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What is the most cringe-inducing sound of them all?

Everyone has noises that make them squirm and bury their ears beneath their hands. But which sound is the absolute worst of the worst? Researchers at Newcastle University are using fMRI technology to figure out which sounds our brains hate the most. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL and Newcastle University…

io9 Lauren Davis Oct 13

Did you just take a vitamin C tablet, or a hit of ecstasy?

Above, New Scientist’s Graham Lawton describes his experience as a test subject in a groundbreaking study on MDMA, the recreational drug commonly known as ecstasy. The research is being led by David Nutt, a former chief drug advisor to the UK who was dismissed from his position in 2009 after criticizing the government’s classification of…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 18

Robot Body Controlled By Human Thoughts Alone

For the first time, scientists have managed to use fMRI scans of a human to control the movements of a robot body. The link between man and machine allowed the researchers to control a robot in France from a brain scanner in Israel. New Scientist reports the momentous achievement, which is the culmination of research…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jul 6

Scientists Invent Mind-Reading System That Lets You Type With Your Brain

Researchers have invented a mind-reading system that, for the first time in history, allows any person to type words and phrases letter by letter, just by thinking. It all occurs in real time, without moving a single muscle or uttering a single word. This is an amazing invention. Not only it will help anyone with…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jun 28

This man can read the minds of vegetative patients

Neuroscientist Adrian Owen estimates that 20 percent of patients in a so-called “vegetative state” are, in fact, capable of communicating with the outside world. This is not a delusion. Using brain imaging techniques like fMRI, Owen — pictured above — has provided some remarkably compelling evidence that “non-responsive” and “unreachable” patients are often surprisingly cognizant…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 15

We Brag Because It Feels as Good as Sex

It often seems like a lot of people sure love talking about themselves. But now scientists are working out why we love to brag, and it turns out it’s not really our fault: talking about yourself provides the exact same sensation as great food, money and sex. The research, which was carried out at Harvard…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe May 8

This is what your brain on drugs really looks like

Scientists this week published a study that reveals what the human brain looks like under the influence of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms. The study has turned a few heads, and raised some interesting questions. What does the human brain look like during a mushroom trip? Come to think of it, what…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 25

10 Awesome Online Classes You Can Take For Free

Back in August, we told you about a free course on artificial intelligence being offered by Stanford University, and co-taught by two world-renowned AI experts. The class officially started today, so if you managed to register for it on time, then good on you. https://gizmodo.com/enroll-in-a-free-course-on-artificial-intelligence-tau-5834891 But if you didn’t manage to register for the course…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 10

An objective way to measure pain? It’s closer than you think.

Many doctors rely on patients to indicate levels of pain and discomfort, and while these self-reports are certainly subjective, they can still provide physicians with valuable clinical information. But what happens when patients are unable to talk with their doctors, like in cases of severe cognitive or communicative impairment? For years, researchers have searched for…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 13

I Don’t Want to Live in a World Where Machines Can Read My Mind. Or Do I?

Researchers equipped with fMRI machines have shown that they can link specific brainwave functions to specific objects, ideas or emotions. What they see as innovation, I see as the goddamn thought police running amuck in 30 years. The fMRI brain scans showed certain patterns of human brain activity sparked by thinking about physical objects, such…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 5

Here’s Why You Suck at Multitasking

Seriously, you’re not the master multitasker you might imagine. No matter how smart you think you are, your brain is not built for doing lots of things at the same time. But don’t worry, most humans are in the same boat. The latest in a series of studies that show humans are crap at multitasking…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Aug 16

Love Is The Ultimate Painkiller

Don’t bother with morphine the next time you are in pain. All you need is a healthy dose of love to make yourself feel better in an instant. A group of 17 women lined up at UCLA to have their brains scanned while they received brief, stinging shocks. They endured this form of medical torture…

