March 17, 2008

Illustrations and Enhanced Versions for BSP 32

March 17, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Episode 32 of the Brain Science Podcast was a whirlwind tour of brain anatomy based on Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain (2008) by David Bainbridge. The author has graciously share the illustrations from his book and I have posted a special page that is keyed to the podcast. I have also created an http://media.libsyn.com/media/brainsciencepodcast/32-enhanced-brainscience-anatomy.m4a, which will appear in the feed tomorrow. I think the images are best viewed on the web, but I would appreciate your feedback on both the website illustrations and the enhanced podcast. See the illustrations on the Brain Science Podcast website. View the enhanced podcast (requires Quicktime).

March 07, 2008

A Brief Introduction to Brain Anatomy (BSP 32)

March 07, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Episode 32 of the Brain Science Podcast is a whirlwind (55 minute) tour of brain anatomy. It is based on David Bainbridge's new book: Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain (2008). Within the next few days I will be expanding the show notes to include key illustrations from the book. I want to thank David for sharing these images and I encourage everyone to read the book. Listen to Episode 32 (Transcript coming soon, see below*) Share your comments on the Discussion Forum Audience Survey

Subscribe via iTunes™

Subscribe in a reader or podcatcher Subscribe to Brain Science Podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell by Email

Donations and Subscriptions

*As of 12/9/08 this episode has not yet been transcribed. When it is transcribed the show notes on the main Brain Science Podcast will be updated. Please send email to docartemis at gmail.com if you would like to be notified when the transcript is ready (it will be several months).

Note: If you would like to comment on this episode please go the the show notes on the Brain Science Podcast website or to the Discussion Forum at http://brainscienceforum.com.

February 26, 2008

Mur Lafferty: writer and podcasting pioneer (B&I 17)

February 26, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Ginger and Mur Episode 17 of Books and Ideas is an interview with writer Mur Lafferty. Mur's podcasts I Should Be Writing and Geek Fu Action Grip helped inspire me to start podcasting, so I was excited to get a chance to talk with her about her new novel, Playing for Keeps. We also talk a little about the challenges of podcasting. Listen to episode 17 Download Episode Transcript

Part 1 of the audio version of Playing for Keeps is included in this episode. It starts at 30:48. You can find the novel at http://playingforkeepsnovel.com or at http://podiobooks.com. Mur emphasized that her "street team" has done a lot to promote Playing for Keeps. Special thanks go to Natalie Metzger and Jarod Axelrod for artwork, and to Chris Miller for the companion video podcast, which is available on youtube.

Mur co-wrote Tricks of the Podcasting Masters with Rob Walch. She has also had several great stories on Escape Pod. My favorite is "I look Forward to Remembering You," which is scheduled to become a video on http://strangerthings.tv. To find more of Mur's work go to http://murlafferty.com. Listen to Episode 17 of Books and Ideas Download Episode Transcript

Subscribe to this podcast Subscribe via iTunes™ Subscribe by email Subscribe to Books and Ideas Blog Leave comments at the Discussion Forum

February 22, 2008

Brain Rhythms with György Buzsáki (BSP 31)

February 22, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

György Buzsáki, author of Rhythms of the Brain (OUP 2006) is a Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University. His book is a comprehensive review of the current state of research in the field of brain oscillations. It includes the role of these oscillations in sleep and memory. In episode 31 of the Brain Science Podcast Dr. Buzáki explains why the rhythms of the brain are important and reflects on why this field has been neglected by some neuroscientists. I think he makes a convincing case for the position that these rhythms are an essential component of brain function. Listen to Dr. György Buzsáki's interview about Brain Rhythms Transcript of Episode 31

György Buzsáki, Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University
- Learn about his lab and research
- Contact information

SHOW NOTES: Partial List of Scientists Mentioned:

