Interesting lecture on the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders and their treatment. Modern psychiatric drugs treat the chemistry of the whole brain, but neurobiologist David Anderson believes in a more nuanced view of how the brain functions. He illuminates new research that could lead to targeted psychiatric medications -- that work better and avoid side effects. How's he doing it? For a start, by making a bunch of fruit flies angry. ..read more »

A neuroscientist: Greg Gage, shows how brains receive and deliver electric impulse by dissecting a cockroach, live on stage ... Nicely done and very instructive, enjoy. ..read more »

Evan Shinners, Julliard-trained pianist and "best Bach player around." In the video, Shinners shows the world the colors he sees when he plays: he has synesthesia. Thanks BoingBoing ..read more »

Sloppy science has led to incorrect conclusions about the difference between male and female brains. She shows how data on visual spatial activity are wrongly interpreted, the same for math differences in men and women. More on women and maths here in this blog post ..read more »

Myths like: We use only 10 percent of our brains. “Flashbulb memories” are precise, detailed and persistent. It’s all downhill after 40 (or 50 or 60 or 70). Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. When it comes to this complex, mysterious, fascinating organ, what do—and don’t—we know? Read more about these myths on Smithsonian,com ..read more »

Interesting talk, easy to follow. Ed Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he's managed to cure mice of analogs of PTSD and certain forms of blindness. ..read more »

"Ode to the Brain" is the ninth episode in the Symphony of Science music video series. Through the powerful words of scientists Carl Sagan, Robert Winston, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Jill Bolte Taylor, Bill Nye, and Oliver Sacks, it covers different aspects the brain including its evolution, neuron networks, folding, and more. The material sampled for this video comes from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Jill Bolte Taylor's TED Talk, Vilayanur Ramachandran's TED Talk, Bill Nye's Brain episode, BBC's "The Human Body", Oliver Sachs' TED Talk, Discovery Channel's "Human Body: Pushing the Limits", and more. Everything you wanted to know about the brain is .....read more »

Humorist talk about an important topic which is in short: why did we loose contact between reason and emotion? Emotions are the foundation of reason, one of the many recognizable points taken in this excellent talk. Take some time to watch this. apping into the findings of his latest book, NYTimes columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences -- insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can't hope to understand humans as separate individuals making choices based .....read more »

On Highlight Health an interesting post discovered after I've been on vacation for a week. It's about the Brain Awareness Week. ....an annual celebration dedicated to raising public awareness of brain research. Coordinated by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives in the US,.... It also has a video, by Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). This 29-minute video uses footage of neuroscience experts from live Staying Sharp forums to address topics such as changes in the aging brain, memory, and the science .....read more »

Based on recent literature and a lecture it appeared to me that not everyone is talking about the same phenomenon when it comes to empathy. In much animal research resonance is mostly the adequate description of what is being studied. Resonance is the phenomenon of one person unconsciously mirroring the motor actions as basis of emotional expressions of another person. In animal models resonance is mostly the representation of motor action of the other animal without making the moves but showing activity in motor regions of the brain. Empathy is more than resonance. It is usually divided in cognitive .....read more »