Current thoughts on mind, life and culture
My father called me one night: "So, I'm trying to figure this thing out. How does it work exactly?" Some of my friends and colleagues have made similar inquiries: "I should probably get the hang of this...
Scientists have mapped, charted, modeled and visualized the human brain in many different ways. They have marked the boundaries of the organ's four major lobes: the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes...
With the exception of the cast of Disney's The Little Mermaid —and Big Mouth Billy Bass—fish do not spring to mind as the animal kingdom's most vocally gifted members.
Many species of starfish relish oysters, clams and other shellfish, much to the chagrin of fishermen who watch over oyster beds and farms. Legend has it that oyster fishermen used to dispose of any starfish they dredged up by cutting the creatures in half and tossing them back into the ocean...
We all lose brain cells as we get older. In people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, neurons shrivel and die at alarming rates—perhaps three to four times faster than usual in Alzheimer's, for example...
In the September 17th issue of The New Yorker , Anthony Gottlieb analyzes Homo Mysterious: Evolutionary Puzzles of Human Nature , a new book by David Barash, a psychology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle...
There's a food fight in your guts. Not the Tater-Tot-chucking, spoonful-of-mashed potato-flinging, melee-in-the-cafeteria type of food fight. Rather, your intestines are the site of an ancient and complex war between your own cells and trillions of bacteria—a war over what happens to your food as it moves through your body...
In an episode of Matt Groening's animated science fiction sitcom Futurama , Leela offers her friend Fry an unusual housewarming gift: a bonsai tree sprouting tiny bananas, melons and plums...
In the opening scene of Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls , the Horvaths tell their 24-year-old daughter Hannah that they will no longer support her—or, as her mother puts it: "No.
The computer, smartphone or other electronic device on which you are reading this article has a rudimentary brain—kind of.* It has highly organized electrical circuits that store information and behave in specific, predictable ways, just like the interconnected cells in your brain...
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