October 31, 2008
Category: My photos
Netsuke are miniature Japanese sculptures which are most often carved from ivory or wood, and sometimes from other materials. They were first made in the early 17th century, and used to fasten a small box (the inro) containing medicines...
Posted by Mo at 3:22 PM • 4 Comments •
October 28, 2008
Category: Vision
The pioneering experiments performed by Hubel and Weisel in the late 1950s and early 60s taught us much about the development of the visual system. We now know, for example, that neurons in the visual cortex are organized into alternating...
Posted by Mo at 12:15 PM • 5 Comments •
October 27, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
The term phonagnosia refers to an inablity to recognize familiar voices or to discriminate between unfamiliar ones. This is a rare condition that is usually associated with brain damage: the ability to recognize familiar voices is impaired by damage to...
Posted by Mo at 12:05 PM • 3 Comments •
October 25, 2008
Category: Art
Artist Madeline von Foerster provides some insight into her extraordinary self portrait (above), in a comment posted on my article about trepanation: During a previous period of depression in my life, I often experienced a severe sensation of pressure...
Posted by Mo at 7:38 PM • 4 Comments •
October 24, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
Erasing memories has long been a popular plot device for Hollywood scriptwriters. In the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for example, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play a separated couple who undergo a radical treatment in order...
Posted by Mo at 7:16 PM • 7 Comments •
October 22, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
The fourth dimension - time - is essential for many cognitive processes, and for rhythmic movements such as walking. Recent research has begun to elucidate how neuronal activity encodes events that occur on the timescale of tens to hundredths of...
Posted by Mo at 11:26 AM • 2 Comments •
October 20, 2008
Category: Animal Behaviour
When confronted with threatening stimuli and predators, the crayfish responds with an innate escape machanism called the startle reflex. Also known as tailflipping, this stereotyped behaviour involves rapid flexions of the abdominal muscles which produce powerful swimming strokes that...
Posted by Mo at 1:40 PM • 7 Comments •
October 16, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
Researchers from the University of Washington have demonstrated that paralysed monkeys can move using a simple neuroprosthesis consisting of an external electrical circuit which connects individual neurons in the motor cortex to muscles in the arm. Similar prostheses have been...
Posted by Mo at 7:46 PM • 2 Comments •
October 14, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
When David Savage was 19 years old, his right hand was crushed in a metal-stamping machine and subsequently amputated at the wrist by doctors. Afterwards, Savage was fitted with a mechanical cable-hook prosthesis, which he wore until December, 2006, when...
Posted by Mo at 7:12 AM • 19 Comments •
October 13, 2008
Category: Nanotechnology
Japanese researchers have developed a design concept for a light microscope which could in principle be used for imaging of nanoscale objects. The device would rely on a novel subwavelength imaging technique which allows for the visualization of objects...
Posted by Mo at 8:45 AM • 2 Comments •
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