clubs crossed the pond & popped up in the UK – would anyone go for it? Or could it only work in the USA? http://bit.ly/1shD1PW
Regular exercise helps kids brains,improving ability2 “block out irrelevant information&concentrate on..task at hand” http://tinyurl.com/Play4urBrain
Sort Your Brain Out! @DrJackLewis & @polarbearpirate share their top tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS857UVWqPQ&list=UUAvEpbsRFKYkc7zgCU6IHyw (thanks @fifthframe) #SYBO #Brainpower
Time “spent doing solo software drills..not spent hiking, learning Italian..playing w/ ur grandchildren”=not worth it http://bit.ly/1xcSFfj
MUST READ-> Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success http://go.shr.lc/1zwSV8I
Expanding working memory boosts fluid intelligence This free game will help you do just that! http://bit.ly/1nZO4Xa #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
1 hour after waking up from general anaesthetic my spatial working memory has plummeted from ~12 items to ~8.
16hrs after waking from general anaesthetic not only did spatial working memory return2normal but I smashed my Go-NoGo record
BBC article on first results from The Great Brain Experiment @CitizenBrains http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28447177
All the best scientists experiment on themselves 😉 http://bit.ly/1kWicID I’m studying my working memory, are you? #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
I’m going to master this dual 3-back task if it kills me: http://bit.ly/1nZO4Xa #braintraining #workingmemory #fluidintelligence #SYBO
If, like me, you’ve really struggled with transition from Dual 2-Back to Dual 3-Back.. soldier on!! http://bit.ly/1nZO4Xa #SortYourBrainOut
Took me 50 trials 2 reach Dual 4-Back! If @ first you don’t succeed.. http://bit.ly/1nZO4Xa #braintraining #workingmemory #SortYourBrainOut
Brain train gaming for sporting prowess, anyone? http://bit.ly/1uv2EcK #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
RE https://twitter.com/sciammind/status/539760126714855424 … Brain Training Doesn’t Make You [Much] Smarter via @sciammind
Computer Coding
Want to help your kids code? Ages 5+ in England will be learning – we’ve got tips for parents: http://ow.ly/B5QfK
If I was 13 I would KILL to do this MT @alomshaha: London parents: UCL are running FREE coding tuition for 13-18yo http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-coding-club/
East London Kids To Be Offered Training Loans To Learn Coding http://tcrn.ch/1ybcAh
Consciousness
The claustrum – brain area that appears to be the ON/OFF switch for conscious awareness: http://bit.ly/1pXbUWH
Has team of Max Planck neuroscientists affectionately referred to as “The Greek Mafia” finally cracked consciousness? http://bit.ly/1u2NRtE
Creativity
Extremely thorough account of investigations into links between creative genius and mental illness: http://bit.ly/1qdzWAt
“Creativity is a perversely difficult thing to study” Steven Pinker on fMRI exp on creative writing: http://nyti.ms/1pwI5Ow
Can epilepsy fuel creativity? http://bit.ly/1uU9dIY
http://bit.ly/1oBHTtY is very relevant to Gone Fishing (For Great Ideas) chapter in our book #SortYourBrainOut by @polarbearpirate & myself
Link between creativity & subclinical levels of madness (colloq.) has always rung true to me. Finally some hard data: http://bit.ly/1wm5G6u
Magic of a powerful narrative – a neuro perspective: http://bit.ly/1nMzTf2 Great article from the Mack Daddy of oxytocin – Paul Zak #SYBO
Innovation MYTHS: open-office plans decrease productivity, group brainstorming -> fewer & worse ideas than solo http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118815/innovation-districts-are-oversold-you-cant-engineer-creativity
Why we all need to make time to play: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/05/why-play-is-important-to-us-all-lauren-lavern
Imagination and Reality Flow in Opposite Directions in the Brain: http://neurosciencenews.com/eeg-neural-circuit-reality-imagination-1560/
#creativity in decline amongst youngsters despite broadly accepted importance in achieving success: http://onforb.es/1k3HwvE
How do ideas happen? And how do we feed our brains to have more of them? @mattfutureproof gives it some thought: http://futureproof.co.uk/no-idea-about-ideas/
Finding inspiration in your sleep: http://bit.ly/1B8MpsT #SortYourBrainOut #creativity #innovation #SYBO
Robin Williams, 2010 in the Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/20/robin-williams-worlds-greatest-dad-alcohol-drugs
The relationship between mental illness & creativity is not straightforward: http://bit.ly/1r7dr1s #psychology #genius #madness #brain
The War on Fun: How Modern Culture is Killing Creativity http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/the-war-on-fun-how-modern-culture-is-killing-creativity/
Why You Should Doodle More. #creativity http://zite.to/1qUI0Y8
Decisions
Not acting fast enough to save Earth from climate change/not saving enough for retirement -caused by same brain flaw? http://bit.ly/1zeU5r6
Excitement and anxiety battling it out in #brain during a decision where you win either way (WIN-WIN): http://bit.ly/1ldofmO #neuroscience
Our “gut feelings” are messages that simplify life decisions for us by guiding our attention toward smarter options.. http://lnkd.in/d3jze79
Dementia
36-pronged approach simultaneously targeting diet, exercise, sleep, brain stimulation improves memory in mild Alz: http://bit.ly/1nJvgm9
Investigating links between mental illnesses / immune system; particularly depression and Alzheimer’s: http://bit.ly/16IzIKo #thankyouHenry
“Puzzles and crosswords could be best way to beat dementia” http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/488869/Puzzles-and-crosswords-could-be-best-way-to-beat-dementia
Dose of curcumin (in turmeric) enables eye test4 Alz to catch it early enough4development of new drugs: http://bit.ly/1q9KDou
In 2011, I blogged about potential for arthritis drug to halt Alz: http://bit.ly/Wq88MT Now more new data: http://bit.ly/Wq7W08
Study reveals how gardens could help dementia care http://bit.ly/1l1xGoR
Testing people’s sense of smell may provide clues to accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s: http://bit.ly/1zBSQ6O
Everyone back to bed! Research on how sleep relates to onset of #dementia: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140701091458.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain%2Falzheimers+%28Alzheimer%27s+News+–+ScienceDaily%29
On the connection btw Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and cinnamon — @Alzheimersnet via @APlaceForMom http://bit.ly/1mJWfGw
The value of Exercise: being physically active in middle age may reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s disease in old age http://bit.ly/1uGHRVS
Drugs
In case you missed the chat about chemical Brain Enhancement the first time round: http://bit.ly/1rTaSj9
New study suggests magic mushroom therapy much more effective than nicotine replacement for smoking cessation: http://bit.ly/ZjidMU
Didn’t even realise methamphetamine caused #brain damage, let alone this finding that THC protects against it: http://ti.me/1pmZ8nj
Popular anti-depressant drug (SSRIs), long thought to take weeks to take effect, changes healthy brains in just 3hrs: http://ti.me/Yyrnyt
Antipodean link between cannabis & suicide risk is tenuous. Correlation does not mean causation, explained here: http://bit.ly/XnwGGh
Fantastic article in this month’s The Psychologist by @ProfDavidNutt on therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs: http://bit.ly/W34JCJ
Finally homing in on truth behind the proposed link between childhood cannabis use & psychosis in later life? http://bit.ly/XFxtCv
In the Q&A after my brain talks one topic consistently seems to pique curiosity: CAFFEINE -so I wrote a blog on it.. http://bit.ly/1ry3qZx
Worth further study? Of 446 adults treated 4 head trauma, lower incidence of death among those testing +’ve for THC: http://bit.ly/1uapOW4
“1 transcendent trip can alter people’s personalities on a long-term basis..making them more open..more appreciative“ http://bit.ly/1zJd0yg
If this wasn’t the NYT/well-written I’d never have retweeted yet another piece entitled “This Is Your Brain On Drugs” http://bitly.com/1thHVvC
Cannabis is orexigenic (i.e. smoking weed gives you the munchies) now we have a better understanding of the mechanism http://bit.ly/1ouaI1s
If your nightly cup of cocoa has a whopping dose of flavanols – it might just improve your memory: http://bit.ly/1wBPorI #SortYourBrainOut
Microbubbles + ultrasound = ferrying drugs across the blood brain barrier: http://bit.ly/1DADhNL
This type of article usually makes me cringe. This 1 didn’t! Brain benefits of green tea etc: http://bit.ly/1t3HINJ #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
Does cannabis really shrink your brain and compensate by increasing connectivity? NHS Choices set the record straight http://bit.ly/10XXoY5
Electrical brain stimulation 2 – Caffeine 1 http://bit.ly/1vpJb3o
Update on therapeutic uses of MDMA (ecstasy) and psilocybin (mushrooms): http://bit.ly/1p1UmGV #brain #neuroscience
Smart drugs like modafinil don’t make your brain work better if you’re a bright spark: http://bit.ly/1BJoaUN #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
