My new column for Discover is about tinnitus, the ringing in the ears that affects a third of all people at some point in their lives. While tinnitus may seem to like it’s in our ears, its source actually lies deep within our brains–possibly spread across the networks of neurons that make us consciously aware of our lives. The better scientists can appreciate its full reach, the better they may be able to treat it. Check it out.

[Update: Link fixed to take you to the first page of the column, not the second.]

Originally published October 28, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

Deep in your brain there are probably several thousand neurons that will respond only to the sight of Lady Gaga. Several thousand others probably only crackle to the sight of Justin Bieber. It might be nice to reassign those neurons to loftier thoughts. For now, though, neurology can’t help you. What neurology can do for you (if you’re up for a little invasive brain surgery) is let you use those Gaga and Bieber neurons to control a computer.

Continue reading “Harnessing Your Marilyn Monroe Neurons” →

Okay, if scientists won’t listen to me tell them they have to learn how to speak in plain English, maybe another scientist can drive the point home. From the intriguing blog The Plainspoken Scientist, via Colin Schultz.

Originally published October 27, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

A few months ago a neuroscientist named Carl Schoonover sent me the galleys of a coffee table book made for my kind of coffee table. It’s a visual history of the brain, using images to tell the story of neuroscience from its earliest roots to today’s awesome brain scans and micrographs. The book, called Portraits of the Mind: Visualizing the Brain from Antiquity to the 21st Century is just out. So rather than just blurb and run, I thought I’d share a peek into it with you.

Originally published October 26, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.