Having an MRI scan can be a noisy, unusual, and sometimes stressful experience. But can it also be a social one?
In a new paper, neuroscientists Benjamin O. Turner and colleagues ask whether telling people that their MRI scan will be a "mind reading" procedure is enough to alter brain activity through 'implied social presence'. As the authors put it:
If people believe that a technology can ‘see’ their internal thoughts, will people alter what they think about?
In an ele ...read more
A reconstruction of the skull of Australopithecus afarensis. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
1.2 to 4.4 million years ago was a happening time in human evolution. It’s when our evolutionary branch — the hominins — diversified into about a dozen species, collectively known as Australopiths.
The most famous of these creatures is Lucy, the partial skeleton of a roughly 3-foot-6-inch female discovered in the 1970s. But Lucy is just one of many Australopiths known to science. Ove ...read more
Stegosaur expert Susie Maidment of London’s Natural History Museum is studying rock strata in order to pin down the precise dates of dinosaur fossils from the Late Jurassic — the better to understand the biology and evolution of these ancient beasts. (Credit: Emily Osterloff/Natural History Museum)
At the base of a pale hill in the badlands of northeastern Wyoming, Susie Maidment hits her hammer against stone. She breaks off a fist-sized chunk, grabs a loose piece between her fing ...read more
By Molly Schools
This post is part of a collaboration between SciStarter and Career in STEM, in which writers spotlight different citizen science projects, interview project leaders about their careers, and create educational content for teachers and students. This series is available on the Science Connected, Career in STEM, SciStarter, and Discover Magazine blog platforms.
As the sun sinks low below the horizon and the crisp night air begins to descend, a miraculous sight can be seen i ...read more
It may sound like something out of science fiction, but scientists grew mini-brains in a lab with functional neural networks that can produce brain waves. (Credit: Shutterstock)
These pea-sized lumps of
cells don’t look like much, but they are mini-brains, also called brain
organoids, that were grown in a lab using human stem cells.
And for the first time,
scientists have created mini-brains with humanlike neural networking capable of
producing brain waves similar to those observed ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine