February 24, 2014

This is Your Brain on a Laser Beam

It’s mathematically possible for your consciousness to exist without your body.

We are closer to achieving science fiction: your brain–your personality, your mind, your soul, your entire being–may one day be available on a disc. It’s mathematically possible for your consciousness to exist without your body. This big idea and the research that supports it is explored in the chapter “Mind Beyond Matter” in Michio Kaku’s latest book The Future of the Mind, released Tuesday. Catch him Tuesday night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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