Stephen Strogatz: known for his discovery of "small world" architecture
- His 2003 bestseller Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order is aimed at a general audience
Nancy Kopell: mathematician
- Buzsaki recommends her review of the analytical approaches to neuronal oscillators: We got Rhythm: Dynamical Systems of the Nervous System. N Am Math Soc 47: 6-16 (2000).
Zoltán Néda (Bebes-Bolyai University Romania): the spontaneous synchronization of hand clapping
Hermann Haken: German laser physicist who studies bidirectional causation
- The Science of Structure: Synergetics (1984)
John O'Keefe (University College, London): along with Lynn Nadel he discovered how the hippocampus forms a cognitive map of the world
- He has shown how the timing of osscillations in the hippocampus are important
- "Independent rate and temporal coding in hippocampal pyramidal cells" by John Huxter, Neil Burgess, and John O'Keefe. Nature 425, 828-832 (23 October 2003)
David McCormick (Yale University): showed that neurons from the thalamus of a ferret can oscillate spontaneously
- He has also studied the oscillations of place cells in the hippocampus
David Hubel and Thorston Wiesal: along with Vernon Montcastle they pioneered the use of single neuron recordings in the neocortex of casts and monkeys
- Montcastle, VB (1997) "The Columnar Organization of the Neocortex." Brain 102:01-722.
Claude Shannon: founder of Information Theory
Jan Born (University of Lübeck, Germany): experiments with how sleep improves both memory and problem solving

Topics and questions:

Basics of oscillations and synchrony
What functions are accomplished by brain rhythms?
The role of hippocampal ripples in memory
What happens to our brain rhythms while we sleep
The importance of synchrony in saving energy in the brain

This episode will appeal to listeners with a background in math or engineering, but Dr. Buzsáki provides numerous everyday examples that make the material accessible to everyone. Listen to this episode now. Share your comments on the Discussion Forum Audience Survey

Subscribe via iTunes™

Subscribe in a reader or podcatcher Subscribe to Brain Science Podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell by Email

Donations and Subscriptions

February 22, 2008

Embracing the Evidence for Evolution is not Always Easy

February 22, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

This week's Science magazine includes a profile of Canadian paleontologist Stephen Godfrey. What makes his story unusual is that he was raised as a fundamentalist Christian to believe in the creationist dogma of a 6,000 year-old earth. The article highlights why it can be very difficult to make such a transition since it also makes one an outsider. Not only may the young person lose their place in their religious community, but they may find find themselves reluctant to share their past with their new scientist colleagues who generally tend to assume that all creationists are intellectually inferior. This article interested me on two levels. For one thing, I think it makes some points that need to be acknowledged if mainstream scientists hope to win over potential young scientists from the admittedly growing influence of the creationists. On a more personal level, it reminded me of my own personal journey when back in my early 20's (in the late 1970's) I left Jehovah's Witnesses largely because I realized that they had totally misrepresented the scientific evidence about evolution. I reached this conclusion after studying the evidence myself. While I felt a sense of intellectual liberation, I also felt the pain of losing my religious community. I think it is important to realize that since humans are social by nature we have to realize that these ties are extremely powerful and can be a formidable obstacle to getting people to examine their beliefs. EVOLUTION: Crossing the Divide by Jennifer Couzin. Science 22 February 2008: Vol. 319. no. 5866, pp. 1034 - 1036

February 16, 2008

How Philosophy of Mind influences Artificial Intelligence

February 16, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

The latest episode of Talking Robots is an interview with Inman Harvey of the University of Sussex. He observes that when researchers attempt to build automous robots their approach is strongly influenced by their philosophy of mind, even if that philosophy is only implicit. He also points out that what he calls "good old-fashioned AI" fails to represent how brains really work. This is a point I have emphasized repeatedly. Inman observes that approaches liked embodied artificial intellingence (which we discussued with Rolf Pfeifer in Episode 25) are really based on a different philosophy of mind that "good old-fashioned AI." His paper Philosophy of Mind Using a Screwdriver is available as a PDF.

February 15, 2008

My Buffy Between the Lines "acting" debut

February 15, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

I have a small role in the special Valentine's episode of my favorite podcast audio drama Buffy Between the Lines. This is a stand alone episode that you can enjoy even if you have never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode was written by Tabitha Grace Smith, who I interviewed for an upcoming episode of Books and Ideas, which should be up within the next few days. Several other podcasters including JC Hutchins also have guest roles in this episode.

February 13, 2008

What turns an intern into a "real" doctor?

February 13, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

How does a green intern become a "real" doctor? I can tell you from personal experience that it is a very gradual process made up of many steps. Some of them are small and later forgotten, while others stay in one's mind years after the details of the events have faded. For me, one such vivid memory was talking to a room full of family about whether they wanted their elderly loved one put on life support. While it was stressful at the time, handling the situation alone, not only gave me confidence, but it shaped how I have approached similar events through out my career. The new autobiography, INTERN: A Doctor's Initiation by Sandeep Jauhar has been reviewed by Nancy Yanes-Hoffman on her blog WRITING DOCTOR'S BLOG by NYHWRITER.COM. Dr. Yanes-Hoffman gave me permission to quote her entire review, but I would rather link to her blog, so that you can see what else you might find interesting there.

