Neuroscience

We Finally Know Why Birds Are So Freakishly Smart

Birds are capable of extraordinary behavioral feats, from solving complex puzzles to tool making. There may be good reason for that. A new study shows that, pound for pound, birds pack more neurons into their small brains than mammals, including primates. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this study is the…

Tech News George Dvorsky Jun 13

Rare Genetic Mutation May Explain Some Forms of Multiple Sclerosis

Canadian scientists have uncovered a single genetic mutation that significantly heightens a person’s chance of developing a progressive and severe form of multiple sclerosis. While no single factor is responsible for causing the neurological disease, the discovery points to possible treatment options. A new paper published in the science journal Neuron shows that a mutation…

Tech News George Dvorsky Jun 1

This Simple Test Can Predict Whether a Comatose Patient Will Ever Wake Up

For friends and family, fewer things are more agonizing than not knowing if or when a loved one in a coma will regain consciousness following a severe head injury or drug overdose. Researchers have shown that a common test can measure awareness in comatose patients—and even predict when they might wake up. As described in…

Health George Dvorsky May 26

America’s Most Common Drug Ingredient Could Be Making You Less Empathetic

Every week, a quarter of Americans take a painkiller that could be dampening our collective feelings of empathy. In a paper published online this week, scientists claim that acetaminophen, Tylenol’s main ingredient, makes people more likely to think that other people’s pain isn’t a big deal. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Ohio…

Health Angela Chen May 14

DARPA’s Mind-Controlled Arm Will Make You Wish You Were a Cyborg

When I asked Johnny Matheny if I could shake his hand, I was admittedly a little nervous. The soft-spoken Floridian lost his lower left arm to cancer eight years back. His new arm—an advanced, mind-controlled prosthetic developed by DARPA—can crush a human human skull like a child squeezing a clementine. Of course, Matheny is a…

Tech News Maddie Stone May 12

Why We Don’t Crash Our Cars While Daydreaming and Driving

Many of us have experienced prolonged stretches of driving where we’re seemingly oblivious to our surroundings, and we’re left dumbfounded that we didn’t get into a serious accident. A new study suggests that a specific brain function protects us from these bouts of absentminded driving—but that it completely breaks down while texting. In 2014, over…

Tech News George Dvorsky May 12

How Your Brain Uses Statistics to Boost Your Confidence

We make many decisions every day, from choosing whether to buy skim or whole milk, to deciding which way to turn at an intersection. How confident you feel about your choices will influence your behavior. But that subjective feeling of confidence stems from objective statistical calculations in the brain, according to a new paper in…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette May 4

New Brain Map Shows Where Words Are Stored Inside Your Head

Researchers have created a new map of the human brain which shows where we organize words depending on their meaning—and it could help us read minds more accurately than ever. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have published an interactive version of the map online. It allows you to explore the whole brain, clicking…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Apr 28

Scientists Have Been Using a Flawed Method to Diagnose Pain

For many years, neuroscientists believed they had identified a specific pattern of brain activity acting as a kind of “signature” for pain in the brain. Recently this so-called “pain matrix” has been called into question, and a new study by British researchers may have shattered the myth once and for all. The pain matrix is…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette Apr 25

Why We Sleep So Poorly In Unfamiliar Places

Many of us have trouble sleeping in an unfamiliar place, like a hotel, or a friend’s house for the first time. When we finally do get to sleep, it’s often fidgety and disturbed. New research shows that one hemisphere of our brain stays more active during the first night of sleep—and it does so to…

Tech News George Dvorsky Apr 21

New ‘Time Slice’ Theory Suggests You’re Not as Conscious as You Think You Are

Our conscious perception of the world feels like a continuous and uninterrupted flow, but a new study suggests that it’s actually more like the frames of a movie reel running through a projector. There’s still a lot we don’t know about consciousness and how it arises in the brain. Even though perception—such as vision and…

Tech News George Dvorsky Apr 14

Brain Implant Enables Quadriplegic Man to Play Guitar Hero With His Hands

Six years ago while vacationing with friends, Ian Burkhart suffered an accident that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. A new system now allows him to make complex movements with his hand and fingers, making him the first person in history to regain function using signals from his brain. The system, called NeuroLife, is…

Tech News George Dvorsky Apr 13

The Best Little Brain Reader Your Money Can’t Buy (Yet)

