As I get older, it seems that the weeks, months and years go by faster each year. I think this is a fairly common experience and occasionally ponder why this is. One theory is that as you get older, you settle into a more standard routine. My months don’t vary as much from month to month [...]
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thanks to Ted at Yaicha, for posting this article following up on the recent coverage by Yaicha and others of Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk. Taylor’s speech about her stroke and the vantage it gave her on the inner-workings of her mind is engaging. We posted an embedded video of her talk last month. [...]
Friday, May 23, 2008
Photo by: Krischall Neuroscientist argues that today’s technology may be altering our brain chemistry for the worse Engineers at Caltech are developing a technique involving tiny robots inserting and arranging electrodes into our brain tissue to facilitate connecting our brains to computers. (Via Roland Piquepaille’s Technology Trends) The Brain Loop is a brain-to-computer interface device developed by [...]
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The dancer in this optical illusion can be seen spinning clockwise or counterclockwise depending on the viewer's perspective. Some say that the one you see is indicative of which side of your brain is dominant. I saw the dancer spinning clockwise, and it took me a while to get the direction to flip. The key to getting the picture to flip is focusing on the center foot. Once you see the rotation of the foot change the rest of the picture will follow.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Last week Wired magazine published an in-depth article profiling the creator of a learning software application called SuperMemo. The concept for this software is that memorization and learning is achived through repetition, but that the ideal time to refresh your memory about something is as close as possible to when you about to forget it. Apparently, research has shown that reviewing material at the right time significantly increases retention.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wired.com is running an interesting set of articles on hacking your brain for maximum effect. One of the topics they cover is a list of potential brain enhancing drugs, some legal, some not. This topic has been getting some attention lately as the tech corollary to doping in sports. Check out an excerpt from the grid below, or the full grid at link # 5 below.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
I know this video has been making the rounds on the web, but if you haven’t watched it yet you should. Bolte’s talk is educational and inspiring.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The old saying that humans only use ten percent of their brains never seems to be all that useful in practice, since we haven't unlocked the secret to using the other ninety percent. An article today in the Daily Galaxy helps illustrate some recent clues discovered that may help us understand how to tap that unused potential. The scientist featured in the article are working to help ordinary people tap in to their mind's latent super-abilities. Sounds a little like X-Men or the 4400.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I am a big fan of science inspired art, so I was particularly interested in this neural network art project by Phil Stearns. Stearns has created an Artificial Neural Network using electronic components that produce sound and light in response to the stimulus in the sculpture's environment. The piece is a complex mess of wires and components responding to nearby conversations and changes in lighting. The neurons also respond to each other, meaning that once it gets started, the sculpture converses with itself for a time
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Grad Student Chris Chatam at the University of Colorado has written an comprehensive user's guide for caffeine. Chatam's article breaks down caffeine use from a scientific perspective, and is a must read for caffeine addicted techies like myself. Excerpt and link below:
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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