A little bit of booze improves your sense of smell: http://bit.ly/1np1FLV #neuroscience #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
Supplementing radiation therapy with cannabinoid drugs slows down the progression of brain cancers even more in mice: http://ind.pn/1vcf9Rj
The bonding hormone oxytocin inhibits the fear center in the brain – http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/285441.php
Finally a proper nootropic on the horizon! Keep an eye on Ana Pereira’s clinical trial of riluzole in mild Alz. http://bit.ly/13tDDIG #SYBO
The American Academy of Neurology calls for more long term studies into therapeutic use of medical marijuana: http://bit.ly/1vBWLfv
#marijuana &your #brain -does it REALLY do significant damage? http://bit.ly/1uwNau1 #neuroscience #hippocampus #amygdala #SortYourBrainOut
Drugs in space and sleepless in the shuttle http://wp.me/ptsTD-7RJ
More on impact of #cannabis use on the adolescent #brain, courtesy of Nature: http://bit.ly/1sz41LV #neuroscience #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
Great news for drunks! New compound seems to mitigate against the brain damage that results from binge drinking: http://bit.ly/1FKLmRf
Laughing gas shows therapeutic promise in treatment-resistant clinical depression: http://bit.ly/1zHjJ9Z
Smokers have tougher time quitting menthol cigs – menthol alone increases nicotinic receptors in pleasure pathways! http://bit.ly/1IJ86TS
Time for another cuppa? Nice animation from @AsapSCIENCE about caffeine & how it affects your brain http://bit.ly/1qbq7Cd
Eating
“Eating a lot of sugar or other carbohydrates can be hazardous to both #brain structure and function”: http://bit.ly/1pMHgAk
2.1Bn people on Earth are obese/overweight; that’s a lot of narrowed #brain blood vessels : http://bbc.in/1lSW6Rl
People w/ “binge eating disorder..lower grey matter volumes..in OFC&striatum” which help keep track of goals/rewards: http://bit.ly/1ktGBDd
After eating – leptin travels up to #brain – reducing hunger – via astrocytes not just neurons: http://bit.ly/1rGQvpN
“mother’s high-fat diet triggers brain inflam in..developing fetus leading2anxiety&hyperactivity in offspring” [mice] http://fxn.ws/1C5UxNG
“trans fats increase the shelf life of foods..reduce the shelf life of people” +it makes you stupid: http://onforb.es/1xS2oZT
Another reason to stay in – Home cooking a main ingredient in healthier diet: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141117084711.htm
Obesity=chronic low-grade inflammatory state, influencing neuropsychiatric status thru’ effects of inflammation on brain (Castanon et al, 2014)
Cell hub within amygdala (renowned for it’s role in fear response) switches off urge to feed: http://bbc.in/1uy92G6 #neuroscience #brain
“Signals in the #brain that tell us to stop eating function less efficiently as we approach mid-life” http://bit.ly/1BdT8BD #thankyouHenry
Forget the gastric band, to reduce obesity we may some day just crank up the juice on our vagus nerve stimulator: http://bit.ly/1o65u9E
Weight gain/obesity from high fat/high sugar diet prevented when receptor is blocked – but where do the calories go? http://bit.ly/1uf9V2F
More mindless eating of high calorie food when brain area implicated in resisting impulses is experimentally zapped: http://bit.ly/1r7rtyv
Emotion
Doh, why did I do that? How could I be so stupid!! (Rat regret) http://bit.ly/1oGdPQE
Longest running study homes in on what really makes men happy: http://bit.ly/1jvAuME
“aggressive men’s blood pressure went down..non-aggressive men..blood pressure [rose,whilst watching violent scenes]” http://bit.ly/1uyW5Jf
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this” Habenula #brain region activated when viewing images assoc w/ nasty consequences http://bbc.in/1pzAATn
Changing flavour of a mouse’s emotional associations w/ a specific environment thru’ #optogenetic #brain stimulation: http://bbc.in/1qLM9Yl
“fine-grained patterns of neural activity w/in orbitofrontal…code that captures an individual’s subjective feeling” http://bit.ly/1wb9pSy
“Chewing gum, surprisingly, improved mood, possibly because chewing seems to increase blood flow to brain” http://bbc.in/1DANoAg
“What we have found is a process that may dampen the brain’s sensitivity to negative life events.” http://bit.ly/ZBYW9P
As days get shorter “production of a transporter protein ramps up in S.A.D., lowering available serotonin” http://bbc.in/1ye9RlH
Ever noticed that musclebound gym freaks seem particularly moody? Appears that stronger men are quicker to anger: http://bit.ly/1qvZE0Y
Exercise protects against depression – but how? – The rise of PGC-1a1 as a possible mechanism http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283057.php
Events
Today=Big Day. When that paralysed person kicks off the World Cup they’ll feel underfoot via their arm: http://bit.ly/1iqKGU4
#Brain play at Young Vic, London: “The Valley of Astonishment” until 12th July http://bit.ly/1peny3J
Fancy trying some EEG Pong? Just head down to the Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition starting 1st July http://bit.ly/1q9txWN
If anyone over there in the US lives near the Franklin Institute this Your Brain exhibition sounds ace! http://bit.ly/1xTJUc3
Birdies for brains – golfing 100 holes in 1 day to raise money for brain charity http://kare11.tv/1kY0Fh0
You’ve been quoted in my #Storify story “The App-othecary: Is the future of medicine calling?” http://sfy.co/a00Pk
#Today is #World #Brain #Day !! Love your brain http://www.wfneurology.org/world-brain-day#
If I was in Philadelphia right now I would go, immediately, to the Franklin Institute’s Neural Climb: http://bit.ly/1zA2ozO Sounds awesome!
Read ’em and sleep: how one tweet led to a literary lock-in http://gu.com/p/42nvn/tw via @guardian
Very much looking forward 2 speaking at the London Business Forum event with @polarbearpirate tomorrow morning: http://bit.ly/11iQKMr
The App-othecary: Is the future of medicine calling? is hosted by @DrJackLewis at @acmedsci on 18th in London http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-app-othecary-is-the-future-of-medicine-calling-tickets-13850500219
Evolution
Did #brains of pre-human ancestors thrive on bug diet / the challenge of making #tools to get at them? http://bit.ly/1qJPVDZ
Brawn v brain: During human evolution, the brain got stronger and our muscles weaker
Protective buttressing of the hominin face #sexualdimorphism #evolution
http://goo.gl/Eva1MU http://goo.gl/19SfmN
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12112/full
Did Standing Up Change Our Brains? http://neurosciencenews.com/bidepal-walking-cognitive-brain-change-1045
huh, interesting…Non-dominant hand vital to the evolution of the thumb http://bit.ly/1ulHl15
8,000 yr old (prob. human) brain found preserved in skull during archaeological dig in Norway: http://bit.ly/1nCc1si
Neanderthal trait found in archaic early human skull http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/07/2014/neanderthal-trait-found-in-archaic-early-human-skull …
Film
Having been bored all week by Luc Besson’s Lucy inspired resurgence of articles on 10% #brain myth, this tickled me: http://bit.ly/1nB8NVD
Free Will
Free will emerges from brain “noise” http://bit.ly/1l2xbyo #neuroscience #EEG #freewill #noise #brain #SortYourBrainOut via @DrJackLewis
Funny
There comes a time in every neuroscientist’s life when the urge2make a human brain out of jelly becomes irresistible
X-ray GIFS of the human body in action http://bit.ly/1A4LrfB
Mathematical proof that hipsters all look alike http://wapo.st/1zk0otu
http://twitter.com/mocost/status/498756900956434432/photo/1pic.twitter.com/2ja2LbZ8rm
PNIS, it’s like The Onion for science: http://pnis.co/index.html
Gaming
Immersive virtual reality gaming is now so good it might be game over for reality, new blog just posted http://bit.ly/1lNOLYr
Video gaming in kids might not have adverse impact on cognition but “displacement threat” should not be trivialised http://bit.ly/1nKeKx9
Anyone want to make a game with me? http://www.tiga.org/repository/documents/editorfiles/onlinesubscribers/tiga_sources_of_finance_document.pdf
“Throw Trucks With Your Mind..ultra-violent meditative competitive game” – anyone? http://lat.ms/1oQ7HpM
Geek Chic
Nearly lunchtime (in Europe at least) Perfect opportunity to listen to ep1 of our brand new podcast!: http://bit.ly/1lwfx8E
New improved #GeekChicPodcast – out now!! Getting people hooked on healthy food, brain-to-brain comms & titanosaurs http://bit.ly/1qH2K2i
Saving lives with crisp packets, Xe memory erasers & @AsapSCIENCE animations on internet brains #geekchicpodcast ep4: http://bit.ly/1rinZJl
A True and Complete Account of the Neuroscience of Zombies – Scientific American http://ift.tt/1HeHLfT
Amazing Rosetta images show Philae bouncing 1km off comet: http://po.st/N8Im3Q by @jtemperton
New #GeekChic popscience podcast from me & @Xfm_Lliana. This week: pandas who fake it & lesbians who don’t need to http://tinyurl.com/mhvyt6x
Do we actually dream in slow motion? Find out in @DrJackLewis and my geek chic Podcast here: https://itun.es/gb/MYC82.c
Ever heard of coloured icebergs? Read about this natural phenomenon here: http://bit.ly/terranostra #travel #nature
#geekchicpodcast episode 4: http://bit.ly/1rinZJl
