Cognition
-
World Wide Mind
March 28, 2011
For an author with cochlear implants, the merger of computer and brain, bytes and thoughts, has never felt far-fetched. In a brilliant new book, Michael Chorost makes his case: by making the internet a new nervous system for humanity, humans will also re-connect with one another in a profoundly new way.
books, cognition, communication, internet, language, neuroscience
-
On Overconfidence
January 07, 2011
Humans are overconfident creatures, which boosts our persistence, ambition, and drive—but can also lead to disasters. We can make such false beliefs work to our benefit.
-
The Revenge of Comic Sans
January 06, 2011
New research suggests that less-legible, less-elegant fonts might actually promote better recall of information. Dave Munger examines the evidence.
-
The Human Animal
December 01, 2010
The special bond that often forms between people and both domesticated and wild animals may be, paradoxically, part of what makes us human.
-
Into the Uncanny Valley
August 24, 2010
New findings shed light on a century’s worth of bizarre explanations for the eerie feeling we get around lifelike robots.
-
Are Octopuses Smart?
July 21, 2010
In the wild and in the lab, octopuses exhibit remarkable behavior that hints at sophisticated intelligence. Should they be treated differently from other animals?
-
Brain Wars
May 19, 2010
Can playing video games make you smarter? According to a recent study, the answer is no—but earlier papers arrived at the opposite conclusion. Now bloggers are joining the debate.
-
The Expanding Mind
May 17, 2010
The technological progress that revolutionized computing, electronics, and robotics in the 20th century will transform our bodies and enhance our brains in the 21st.
cognition, enhancement, intelligence, neuroscience, research
-
Why Invisible Gorillas Matter
May 12, 2010
The cognitive psychologist Daniel Simons helped create one of the most iconic and remarkable studies of the past fifteen years. Now he’s trying something new.
-
Emotion’s Alchemy
March 30, 2010
New insights into the science of emotion unravel the seeming neurological magic that turns emotions into social expressions.
-
Scent as Design
March 23, 2010
This week, scientists, designers, and artists will gather in New York to discuss how our lives could be transformed by recognizing scent as design.
-
Incredible Journeys
February 10, 2010
Some animals can instinctively solve navigational problems that have baffled humans for centuries. Now, researchers are uncovering how.
-
Science or Séance?
December 09, 2009
Media fanfare over an incapacitated car accident victim (and the nurse who “communicates” for him) raises the question of how we can know whether a person is conscious.
-
Into the Uncanny Valley
November 16, 2009
New findings shed light on a century’s worth of bizarre explanations for the eerie feeling we get around lifelike robots.
-
Overhyped Placebos of Doom?
October 28, 2009
Despite centuries of investigation, scientists still have much to learn about the origins and meaning of the placebo effect.
-
Altruism vs. Selfishness
September 26, 2009
The idea that evolution explains selfishness well and altruism poorly is starting to stink. Can we please bury it now?
-
Survival of the Kindest
September 24, 2009
In his new book, The Age of Empathy, Frans de Waal outlines an alternative to “Nature, red in tooth and claw.” Can a vision of a more empathic world change the way we behave toward each other?
-
This Image Is Not Moving
September 16, 2009
Optical illusions may seem to deceive, but they actually reveal truths about how our brains construct reality.
-
Invoking the Magic of the Mind
June 25, 2009
Are secrets of the evolution of the mind to be found by imagining the ancestors of tool-wielding crows, or is such an approach strictly for the birds?
-
Light Mind Control
May 18, 2009
Light-sensitive proteins from algae illuminate the brain, providing a more sophisticated view of neural circuitry.
biotechnology, cognition, neuroscience, research, synthetic biology
-
Creation on Command
May 06, 2009
From Jackson Pollock to John Coltrane — how creativity springs from a choreographed set of mental events.
cognition, intelligence, music, neuroscience, research, theory
-
To Be a Baby
May 05, 2009
Alison Gopnik describes new experiments in developmental psychology that show everything we think we know about babies is wrong.
-
This Is Your Brain on Facebook
April 21, 2009
Recent studies on the effects of the internet and other new media on brain plasticity raises an open research question: Is Google making us smarter?
-
Automatic for the People
April 02, 2009
A team of British researchers take a robotic approach in rethinking the hypothetico-deductive method.
-
Getting Over It
April 01, 2009
Forget about erasing bad memories. Researchers have located the receptor that enables our brains to override or “unlearn” traumatic past experiences.
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
-
Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
-
Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
-
Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
