Julian Treasure is a sound and listening expert who thinks that the world is “losing its listening”- with the unfortunate consequence of losing out on human interaction and communication. While Treasure acknowledges that as someone who “lives to listen” he is probably in the minority, he believes that “every person needs to listen consciously to [...]

Lately I have been really interested in brain tricks, brain teasers, and optical illusions. I had the chance to work on the expanded brain teasers section of our newly re-launched Posit Science website, which introduced me to a whole host of terrific illusions and tricks. My work on that led me to this funny and [...]

This is a really fun video about “brain magic.” Keith Barry is an illusionist and magician whose act depends on tricking the brain to fool the body. I’m not sure how it all works but it sure is a kick to watch! P.S. I was surprised to see that the last volunteer used is Steve [...]

Researcher Dan Buettner talks about some of the world’s identified “blue zones”–areas of the world in which people live to be over 100 and remain mentally and physically healthier than the rest of us even into very old age.

Ask a group of people what the difference between animals and humans are, and they will probably come up with as many answers as there are individuals in the group. But my guess is that many of them will come up with some variation of this: that it’s our amazing brains–our ability to learn, to [...]

People have been talking about Temple Grandin quite a bit lately, partly because HBO recently released an original movie about her life and achievements starring Claire Danes. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it. (If you don’t have HBO, you can make a note to check it out when it’s released [...]

All week I’ve been posting a favorite brain-related TED video each day. This is the last TED talk I’ll post for now- I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed them and learned from watching them. We’ll be sure to check the videos for TED 2010, which just concluded, and post any interesting neuroscience-related ones we find. Since [...]

This week I’m posting a favorite brain-related TED video each day. In this talk from TED 2008, Christopher DeCharms discusses an innovative way to use MRI technology to look at brain activity in real time, which can help people learn to control chronic pain without drugs or surgery. Enjoy!

This week I’m posting a favorite brain-related TED video each day. In this talk from TED 2008, brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor tells an incredible story about studying her own stroke and long recovery process from the inside out. Enjoy!

This week I’m posting a favorite brain-related TED video each day. In this talk from TED 2007, Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran tells us what brain damage can reveal about the connection between your gray matter and your mind, using three fascinating delusions as examples. Enjoy!