Surprising Science — March 14, 2014

Are We Close to Reading Minds?

We’ve covered the potential for mind-reading before here on Big Think. The technology sounds exciting, but it also brings up terrifying ethical issues.

To quote Neil deGrasse Tyson, “we’re moving onward to the edge” when it comes to the cosmos of the mind.

Scientists at Stanford University have traced the source of thoughts to specific parts of the brain. Does this present the potential for mind-reading? DNews has the story:

Image credit: ezhikoff/Flickr

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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