BBC The Forum: Antony Gormley, Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, & Beau Lotto

Broadcast on The BBC World Service. Available on podcast here.

Body, memory, perception. Gormley, Mayer-Schoenberger, Lotto 14 Nov 09
Thu, 12 Nov 09
Duration: 49 mins

"We like nothing better than talking about ourselves so this week’s Forum with Bridget Kendall casts a spotlight on the human brain and human form. One of Britain’s best known sculptors Antony Gormley looks at why we need to peel back our skin in order to understand our own humanity. He also conducts an experiment inviting all BBC listeners to close their eyes and connect with deep space beyond. Information technology professor Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger offers a vista of a future nightmare world where humans may be in danger of losing the capacity to forget as digital memories become so efficient at keeping our data for ever. And we peer inside our brains with neuroscientist Beau Lotto who reveals the illusion of perception and shows - with a little help from bees - why we see the way we do."

Piggy Smarts!

New in the world of pig cognition research, interesting results:

Pigs Prove to Be Smart, if Not Vain
By NATALIE ANGIER
The New York Times
Published: November 10, 2009

"Recent discoveries from the nascent study of pig cognition offered evidence that pigs were quick learners, slow to forget and similar to humans in many ways."

Read the article

Autism, Asperger's, and the DSM by Simon Baron-Cohen

The Short Life of a Diagnosis
By SIMON BARON-COHEN, Op-Ed Contributor
The New Yotk Times
Published: November 10, 2009

"Asperger syndrome and autism should be thoroughly tested before being lumped together in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."

Read the Op-Ed piece

Sleep, Dreams, and Cognitive Function

A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain
By BENEDICT CAREY
The New York Times
Published: November 10, 2009

"A new theory suggests that dreams are a warm-up for the day ahead."

Read the article

Business World: Pfizer/Wyeth Research Consolidation

An Associated Press report this evening outlines changes at a number of Wyeth and Pfizer research facilities:

Read article

Media: Michael Rutter Interview on BBC Radio 4

Listen to an interview with Dr. Michael Rutter on BBC Radio 4's All In The Mind programme:

Click here for a link to the podcast.

Narrative: Brain Abscess

My brain abscess and me
I had no idea I had a potentially fatal infection. Now, after my life-saving surgery, I will never take my health for granted again
Tim Lusher
The Guardian
Tuesday 3 November 2009

Read Tim's narrative report here.

[snip]

"Finally, on Tuesday morning, someone realises something is horribly wrong. My GP sees immediately that my gait is clumsy, my focus wild, my speech slurring. She sends me straight to A&E at the Royal London hospital and phones ahead to order a brain scan. There, I collapse gratefully into the care of doctors and nurses."

[snip]

Gordon Bell's Digital Memory

Brain food: the problem with digital memory
Digital memory means we can store more than ever before. But isn't it important, sometimes, to forget?
Aditya Chakrabortty
The Guardian
Tuesday 3 November 2009

Read the article

Upcoming Event: Mobile Healthcare Conference (London, 01-02 Dec 2009)

The Mobile Healthcare Industry Summit takes place this 1st and 2nd of December at the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel in London, England.

According to the conference website, topics include:

- Using Mobile Healthcare Partnership to Transform a Health System From Responsive Into Preventative
- Using Mobile Healthcare to Improve Precision in the Diagnosis and Cure of Patient Illness
- Freeing the Patient and the System with Intelligent Biometric Diagnostics
- Defining the Data Management of Digital Healthcare
- What Are The Technical Platforms For Mobile Healthcare Success? - SMS, Devices, Intelligent M2M
- Globalising Mobile Healthcare: Regional Case Studies and Uniting the Service – South Korea, North America, Japan

Visit the conference website for detailed information.

Alzheimer's Disease Awareness

November Is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month.

MEDIA: We've Got Charlie Rose on the Brain!

Charlie Rose began his series of episodes about neuroscience with his show last evening, the 29th of October. Go to his website to watch the full episode from the 29th and to check in for the additional episodes: Charlie Rose homepage

From the website:

"Charlie Rose Brain Series Episode One. Tonight’s introductory topic-- The Great Mysteries of the Human Brain: consciousness, free will, perception, cognition, emotion and memory with a roundtable of brain researchers. Co-Host Eric Kandel from Columbia University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Cornelia Bargmann from Rockefeller University, Tony Movshon from New York University, John Searle from University of California Berkeley and Gerald Fischbach of the Simons Foundation."

