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The Neuroscience of Avatar – could we really download our brains into a new body?

By Lauren Wagner Thirteen years after the first Avatar movie came out in 2009, director James Cameron invites viewers to journey back to the faraway, lush exo-moon of Pandora with… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesCognition

Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease

By Mariella Careaga Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that progressively impacts a person’s cognitive functioning and behavioral capacities, leading, ultimately, to the disruption of that person’s daily life.… Read More
Big IdeasBrain BasicsBrain DevelopmentMental HealthNeurological and Psychiatric DisordersNeuroscience TechniquesNeuroscience Technologies

Cerebral Organoids Reveal New Angles for Understanding the Human Brain

When you think of researchers growing “mini-brains,” you might picture a mad scientist out of a sci-fi or horror movie. But the reality looks quite different. Cerebral organoids, often colloquially… Read More
Artificial IntelligenceBig IdeasDid You Know?Evolution of CognitionNeuro SciFiNeuroscience Technologies

The AMI Procedure- Gateway to a Cyborg Future

Advances in bioengineering and robotics have delivered incredible devices capable of partially restoring functionality to those who suffer from movement related disabilities. However, this technology is not perfect. Patients still… Read More
Artificial IntelligenceBig IdeasCollaborationsDid You Know?InterviewsNeuro NewsNeuroscience Technologies

Neuroscience Education in the Time of COVID-19: An Interview with Dr. Megan Peters about Neuromatch Academy

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… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBig IdeasLearning and MemoryMovement

Optogenetics: An Illuminating Tool with A Bright Future

Nearly everything we do requires our brain in some way. Eating a bagel? That uses your brain. Reading this article? That’s using your brain, too. All those questionable decisions you… Read More
Sensation and PerceptionLearning and MemoryNeuroscience TechnologiesSleep

How Binaural Beats Affect Your Brain – and How They Don’t

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he beat is low and steady – but it’s all just in my head… While I’m sitting on my couch, listening to some smooth jazz, there is a faint beat… Read More
Neuro NewsNeuroscience Technologies

One Small Map for Fruit Flies, One Giant Leap for Neuroscience

*Note: this article explores a recent paper that has been reviewed and published in its preprint form, before peer review. [dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile there is a certain majesty in the convoluted wrinkles… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBig IdeasPhilosophy

Is Neuroimaging Just Modern Phrenology?

You might have heard the term ‘phrenology’ thrown around, usually in the context of pseudoscience and racism. Or, if you’ve heard discussions about the Quentin Tarantino movie Django Unchained, it… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesArtificial IntelligenceBig IdeasConsciousness

Reverse Engineering the Brain

Can we learn everything about the brain by studying individual brain cells? It started with a simple equation. In 1980, a mathematician named Benoit Mandelbrot working for IBM plotted the… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBrain Basics

The Brain’s Building Blocks: Of Protons and Voxels

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat’s in a brain? That which we call a voxel by any other name would sound far less confusing. Imagine all of the atoms in your brain. Now imagine how these… Read More
Brain BasicsNeuro NewsNeurological and Psychiatric DisordersNeuroscience TechnologiesVideos

Lighting Up The Brain With Optogenetics

Scientists studying pond scum discovered its peculiar ability to sense light, even without eyes. This discovery would eventually lead to a technique called optogenetics, one of the most powerful techniques… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesNeurological and Psychiatric Disorders

The Past and Promise of Deep Brain Stimulation

In the early 1980s, a few batches of contaminated synthetic heroin triggered severe Parkinson’s disease symptoms among the drug addicts who used it. The tragedy would lead to a new… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesSensation and Perception

Neuromorphic Engineering: Biomimicry from the Brain

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat is the brain? Researchers conceive of neurons as information processing units, meaning that the circuits formed by neurons support logical and mathematical operations. In this view, the brain is… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBig IdeasNeuroscience ArtSensation and Perception

How Neuroimaging Changes Our View of Science & Humanity

Magritte’s comments on our fascination with the unknown rings true not just in artistic surrealism, but also in many of our scientific research endeavors. The human mind is continually fascinated… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBig IdeasNeuro SciFiNeurological and Psychiatric DisordersPhilosophy

The Ultimate Thought Experiment Part III: Flowers for Algernon

In Part II of this series, we considered artificial intelligent in the context of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel and Stanley Kubrik’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In Space Odyssey, intelligence… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBrain BasicsBrain DevelopmentDid You Know?Learning and MemoryNeuro NewsSensation and Perception

How does fundamental research help you?

