The Neuroscience of McGriddles: Evolutionary biology offers hypotheses about why we enjoy eating. "When you eat at McDonald's, a big part of the pleasure comes from the fact that the food is sustenance, fuel, energy. Even mediocre food is a little rewarding."
posted by silby on Jul 23, 2009 - 82 comments

Like eating brains? I know you do. Why not add some new dishes to your collection of recipes that use the "fifth quarter?" [more inside]
posted by Demogorgon on Apr 2, 2009 - 39 comments

Smarter men have more sperm (via)
posted by device55 on Jan 9, 2009 - 55 comments

Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis
posted by felix betachat on Nov 12, 2007 - 29 comments

So you thought that old cliche about civil servants having only half a brain was just a conservative canard? Well, think again.
posted by saulgoodman on Jul 20, 2007 - 45 comments

Neanderthal Lovin’! New research from evolutionary scientist Bruce Lahn suggests that humans and the now extinct Neanderthal species mixed, and humans snatched up a valuable brain gene in the process. (The gene, MCPH1, and Lahn, discussed last year on MeFi) This comes on the tails of yet another new study providing morphological evidence that there was nontrivial interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals in Eurasia, despite the fact that Neanderthals may have been genetically closer to chimps than humans. Contrary to popular imagination, though, the Neanderthal species had bigger brains and sophisticated intellects, at least roughly on par with that of human beings. The gene regulates brain size during development, but its exact utility to humans is still unknown (and controversial). The origin of this gene and the question of Neanderthal mixing will soon be answered more definitively by the, just launched, 2 year project to map the Neanderthal genome, headed by Svante Pääbo (profiled in recent Smithsonian and Wired articles). Pääbo calls Lahn’s study "the most compelling case to date for a genetic contribution of Neandertals to modern humans."
posted by Jason Malloy on Nov 8, 2006 - 26 comments

We've seen zombie flash mobs and zombie flash games (this awesome post deserves a resurrection - pun intended - for Halloween)... even zombie awareness products and laser controlled headless zombie flies. But do zombies really exist? This video makes a sound case.
posted by shoppingforsanity on Oct 18, 2006 - 22 comments

This old post aboutknitted brains got me thinking, they'd be a delicious treat for some knitted zombies, like the cast of Dawn of the Dead (or Shaun of the Dead). For those of you non-zombie *but still made of wool* types, there's this fine selection of knitted foods.
posted by jonson on Sep 18, 2006 - 13 comments

We recently saw people playing at being zombies, which is fun and all, but wouldn't you rather kill zombies than be one? I sure as hell would, so there's [more inside]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Aug 24, 2006 - 27 comments

Spelling with zombies.
posted by EarBucket on Aug 16, 2006 - 35 comments

The neurophysiology of political reasoning: "Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones." But where do we get our initial biases? (via)
posted by anotherpanacea on Jul 16, 2006 - 21 comments

BRAAAIIINNNSSSS!
posted by quonsar on Jan 25, 2006 - 49 comments

The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art. Another view of a fabric brain.
posted by kenko on Jan 20, 2006 - 12 comments

Genes Reveal Recent Human Brain Evolution. Two important new papers in the journal Science (available here) from the evolutionary geneticist and rising star, Bruce T. Lahn (see this recent profile from The Scientist), are potentially the tips of some very large icebergs. The papers document how two genes related to brain properties that underwent strong selection during the course of hominid evolution, have continued undergoing strong selection since the emergence of anatomically modern man. The papers wonderfully illustrate how biological evolution is an ongoing process as well as the artificial distinction between “micro” and “macro” evolution, and promise to be controversial for two reasons: First, the brain genes underwent the strongest selection during two periods of cultural and technological efflorescence (roughly 37,000 and 5,800 years ago). Second, the genes are distributed very differently in modern human population groups, existing at very high frequencies in some groups and being very rare in others, ensuring that the modern function of these genes will be a source of more research and much impassioned debate. More observations from anthropologist John Hawks.
posted by Jason Malloy on Sep 8, 2005 - 54 comments

wow..and it can fly a flight sim using only the power of its mind.....via boing boing
posted by ShawnString on Oct 22, 2004 - 7 comments

Mindguard ... protects your mind by actively jamming and/or scrambling psychotronic mind-control signals and removing harmful engrammic pollutants from your brain. It also has the ability to scan for and decipher into English specific signals so you can see exactly Who wants to control you and what They are trying to make you think.
posted by five fresh fish on Jul 6, 2004 - 11 comments

I am John's brain. Amusingly written, yet astutely raising an important point. What exactly are we to do about consciousness? Although clearly different theories abound, one must still ponder whether or not the problem is even solvable in the first place. Where then can we turn to for our solution? Why, bicamerality, of course.
posted by cohappy on Jun 23, 2003 - 24 comments

2003 Reith Lectures. Neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, talks about a number of fascinating neurological disorders and the insights they provide into mental functioning.
posted by srboisvert on May 24, 2003 - 10 comments

How male or female is your brain? Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen argues in today's Guardian that the male and female brains tend to be hard-wired for different kinds of thinking - empathising (more common in females) or systemising (more common in males). Take the test.
posted by jamespake on Apr 17, 2003 - 86 comments

World's first brain prosthesis revealed. Well, first hippocampus replacement at least. If this is not a dead end for science (which I doubt), I am gonna get my soul fully digitalized in 2020, then spreading it on the whole net with some new version of a code-red virus. :-)
posted by zerofoks on Mar 13, 2003 - 14 comments

Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections [via the extraordinary nsop]
posted by hama7 on Dec 8, 2002 - 9 comments

Nasa plans to read the minds of terrorists... NASA wants to use "noninvasive neuro-electric sensors," imbedded in gates, to collect tiny electric signals that all brains and hearts transmit. Computers would apply statistical algorithms to correlate physiologic patterns with computerized data on travel routines, criminal background and credit information from "hundreds to thousands of data sources," NASA documents say
posted by Espoo2 on Aug 20, 2002 - 12 comments

Turning on a single gene makes mouse brains grow huge, and fold in the skull similarly to human brains. Fancy discussing Derida over tea with a rodent? more inside...
posted by daver on Jul 18, 2002 - 38 comments

Okay, so you can smell my brains... which is sort of required viewing to, uh... enjoy the sequel. Which may or may not be safe for work, depending on how your employer feels about animated kitty porn.
posted by headspace on Feb 15, 2002 - 15 comments

Your Brain on God. "After restoring everything to its proper working position, the techies exit, and I'm left sitting inside the utterly silent, utterly black vault. A few commands are typed into a computer outside the chamber, and selected electromagnetic fields begin gently thrumming my brain's temporal lobes. The fields are no more intense than what you'd get as by-product from an ordinary blow-dryer, but what's coming is anything but ordinary. My lobes are about to be bathed with precise wavelength patterns that are supposed to affect my mind in a stunning way, artificially inducing the sensation that I am seeing God. "
posted by atom128 on Dec 2, 2001 - 23 comments

Yes, you have two brains. It looks like your digestive tract is a huge "brain."
posted by skallas on Nov 6, 2000 - 3 comments