Cockroach biobots have caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy: http://bit.ly/1ui1Lbi
Geek Chic Science Weekly podcast will be available for download from today onwards #geekchicpodcast https://itun.es/gb/MYC82.c
Geek Chic Podcast Episode2 – Out Now!! How to get hooked on healthy food, vulcan-esque communication &huge dinosaurs: http://bit.ly/1qH2K2i
Geek Chic Weird Science Podcast is finally on iTunes!!! Pls download all episodes for FREE & share 🙂 x https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/geek-chics-weird-science/id921816230?mt=2
Geek Chic Weird Science podcast, download, for free, from iTunes & listen anytime you like: https://itun.es/gb/MYC82.c
In Jan 2014 @Xfm_Lliana invited me2chat weird&wonderful science stories on XFM every Sun. Now we have a podcast! Ep1: http://bit.ly/1lwfx8E
Looking for some Fri distraction? #geekchicpodcast Ep3 Jack The Ripper Special -has science finally cracked the case? http://bit.ly/1qXEIBC
#geekchicweirdscience podcast ep9 Nobel Special is OUT NOW!! http://tinyurl.com/pw9w77a Catching up on new approaches to investigating Brain GPS
Abolishing arachnaphobia by taking a scalpel to the brain;very halloweeny article from New Scientist http://bit.ly/1089Cg7 @GCweirdscience
Anchoring the brain’s compass: http://bit.ly/1vzVYzV Little amuse bouche ahead of this week’s #geekchicweirdscience podcast @GCweirdscience
Curious about teleportation? Baffled by quantum entanglement? Prof Gisin explains all in our latest GCWS podcast: http://tinyurl.com/GCweirdscience
DidUcatch new ep of #geekchicweirdscience podcast? Killer whales speaking dolphin, transplanting sexual organs&more! http://tinyurl.com/pw9w77a
Geek Chic Weird Science ep10 – miracle spinal surgery, hoverboards, re-heated pasta, tractor beams & birds on Prozac: http://tinyurl.com/pw9w77a
Dolphins can detect magnetic fields and might well use this ability to help them navigate the oceans: http://bit.ly/1vbV1tO
Geek Chic Weird Science podcast ep7: “Teleportation Special” OUT NOW!! @Xfm_Lliana & I interview a quantum genius…
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/geek-chics-weird-science/id921816230?mt=2 … – ep6 – Out now! Cunningly cultured chimps, (potentially) calamitous comets & [gasp] a coffee crisis on the horizon
Rosetta Mission selfie http://wrd.cm/1wjGa3c
Thanks @DrJackLewis & @Xfm_Lliana for the fun interview abt the hippocampus, place cells & Nobel prize https://itun.es/i6B33FT
This one’s also very #geekchicweird science: http://echinoblog.blogspot.ca/2014/10/five-points-about-fossil-history-of.html
Being Halloween ’n’ all presumably someone out there fancies making a zombie..here’s a 1-stop-shop from @SciencePunk: http://amzn.to/1udf2V2
Bounce baby bounce: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/11171502-rosetta-imaged-philae-during.html … #philae bounce data
Ever wondered how “homing” ravens in Game of Thrones reach their destination? Brain gyroscope+gravity detectors: http://bit.ly/1EG6iYQ
Geek Chic’s Weird Science podcast ep14 http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh Will we Clone Wooly Mammoths? Is Brain Electrocution better than Coffee? Et al
Spider brain, spider brain, does whatever a spider brain does… Delving into the jumping spider brain: http://nyti.ms/1yTGZQ7 @GCweirdscience
PODCAST: ep15 @GCweirdscience Do we dream in slow motion? Could you live a life aquatic? How to make a digital animal http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh
When Philae/Rosetta were first launched from French Guiana ten years ago..Twitter had yet to be invented via @RogerHighfield @GCweirdscience
“whales,dolphins&elephants share our ability2learn new vocalisations/3groups of birds:songbirds,parrots&hummingbirds” http://bit.ly/1AcRtdw
Print a personalised virus to kill your specific cancer and for a fraction of a price http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429990.200-i-want-to-print-personalised-cancer-drugs-in-a-day.html … – amazingly beautiful idea
Very Blade Runner, this: extracting images from corneal reflections http://ow.ly/GwUSZ
Lego robot with a worm brain: http://nydn.us/1ITmrgE OpenWorm project seems to be capturing imaginations all over the world @GCweirdscience
JanisCarter lived in cage onGambian river in effort2reintroduce domesticated chimp2wild: http://bit.ly/1B94mYi @Radiolab #SelfExpHeroes
New #GeekChic popscience podcast from me & @DrJackLewis. This week: pandas who fake it & lesbians who don’t need to http://tinyurl.com/mhvyt6x
PODCAST: we look back on the best weird science stories from 2014 in our 17th episode of @GCweirdscience http://bit.ly/1rpMfIh @Xfm_Lliana
Which is better: http://brainsciencepodcast.com/ or @GCweirdscience (paranormal science special will be released tomorrow!!) #battleofthepodcasts
No but seriously this is great – Swiss / Ukranian collaboration on homing pigeons, study required huge meteor crater: http://bit.ly/1EG6iYQ
Gut Bacteria
This account of human evolution sees us merely as puppets dangling on the strings of our gut bacterial puppeteers! http://theatln.tc/1mIVtAV
Balanced, well-written account of story-so-far re science taking influence of gut on brain more & more seriously: http://bit.ly/ZSBh5g
Nice update on the latest research investigating the link between gut bacteria and brain function from Nature http://bit.ly/1v5thvr #SYBO
“armies of bacteria living in our guts can pull the strings in our #brains to get what they want” http://onforb.es/1riA8jh #neuroscience #SYBO
Daily microbiome tracking – I wish I could have done this for my connectome!
Gut bacteria may influence food cravings2get what they want by sending message2 #brain via vagus nerve: http://bit.ly/1tLIhtA #weirdscience
Hallucination
How cultures influence content of hallucinations/delusions
Heuristics
Brains go to great lengths to preserve personal narratives -only getting labelled “confabulation” once at the extreme http://bit.ly/1nXJB8P
I don’t have a stock portfolio… but if I did I’d certainly keep these psychological biases in mind: http://onforb.es/1ou2oP6 #SortYourBrainOut
Attractive people are often assumed to be “good” but does being “good” bias people to rate them as more attractive? http://bit.ly/1rk7lEt
History
“Aldini zapped the #brain of a decapitated criminal by placing a metal wire into each ear & then flicking the switch” http://wrd.cm/1nUd5VT
Mosso machine 1882: get person balanced on plank, play them a sound, blood rushes to #brain, tipping the balance! http://n.pr/VzEyDu
Holding Onto Marbles
“Less time sitting down” = better way of helping older people keep their white matter in good nick: http://bit.ly/1ucWqQi #SortYourBrainOut
“cognitive health in old age reflects the long-term effects of healthy, engaged lifestyles” …but not “brain games” http://stanford.io/1rXY05B
Brain Age test for middle aged people to slam the brakes on our descent into cognitive decline – NICE! http://bit.ly/10OrbTA #RetirementDNA
Brain function can improve as you age: http://bit.ly/1yR3sgs – great to hear given that I’ve spent all day thinking about #RetirementDNA !!
I did a little piece in the Independent Online on Holding Onto Your Marbles to promote #SortYourBrainOut http://ind.pn/143Scnb #SYBO
You are what you..do for a living: http://yhoo.it/1ATx54x Daily mental activity induced by your job can help u build cognitive reserve #SYBO
The big message for #brain health to aid the battle against dementia in 2015? “Use It Or Lose It” http://ind.pn/1zN8dIY #SortYourBrainOut
“parts of the brain that were the last to develop were also the first to show signs of age-related decline” http://bbc.in/1ALZhX8
Intelligence
After decades of slowly increasing IQ it looks like we might now be going backwards. But why? http://bit.ly/1toL8JA #SortYourBrainOut
Outgamed by a chimp – in your face Homo sapiens! http://bit.ly/1nSsRj4
Interview
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Neuroscience w/ @DrJackLewis
Language
Time to learn a new language? “those who spoke2or more languages had significantly better cognitive abilities” http://bbc.in/1tAAZYi
“Listening effort and accented speech”. http://feedly.com/e/Scjtk42b The case for NOT outsourcing call centers?
This is unbelievably amazingly awesome – Star-Trek style instant voice translation
“people who speak more than 1 language fluently have better memories..more cognitively creative & mentally flexible” http://bit.ly/1rODTNM
If you get someone to say a word out loud, but tweak the sound of their own voice, you can make them talk nonsense: http://bit.ly/1xEGBT1
Mandarin speaking nanny for your infant child,perhaps? Adult brains recognise language features from infancy exposure: http://ti.me/1zDi8jV
Learning
“..striatum learns the pieces of the puzzle and then the prefrontal cortex puts the pieces.. together.” http://bit.ly/1lUHip6 via @PsyBlog
What goes on inside the brain as we learn from our mistakes http://ti.me/1qBjfwJ
Don’t Dismiss MOOCs – We’re Just Starting To Understand Their True Value: http://www.science20.com/the_conversation/dont_dismiss_moocs_we_are_just_starting_to_understand_their_true_value-144160
Dopamine helps with math rules as well as mood: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141205093831.htm
Utilise the “dead time”: Essential health info,distilled into small chunks,offered not force fed -perfect!
