BRAIN GROOVOLUTION   ⏱09:59

explaining how the human brain evolved & develops, the sensitivity of our fingertip nerves, dementia, elon musk, horses, inflammation, shamanism & not much more

episode #8, 23rd April 2021 #evolution #development #touch #dementia   image source

  ⇦ listen here ⏱09:59


  ⇨ transcript here


our main brain stories this episode...

BRAIN EVOLUTION EXPLAINED

two studies on brain development & evolution caught the media's attention with flashy data & flashy claims about the relationships between humans, chimps & gorillas. if i understood, these are important pieces in a much bigger puzzle   [read more...]

this story was in episode #8. original articles: Benito-Kwiecinski et al., 2021 (Cell), Ponce de León et al., 2021 (Science), reported in: The Guardian by Ian Sample on 24th March 2021 & The Daily Mail by Stacy Liberatore on 25th March 2021 & The Daily Mail by Johnathan Chadwick on 8th April 2021 & Science News by Charles Choi on 8th April 2021 & The Scientist by Abby Olena on 19th April 2021 #evolvution #parietal #occipital #frontal

ratings: The Guardian: fair - scientific story mostly intact   The Daily Mail: fair - scientific story mostly intact   The Daily Mail: fact - scientific story reported well   Science News: fact - scientific story reported well   The Scientist: fact - scientific story reported well  


FEEL THE GROOVE OF TOUCH

recording electrical signals in the arm's nerves, this heroic research discovers the limits of touch sensation in the fingertip. at just 0.4mm our sensitivity matches the width of the grooves in our fingerprints   [read more...]

this story was in episode #8. original article: Jarocka et al., 2021 (Journal of Neuroscience), reported in: The New Scientist by Christa Leste-Lasserre on 15th March 2021 & The Guardian by Nicola Davis on 15th April 2021 & Twitter by Andrew Pruszynski on 16th March 2021 #fingerprint #touch #maps #microneurography

ratings: The New Scientist: fact - scientific story reported well   The Guardian: fact - scientific story reported well   Twitter: fact - scientific story reported well  


IS EVERYTHING LINKED TO DEMENTIA?

the daily mail links three studies which have nothing to do with dementia to dementia. we're not sure why they are doing this, but they are. it's really very strange indeed   [read more...]

this story was in episode #8. original articles: Koblinsky et al., 2021 (BMC Geriatrics), Kamer et al., 2021 (Alzheimer's and Dementia), Dallas et al., 2021 (Scientific Reports), reported in: The Daily Mail by Johnathan Chadwick on 16th April 2021 & The Daily Mail by Joe Pinkstone on 12th April 2021 & The Daily Mail by Johnathan Chadwick on 14th April 2021 #dementia #teeth #housework #gas


WELCOME TO THE MUSK SHOW

rarely out of the headlines, the daily mail squeezes elon musk into three science stories this month. the error bar promises never to mention mr musk again   [read more...]

this story was in episode #8. original article: Simeral et al., 2021 (IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering), reported in: The Daily Mail by Ryan Morrison on 9th April 2021 & The Daily Mail by Johnathan Chadwick on 8th April 2021 & The Daily Mail by Stacy Liberatore on 2nd April 2021 #BCI #BrainGate #neuralink #dinosaur


THIS EPISODE'S NEURAL CORRELATES ARE...

everything we do involves the brain, so it is no surprise that horse-assisted therapy, inflamed sinuses, shamanic meditation & obsessive compulsive disorder all have their very own neural correlates   [read more...]

this story was in episode #8. original articles: Zhu et al., 2021 (Human Brain Mapping), Jafari et al., 2021 (JAMA Otolaryngology-- Head & Neck Surgery), Huels et al., 2021 (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience), Weeland et al., 2021 (Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), #horse #inflammation #shamanism #OCD