Tag: BRAIN

This week, an attorney from Brooklyn will attempt to make U.S. legal history by using a lie-detection brain scan to prove that an important witness is telling the truth. Attorney David Levin is currently representing Cynette Wilson, who claims that her temp agency employer, CoreStaff Services, gave her less desirable assignments after she complained about sexual harassment at her job site. Another ...

Share As navigation technology has become more sophisticated, and more easily accessible, people have become increasingly dependent upon GPS and online maps in finding their ways around town. But according to some, your GPS may be doing a lot more long-term harm than short-term good. As former American Demographics editor Brad Edmonson tells NPR, "Getting directions from a computer is like ...

If football players need to run and lift weights to condition their bodies, it would make sense for the same principle to apply to cognitive abilities, as well. That's the idea, at least, behind games like 'Brain Age'; play a few brain-teasing games a few times a week, and end up improving mental function in the long run. Many scientists, though, have long wondered about whether or not these ...

Wired reports that scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have created an ultrathin brain implant made from silk that could revolutionize brain-computer interface (BCI) design. BCI implants are used to record paralyzed patients' brain signals, which can be translated into computer or robotic movements. By printing electrodes onto a thin and flexible silk film, doctors could monitor parts of ...

A group of researchers, led by Chris Harrison of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, have shown that simply applying an animation to a progress bar can make it appear to move 10-percent faster. The scientists set up a series of mock downloads using different progress bars. The control, a plain blue bar that moved from left to right, was compared to bars that pulsated between light and ...

The folks at Hitachi and Hitachi Kokusai Denki Engineering recently showed off a new brain analyzer that wraps around your noggin. It seems like scientists are always finding new ways to dig deeper into our heads, but this device is unique because it's so compact -- even if it does look like something out of a bad sci-fi movie. According to DVICE, the encephalometer (a fancy word for brain ...

As neuroscientists and genetic researchers continue to look for an answer to Alzheimer's disease, health care professionals have had to develop new approaches to treating the condition, which now affects a growing number of more than five million Americans. With no cure for the progressive brain disorder on the horizon, many doctors have created new programs aimed at enhancing people's cognitive ...

While it is the stuff of 'Johnny Mnemonic,' 'eXistenZ' and a host of other cyberpunk cyborg films, hacking nerves might actually emerge as one of the next great advances in the study of neuropathy. In a study from 2006, researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland gave one unidentified paraplegic patient the ability to move their normally motionless knee at the touch of a button. ...

There's plenty of anecdotal and scientific evidence that should tell you that driving while using your cell phone is pretty dumb. Yet plenty of you continue to do so, and freely admit to it, too. We can only assume that you all believe you belong to a sect of individuals researchers have dubbed "supertaskers." A new study being released in the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review (.PDF) suggests ...

A group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a way to blur people's delineations between right and wrong. According to an AFP report on Fox News, the researchers used a magnetic field attached to a person's head to send a current into the brain and successfully disrupt the right temporoparietal junction -- the part of the brain commonly associated with ...

According to an AFP report on Yahoo! News, a team of British scientists claim they can read our memories and thoughts by simply studying patterns in brain scans. Eleanor Maguire, who led the research at University College London, told AFP that her team could differentiate between memories and thoughts by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the study, the scientists showed ...

A toy that reads your brain waves to manipulate a foam ball sounds fun -- until said toy begins manipulating other things, too. Like your body's pain receptors. Doesn't sound too thrilling to us, but a few geeks apparently thought it'd be a great idea. According to GeekoSystem, some folks at Harcos Laboratories took Mattel's Mindflex and hacked it to deliver a painful electric shock to the ...

When The Who's Pete Townshend wrote "Pinball Wizard," we bet he never imagined just how much influence technology would have on the classic game of flippers and steel balls. Tommy, the song's protagonist, sure could play a mean pinball, but he wouldn't stand a chance at the flippers if his opponent were wearing this brain-scanning device. According to io9, the device, which looks like a swim ...

Advertising pundits love to focus on the suggestive power and subliminal symbolism inherent to corporate icons and logos. People tend to overlook, however, the significant influence that instantly recognizable sounds can have on the human subconscious. Elias Arts, a company that focuses on auditory studies, recently partnered with Buyology, Inc. to investigate the addictive power of sound and, ...

Remember that scene in 'Avatar' when the crippled marine runs for the first time in his new body? We know it brought a tear to your eye. Well, a group of scientists and engineers (think of them as a nerdy version of the Justice League of America) recently gathered at M.I.T. to discuss bringing this concept from the big screen to real life. According to Singularity Hub, these guys want to ...