Meditation
Laughter puts #brain in2state similar to that of deep meditation
Memory
Nice short video with distinguished neuroscientists explaining basics of #memory: http://bit.ly/1nuJPcC
Bring unpleasant memory to mind, inhale Xenon, goodbye emotional pain – future of recovery from heartbreak / trauma? http://bit.ly/1rinZJl
Incredibly intricate interplay between hippocampus and septum enables us to create chunks of memory: http://stanford.io/1qct5GK #neuroscience
Default mode network, usually associated with daydreaming/mindwandering, very much involved in certain memory tasks: http://bit.ly/1sh2Hrk
Obama dishes out: $810k MIT – determining which exact brain circuits are involved in generating short-term memories that influence decisions
fMRI: CA3 overlap in #hippocampus may explain when we find it “difficult2differentiate between similar past memories” http://bbc.in/1mfkjGb
“frontoparietal network plays key role in analysis,memory retrieval,abstract thinking&problem-solving/fluidity2adapt” http://bit.ly/1A8dEBm
NEWSFLASH: memory may not be in synapses http://bit.ly/1DUXmSH Next they’ll say action potentials are just there 2 generate electric fields
On the topic of TMS.. 20mins of daily magnetic stimulation for just 5 days improved memory in study of 16 volunteers: http://bit.ly/1qlNN5w
Shedding New Light on the Formation of Emotional Fear Memories: http://neurosciencenews.com/memory-formation-hebbian-plasticity-1605/ #neuroscience #memory
Mind Over Matter
Cool! RT @mrianleslie: This is amazing: the neuroscience behind Bruce Lee’s “one-inch punch” http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/nueroscience/the-science-of-bruce-lees-one-inch-punch-16814527
Mind over matter – Wim Hof can withstand freezing swims/hikes in bare skin – 3 tricks to control his body & #brain: http://bit.ly/VQBVNS
These incredible robot exoskeletons used in Korean shipyards remind us of something… More: http://ow.ly/zVJ54
Morality
Possible neurobiological basis for tradeoff between honesty and self-interest http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140902114230.htm
Morality pills: reality or science fiction? http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/jun/03/morality-pills-reality-or-science-fiction
Music
Musical training improves various aspects of executive #brain function in old & young alike http://bit.ly/1p9jaCR
Speaking of Default Mode Network: activity ramps up when you hear song you like -is this losing yourself in the tune? http://huff.to/XvXxQA
Numerous benefits of providing music lessons to underprivileged kids includes improved language processing http://n.pr/1nMzbZL
Music saved my voice: http://bit.ly/1v0ApGZ Brain aneurysm robs music teacher of ability to speak, melodic intonation therapy wins it back
Been wondering when a band would jump on the binaural beat bandwagon – headphones on – relaxing?: http://bit.ly/1k9Dcv8 #SortYourBrainOut
What Wired thinks about a music neuroscience app that helps you increase focus by many hundred % http://wrd.cm/1j8VSu9 #neuroscience #music
Why is melody in the high notes and rhythm in the bass: http://bit.ly/1A5RsJO #neuroscience #music #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
Navigation
Fascinating research from @hugospiers throws more light on #brain navigation systems http://bit.ly/1nWhMTx
Bat Nav http://bbc.in/124L3lb @GCweirdscience
Your brain’s internal compass – the stronger the signal it produces, the better your sense of direction: http://bbc.in/1r5IY48 @hugospiers
Neuroanatomy
If your brain was size of planet Earth..this infographic shows size of its nuts&bolts http://bit.ly/1jUrCTq
The Neuromythology of Einstein’s Brain http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2014/05/24/myth-einsteins-brain/
Leonardo Da Vinci with his neuroscientist hat on: http://bit.ly/1Afvwfz #neuroscience
If I get hold of a cow brain would anyone be interested in bringing their kids2see a live dissection? http://bit.ly/1yjsFTz @GCweirdscience
Convention Defying Brain Cell: new neuronal “short-circuiting” feature spotted in brain’s memory bank: http://bit.ly/ZknTqq
Brain’s glial cells – long thought2be *just* passive support cells – increasingly recognised to play important roles: http://bit.ly/1qwK2Y5
Prodding around inside human brains during neuroanatomy practicals I always wondered what the choroid plexus was for: http://bit.ly/1rF1LQL
From physics to neuroscience: “Single neurons, he said, are fairly well understood, as are small circuits of neurons” http://nyti.ms/1xq0gbL
Bizarre Human Brain With No Wrinkles Discovered http://www.iflscience.com/brain/lost-and-found-smooth-human-brain
Major brain pathway rediscovered http://gu.com/p/43cmm/stw
100 missing brains: http://bit.ly/1zmmRpD If you are entrusted with Einstein’s brain you really should take more care.. @GCweirdscience
Regions of the brain strengthen with age http://medx.cc/334222167 #neuroscience
Astrocytes:always the bridesmaid,never the bride in discussions about #brain function;’til now? http://bit.ly/1qKqxBt #neuroscience #memory
Investigating factors that cause the #brain surface to fold up forming the distinctive peaks & valleys: http://bit.ly/1o9ih6A #neuroscience
Neurodevelopment
Ultra-fine particles found in air pollution seem to play havoc with early brain development
Consumption of highly-sweetened drinks throughout adolescence leads to cognitive impairment (in rats, so far) http://bit.ly/1s4q0rm
Great advice re: how best to stretch a child’s #brain described at 3m40s in this lovely interview: http://bit.ly/1mDK2r6 #SortYourBrainOut
Baby’s brain rehearse speech five months before they talk http://bit.ly/1ne4HUC @ScienceDaily #babytalk #SYKBO via @perked_brain
“..newborn #brains grew at an average rate of 1%/day” Cerebellum doubles in size over 1st 90days http://bbc.in/1pMeC2q #neuroscience #SYKBO
“When it comes to #brain development, time in the classroom may be less important than time on the playground” http://n.pr/1p9PMdK #SYKBO
On topic of importance of play4children.. Nils Norman compared adventure playgrounds across globe, book only £85!!: http://amzn.to/1oqSlDh
The Case for Packing Libraries Full of Toys and Games – http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/08/the-case-for-packing-libraries-full-of-toys-and-games/375530/ … #creativity
Young humans grow up much slower than our primate cousins because our #brain is so “energy expensive”: http://bit.ly/1p9Jpsb #neuroscience
Neuromarketing
Interesting thoughts on using insights from neuroscience in #advertising / #marketing: http://bit.ly/1pZqMIt via @stromilof #neuroformed
So good it needed tweeting twice: http://bit.ly/1rR9oCr Shared brain activity in few predicts audience preferences at large #neuroformed
Happy shoppers come in many varieties: run-of-the-mill happy, happy-excited. happy-aroused & (beware) happy-frenzied! http://n.pr/11vQjxY
Neuromyths
Neuromyths are hampering education
Christian Jarrett is worried about the impact of neuromyths on society
Exploding the 10k hrs of deliberate practice #myth – it’s no guarantee for greatness
Beware fake brain science in schools: http://slate.me/1yjtsEg
Neuroplasticity
NHS Choices continue to marshal the dubious fringes of science journalism – multi-tasking shrinks your brain, huh? http://bit.ly/1CrolB3
“30mins..daily training for 1 month..improvement in..ability to understand speech in noisy..conditions” http://bit.ly/1pAFh20
This is the most accurate description of our study: Media multitasking ‘brain shrink’ claims unproven NHS Choices – http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/09September/Pages/Claims-media-multitasking-shrinks-brain-unproven.aspx
Bats are the only creature that can see using echolocation, right? Wrong! This amazing young blind lad can do it too: http://youtu.be/TeFRkAYb1uk
Brain Scans Reveal Gray Matter Differences in Media Multitaskers: http://neurosciencenews.com/gray-matter-acc-multitasking-1358/ … #neuroscience
Brainy processing at your fingertips http://gu.com/p/4xbpk/tw #neuroscience
Football “is a triumphant display of the incredible plasticity of the human brain http://bit.ly/1lkr3RP
How Culture Shapes Our Senses – NYT http://nyti.ms/1oUsT9S @tanyaluhrmann Ht @somatosphere
Making it to 24 years old without realising your whole cerebellum is missing is a true testament to neuroplasticity: http://bit.ly/1rXP3ja
My PhD supervisor used2say painters were visual scientists. Here @wiredscience effectively suggests same4film editors http://wrd.cm/1pMHIS0
When it comes to changes in brain thickness… Bigger is not always better: http://wrd.cm/1taWfr8 #geekchicweirdscience @GCweirdscience
Coaxing brain support cells (glia) to convert into electrical brain wires (neurons) to fix damaged parts of the brain http://bit.ly/1yY0aYd
Zoe Kourtzi leads Adaptive Brain Computations project in Cambridge; aiming to understand & test how learning happens: http://bit.ly/1t9XoM8
“Vagus nerve stimulation takes advantage of the brain’s neuroplasticity” to cure tinnitus: http://bit.ly/1rcV1bm #neuroscience #tinnitus
Well read? How digital reading is changing (hurting) comprehension. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/mariakonnikova/2014/07/being-a-better-online-reader.html
Intensive smartphone use causes your brain’s territory for processing thumb sensations2enlarge: http://fxn.ws/1xqnpOz 169articles in 4days!
