Archive: Apr 2016

by Nivanthika K. Wimalasena figures by Anna Maurer Imagine you could know everything you needed to make you into exactly who you were destined to be—which books would inspire you, which people you needed to meet, what you should study in school.…

by Krissy Lyon When you accidentally touch a hot stove, you pull your hand away almost immediately, thanks to a quick reflex informed by your body’s pain receptors. Pain is an essential feature of our bodies that alerts us to danger or injury. But…

by Emily Kuehn figures by Kaitlyn Choi “My greatest fear is this brain of mine….The worst thing imaginable is to be terrified of one’s own mind, the very matter that controls all that we are and all that we do and feel.” These are the words of a patient…

by Kevin Sitek figures by Daniel Utter Over the years, scientists have developed many techniques to observe what’s going on in the human brain as we think or move. Unfortunately, few of the insights we have made so far have resulted in any improvements…

by Olivia Ho-Shing figures by Tito Adhikary Imagine yourself as a self-sustaining city. Everything you think and all the tasks you carry out are driven and coordinated by a massively complex power network.  This is the brain. It transmits thousands of…

by Kelsey Tyssowski figures by Krissy Lyon In the 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama announced a boost in scientific funding aimed at mapping the circuits of the brain in hopes of treating disorders ranging from depression to Alzheimer’s.…

The patterns seen here are called interference rings, or Newton’s rings, and are generated when light waves reflect off of two glass surfaces that are in very close proximity to each other, such as a glass microscope slide and a cover slip. Imperfections…

The 20 USD bill’s Andrew Jackson is as worried as many computer scientists over the thought of AIs stealing our money Not content with stealing our jobs and beating our top Go players, artificial intelligence (AI) has now turned to cleaning out our…