February 12, 2008

Brain Science (Podcast) mentioned on Fox Business website

February 12, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

One of my podcasts is featured in an article entitled, "Wizzard Media Closes Second Podcast Ad Deal with U.S. Navy" (FoxBusiness.com 2/12/08), but they got the name wrong! Hopefully, Brain Science is close enough to help people find the Brain Science Podcast.

February 11, 2008

New Journal: Mind, Brain, and Education

February 11, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

From the Blackwell Publishing website:

"On April 2nd Wiley-Blackwell celebrated the premiere issue of Mind, Brain, and Education with a reception at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During the celebration Kurt Fischer (Harvard University), Howard Gardner (Harvard University), Maryanne Wolf (Tufts University), and Stanislas Dehaene (Collège de France) discussed their recent findings regarding how brain science informs educational practice."

You can here what Fischer, Wolf, and Dehaene had to say here.

February 10, 2008

Natasha Mitchell interviews Jonah Lehrer about "Proust was a Neuroscientist"

February 10, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

The February 9th episode of All in the Mind is an excellent interview of author Jonah Lehrer about his book Proust was a Neuroscientist. In the interview Lehrer reflects on the danger of viewing science as the sole source of discovery, but he also talks a little about several of the people explored in his book. His basic premise is that artists from various fields often intuitively grasped truths that are now being revealed by neuroscience. One example is the insights that Proust had about memory. Proust was a Neuroscientist is a valuable contribution to the current exploration of the relevance of neuroscience to everyday life. It can be easily read in a few sittings or savored one artist at a time. Natasha Mitchell is an excellent interviewer because she always asks interesting and probing questions. (I think of her as the Australian Terry Gross.). All in the Mind is an excellent compliment to the Brain Science Podcast. Mitchell has recently begun an All in the Mind blog and there is a new All in the Mind group on Facebook.

February 08, 2008

The Evolution of Language (BSP 30)

February 08, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Episode 30 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally. We focus mostly on the first part of the book, which tells the story of how the study of language evolution has grown from almost a banned subject to a new field of inquiry called evolutionary linguistics. We also reflect on how recent findings in neuroscience like the importance of plasticity are influencing the field. Listen to Episode 30 Scientists Discussed in the Episode:

*References: Pinker, Steven, and Paul Bloom, "Natural Language and Natural Selection," Behavioral and Brains Sciences 13 (1990): 707-84. Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky, and W. Tecumseh Fitch (2002). "The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?" Science 298:1569-1579. Christine Kenneally, The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language (2007). Stanley I. Greenspan and Stuart G. Shanker, The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans (2004). *Additional references can be found in Kenneally's book and at the websites of the scientists listed above. Listen to this episode now. Share your comments on the Discussion Forum Audience Survey

Subscribe via iTunes™

Subscribe in a reader or podcatcher Subscribe to Brain Science Podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell by Email

Donations and Subscriptions

February 06, 2008

Check out this interview with linguist, Alice Gaby

February 06, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

I just listened to the February 6, episode of Science Talk, the podcast from Scientific American. Steve Mirsky talks with linguist Alice Gaby, from the University of California-Berkeley, about the relationship between language, culture, cognition and perception. This is very relevant to episode 30 of the Brain Science Podcast (due out on February 8), which is about the evolution of language.

February 04, 2008

Jeff Hawkins talks about why computers aren't more like brains

February 04, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

I often emphasize the fact that our brains our different from computers. If you would like to read an article that comes at the subject from the opposite direction (computers are not brains) read this summary of a recent talk given by Jeff Hawkins about "why computers can't be more like a brain on Dean Takahashi's Tech Talk Blog. Jeff Hawkins was the co-founder of Palm, Inc. and he is author of On Intelligenc e, which was discussed in the Brain Science Podcast Episode 2.

February 02, 2008

Transcript of Steven Novella's interview is now available

February 02, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Episode 16 of Books and Ideas has been chosen as an Editor's Pick by Pods in Print©. This means the transcript of Dr. Steven Novella's interview is available when you sign up for a free 14-day trial of their podcast transcript service. Click here to learn more. Note: I will NOT receive any royalties for downloads of this transcript.