Neuroplasticity in action – how your touch screen devices are changing your brain: http://bbc.in/1zTWzvY #SortYourBrainOut @polarbearpirate
The Tortured Brain – Insightful article that pulls together info on CIA torture practices, neuroplasticity & PTSD: http://bit.ly/1whLEax
Something special about neuronal gamma activity (40Hz)-making mouse #brain supersensitive2gentle touch: http://bit.ly/1pvFLIk #neuroscience
Sleep-Dependent Neuroplastic Changes during Auditory Perceptual Learning http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074742714002111
Neuroscientists
If I was Miguel Nicolelis I’d B getting really nervous about 2morro’s brain-controlled exoskeleton world cup kick off http://bit.ly/1kKhxI6
Here’s a short film I edited & animated of interviews with top scientists at last year’s BNA conference http://bit.ly/1mNF2hl
Here’s a taste of 10 interviews I filmed w/ top neuroscientists at the British Neuroscience Association conference http://bit.ly/1mNF2hl
Trouble at t’mill: KCL scientists facing mass redundancy. Sounds brutal. My heart goes out… http://bit.ly/T32nlT
Did I mention I interviewed some of world’s top neuroscientists &cut a short animated film? 🙂 http://bitly.com/1mNF2hm
On subject of @hugospiers, here he describes role of #hippocampus in imagining future scenarios http://bitly.com/1mNF2hm
How to Criticize with Kindness: Daniel Dennett on the 4 Steps to Arguing Intelligently http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/03/28/daniel-dennett-rapoport-rules-criticism/ … via @timetit
Nice interview with Charles Spence in CB. Even manages to diss post-pub peer review on the way 🙂 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221400387X
Charles Limb – head & neck surgeon, improv pianist & rapper exploring brain mechanisms of creativity: http://bit.ly/ZMAAKo @GCweirdscience
Future of the Brain, anyone? Collection of essays from some of the world’s leading thinkers in neuroscience: http://bit.ly/1DGxTMy
Coming soon ‘The Para-Academic Handbook’ http://hammeronpress.net/page19.htm <you don’t have to be in academia to do good research or innovative practice
Meet the mother and father of cognitive neuroscience @utafrith & @cdfrith | @mocost http://gu.com/p/4x56x/tw via @guardian
Fascinating article: http://bit.ly/1vblwDw by @hugospiers – who we interviewed for next week’s #geekchicweirdscience Nobel Special podcast
John O’Keefe is a living legend anyway & now his scientific genius has been recognised with a Nobel prize! http://tinyurl.com/johnokeefenobel #brainGPS
My favorite professor of behavioral economics, @danariely recommends MOOC by @paulbloomatyale, so I’ll be tuning in. http://ow.ly/C8DcK
One of my favourite personalities in #neuroscience defending Europe’s Human Brain Project from a broadside attack: http://bit.ly/1t3imgF
Neurosurgery
Successful trepanation on Mongolia/China border 2,300 years ago – what was the motive for this hole-in-head surgery? http://dailym.ai/1p2g7XI
Genius! Neurosurgeon predicts diagnosis of brain area impacted by stroke – asking patient to speak a 5 word sentence: http://n.pr/1mG9COM
Fantastic description of how surgical treatment of epilepsy helps us do phenomenal #brain research: http://nyti.ms/1kDsAz2 #SortYourBrainOut
Can’t get enough of the concept of playing the violin whilst surgeons operate on your #brain: http://cnet.co/1tjWnCd #neuroscience #SYBO
The Fascinating Reason This Man Is Playing Violin During His Own Brain Surgery by @erbrod http://mic.cm/1sRlj5s via @MicNews
Optical Illusions
Here You can change some visual attributes to increase or decrease the café wall illusion. http://joyfulcoder.net/cafewall/
This is definitely one for @GCweirdscience Spinning chocolate cake illusion: http://youtu.be/HxSN1FkcZ64 Stunning #GeekChicWeirdScience
Optical illusions anyone? Go on, you know you wanna spend your lunch break tying your occipital lobe in knots: http://wrd.cm/1vlRIV1
Other Creatures’ Brains
Devil rays have “sponge-like mesh of large&small arteries” to warm their #brains during 2km deep dives http://bbc.in/1qR5fyV #neuroscience
39,000 year old Wooly Mammoth brain (with a well preserved “tough mother”): http://bit.ly/1sscZVX @GCweirdscience
“humble nematode worm has..its neural connections hot-wired,changing the way it responds 2 salt&smells” http://bit.ly/1rcXJxt #neuroscience
Elephant’s nose best: African elephants have twice as many olfactory genes as any other mammal. http://feedly.com/e/r_rCUv8d
Giant prawn fossil discovered in China has perfectly preserved 520Million year old #brain: http://bit.ly/1nO2f6m #archaeology #neuroscience
RT @mocost: 80,000 neurons firing in zebrafish http://bit.ly/UIaXHv http://wrd.cm/1qaCTOg http://bit.ly/UIaXHw
Dolphins & Beluga whales squeal with delight when they know a prize is coming their way: http://bit.ly/1twlbbV #brain #reward #weirdscience
Lethal aggression in Chimpanzees is better explained by adaptive strategies rather than human impacts http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7518/full/nature13727.html
If crayfish can convert blood cells2brain cells2replace damaged ones-why cant we? http://bit.ly/1nLlKYV #neuroscience #transdifferentiation
In other news today, scientists have taught fish how to walk http://bit.ly/1qDaoM9 http://youtu.be/mKxRe0hAQmg?list=UU7c8mE90qCtu11z47U0KErg
Pain
Swearing when you hurt yourself actually makes it feel better. http://DiscoverMagazine.com Cursing & #hypoalgesia.
Chronic back pain? Maybe it’s time to quit smoking http://bit.ly/1s1vu3d I find the explanation hard to believe; make of it what you will !
The benefits of psychological treatment for chronic back pain http://blog.backpainrelief.net/the-benefits-of-psychological-treatment-for-chr
Parenting
Fascinating! Gay dad #brain responds to new parenting role (adoption) just like both straight parents: http://ti.me/1jWeNbd
Many pregnant women are slightly iodine deficient which can have knock on effect on their baby’s #brain development: http://bit.ly/1k952k6
Supportive parenting is neuroprotective: http://bit.ly/1pGUuxm
Amazingly, fatherhood actually changes a man’s #brain: http://wrd.cm/1qKEoDw #neuroplasticity #neuroscience #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
For those archaic types that still believe a good spanking is good for your kids – not true, read this: http://cnn.it/1x0ORN7 #neuroscience
As women leave childbirth later,will this: http://tinyurl.com/pptt85y (mitochondrial problems) lead 2 more of this? http://tinyurl.com/nh73ek6 (IVF)
Personality
What is introversion? What REALLY defines an introvert? Or an extravert for that matter http://bit.ly/1oJ0qaw
Why The Myers-Briggs Personality Test Is Misleading, Inaccurate, And Unscientific via @bi_strategy http://www.businessinsider.com/myers-briggs-personality-test-is-misleading-2014-6
Pornography
Negative correlation discovered between pornography consumption&volume of striatum (drive, reward etc) #neuroscience http://reut.rs/1tT54Ej
“increasing numbers of young men…cannot maintain an erection because they’ve wrecked their appetite w/ pornography” http://bbc.in/1jlZ8lW
Pornography ” is an addictive, disruptive drug in visual form.” http://ow.ly/FbTqM h/t @EduardoZugasti
Poverty
Poverty can be so cognitively demanding – little mental energy left for anything else
Psychology
Sports psychology perspectives on Luis Suarez’s propensity to bite people http://bit.ly/VqvGB9
Nice example of using knowledge of the #brain to underpin habits of thinking that help you get what you want http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/brain-science-get-what-you-want_n_5455366.html?ir=Healthy+Living
Psychology is weird, child psychology is much weirder. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/developmental_psychology_s_weird_problem_children_from_rich_educated_families.html By @jane_c_hu via @le_feufollet
Quotes
“Science does not know it’s debt to imagination”
“There is a road from eye to heart that does not go through the intellect” #SortYourBrainOut
Levi Roots’ reggae reggae message: Be yourself Believe in yourself If you fail in 1 passion – merge it with another 1
“I have decided to be #happy, because it’s good for my health.” -Voltaire
“ If you were a plant…you would think of a drug as this: ‘Something I use to make animals do what I want’ ” @zoecormier SexDrugsRock (2014)
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand” ― Albert Einstein
If you don’t know where you are going, any path will get you there. ~ Lewis Carroll
“Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain” – Santiago Ramón y Cajal
“The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn” ― Bertrand Russell
Religion
Bit of light Fri reading on “Neurotheology – neurological study of religious & spiritual experiences”
Reviews
Wow – that’s 3/3 book reviews so far suggesting Susan Greenfield’s new book is more “Mind Cringe” than “Mind Change”: http://econ.st/1thls49
1st thought: ‘TV series called “Hack My Brain” – why didn’t I think of that?’ then I actually read the review – Ouch! http://nyti.ms/1saEZ6B
Reward Pathways
“the striatum shows more activity to monetary rewards when the reward was judged to be fair” http://bit.ly/1sGyh5x #SortYourBrainOut
Doing it with someone else makes it feel more intense: http://tinyurl.com/Do1tTogether …whatever “it” may be!
