By Bar Yosef
Megan Chappell was in high school when her uncle was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She set out to learn more about the disease but had trouble…
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We are told today that science and technology are progressing at an unprecedented rate, that researchers continue to shovel coal into the runaway train of scientific advancement, not seeing the…
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For the first time in U.S. history, the science advisor to the president has been elevated to a cabinet-level position. While this move was perhaps precipitated by the scientific nature…
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Knowing Neurons interviews Dr. Stephanie White, Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA, about her work studying vocal learning in songbirds as well as her role as the Assistant…
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Understanding the complexity of the human mind and body is a feat that some would say is impossible. While the scientific community forges on despite the immense expanse of the…
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In March 2020, my research stopped. The cognitive neuroscience lab where I work was shuttered because our research involves collecting behavioral and neuroimaging data from human participants – something impermissible…
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Three years ago, I asked “What the heck is a claustrum?” In that piece, I described the mystery of this oddly shaped brain region, located just below the cerebral cortex.…
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Each night when you dream, your mind is active, yet your body is largely unresponsive unless woken up. A similar situation exists for some brain-injured patients who have lost consciousness—although…
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[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a brand new episode of the Knowing Neurons podcast, we explore the concept of “mind uploading”. How would something like a mind upload really work?…
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The phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” seems especially true for scientists. What we study becomes not only intellectually beautiful, but also literally beautiful: the form is…
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On January 26, I had the honor of visiting the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), one of the largest and most complex scientific research facilities in the world. What was…
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The pursuit of science is challenging. It is where new knowledge is born. In their path towards the unknown, scientists, too, face their fair share of insecurity. When experiments fail,…
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When babies are born, they cannot see very well, but their vision vastly improves as they continue to develop. Sometimes, the eyes don’t communicate well with the brain, and vision…
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In a recent presidential town hall, President Obama looked directly into the camera and made a powerful statement about mental health. “If something inside you feels like it’s wounded, it’s…
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It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon. Professor Freeman is enjoying the Southern California weather on Professor Domino’s patio.
Domino: Will it be Coke or Pepsi, Dr. Freeman?
Freeman: That’s an easy…
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Ten minutes before I was scheduled to begin my interview with celebrated writer Steve Silberman, I still had not figured out which questions I wanted to ask him. Staring down…
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Knowing Neurons is proud to present our inaugural entry in a new series of YouTube videos! In this episode, Joel asks, “Is the brain smarter than a computer?” With Joel as…
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Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Anna Akana and Brad Gage for their podcast called “Explain Things To Me,” a show that features conversations with experts in various fields,…
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If you think about it, the surface of the human body, the skin, is actually one huge sheet of tactile receptors. The dozens…
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It is easy to assume that if a car has a gas pedal, it needs to have brakes, and similarly, if our brain…
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When we see the world, there is a huge amount of processing that occurs in the neural circuits of the retina, thalamus, and…
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Take your wildest guess. How many neurons make up the human brain? You’re not guessing wild enough if you said anything less than…
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