Nature's NeuroPod: New Edition Available

The October 2009 issue of Nature's NeuroPod podcast is available for listening and download. It can be found at NeuroPod homepage.

This edition includes reports about gaming mice and the relation between sleep problems and memory function.

From the homepage:

"About NeuroPod

"NeuroPod is the neuroscience podcast from Nature, produced in association with the Dana Foundation. Each month, join us as we delve into the latest research on the brain, from its molecular makings to the mysteries of the mind. We'll also be bringing you the latest news from neuroscience conferences around the globe, along with special reports on hot areas in neuroscience.

"For complete access to the original papers featured in NeuroPod, subscribe to Nature, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature Reviews Neuroscience."

Extremes of Memory

Like a Skyline Is Etched in His Head
By JIM DWYER
The New York Times
Published: October 28, 2009

"Stephen Wiltshire, working only from the memory of a helicopter flight over New York, has been rendering the city’s 305 square miles along an arc of paper that is 19 feet long."

Read the full article

View the slideshow, "Portrait of the Artist," which shows parts of his amazing work

A Perspective on the Future of Neuroscience

From stevenroseonline.net:

Prospects and Perils of the New Brain Sciences: A twenty year timescale
Royal Society Science Policy Lab
20th October 2009
by Steven P R Rose

Read the full paper

Dopamine

A Molecule of Motivation, Dopamine Excels at Its Task
By NATALIE ANGIER
The New York Times
Published: October 27, 2009

"A view has emerged to counter the image that a neurotransmitter is the little Bacchus of our brain."

Read the article

What's the Twitter Sidebar This Week? #ClinicalTrials

This week, the Twitter sidebar will scroll #ClinicalTrials.

Ongoing Event: Neuroscience 2009

The annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience is ongoing in Chicago. The event contnues through the 21st.

Conference website

Cardiff Neuroscience

The Cardiff Neuroscience Centre
Webpage

Read about neuroscience research activities in and around Cardiff and their collaboration with Bristol via this virtual centre.

"Does the Brain Like E-Books?"

From The New York Times:

OPINION
Room for Debate: Does the Brain Like E-Books?
By By The Editors
Published: October 14, 2009

"How the reading experience differs between paper and screen."

Read the entry and the debate

The Fourth Plinth One & Other Project Ends: Chiari Malformations

The One & Other Antony Gormley project ended today in Trafalgar Square, London.

Among the many media reports and summaries of the project, Laura Hickman who represented Chiari Malformation awareness efforts during her hour on the Fourth Plinth has received additional attention.

The Times (UK) cites her hour as being on of the best of the 2400 individual hours in the project and says this about her:

"Laura Hickman: held up placards carrying the words of 30 sufferers of rare brain condition Chiari Malformation. Has since persuaded the NHS to recognise the condition, started work for Chicago's Chiari Centre Foundation, and plans to open a UK branch of the charity."

Excellent work!

Here is a link to the full report: Best of the Trafalgar Square plinthers (14th October, 2009).

iPhone Neuroscience App (Dana Foundation Blog)

Follow the link to the Dana Foundation Blog for a posting about a pretty-decent looking intro neuroanatomy app for your iPhone:

Brain browser comes to iPhone (5th October, 2009).

Upcoming Online Event: Malcolm Gladwell (14th October, 1430 hrs ET)

From The New Yorker:

Author Malcolm Gladwell has a live chat about brain injuries and sports tomorrow at 1430 hrs ET.

The chat can be found at the link found below. If you wish to submit a question for the essayist and author, go to that link and you can submit a question in advance of the event.

Questions for Gladwell/Live Chat

Parkinson's Disease: DATATOP

A news release from the NIH:

Investment in Parkinson's Disease Data Bank Yields Potential Therapy

12th October, 2009

[snip]

Individuals with Parkinson's disease who have higher levels of a metabolite called urate in their blood and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have a slower rate of disease progression, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. A clinical trial is under way to examine the safety and potential benefits of supplemental urate elevation for recently diagnosed Parkinson's patients who have low urate levels.

Investigators demonstrated the link with urate by mining a repository of clinical data and tissue samples collected from Parkinson's patients more than 20 years ago as part of a pioneering study called DATATOP, funded by NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The new study appears in Archives of Neurology. It was funded primarily by NINDS, with additional support from the Department of Defense and private organizations.

"This study speaks to the value of saving data and biospecimens from large clinical studies, and making them available to the research community to pursue new, unanticipated ideas," said Michael Schwarzschild, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who lead the study together with Alberto Ascherio, M.D., Dr.PH, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

[snip]