2013: Another Year’s Worth of Brain Breakthrough Tweet Action
This year I’ve been tweeting about brain-related breakthroughs in the realms of neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry and AI – here’s the lot…
What Does a Human Brain Really Look Like?
I was literally gobsmacked when he sawed open the roof of the skull and a wobbly, pale pink, fresh human brain flopped out into his hands.
Fourth Anniversary of Dr Jack’s Brain Talks for Secondary Schools
“The talk was inspirational for staff and students alike. The students enjoyed your informal yet informative style. You made difficult concepts easy to grasp. They especially liked how you applied these high level ideas to their everyday lives and studying. You were witty andmost importantly not in the slightest bit patronising.”
How Virtual Environments Shape Your Brain by Dr Jack Lewis
My message is simple. Stop and think about your use of technology for a moment to consider whether the likely changes to your brain will serve you and those around you better or worse after the re-modelling has taken place.
Brain Book Reading List for 2013
5 Great Brain Books to get you through the autumn months: Lifelines, Imagine, Better Than Human, Decoded and The Social Conquest of Earth
Hang Onto Your Marbles by Dr Jack Lewis
By increasing interconnectivity between different brain areas involved in a wide variety of cognitive functions the onset of dementia may be delayed by enabling other brain areas take over the function of regions damaged as the brain ages.
Green Spaces Accelerate Healing by Dr Jack
On average those with the view of a green space spent on average one less day in hospital and required much fewer moderate or strong doses of pain killers compared to those with a view of the brick wall.
Prof Irene Tracey explains How Brains Change Pain
Dr Jack interviews pain guru Prof Irene Tracey of the University of Oxford whose lab uses brain imaging to better understand how brains produce & regulate pain.
Game Review: “MORE Brain Training” on the Nintendo DS
MORE Brain Training offers a few new games, many of which are similar to the old ones, some are plain dull, but a handful are really quite novel and clever. Overall I would say it is a bit tougher on the old synapses than the predecessor (that’s a good thing)
Malcolm Gladwell “Blink” Review by Dr Jack
What I like most about this book is that, admittedly with a fair degree of repetition, it makes one point clear and true – if you’ve developed considerable expertise then you can make sound judgements in the blink of an eye, but if you haven’t then your instincts may well misguide you; leading to potentially catastrophic consequences.