Absquatulate

Neuroscience: A History

Often I am want to forget how fascinated I am with neuroscience. Undergrad was tumultuous, for reasons known only to those involved and that's fine. I've finally gotten myself back on track with my graduate degree in Communication Disorders and blog entries like these make me regret my undergrad course of study a little bit. I wasn't ready, I was depressed, I was too far from home. But regardless, it's a big part of who I am and it's not too late to set things right. I'd like to believe there's still a place in this world for the thinker.

Big Dog

I took a course in college on motor control, and yes while that was "way back when" the topic of robotic walking is still a tough nut to crack from an engineering point of view. Walking is incredibly difficult! Balancing meat on four legs (nevermind TWO) is not easy. The fact that we do it at all is a near miracle. I won't attempt to scratch the surface of the complexities behind locomotion, but if there's a lurking physical or occupational therapist who'd like to, be my guest in the comments.

But take a look at THIS: If I saw this in the woods I would run the other way. To me this is way into the uncanny valley. Well done Boston Dynamic, now please use your knowledge for good, not evil.

Which do you choose?

Enjoy this amazing talk from TED from Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who describes her experiences when she suffers a hemmorage and how it changed her.

And quite frankly, it has changed me, and what it means to be treating adults with aphasia.

I missed Brain Awareness Week, having mistakenly thought it was THIS week. But rather than wait another 51 weeks to celebrate it again, I'll push it on into this week and feature a new brainy post each day for your amusement (or consternation :).

Update: Video link fixed.

Bad Science

I hate it. It started with the movie Species, and the line "The DNA... It's 40% human" and the inferno of obscenities that spewed forth from my otherwise relatively kind mouth after that quote, and today continues with Altoids and their obnoxious claim that eating an Altiod makes you a better problem solver by stating, "Like a slap to the cerebellum."

Why yes, I was the inaugural vice-president of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Undergraduate Council at the University of Rochester, why do you ask?

Living Logos

The Max Plank Institute in Dresden is full of smartey scientists. Don't believe me? This article explains how Michael Schmitz (German website) created a "living logo" that represents the state of the Institute based on employee voting, funding, number of articles published, etc. Makes sense as they are interested in how cells organize themselves into systems.

Courtesy of Mr. Kottke.

Taking a Chance

While the ESPN coverage is a little trite in that Olympics kind of way, the heart of the story is what's important. This is but a small reflection of what I believe is possible for kids like this, of what I hope to accomplish some day for someone who needs a little extra help to realize their own potential. If I can help someone have this kind of moment in their life, whether it's through sports, drama, math, art, or even the simple act of reading a sentence and understanding what it means, then it's all been worth it.

Here's an unadulterated video of the raw footage if ESPN is making you gag.

Uncanny Valley

There have been several instances recently wherein discussion of androids and robots turned to "when will they get here". And in all those instances I'd been wishing I could remember the work of Dr. Mori to reference when explaining why I think it'll be a while yet. Even if the technology comes along, either we will purposely keep them from utilizing the full potential of the technology, or if we do plow forward there will be a backlash, and an ostracization of the industry until we traverse that uncanny valley.

Moonstruck

A delightful explanation of why the moon looks larger on the horizon than it does at it's zenith.

Neuro Papers Online

A welcome find courtesy of MetaFilter: Neuro-visual research papers from the Wellcome Lab available in pdf format. Plenty of reading to keep me entertained over several lunches. Unfortunately the format leaves something to be desired: this is a great example of where the published format (two column academic paper) is incredibly hard to read online. I'll have to print them out for later. Unfortunately the awkward format will deter some readers who might otherwise be interested in learning more about the visual cortex. A shame on the one hand, but it's nice to find these papers available online for free on the other.

Dyslexia Primer

This article on CNN regarding dyslexia is very informative and just the tip of the iceberg in what I assume is quite advanced research into the disability. But what really touched me was the following quote at the end of the article:

[upon seeing a MRI image of his own brain] "That's my brain?" marvels Patrick, staring at images from the scanner as researchers show him his own cortex. "Wow!"

I hope Patrick can find ways to overcome his dyslexia and maybe, just maybe, consider studying similar areas when he gets older. It is his reaction that fill me with happiness; someone who sees just how (for lack of a better term) COOL stuff like this can be. I'll be smiling for the rest of the day.