How to create an addictive gaming experience? Hijack the reward system. Unfortunately, it really is as easy as this.. http://n.pr/1oUcljA
Study investigating curiosity highlights the importance of dopamine in learning… not just pleasure and drive: http://bit.ly/1vyhlyk
Stimulation of the “pleasure hub” (VTA) whilst mouse dreams of a certain place in space makes it prefer it when awake http://n.pr/1BQwDp6
Science Communication
Learning about #science through #comedy: http://bit.ly/1uWMiju
Loving animations like this that illustrate our #brains in action..even with the inevitable corner-cutting: http://bit.ly/1cKa7An #SYBO
This truly is a thing of beauty: http://bit.ly/1pLYoUe Immaculate narrated-animation depicting 2000yrs of human migration via @tomstafford
Senses
“Stem cells in the tongue produce new taste cells every fortnight” http://bbc.in/1xbDiY2
Olfactory Reveille: it’s now possible to purchase an alarm clock that emits the smell of bacon at “wakey-wakey” time! http://bit.ly/1BxT0MK
New study: Neurons in your skin perform advanced calculations http://ow.ly/3pNMcr
Newsweek Interview: Digitising Smell: The Third Sense Is Coming to Your Phone – interview with @adriancheok http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/19/digitising-humanity-about-take-another-huge-step-forward-smell-269729.html
Every cloud… silver lining of #dyslexia is a #brain that is more adept at certain visual abilities: http://bit.ly/1z4IQQq #neuroscience
Reaching for object of unknown size in cluttered environment people grasp correctly anyway – spooky! http://bit.ly/1GHHmiV @GCweirdscience
Bee brains – with only a million neurons (we have 86 Bn!) – can still see the big picture: http://bit.ly/1w4zKp8
Cunning study: how brain makes vision feel Hi-Def despite fovea only covering area size of thumbnail at arm’s length: http://bit.ly/1waUDxo
Why we don’t (usually) notice stunt doubles: http://bit.ly/1sQle3S Brain design “feature” not “flaw” #SYBO #SortYouBrainOut @GCweirdscience
Can humans really distinguish 1 trillion different odours? Or just 10? http://arxiv.org/abs/1411.0165 via @ewencallaway
Neuroscience of Taste: Chef’s Creations Delight the Senses – Live Science http://ift.tt/1EZ3PJs
It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas: The neuroscience of our nostalgia. http://ow.ly/GplSt #science
The taste of music – courtesy of the crown prince of multisensory interactions: Prof Charles Spence http://bit.ly/1yz5H69 #SortYourBrainOut
If it was 1st April there’s no way I would post this – ‘average’ person can guess ur car from ur face: http://bit.ly/1tLDzfl #weirdscience
How #brain sees shape that isn’t really there. Less activity required when illusory contours perceived http://bit.ly/1sR6QZw
Insights into vision from people blind from birth but given back the gift of sight in adulthood by science/medicine: http://nyr.kr/1qkNeZT
Where Hollywood movies and #neuroscience converge: http://wrd.cm/YWb1WU #brain #vision
Sex
How I Rebuilt Tinder And Discovered The Shameful Secret Of Attraction http://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/we-are-all-classists?bffb&utm_term=4ldqpgp#18dhj72 … oh, this is quite interesting!
Easy Access Internet Porn: “..worries &frightens people..creates anxieties about their bodies &sexual performance…” http://bit.ly/1xtwqVZ
The headline we’ve all been waiting for: Sex is good for your brain http://huff.to/1neOpMc … it was only a matter of time
Lesbians have more orgasms than straight women – so should straight men ask lesbian friends 4 some tips? http://bit.ly/1vFhK2k #sexhospital
Showreel
I’ve compiled clips from TV series I’ve presented http://bitly.com/1u10k21 Please watch&let me know which clips are best #crowdsourcedshowreel
Thank you @jjunno for your selections: “TM05-SH04-HT01 and you had at HT 03 :)” #crowdsourcedshowreel
Using Wisdom of Crowds to make perfect showreel, pls pick favourite clips: http://bit.ly/1u10k20 #neuroscience #brain #crowdsourcedshowreel
Sleep
“Working antisocial hours can prematurely age the brain&dull intellectual ability” #SortYourBrainOut – get a new job? http://bbc.in/1x28EyH
Not just too little (<6hrs) but also too much (>8hrs) sleep is linked2poorer cognitive function in older people http://bit.ly/1rFrgjK
“The less older adults sleep, the faster their brains age” http://bit.ly/1sTSrvQ
ASMR for #insomnia? Soothing/tingling sensation travels over scalp in response2specific types of sensory stimulation http://nyti.ms/1tyjv2T
I often bang on about importance of good night sleep 4 #brain health -so it’s good to see evidence accumulating http://reut.rs/TcTHKv
Lack of sleep linked to negative thinking http://bit.ly/1vzjM1t (and neurodegeneration http://bit.ly/1lnf07j)
Doesn’t surprise me one little bit: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29166466 … I often find myself continuing daytime tasks in my sleep (even debugging code!)
Earlier I admitted2solving computer programming bugs in my sleep.According2 @sciammind it’s been going on since 60’s! http://bit.ly/1oBHTtY
Implanting designer gene into certain region of brainstem makes deep sleep switch-on-and-offable: http://bit.ly/1s6gE1T
In #SortYourBrainOut @polarbearpirate & I stress importance of sleep for brain health,here’s why + ways2improve sleep http://bit.ly/1BdicI6
It’s not big, it’s not clever… going without sleep is deleterious to brain function: http://theatln.tc/1wfaM7n #SortYourBrainOut #SYBO
Love how cunning yet simple this experiment is: http://bbc.in/1r9SN1a – establishing whether or not we dream in slow motion via @BBC_Future
To Sleep, Perchance To Learn: why memory suffers when we’re sleep deprived & the chemical injection that can boost it http://n.pr/1BQwDp6
“#memory distortion is greater after #sleep deprivation..people are getting less sleep each night than..ever” http://bit.ly/1ne7M68 #SYBO
#Meditate While Lying in Bed For More Restful #Sleep http://ow.ly/Gebe6 #SortYourBrainOut
Get a new iPad for Christmas? Don’t use it just before bedtime or it will screw up your sleep: http://bit.ly/1xrLuEA #SortYourBrainOut
‘Sleep drunkenness’ more common than thought, new study finds – Health – http://TODAY.com http://ow.ly/AMb6q
The chicken and egg of sleep problems / beta amyloid deposition in the brain of elderly people: http://bit.ly/1vzkuf8 #SortYourBrainOut
Why we yawn: http://bit.ly/1H7se0c @GCweirdscience @Xfm_Lliana #behindthepaywall
Stress
#Stress, can provide benefits IF you don’t let it hang around too long | p129 http://ow.ly/AIcqk @drJackLewis
How #stress hormones promote #brain’s building of negative memories (@ScienceDaily) http://bit.ly/UvhoO2 #trauma
Impact of stress on body and #brain is a core part of #SortYourBrainOut philosophy. Brilliantly described here: http://n.pr/UdECbJ #SYBO
Talks
Last week i did a talk on #bodylanguage @MiddlesexUni & promised i’d write a blog up about it. I’m a man of my word: http://bit.ly/1mzlKw9
Confirmed panellists for “The future of self-hacking”: @DrJackLewis, @StuartCalimport, and Andrew Vladimirov http://www.meetup.com/London-Futurists/events/190686472/
Insight into how NatGeo decides what kind of series to fund – stumble on something that works, copy it: http://fxn.ws/1oNHHKp #scienceTV
Could viewers hear me mutter, under my breath, right at the end: “ethically dubious.. but lovely” – I wonder? #ThisMorning #miniWinnie
Virtual Reality
Fascinating! People more comfortable sharing secrets w/ #virtual human (computer controlled) than real 1 http://bit.ly/1oFjCCT #psychiatry
Window to the Soul
“pupil dilation correlated more closely with perceived effort than actual effort” – for both physical & mental effort http://bit.ly/1udmkWt
Catching undiagnosed glaucoma before it damages vision – simply by analysing eye movements whilst people watch telly: http://bit.ly/110f99a
Young Brains
In low-income neighborhoods, 1 book is available for every 300 kids. In richer areas the ratio is 13 books per child http://anniemurphypaul.com/2014/06/why-pediatricians-are-prescribing-books
What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades: http://nyti.ms/1kqAhfj
What happens in a teenager’s brain when they are criticised by their mother (what it means is another matter) http://wrd.cm/1uOM5by #SYKBO
Analysis of 5-HT receptors in brainstems of babies who died of SIDS (a.k.a. cot death) reveal new subtypes/functions: http://bit.ly/16IzIKo
A Vaccine for Childhood Anxiety: Effort-Based Praise http://ift.tt/1rUTZTK #psychology
Baby brains – how you curate their environments & choreograph their social interactions sculpts their personality: http://huff.to/1xz0O21
Newborns spend about 16-17 hours sleeping a day. But about 80% of neonatal and newborn sleep time is actually REM (‘dreaming’) sleep.
-
Sort Your Brain Out – new book by Dr Jack Lewis and Adrian Webster
No comments yetPosted in Book Reviews, Change Your BrainMar 18, 2014
Figuring out what I should write about in my blog this month really was a no brainer. It’s not every month that I have a new book about to hit the shelves (Friday 28th March 2014). So from April onwards, if you happen to be passing a WHSmith’s then please do consider popping in. You should find Sort Your Brain Out prominently displayed in the Non-Fiction and Business charts. If you can’t find it then please drop me a line!
