Neuroscience
All in the Mind has done it again, this time providing a two-part series on the Blind Brain. I've only listened to part one, but I could barely concentrate on driving because the story was so fascinating.
Natasha Mitchell spoke with three scientists deeply involved in the areas of vision, the brain, and plasticity:
- Australian psychologist Zoltan Torey, whom New Yorker readers will remember from the 2003 Oliver Sacks story "The Mind's Eye; What the blind see" as a blind man who replaced his own roof. Torey speaks in detail about how he 'sees' after having been blinded over 50 years ago.
- MIT's Pawan Sinha, who runs Project Prakash, whose goal is to "...help curably blind children, especially in India, access the surgery they need to see, and study how their progress in the effort to gain insights into how the brain learns to see." Fascinating insight into how people can regain sight (mostly those born with curable vision problems), and what happens in the brain when they do.
- Harvard's Amir Amedi, who is studying "brain stimulation techniques to study the brains of blind people" along with Alvaro Pascual-Leone (who's written / studied a lot about brain plasticity).
Absolutely *fascinating* research all around. The All in the Mind site includes the audio version of the show (streaming & a downloadable mp3), a print transcript, brief info. about the show, and links to research by all three of the episode's guests.
If I were a grading kind of girl, I'd give this show an A.
- Artificial Eyesight
New device allows woman to see, even without eyes (recent local TV report) Futuristic System Brings Vision To Blind (2002, ScienceDaily) The visual quality seems rather low, but it's still a promising approach. A glasses-mounted camera transmits...
- Confabulation
Mind Hacks continues its good work of updating readers about its favorite radio show, Australia's All in the Mind. This week, it blogs that the show was about the fascinating topic of confabulation. Their report includes links to the audiostream and...
- Brain Plasticity And Psychotherapy
Australia's terrific cognitive science radio show All in the Mind just had a two-part series called The Power of Plasticity in which host Natasha Mitchell interviewed psychiatrist Norman Doidge (Columbia University and the University of Toronto) and...
- Podcast / Interviews I've Enjoyed
I've heard some very interesting podcasts / interviews lately & instead of blogging about each one, I thought I'd just list them with a very brief note about what was relevant for cog sci. WNYC's Radio Lab is a fun 50-minute show covering...
- Stereo Sue And Me
My eye doctor was interviewed by Oliver Sacks last year! He wrote about her in the New Yorker! (that's about as close as I'll come to being published in the New Yorker, so I'm rather excited). Here's the deal: Dr. Theresa Ruggiero prescribed...
Neuroscience
Let There Be Light
All in the Mind has done it again, this time providing a two-part series on the Blind Brain. I've only listened to part one, but I could barely concentrate on driving because the story was so fascinating.
Natasha Mitchell spoke with three scientists deeply involved in the areas of vision, the brain, and plasticity:
- Australian psychologist Zoltan Torey, whom New Yorker readers will remember from the 2003 Oliver Sacks story "The Mind's Eye; What the blind see" as a blind man who replaced his own roof. Torey speaks in detail about how he 'sees' after having been blinded over 50 years ago.
- MIT's Pawan Sinha, who runs Project Prakash, whose goal is to "...help curably blind children, especially in India, access the surgery they need to see, and study how their progress in the effort to gain insights into how the brain learns to see." Fascinating insight into how people can regain sight (mostly those born with curable vision problems), and what happens in the brain when they do.
- Harvard's Amir Amedi, who is studying "brain stimulation techniques to study the brains of blind people" along with Alvaro Pascual-Leone (who's written / studied a lot about brain plasticity).
Absolutely *fascinating* research all around. The All in the Mind site includes the audio version of the show (streaming & a downloadable mp3), a print transcript, brief info. about the show, and links to research by all three of the episode's guests.
If I were a grading kind of girl, I'd give this show an A.
- Artificial Eyesight
New device allows woman to see, even without eyes (recent local TV report) Futuristic System Brings Vision To Blind (2002, ScienceDaily) The visual quality seems rather low, but it's still a promising approach. A glasses-mounted camera transmits...
- Confabulation
Mind Hacks continues its good work of updating readers about its favorite radio show, Australia's All in the Mind. This week, it blogs that the show was about the fascinating topic of confabulation. Their report includes links to the audiostream and...
- Brain Plasticity And Psychotherapy
Australia's terrific cognitive science radio show All in the Mind just had a two-part series called The Power of Plasticity in which host Natasha Mitchell interviewed psychiatrist Norman Doidge (Columbia University and the University of Toronto) and...
- Podcast / Interviews I've Enjoyed
I've heard some very interesting podcasts / interviews lately & instead of blogging about each one, I thought I'd just list them with a very brief note about what was relevant for cog sci. WNYC's Radio Lab is a fun 50-minute show covering...
- Stereo Sue And Me
My eye doctor was interviewed by Oliver Sacks last year! He wrote about her in the New Yorker! (that's about as close as I'll come to being published in the New Yorker, so I'm rather excited). Here's the deal: Dr. Theresa Ruggiero prescribed...