Let’s be honest: it would be really cool to have a wearable personal brain-computer interface (BCI) that would monitor your brain waves while you do all your favorite activities. Not to mention being able to operate smart phone apps using your thoughts alone. That day is closer than you think. Meet the BrainStation—your brain interface…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette Apr 13

This Is What Really Happens to Your Brain When You’re Tripping on LSD

For the first time ever, researchers have peered into the brains of people tripping out on LSD. The groundbreaking scans reveal the dramatic extent to which the psychedelic drug affects normal brain function, while pointing towards therapies for similar psychological disorders. In a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a…

Tech News George Dvorsky Apr 11

The Secrets To Handling Passive-Aggressive People

Dealing with people who exhibit passive-aggressive behavior is easily one of the most challenging aspects of our social lives. Here’s what you need to know about this annoying personality quirk and how you can handle people who express their hostility in indirect and backhanded ways. Interacting with passive-aggressive (PA) people is something many of us…

io9 George Dvorsky Mar 25

Everything You Know About Artificial Intelligence is Wrong

It was hailed as the most significant test of machine intelligence since Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in chess nearly 20 years ago. Google’s AlphaGo has won two of the first three games against grandmaster Lee Sedol in a Go tournament, showing the dramatic extent to which AI has improved over the years. That fateful…

Artificial Intelligence George Dvorsky Mar 14

Monkey Brains Reveal How We Know Which Way Is Up

These are some of the 500 images recently shown to rhesus monkeys while their brains were being monitored. None are meant to correspond to any real-world physical object, but the experimental results revealed certain cells in the object area of the brain that let us recognize up and down, and to grasp that those directions…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 8

Cyborg Rats Solve Mazes Better and Faster Than Normal Rats

Chinese scientists have created “cyborgized” rats that perform better on maze tests than normal rats and a computer algorithm. It’s an exciting proof-of-concept that heralds the potential for “cyborg intelligence.” The details have just been published in PLOS One. Digital computers and biological brains are capable of remarkable feats, but their competencies don’t always overlap.…

Tech News George Dvorsky Mar 8

This Monkey is Controlling a Wheelchair With its Mind

Researchers have developed a wireless brain interface that allows monkeys to control the movements of a robotic wheelchair using their thoughts alone. The breakthrough suggests that similar interfaces could allow severely paralyzed individuals to navigate all sorts of robotic devices with their minds. Prior to this study, researchers used brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) to help primates control…

Tech News George Dvorsky Mar 3

No, Scientists Have Not Created a Matrix-Like Interface That Instantly Uploads Data to Your Brain

Remember that mind-blowing scene in The Matrix when Neo had jiu-jitsu and kung fu uploaded directly into his brain? Researchers from HRL Laboratories are now saying they’ve developed a similar device that “teaches” pilots new skills. Too bad it’s bullshit. Sadly, this is a classic case of scientists doing reasonably good work, but then having…

Tech News George Dvorsky Mar 1

We Finally Know Why Birds Are So Freakishly Smart

Rare Genetic Mutation May Explain Some Forms of Multiple Sclerosis

This Simple Test Can Predict Whether a Comatose Patient Will Ever Wake Up

America’s Most Common Drug Ingredient Could Be Making You Less Empathetic

DARPA’s Mind-Controlled Arm Will Make You Wish You Were a Cyborg

Why We Don’t Crash Our Cars While Daydreaming and Driving

How Your Brain Uses Statistics to Boost Your Confidence

New Brain Map Shows Where Words Are Stored Inside Your Head

Scientists Have Been Using a Flawed Method to Diagnose Pain

Why We Sleep So Poorly In Unfamiliar Places

New ‘Time Slice’ Theory Suggests You’re Not as Conscious as You Think You Are

Brain Implant Enables Quadriplegic Man to Play Guitar Hero With His Hands

The Best Little Brain Reader Your Money Can’t Buy (Yet)

This Is What Really Happens to Your Brain When You’re Tripping on LSD

The Secrets To Handling Passive-Aggressive People

Everything You Know About Artificial Intelligence is Wrong

Monkey Brains Reveal How We Know Which Way Is Up

Cyborg Rats Solve Mazes Better and Faster Than Normal Rats

This Monkey is Controlling a Wheelchair With its Mind

No, Scientists Have Not Created a Matrix-Like Interface That Instantly Uploads Data to 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

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