Posts

March 07, 2013

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5:01 PM | Human Brain Cells Make Mice Smart

Study shows that intelligence derives from brain cells other than neurons A team of neuroscientists has grafted human brain cells into the brains of mice and found that the rodents’ rate of learning and memory far surpassed that of ordinary mice. Remarkably, the cells transplanted were not neurons, but rather types of brain cells, called glia, [...]

December 07, 2012

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5:59 PM | Why does a Southern Drawl Sound Uneducated to Some?

Studies have shown that whether you are from the North or South, a Southern twang pegs the speaker as comparatively dimwitted, but also likely to be a nicer person than folks who speak like a Yankee. Stereotypes based on accent are deep rooted and they have profound consequences. Accents influence who we select as friends, [...]

October 19, 2012

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4:44 PM | The Power of Music: Mind Control by Rhythmic Sound

New Orleans, October 16, 2012 – You walk into a bar and music is thumping. All heads are bobbing and feet tapping in synchrony. Somehow the rhythmic sound grabs control of the brains of everyone in the room forcing them to operate simultaneously and perform the same behaviors in synchrony. How is this possible? Is [...]

July 04, 2012

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12:22 PM | Green Fireworks—Environmentally Safe, That is

The Fourth of July fireworks display in my family always has a bit of a nerdy side to it. Cries of “Strontium Nitrate!” punctuate the brilliant red burst of a skyrocket. Unified shrieks of “Barium Nitrate!” as brilliant green sparks shower out of the sky. All of this stems from my experimentation as a teenager [...]

March 17, 2012

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3:05 PM | Drilling for Oil in Eden: Initiative to Save Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador is Uncertain

Quito, Ecuador— The most biologically diverse habitat in the western hemisphere, the Yasuní rainforest in Ecuador, is under threat. The diversity of species in the Yasuní Park is unmatched by any other park in the world. One hectare contains more species of trees than all of North America, but hidden beneath this Garden of Eden [...]

August 31, 2011

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8:15 PM | Can Politicians be Trusted with Science?

I recently had the privilege of being asked to participate in a project called “Story Collider.” The goal is to revive the art and joy of storytelling, but in this case the story tellers are scientists and the audience is the general public. It is daunting for a scientist to release the security of the [...]

August 20, 2011

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5:50 PM | Genius across Cultures and the ‘Google Brain’

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with other scientists—along with famed director Julie Taymor and legendary composer Philip Glass—to wrestle with the riddle of genius. I found one observation that Taymor made about cultural and environmental influences on cognitive traits very perceptive (see the video above). We have always understood that whether you [...]