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mad neuroscience
Posts Tagged “mad neuroscience”
mad neuroscience
mad neuroscience
You Would Be Happier If You Watched Football and Didn't Have Sex
Matthieu Ricard is famous not just because he works with the Dalai Lama, but because a group of neuroscientists have scanned his brain and proven that he's off-the-charts happy. In fact, he's the happiest guy ever to stick his head in an MRI brain scanner, or to wear a zillion EEG sensors on his head (pictured). A couple of years ago, the Buddhist monk took his notoriety from the scientific journals and wrote a self-help book called Happiness. Now he goes to exclusive conferences to teach business execs how to feel happy. If Ricard's own life is any guide, there are just a few ingredients necessary to convert your sad brain into a happy one. More »
mad neuroscience
Why Dyslexics Are Good Computer Programmers
People suffering from dyslexia may find that their problems evaporate when they learn a new language, especially one that works with symbols very different from their native one. A study released yesterday reveals that brain abnormalities in English-speakers with dyslexia are quite different from those in people who speak Chinese. So it's very possible that a person who is dyslexic in Chinese wouldn't be in English, and vice versa. This also helps explain why so many dyslexics are able to excel at computer programming, which requires them to write very precisely in a computer language. More »
mad neuroscience
Manipulating a Single Protein in Your Brain Creates "Autistic Savants"
Some autistics are known as "autistic savants" because they develop a genius in one subject, such as mathematics or art. New research shows this syndrome can be induced by tinkering with one protein in the brain which is responsible for building synapses, the brain structures that help neurons talk to each other. Neuroscientists at MIT (pictured) bred rats that lacked this protein, known as Shank1, and discovered the creatures could do spacial learning an extremely rapid clip, though they showed other signs of severe autism. These neuroscientists' work could go in two directions: curing some kinds of autism, and inducing selective superintelligence. More »
neuroscience fiction