Although we have specifically targeted the business market in the first instance, primarily due to their familiarity with my co-author’s previous work, this truly is a book for everyone. We hope that business professionals will decide that other members of their family would also benefit from reading it and pass it on; whether the recipients are their children – to help them get the most out of their brains to achieve more in their education, or their own parents – to help them get the most out of their brain during the post-retirement years. In fact, the book has been carefully put together to ensure that readers of all ages will be able to get something out of it. Happily we’ve already had some feedback that suggests we have been successful in achieving this goal. If you fancy flicking through a few select pages, or perhaps even pre-order a copy with a 30% discount, then please click here to see it on Amazon.
We are encouraging people to tweet photos of Sort Your Brain Out when they find it in the wild with the hashtag #SortYourBrainOut or #SYBO for short – we’ve been made aware of sightings all over the UK and the world – from Jamaica to Hong Kong and Cornwall to Edinburgh.
This is my first foray into the world of publishing. Strictly speaking it’s the second book I’ve ever written, if you count my Ph.D. thesis. However I doubt whether more than a handful of people have ever pulled it out of the vaults of the University of London library in Senate House. For most readers it would be pretty incomprehensible anyway what with being laden with complex scientific terminology. The whole point of Sort Your Brain Out is to make the latest neuroscience accessible for everyone, not just the science enthusiasts. So with this in mind, for my first published book, it only seemed appropriate to co-author it with someone who has extensive experience in writing books that everyone can get something out of. And a few years back, thanks to a fortunate twist of fate, I met the perfect collaborator.
Adrian Webster and I both contributed as motivational speakers at a conference in Tenerife in 2011, presenting me with the perfect opportunity to forge an alliance with a truly exceptional individual. An internationally best-selling author, his first book Polar Bear Pirates was a massive hit. It is very unusual to see a business book packed full of cartoon characters, yet this unorthodox approach may well be precisely what made it resonate with such a broad audience. We’ve tried to reproduce this effect with a handful of illustrations commissioned for Sort Your Brain Out. For a sneak preview: click here.
Over more than a decade Adrian has been one of Europe’s most popular and influential motivational speakers. His uncanny ability to spin a yarn in an entertaining yet impactful way, leaving audiences not just spellbound by his performances but also much wiser about how to get the best out of themselves at work is unparalleled. He distils many years of experience in the workplace into witty/moving anecdotes and wise observations about how best to motivate ourselves and those around us. Here’s a quick taste of his speaking style brilliantly animated by some young and very talented animators.
Our book Sort Your Brain Out aims to make what modern neuroscience has discovered about the strengths and weaknesses of human brain function accessible to the broadest possible market. We wanted to provide some powerful insights into how to get the most out of your brain, whoever the reader happens to be. After all, every one of us has a brain, but it doesn’t come with a user guide. So we thought we’d pen a book that illuminates what’s going on within our skulls and what brains need to function optimally. The Sunday Express kindly published an article we wrote to support the launch of the book and the following Monday we got a mention in the Daily Express. We also penned a short article on how to stoke the fires of creativity which you can also read online.
We asked a few kind souls to read the final version before it went to print and were overwhelmed by the positive feedback. Below you’ll find just a small selection of the endorsements we received:
This truly inspiring and fascinating book leaves you never wanting to waste a single second ever again. Everything you need to know about how your brain works and how to maximize it is contained in an easy-to-read way. The book proves you really can do anything and there are lots of simple ways to help ensure you too can make the most of your biggest asset – your brain! Without doubt, a book you cannot be without!”
Dame Sarah Storey, DBE
For all the debate about governments nudging people to make better decisions or to adopt better behaviours, it is easy to overlook the fact that we can actually nudge ourselves. This book is a wonderful guide to how to do just that.”
Rory Sutherland
Executive Creative Director and
Vice Chairman, OgilvyOne London
I thought it was accessible, thought-provoking and full of useful, easy-to-follow tips about improving your everyday life through a better understanding of the brain.”
Killian Fox
Writer for The Observer and other publications
This book explores the kind of topics we all think and talk about: Is the internet making us stupid? What do alcohol and caffeine really do to our brains? It provides you with kind of fascinating nuggets of information you end up reading out to whoever you happen to be with, as well as practical tips on how to maximise what we all have between our ears. Forget brainstorming, it’s all about brainshaking and dunking now. Neuroscience demystified and simplified without being patronising; a must-read.”
Olivia Walmsley
Mail Online
A really great book that explains in layman’s terms how the brain works and how you can then translate that knowledge to enhance your own performance. Thought-provoking and insightful, it will add considerable value to anyone still willing to learn, irrespective of which rung of the success ladder they are on. It’s an enjoyable and extremely useful read.”
Mark Hussain
HSBC
Sort Your Brain Out is a must-read for everyone. It is a clever and thoughtful book designed to help the lay reader understand more about the brain’s most intimate workings but most importantly it provides erudite yet easily consumed bite-sized gobbets of information on how to improve one’s lobar lot. The fascinating examples are eminently readable and marvellously memorable; the reading of this book will stretch the brain in exactly the way the authors have devised. This is mental stimulation at its best.”
Chantal Rickards
Head of Programming and Branded Content
MEC
As someone who has spent their life reviewing neuroscience material, I was struck by how the overview on offer contextualises some aspects of brain function in a novel and refreshing way. In short, this is a delightful and illuminating read – it is the book that I would (will) give my family, when they ask searching questions about neuroscience – and what it means for them.”
Professor Karl Friston FRS
Scientific Director
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging
University College London
Sort Your Brain Out is has clarity of purpose and many features that puts it ahead of its competitors in an expanding area of interest. Making the best use of the amazing brains we all inherit, even though they are destined to operate in a world far removed from the environment that shaped their evolution, is crucial. There probably is no more important a task for us as individuals or for the groups we live and work in than this. Help and the chance to expand our insight is at hand.”
Ian Edwards
Head of Strategy
Advertising Planning firm Vizeum
Engaging, accessible, demystifying.”
Dr Daniel Glaser
Director
Science Gallery London
If you do decide to purchase a copy we’d be really grateful if you’d find time to review it on Amazon.
-
Brain Book Reading List for 2013
No comments yetPosted in Book ReviewsAug 31, 2013
Every single day of my life starts with a 20-30 min read in the bath. I call it going back to the womb. Just prior to crinkle o’clock I emerge wide awake, refreshed, head brimming with pearls of scientific wisdom.
I’ve found that regular consumption of popular science books stimulates my own thinking. Furthermore, I’ve found that having a few books on the go at the same time can enable a beautiful thing to occur. That delicious coincidence when you can draw together themes and concepts from completely different fields: fact and fiction/ science and art, opposite sides of the spectrum, that nonetheless all share a common thread. The moment of realisation, when connecting the dots is totally effortless, can be extremely intellectually rewarding and is promoted by having more than one book on the boil at any one time.
So anyway, I get through a fair few books. In fact I stumble across excellent tomes at a rate that far exceeds the time I have to review them. So now I’m going to take the opportunity to briefly review 5 in one go. I felt immensely enriched by the broad knowledge base these great writers accumulated over several decades and brought together in each and every one of these books.
Lifelines by Steven Rose
I’m choosing this one to top the list largely because I recently hosted a post-film Q&A after the film screening of a great neuroscience themed play called “Broken Bridges, Stunted Trees” put together by the OneKX crew. On the panel of this particular audience discussion, along with several other distinguished guests, was Prof Steven Rose himself. A man who “retired into full time research” in 1999 having been the Open University’s Head of Biology for three full decades!
Every now and then I have the opportunity to thank an author for fundamentally altering my thinking about a subject very close to my heart. LIFELINES truly changed the way I think about biology. When I thanked Prof Rose for writing LIFELINES he was chuffed as it was a book felt particularly proud of when he finished it back in 1997. And I can see why.
I loved biology throughout secondary school and have specialised in neurobiology at university and beyond. But it wasn’t until I read LIFELINES that I realised biology is not about nature and it’s not about nurture, but a jaunty waltz between the two. You simply cannot consider one in isolation of the other. Evidence of the cyclical interplay between genes and environment abounds in this wonderful book.
Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
There’s something magical to me about the way Jonah Lehrer writes. I’ve reviewed one of his books before: The Decisive Moment a.k.a. Why We Buy – was also extremely well written. I find his writing extremely compelling. He never labours the point too much. And so reading what he has conjured up in IMAGINE is effortless. He has a great knack for finding great stories to tell that really bring the scientific research to life by placing it in a familiar context. In IMAGINE he collates the latest research investigating how human brains do creativity and the types of environment that do and don’t foster it. He intertwines this science with genuinely fascinating anecdotes describing milestones in the creation of many products that we have all had experience of in some way, shape or form.
For the insights into how the most innovative companies in the creative industries stoke creativity so effectively alone it would still be in this list. These beautifully written, fact laden, tales of creativity-in-action are insightful, useful and have great retell value. Creative people will probably recognise some of the strategies already. Indeed, many people stumble on these behaviours going solo, through trial and error. Yet what lies between the covers of this particular book are all the effective strategies in one place, along with a little de-bunking of the common misunderstandings for good measure.
