Now on ScienceBlogs: The Laboratory at Harvard
An exploration of the serious/fun/ridiculous - past/present/future of the brain and the science that loves it.
The Omnibrain is a psychology graduate student at an online university. He hopes that the three weeks and $29.95 that he is spending on his Ph.D. will get him a job at a Tier 1 research university. Do online universities have postdocs? Ok...just kidding, The Omnibrain is a real graduate student at a real school somewhere in the continental United States - or maybe Europe.
OmniBrain is now Of Two Minds!
Category: Technology
Via Modern Mechanix: Reading Thoughts by Radio Can thoughts be read by radio? "Madam Radora" seems to prove that they can. Madam is not a human being, but a life-size automaton shown at the Permanent Radio Fair in New York. Her "thoughts" and movements are controlled entirely by wireless; no...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 4:08 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Biology
The memory-evaluation study, headed by Dr. Franklin McCarroll of New York University's School of Psychology, revealed that approximately 47 percent of Jenkins' hippocampus is dedicated to storing notable video-game victories and frustrating last-minute defeats, while 32 percent of his amygdala contains embedded neurological scripts pertaining to game strategies, character back...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 10:50 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Parapsychology
The mind is a complicated and a still very much unknown entity. The earliest conceptions of the mind didn't even have it placed in the brain, instead it was very much separate from the body. This is of course all very silly, the only possibility is that the mind wholly...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 6:29 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
The answer is a resounding sorta. Scientists at Harvard have done that calculations and found that "the aerodynamics of a flexible, rippling sheet moving through a fluid" ... should make it "possible to make one that will stay aloft in air." However, No such carpet is going to ferry people...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 8:09 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Brain Toys
There are many brain fitness software products available these days so when I was offered a copy of Core Learning's program Mind Builder, I agreed to check it out. It offers a series of test questions similar to America's SAT, while Mind Builder Pro is a fuller package that...
Posted by Sandra Kiume at 8:00 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Video
In a parody of Make Magazine projects, Austrian group Monochrom demonstrate how to create a brain computer interface, a.k.a. braicin, using household materials like duct tape, old ice skates, a vintage calculator, and onions in alcohol ("preferably Romanian"). Via Boing Boing TV. Link to extended director's uncut version (shown here)....
Posted by Sandra Kiume at 8:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Charity
Omni Brain met its fundraising goal of $1000 for music education programs through DonorsChoose. Thank you to everyone who's donated. You rock! Now 30 kids will too. But it'd be okay, you know, permissible (haha) to exceed our goal if you'd still like to help a Lisa Simpson. A...
Posted by Sandra Kiume at 8:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy & Politics
Congratulations Russia on your great new bomb that is nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" and is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs." "The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," said Col.-Gen....
Posted by The Omnibrain at 12:42 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Brain Toys
A group funded by the Royal College of art has created an ice cream dispenser named Dr. Whippy. The good doctor will dispense a prescription for ice cream if you sound sufficiently miserable. It is based on a voice-stress analysis of various answers to questions it asks. Check it out,...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 8:57 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Neuroscience
Head over to Mind Hacks for more MRI madness! There you will read about the many examples of all the stupid shit people brought into the room with a big freakin' magnet and ended up flying across the room (and sometimes tragically killing someone). Here at Omni Brain we figured...
Posted by The Omnibrain at 9:36 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
