Tag: mind.

• AI Mind Reader

  By combining fMRI brain imaging with an AI predictive text system, researchers have demonstrated a process that is akin to mind reading. Anthony and Jeff discuss the methodology and ramifications of such a system, and decide whether they'd sign up for a COU mind-meld. [more]

  May 19, 2023Episodes

• The Goldfish’s Bad Rap

  A team of researchers at the University of Oxford has found via experimentation that goldfish use markings on the floor below them to measure how far they have traveled. The study disproves the long-held belief goldfish have little or no memory. Anthony and Jeff talk about what this means for goldfish reputations, worldwide, and other animals who fight with unfair stigmas. [more]

  December 30, 2022Episodes

• Useful Commutes and Masked Cows

  Studies show the morning commute is the least favorite part of the day, and the commute home the third-least favorite, but it’s also possible to miss aspects of that enforced time between work and home. For all its downsides, the daily commute does have some positives. Anthony and Jeff discuss the science behind commuting, and how we can adapt in a new world. Then, there are 1.6 billion cattle on Earth, and their burps and farts are becoming a big problem. Cows expel methane, which is approximately 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to warming the planet. Jeff and Anthony look at a company proposing an unusual solution to a very big problem. [more]

  January 15, 2021Episodes

• Lethal Collection

  "What if we told you we could back up your mind?" That's the business pitch of Nectome, a preserve-your-brain-and-upload-it company. The catch? They have to kill you first. Its chemical solution can keep a body intact for hundreds of years, maybe thousands, as a statue of frozen glass. The idea is that someday in the future scientists will scan your bricked brain and turn it into a computer simulation. That way, someone a lot like you, though not exactly you, will smell the flowers again in a data server somewhere. Jeff and Anthony accuse each other of already having undergone the procedure. [more]

  March 26, 2018Episodes

• Deja View

  Most of us know it - that weird, sudden feeling of experiencing something not for the first time. It's called déjà vu - French for "already seen" - and it's an uncanny feeling. But according to new research, that's all it is. Just a feeling. The most accepted explanation is that it has to do with memory. Much like a word can be on the tip of your tongue, a memory could be on the tip of your mind - there, but not quite accessible. Jeff and Anthony think they might have done this story before. [more]

  March 19, 2018Episodes

• Retro Virus

  Inside the brain, proteins don’t stick around longer than a few minutes. And yet, our memories can hang on for our entire lifetime. Recently, an international collaboration of researchers discovered something strange about a protein called Arc. This is essential to long-term memory formation. What they found was that it has very similar properties to how a virus infects its host. Jeff and Anthony consider what life could have been like without the ability to remember. [more]

  February 5, 2018Episodes