archive

The way our brains work

Could conjoined twins share a mind? Susan Dominus on the miraculous life of Tatiana and Krista Hogan and what it could reveal about the human brain. A review of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman (and more and more and more and more and more and more). Is it really how you play the game? No, say our brains — winning and losing matter, at least if you’re the loser. Are emoticons and other image-based communications changing the way our brains work? John Searle reviews Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain by Antonio Damasio. The Biology of Ethics: Morality is all in our brains, says the philosopher Patricia Churchland (and a review of Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality). A review of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths by Michael Shermer. Dreams of Meaning: Jonathan Camery-Hoggatt on where religion and neuroscience can’t compete. An interview with David J. Linden, author of The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good. The next giant leap in human evolution may not come from new fields like genetic engineering or artificial intelligence, but rather from appreciating our ancient brains. The human brain gets a new map: Jonah Lehrer interviews Allan Jones, the CEO of the Paul Allen Institute for Brain Science. Here's a peek at what the brain looks like, from antiquity to present-day. How the brain got its buttocks: Sixteenth-century anatomists couldn't keep their minds out of the gutter. A 2,500-year-old preserved human brain has been discovered. A special head and brain issue of the Annals of Improbable Research is now online.