Issue 30 A Brain Spine Interface We are all familiar with the futuristic scenario where humans become one with machines to push beyond our biological limitations. Whether this idea excites or frightens you, it is currently becoming our reality.
Issue 23 Virtual Reality Treatments for Psychosis Macbeth, Black Swan, and the centuries of art in between serve as a testimony: humanity’s fascination with psychosis is a long-lasting one. Behind the craft, however, lies a wildly misunderstood and misrepresented mental disorder.
Issue 22 Parallel Processors: Comparing the Brain and the Computer Introduction With billions of computations per second, our brains are the most complex and intelligent entities the world has ever known. So intelligent, in fact, that we’ve been able
Issue 15 Swell! Expansion Microscopy Companies boasting about their diapers’ comfort, mobility, and, most importantly, absorbency, represent the hallmark of any respected diaper brand. If you have ever seen a diaper commercial, you have seen
Issue 15 Orchestrating Healing: Conducting Polymers and Neural Interfaces The ability to help treat blindness and restore mobility to those with paralysis is approaching reality as neuroscientists develop neural interfaces to study and aid damaged neural systems [1]. At
Issue 15 Computing a Better Diagnosis In the early 20th century, the primary purpose for mental disorder classification was to organize asylums.{[1] The process for categorizing symptoms lacked standardization and thus was inconsistent. Even so,
Issue 15 Biomaterial Scaffolds Spinal cord injury (SCI) occurs at an estimated global incidence rate of 250,000 to 500,000 every year, with causes such as car collisions, falls, and violence [1]. Currently,
Issue 14 Neural Oscillations With the new millennium, interconnectivity has undoubtedly become an integral part of society; and with it, the need to learn new information with ease and grace. Traditionally, this has meant
Issue 14 Non-Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation One of the most clinically promising treatments for a wide array of neurological conditions is deep brain stimulation (DBS). As its name suggests, this treatment involves the electrical stimulation of
Issue 12 Teaching Machines Using machine learning techniques, today’s computer algorithms are capable of solving problems previously thought to be exclusively within the capabilities of human beings. Modern machine learning algorithms have shown
Issue 12 Crossing the Blood Brain Barrier Over a century ago, Paul Ehrlich injected blue dye into the bloodstream of mice to view their biological structures. After dissecting the mice, he was surprised to find that all
Issue 11 Brain Machine Interfaces Not long ago, the idea that the brain could directly control external devices only existed in the world of science fiction novels. However, with the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)
Issue 10 Road To Repair The spinal cord is like a highway, sending and receiving information between the brain and the whole body. Our abilities to sense, move, and react are all transmitted as information
Issue 9 The Cochlear Implant Explained The cochlear implant is an electronic device that restores auditory perception in a person with partial to severe deafness. The first cochlear implants date back to the 1970s [1]. During
Issue 6 Sensory Substitution: The Brain's Ability to Adapt to Loss The adult brain weighs about three pounds and looks fairly unassuming. The organ’s seemingly uniform appearance does little to betray its underlying complexity. Over a period of several years,
Issue 6 Synthetic Telepathy: The Future of Brain Communication Telepathy is a concept usually associated with science fiction. The idea of reading an individual’s thoughts or interacting with them without words seems preposterous, and yet it captivates us
Issue 4 P300 BCI: Reading the Mind We tend to take communication for granted. Talking, laughing, smiling, and writing are integral components of our lives. And while we overlook their presence, their absence has profound impacts. For
Issue 4 Snow World For patients who have suffered traumatic burn injuries, the pain continues long after they’ve been taken to the hospital. While opioids are sufficient to manage their pain from the
Issue 3 Imagination: a Container for Infinity Try to picture a scene, or think about making a movement. If you’re musically inclined, compose a brief tune in your head. These are things most people do with
Issue 3 Artificial Intelligence: A Look at Neural Networks The brain’s processing prowess has prompted many to wonder whether computers could become “smarter” by mimicking human brains. This might be accomplished by designing artificial neural networks, a manufactured
Issue 2 Keeping Recording Devices Inside the Brain: In the Modern Age of Neuroimplants As if from the pages of science fiction, the field of neuroprosthetics has exploded, reshaping what was thought possible. Such devices have allowed people to control the movement of robotic
Issue 1 A Short History of Mind Control Image Copyright 2013 R.P.N. Rao and A. Stocco Research on remotely controlling the brain has been going on for awhile now, and has recently advanced to staggering heights. In 2002, a team at State University of New York implanted stimulating electrodes into
Issue 1 Brain Computer Interfaces Over the last fifteen years, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) – computerized systems that allow the brain to control external devices – have gone from the imaginative realm of science fiction to real world
Issue 1 Do Electric Rats Dream of Cheese? A group led by Dr. Henry Markram in Switzerland is working on building a computer model of the brain. Initially, the group modeled a single rat cortical column. Now, however, they are working to construct an entire rat brain using as many as 100,
Issue 1 A Fish Called Neo The brain of most animals is encased in a thick, protective skull. For this reason, neuroscientists have struggled to view activity at the level of individual neurons in real time. A recent experiment in transgenic zebrafish, however, has allowed researchers to do just that,