Better Than Human by Allen Buchanan
I’ve written articles about smart drugs and prosthetic devices in the past. This book is all about the long term ethical implications of both. Often neuroethics books are so dense with information that the reading of it can be really tough going. This isn’t one of those books that leaves you drowning in confusing terminology. On the contrary, it is an extremely easy read, conversational almost, yet it makes complex concepts crystal clear. It really makes you think hard about the powerful impact differences in access to technology have on the lives of various groups of people around the globe. But this isn’t just about any old technology, this is a new technology fit for the 21st century – technology that enhances your brain, boosting it’s capacities, going beyond good – BETTER THAN HUMAN.
It even explains why neuroethics is important. If you’re wondering – t’s important because current innovations in neuroscience could, in a very short time, fundamentally change human life on earth. Now you don’t want to get that kind of thing wrong. Once something has been invented, it cannot be uninvented. Neuroethics helps to establish what kind of research should be on and off limits. And if someone’s going to invent it anyway – what in the world are we do about it? BETTER THAN HUMAN make me glad that wise men and women have been thinking this all through, calmly and clearly, future gazing looking out for problems on the horizon. They predict which technologies are likely to come to fruition and identify solutions to certain potential problems before they happen. This book makes all this potentially foxing information very digestible, it brings the fruit all that experts’ deliberations to the table in finger bowls. A light meal of neural sustenance. Most importantly, it leaves the readers’ eyes wide open to the broader issues that may well face society in the not-too-distant future if the “haves” get all the benefits of technological enhancement whilst the “have nots” get left behind. Society needs to close the gap between rich and poor, not widen it – for everyone’s sake.
The Social Conquest of Earth by E. O. Wilson
Drugs, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond was the first book that boggled my mind in terms of the staggering breadth and width of knowledge that was drawn upon to tell the story of how we got where we are. The trajectory of mankind’s development through the ages was plotted via compelling accounts drawing from evolution, palaeontology, archaeology, natural history, anthropology and modern science to explain how the global power balance is skewed, for the time being at least, towards “western” countries. E.O. Wilson’s book THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH takes an equally broad perspective on how in the world we came to be the most dominant creature on planet earth out of billions of species. The depth and breadth of E. O. Wilson’s knowledge is staggering. His ability to boil such a diverse spectrum of information down into punchy little chapters is remarkable. His understandable desire to draw parallels between human and insect social behaviour/evolution can, I must admit, become tiresome. Particularly when he digs down into real detail, presumably to settle a score with academic competitors, of insect behaviour. However for me, as a person obsessed with the human brain, by skim reading the dense passages of entomology and slowing down when the discourse becomes mammalian centred again – I found this to be, overall, a great read. Wilson consistently manages to condense the debate down to meaty little mouthfuls of insight regarding what our ancestors had to go through to survive / evolve into us. And the insect stuff really does add some context, despite being too detailed for my tastes in many place. As for the non-insect heavy chapters, every page is a pleasure due to a clear effort to cut back all but the most relevant information required to make his deeply insightful points.
Decoded by Phil Barden
This is the most accurate and coherent account of how neuroscience and psychology can contribute to marketing that I have read to date. Phil Barden has over twenty years experience in the marketing world, having worked for some of the world’s largest and most influential firms. In DECODED he explains, with great clarity, insights that he and the team of scientists he works alongside have brought to their clients’ attention that have helped them communicate more effectively with their customers. Many books aimed at this market – like Martin Lindstrom’s “Buyology” and AK Pradeep’s “Buying Brain” have a distinct tendency to veer into the realms of wildly over-inflated claims. More sales than substance. DECODED is a book of substance. It does it’s job of clearly communicating various ways in which marketing can gain extra leverage on the basis of properly executed science.
Even if you have no interest whatsoever in marketing you should still read this book. Why? Well I think that if a person wishes to protect themselves against increasingly influential marketing ploys, then surely a book that takes you through the favoured tactics may be very helpful in terms of facilitating the process of dreaming up countermeasures? When a consumer becomes aware of that tactics being used, whether in the context of TV / radio / billboard ads, or shop floor merchandising and promotions, merely spotting them can defuse their potency. Stopping briefly to contemplate what that particular message is designed to get you to do can be very empowering. Rather than just allowing it to happen you can take a stand, be determined not to give in to the path of least resistance and take steps to evade falling into those psychological traps.
-
Creativity and the Brain by Dr Jack Lewis
No comments yetPosted in Dr Jack on TV Radio StageMar 10, 2012
I’ve recently developed a new live presentation on: “The Neuroscience of Creativity,” which I first presented at the Royal Society of Arts in February 2012. The rapidly expanding list of Brain Coach Live topics continues to grow.
I kick off by describing some of the features of modern life that are “Enemies of Creativity.” To help motivate this section I describe a Channel 4 architecture series I contributed to called “The Secret Life of Buildings.” In this show I used EEG to illustrate how the brain responds to a variety of sensory distractions typically encountered in a modern work environment – the open plan office. The presenter, The Independent architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff (pictured left), was wired up with an electrode studded scrum cap and plonked in the middle of a busy open plan office to write up an overdue newspaper article. When a colleague (to his left in the photograph) mentioned the word “pub,” an extensive burst of activity was triggered across his prefrontal cortices (pictured top right). His brainwaves also pulsed in response to movements in the background, conversations going on around him and especially the rattle of the trolley loaded with crockery and cutlery as the tea lady tottered by.
The point I wished to convey was that, although we might not consciously register sights and sounds that are constantly being picked up by our senses, they are nonetheless processed in the brain; diverting precious resources away from the task at hand.
This is relevant to the process of creativity because soaking up and considering vast quantities of information from a variety of sources for a prolongued period of time is often the first step towards solving a tricky problem and this requires sustained attention. And it is not just disturbances in our open plan working environments (classrooms fall into this category too, of course) that pull the brain’s attentional resources hither and thither, thus disrupting the intake of information. The demands made on us by our smartphones constantly alerting us to the arrival of endless emails, texts, calls and social networking updates also interferes with creative thinking.
The first tip for boosting creativity is thus to block out distractions by switching off smartphones, closing down email accounts and sticking in the earplugs. Take a tip from french polymath Henry Pointcaré and work in regular two hour sessions from 10:00-12:00 and 17:00-19:00 to get those distraction-free bouts of unbroken concentration in. That way you will be able to take in all the necessary input relevant to the problem at hand. Later, once the subconscious brain has mulled over the possibilities, circumventing the inevitable mental blocks, your Eureka moment will come when you least expect it.
Great thinkers have typically reached their big creative breakthroughs, usually described in the scientific literature as “Aha! moments,” at a time when they were not thinking terribly hard. For instance, Henry Pointcaré cracked one of his biggest mathematical conundrums whilst stepping onto a bus, Kekulé day-dreamed a snake biting its tail to crack the chemical structure of benzene whilst dozing by the fire and Archimedes was famously plonking himself in the bath.
The point is that when a “mental impasse” is reached i.e. you’ve done lots of work on trying to crack the problem, but don’t seem to be getting anywhere – the best thing you can possibly do is walk away from it and do something else. You must leave it to your subconscious to play with all the information you have furiously uploaded into your brain and wait for the solution to percolate up into consciousness once you are between thoughts.
The rest of the talk describes a medley of the latest neuroscientific investigations into the Aha! moment courtesy of the likes of Joydeep Bhattacharya and colleageues at Goldsmith’s University. They discovered that the moment that a problem is solved is associated with activation across the right prefrontal cortex up to 8s before the person registers their response.
I also touch upon Alan Snyder and colleage’s contraversial experiment where transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) was used to transiently deactivate brain areas over the left anterior temporal/prefrontal areas whilst stimulating right anterior temporal/prefrontal areas resulting in three-fold improvements in finding solutions to creative problems. The idea is based on the theory that, in most right handed people, the left brain controls well rehearsed over-learned behaviours, whilst the right brain is more involved in grappling with novel stimuli and generating creative behaviour.
Finally, I described what modern science knows about the hypnagogic state, where wakefulness drifts off into sleep, well know to be an incredibly fertile ground for creativity. Scientist and engineer Thomas Edison was a great believer in using the hypnagogic state to boost creativity and given his 1,093 patents and inventions that lead to electric lighting, plus the music and movie industries, I would say that his is a testimony we can all believe.
Clues as to how and why this brain state is so enormously innovative arise from very recent studies (Magnin et al, 2010) in which electrodes attached all over the surface of a human brain to measure the neuronal activity as a person falls asleep. This has revealed that the thalamus – the brain’s main junction box through which all parts of the cortex are connected to all other parts – “falls asleep” first whilst other brain areas “switch off” up to 5mins, 10mins, 15 mins and even 20 mins later! Until then these brain areas are still firing away, yet cut off as they from the rest of the brain by the absence of viable cortico-thalmo-cortical connectivity, it is surely this dissociation which leads to those magical sparkles of insight?
Edison even invented a clever device for capturing creative thoughts before they are forgotten. If you want to know more about this then you can click here to book me in to give this talk at your school, university or firm!
If you’d like to leave a comment below, please do, but so that I can find it amongst all the spam comments would you please email me to tell me on what day and at what time you left it so that I can find and approve it.
In addition to these brainblogs you can also follow my regular #braintweets by following me (@DrJackLewis) on Twitter.