Posts Tagged ‘Brain’

Revisit: Human v2.0

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

BBC Human v2.0Last month I pounded out a post about the implications of our seemingly inevitable immortality — when man becomes machine, or machine becomes man.

Sounds silly, but myself and expert technologists are dead-serious about that “inevitable” part.

Probably not within our lifetime (if you’re reading this in 2010), though. I’d wager at least one future generation or, even likelier, a couple of generations down the crazy road of technology.
Unless you’re as optimistic as Ray Kurzweil.

This is all to admit my ignorance: When I wrote that, I had no idea the BBC produced a fantastic show called Human v2.0 a few years ago.

The sub-1-hour special taps into the minds of visionaries and scientists alike who wake up and go to bed thinking about this stuff. When they do sleep, of course. (more…)

Sonar on the brain

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

No matter how you dice ‘em, brains are tough to study. And while many of us (aka myself) would like to know what the heck is happening there, the whole cutting-open-the-skull-and-poking-around thing isn’t necessarily appealing.

Thankfully, painless and quick brain scannin’ technology exists.

Neuroscientists recently gave me a rare (and free) opportunity to view my brainstem in real-time via the magic of ultrasound — yep, same technology OB/GYN doctors use to look at a fetus in mommy’s tummy. (more…)

My brains — er, plans — have been dashed

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

I saw my brain this week on a TV screen — specifically my midbrain. It was amazing.

What technology allowed this wonder? Sonogram, aka ultrasound — yes, the same device you use to look at fetuses while they’re in the womb. I was under the impression that I could take video and photos during the procedure.

"I has a sad." - kittehWhich I did.

Unfortunately, life plays terrible tricks on science-obsessed little boys named Dave Mosher.

By posting my images and video (or posting any identifying information for that matter), I was later told that I’d probably violate the study’s institutional review board (IRB) protocols. And could thus jeopardize the very important and exciting research going on.

Ugh.

In the name of science I’m going to withhold my multimedia goods, and regroup on the blog post I’ve already written. I’ll have to strip any identifying anything from it — so, a sort of “Mad Libs” of the brain.

Check back soon, and I’ll hopefully have something good worked out…

Photo courtesy of ICanHasCheezburger.com