Category Archives: The Brain: Our Compact Universe

Experiment tests human vs. parrot memory in a complex shell game What happens when an African grey parrot goes head-to-head with 21 Harvard students in a test measuring a type of visual memory? Put simply: The parrot moves to the head of the class. Harvard researchers compared how 21 human adults and 21 6- toContinue reading “When a bird brain tops Harvard students on a test”

Introduction The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity.Continue reading “Know Your Brain”

Here glioblastoma cells from a human brain are growing. Addition of the Ebola-VSV oncolytic virus results in tumor infection and cell death, seen here as black cells. Over time the infection spreads to other glioblastoma cells. Glioblastomas are relentless, hard-to-treat, and often lethal brain tumors. Yale scientists have enlisted a most unlikely ally in effortsContinue reading “Scientists find ally in fight against brain tumors: Ebola”

In the 1950s, engineers faced a challenge. The parts they were using to wire computers – namely transistors – were too bulky for their plans to build more powerful machines. In response, they did something remarkable: they showed that it was possible to greatly shrink a computer’s main circuitry by etching, or chemically burning, theContinue reading “How the future of brain wave research may be etched in silicon”