February 01, 2008

Helping Vets with Traumatic Brain Injuries get Rehab

February 01, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

In a recent interview with Dr. Edward Taub (Brain Science Podcast #28) we learned that Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy has been shown to help people with traumatic brain injuries, but that the Veteran's Administration has been slow to acknowledge the needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Fortunately, the problem seems to be receiving increasing attention. The January 25th episode of the Science Magazine podcast discusses an article exploring the possible mechanisms of brain injury ocurring in near-blast conditions, where often the effects may be delayed and subtle. Also, Easter Seals has just announced that it is funding a program that will provide access to Michael Merzenich's highly regarded Posit Science Program, an on-line program originally developed to help older patients regain and maintain their mental agility. I don't know if they have done any work with traumatic brain injury, but the program certainly shows promise. References: "Shell Shock Revisited: Solving the Puzzle of Blast Trauma," Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, Science 25 January 2008: Vol. 319. no. 5862, pp. 406 - 408 Press Release: Easter Seals Launches Nationwide Program for U.S. Service Members and Veterans Deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan with Traumatic Brain Injury The IMPACT study: a clinical trial of the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program Posit Science Podcast: Dr. Merzenich presents the results of the IMPACT study

January 25, 2008

Dr. Maryanne Wolf talks about the Reading Brain (BSP 29)

January 25, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Director of The Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University Brain Science Podcast #29 is an interview with cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. I discussed her book in Episode 24, so this interview was an opportunity to ask her some follow-up questions, and to focus more on how children learn to read. Dr. Wolf shares her ten years of experience helping children learn to read and developing programs to help children with problems like dyslexia. She shares some practical advice for parents as well as her concerns about how reliance on the internet could influence reading skills. I enjoyed the conversation and, while I especially want to share this episode with parents, I think Dr. Wolf gives everyone some interesting ideas to consider. Listen to the interview. Links:

Maryanne Wolf:

The Center for Reading and Language Development (Tufts University)
RAVE-O: A Comprehensive, Fluency-Based Reading Intervention Program

Listen to this episode now. Share your comments on the Discussion Forum Audience Survey

Subscribe via iTunes™

Subscribe in a reader or podcatcher Subscribe to Brain Science Podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell by Email

Donations and Subscriptions

January 18, 2008

Dr. Steven Novella from "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe" (B&I 16)

January 18, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

Episode 16 of Books and Ideas is a conversation with Dr. Steven Novella from the popular podcast The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. This interview is a response to numerous requests from fans of the Brain Science Podcast, but I put it in the Books and Ideas feed so that Dr. Novella could share some of his personal experiences both as a physician and as a podcaster. Listen to Dr. Novella's interview

Subscribe to this podcast Subscribe via iTunes™ Subscribe by email Subscribe to Books and Ideas Blog Leave comments at the Discussion Forum Show Notes: Dr. Novella talked a little bit about why he became a physician and about choosing neurology as his specialty. We talked about the role of imaging and how recent advances in neuroscience are influencing patient care. We also talked about the importance of helping patients get accurate information, both from the internet and from their physicians, and how the pressure for physicians to see large numbers of patients hinders good communication. Dr. Novella is committed to evidence-based medicine and we talked about the role of skepticism in evaluating medical claims, both from mainstream and alternative sources. Dr. Novella also talked briefly about his podcast and his blogs, including a new blog specifically devoted to promoting evidence-based medicine. In the last section of this episode I looked back on the first 15 episodes of Books and Ideas. I particularly want to thank Matthew Cobb for being my first guest back in episode 7. You can get his book Generation at the Books and Ideas aStore at Amazon.com. Links:

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe
Dr. Novella's Blogs:
- Neurologica
- Science Based Medicine
Matthew Cobb:
- Listen to discussion of his book Generation (episode 6)
- Listen to interview (Episode 7)
- Cobb's home page
- Cobb's blog on Vox

January 13, 2008

How to tag for Delicious

January 13, 2008/ Ginger Campbell, MD

There is lots of interesting stuff on the internet about the brain and neuroscience, and obviously no one can keep up with it all. I have decided to follow Leo Laporte's example by creating a del.icio.us tag that we can all use to facilitate sharing what we find with each other. The tag will be brainsciencepodcast, spelled as one word. Obviously someone who doesn't listen to the Brain Science Podcast could choose the same tag, but it would like bring our attention to something relevant. In addition, since del.icio.ous automatically creates an RSS feed for each tag, I have created a special feed that you can subscribe to if you want to keep track of what is being added by others. Notice that the last 3 items added will always appear in the left side bar of this website.

Subscribe to del.icio.us: brainscience Click here to join my del.icio.us network If you are new to del.icio.us click here