Tech News Kelly Jun 29

Mapping the Brains of Human Echolocators

Vision and hearing are generally regarded as two very different senses. Unless, of course, you can echolocate. Now, scientists have revealed for the first time that human echolocators — blind individuals who navigate their surroundings by producing mouth clicks and listening to the returning echoes — actually process these sounds in the regions of the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 3

How Hollywood Studios Harness Your Brainwaves to Win Oscars

One thing you aren’t likely to hear Sunday night from the Oscar-winning producer after accepting the trophy for Best Picture: “I’d like to thank my neuroscience partners who helped us enhance the film’s script, characters, and scenes.” It’s not that far-fetched, though. A sizable number of neuromarketing companies already brain test movie trailers for the…

Movies Kevin Randall - Fast Company Feb 26

Brain-Scanning Lie Detectors May Be Used In Court Soon

Lie and your brain will send more blood to the ventrolateral area of your prefrontal cortex. fMRI scans can tell when this happens by measuring blood-oxygen levels in the brain. Soon such brain-scanning lie detectors may be used in courts. fMRI scans aren’t exactly perfect when it comes to showing when someone is lying—in some…

Tech News Rosa Golijan May 4

Six Ways Science Can See Into Your Brain

It seems like every week a new study comes along touting the new ways scientists can “read your mind.” How exactly do scientists and doctors manage to peer inside your skull? Find out in this handy guide to brain scans. The science of neuroimaging (the fancy name for brain scans) is relatively new. We’ve been…

io9 Ed Grabianowski Mar 17

How Your Brain Will Betray You in a Court of Law

I know it’s science, which is ostensibly more objective than human intuition, but there’s something unnerving about an MRI brain scan being admitted as evidence in a murder trial in Chicago, the first in the US. True, here the fMRI is being used by the defense as a means to elude the death penalty, and…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Nov 24

Brain-Reading Machines Know What You’ve Seen

fMRI technology has been used for lie detection and identify memories of an event, but some researchers are looking to push its mind-reading capabilities even further, using brain scans of subjects to reconstruct images they’ve recently viewed. In the most recent issue of Neuron, Jack Gallant and Thomas Naselaris of the University of California, Berkeley…

io9 Lauren Davis Sep 25

Your Brain Will Eventually Be Used Against You

Although every lie detector ever built has proved unreliable, scientists continue to search for that magic machine that will reveal dishonesty. Now two Harvard neuroscientists have hit on a “pre-crime” technique that reveals intent to lie before it happens. While some people already think that brain-imaging lie detectors are a scam, others remain convinced that…

io9 Megan Carpentier Jul 13

The Next Witness for the Prosecution Could Be Your Brain

Earlier this year, an Indian court convicted Aditi Sharma of murdering her fiancé. Although she maintains her innocence, Sharma was convicted based on a brain electrical oscillation signatures test, which the prosecution claimed proved that she possessed experiential knowledge of the crime. Now some individuals are looking to introduce brain scan evidence in US courts…

io9 Lauren Davis Oct 17

What is the most cringe-inducing sound of them all?

Did you just take a vitamin C tablet, or a hit of ecstasy?

Robot Body Controlled By Human Thoughts Alone

Scientists Invent Mind-Reading System That Lets You Type With Your Brain

This man can read the minds of vegetative patients

We Brag Because It Feels as Good as Sex

This is what your brain on drugs really looks like

10 Awesome Online Classes You Can Take For Free

An objective way to measure pain? It’s closer than you think.

I Don’t Want to Live in a World Where Machines Can Read My Mind. Or Do I?

Here’s Why You Suck at Multitasking

Love Is The Ultimate Painkiller

Mapping the Brains of Human Echolocators

How Hollywood Studios Harness Your Brainwaves to Win Oscars

Brain-Scanning Lie Detectors May Be Used In Court Soon

Six Ways Science Can See Into Your Brain

How Your Brain Will Betray You in a Court of Law

Brain-Reading Machines Know What You’ve Seen

Your Brain Will Eventually Be Used Against You

The Next Witness for the Prosecution Could Be Your Brain

Amazon Is Sticking With ‘Rings of Power’ to the End

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

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Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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