And one more note

Back in the States. My train from Boston to Providence broke down at 12:30am, and I had to get a cab, which meant I got in at around 3am. Ugh.

Updates coming late tomorrow. Pictures from Neurobotics all made it to my PC without issue, but now I need to do some touching up and processing. 8GB worth of pics! I'll post a link to my Flickr account when things are up for display.

And one last thing. I've noticed a pretty big spike in traffic this week. I don't know if it is from Neurobotics members or the Biomechanics class I spoke to at Campus Biomedico in Rome, but I thought I would repeat the site's philosophy/tone. The purpose of this site is primarily to keep track of current events, research reports, and general coverage of BCIs (Brain Computer Interfaces) in the media (scientific and popular). The tone is on the lighthearted side generally (ala Gizmodo, though more tame), and intended to be a a decent "radar" for BCI outside the walls of a general lab setting. Some of it is very topical, some very technical, but there is an even balance (hopefully) of off-topic and general/no-science-background-needed material. Right now it is just me running the show, but I have a feeling that I will soon be adding a few other contributors. If you have any suggestions/questions/concerns, feel free to email me.

Music and mayhem

One last quickie.

Oliver Sacks has a new book out, Musicophillia: Tales of Music and the Brain. I loved some of his past books, which my psych prof turned me on to during my freshman year. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, The Island of the Color Blind, An Anthropologist on Mars, and he has a few more. For anyone that wants to see just how strange the brain/mind can be, definitely pick up the first book I mentioned. Nice short stories about patients he saw as a neurologist, and not too science heavy.

And what do strange minds do? Duh? They sue Steve Jobs and OJ Simpson for aiming missiles at their brains. What else would they do? (Here are the actual papers filed. I shit you not.)

Quick Note

I will post Neurobotics pics and a wrap up/review when I get back to The States. I need my desktop PC to deal with the photos. Super Paper Friday may be merged tomorrow with last week's

Ciao!

Shadows of Phineas

Metal chair through the face? No thanks. I said no thanks! No... Ahhhh!

Who does this remind me of....? Hmmm....

(Answer: Phineas Gage)
Was thinking about filing this under "feedback".

I got your robots riiight heeeere!

At Robodock 2007. I don't think it looks too amazing, but worth checking out this fusion of art and robotics. Artbotics? Pics, video link.

A few links to tide you over

Since my schedule is so completely off, here's a dump of some of the things that hit my radar recently...

Researchers at some oddball university named "Brown" (seriously, who names a university after a color), have been showing off a haptic device used for artistic expression - some sort of hybrid visual and movement art thing. Anyhow, see what the techno-hippies are up to here. Also on Slashdot, under the clever title of "Happiness is a Warm Electrode".

DBS for depression, and mentioned in earlier posts, is featured in the September issue of Popular Science. Interestingly, they target the subgenual cingulate region, which I know has been implicated int he disorder, but I didn't know to such a large extent. Perhaps this area is the linchpin for untreatable depression (versus that controllable through medication). @ Neurophilosphery.

You like the haptics? Oh, yes, you LOVE the haptics! Anyhow, Ishikawa-Namiki Komuro's Laboratory is working on a fancy vibro-tactile suit for the blind. You can imagine how that works - optic sensors that transduce various object features and locations to several vibrating nodes on a suit. Still worth mentioning.

Another accumulation of online learning resources is up in wiki form at Librarian Chick. Learnin's is gooder than not noing. That's mi moto!

Coming soon...

Neurobotics wrap up, pictures, and Super Paper -insert whatever day it is posted-.

In the meantime, why not pick up a Flying Monkey with Slingshot and Screaming Sound!?!