Sometimes it’s hard to understand why scientists do what they do. Why spend a career studying cells, fungus, or flies? Other than being nerdy and wanting to learn about our… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesDid You Know?

Stimulating Neural Circuits with Magnetism

Brain stimulation might sound like some Frankensteinian demonstration from a Victorian science fair. But in reality, it is a contemporary technique making a huge impact in neuroscience by addressing a… Read More
Sensation and PerceptionNeuroscience TechnologiesVideos

Meet our newest team member Kayleen Schreiber

We have someone new joining our team!  She is a neuroscience PhD student at the University of Iowa, and she studies speech perception – but let’s let the animation she created… Read More
Did You Know?Neuroscience TechnologiesSensation and Perception

Hacking your Brain with Smart Drugs

What if you could take a pill to enhance your cognitive abilities?  What if this pill could help you ace a test, get more work done efficiently, and truly multitask? … Read More
Big IdeasBrain BasicsDid You Know?Neuroscience TechnologiesPhilosophyPopular Articles

How Do We Know? The Value of Scientific Models.

Last month, astronomers announced the prediction of a new giant planet in our solar system dubbed Planet IX, a genuine ninth planet with ten times the mass of Earth.  The… Read More
Did You Know?Neuro SciFiNeuroscience Technologies

The Neuroscience of Star Wars

For the first time in over a decade, a new Star Wars film is upon us, and if you’re like the staff of Knowing Neurons, your nucleus accumbens is firing… Read More
Did You Know?Neuroscience Technologies

Mapping Brain Connectivity Using Graph Theory

Have you ever wondered why the same brain regions are often implicated again and again in many tasks and behaviors?  For instance, the prefrontal cortex is implicated in so many… Read More
Artificial IntelligenceDid You Know?Neuroscience Technologies

The Turing Test: Is that Human or Machine?

I propose to consider the following question, ‘Can machines think?’ Thus begins Alan Turing’s paper “Computing machinery and intelligence.”  It’s 1950 England, and the world’s first computer is being used… Read More
Did You Know?Neuroscience Technologies

CRISPR-Cas9: Targeted Genome Editing

~ Infographic by Jooyeun Lee and Kate Fehlhaber. ~ References: Hsu P. & Feng Zhang (2014). Development and Applications of CRISPR-Cas9 for Genome Engineering, Cell, 157 (6) 1262-1278. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.05.010 Fineran… Read More
Learning and MemoryNeuro NewsNeuroscience Technologies

Intracranial EEG and Mental Time Travel

A familiar progression of chords blares out of your speakers as the red lights of the surrounding traffic fade into the memory of a dark stage illuminated by pulsing neon lights.… Read More
Brain BasicsDid You Know?Neuroscience Technologies

Surfing Brainwaves with EEG: A Classic Tool for Recording Temporal Brain Dynamics

Pictures are powerful tools for illustrating quantitative data and capturing public interest.  Each year, NASA releases many beautiful images of Martian dunes and distant nebulae which help win public funding.… Read More
Neuro NewsNeuroscience Technologies

Mapping the Information Highway in the Brain

It’s hard to imagine life without Google Maps nowadays.  We use the interactive map daily to find out how to get from point A to point B.  Wouldn’t it be… Read More
Neuro NewsNeuroscience TechnologiesSensation and Perception

Turning On A “Photoswitch” Helps Blind Mice See The Light

Our senses connect us to the world.  Your visual system lets you know that there is a yellow car ahead of you, and your auditory system lets you know that… Read More