INSIDE THE MIND - THE BRAIN ISSUE
The mysteries of the brain have puzzled humans since the dawn of civilisation. What is consciousness? Why does it exist? How do we make memories? In this special brain issue of Cosmos, we delve into the wonders of the mind. We take you on an incredible photographic journey into an operating theatre as surgeons work to remove a brain aneurysm, catalogue the amazing abilities of a young blind boy who uses sonar navigation to find his way around objects, uncover the 1,500 year history of brain surgery, and recount the tale of Phineas Gage - a man who gained fame after surviving having a metal spike driven through his brain. |
|
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Consciousness is the last bastion of research: a ghost in the machinery of the brain we cannot see but only dimly detect. But why does it exist at all? Steven Pinker delves into what remains largely a mystery.
THE LABYRINTH OF MEMORY
We rely on memory every day, but barely understand its mysterious machinery. That's now changing, heralding a future of improved memory function, says Elizabeth Finkel.
THE ACID TEST
It's been banned for 35 years, but some scientists argue that a comeback for the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs like LSD is overdue. But is there a place for LSD in medicine today, asks Alex Wilde.
VOICES WITHIN
From Galileo to Andy Warhol, hearing voices has been common among the creative … and the mad. But as Bettina Thraenhardt discovers, it may be even more prevalent than people like to admit.
A CASE OF CONSCIENCE
Once painted as a Frankenstein, his family was targeted and his reputation undermined. But Colin Blakemore chose to make a stand for good science - and won out. Elizabeth Finkel revisits Blakemore's conflict with public opinion on animal experimentation.
At Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital, neurosurgeon Marcus Stoodley embarks on a four-hour operation to repair a potentially deadly brain aneurysm. Photographer Erica Harrison captures the action.
It's not just bats who use sound to see: blind people can also click and chirp their way around objects. Puya Abolfathi finds out how a remarkable young man uses sonar navigation to find his way through life.
Is there a neurological basis for our preferences in art and design? Increasingly, science believes so. David Sokol shows how the organisation of the brain relates to the conception and experience of art.
Venturing into a surgical no-go zone, neurosurgeon Charlie Teo
set out against the odds to remove the deadly brain stem glioma threatening an 11 year-old girl's life.
Western societies have an increasingly ambiguous and uncomfortable relationship with ageing. Michael Dumiak explains why the ageing population has become obsessed with youth.
Tasmania's wildlife has been plagued by a series of strange, disfiguring diseases. David Salt reveals why the platypus is now at risk.
Around the world, evidence abounds that brain surgery was practised - even common - in many ancient cultures. Susan Brown finds out why.
Space may be thrilling- but it can also drive you crazy. Heather Catchpole looks at how astronauts would cope on a three-year mission to Mars.
It's celebrated case in medical and psychological literature - a 19th century man speared through the brain who fully recovered. John Fleischman asks how much of what we know about the unfortunate Phineas Gage is urban myth?
China is growing so fast it's in danger of choking in the environmental degradation of its success. Anthony Anderton visits "the air pollution capital of the planet," where change is now afoot, from the bureaucracy down to the crowded streets.
Understanding all of the functions of the human brain, even conciousness, may one day be within our grasp- but that wont diminish our humanity.
Letters, and Cosmos wins big at the Bell Awards.
Short science bites for a fast read.
Tv's get bigger and better.
Imagine waking up to find yourself being strangled by your own hand Rob Moodie describes alien hand syndrome- the involuntary movement of an upper limb where the affected limb feels as if it has a mind of its own.
Her face was blotched red with anger. "You're offering me a choice between giving you back your hand, and raising a child that you hate." Mary Robinette Kowal tells the story of a musician and his wife struggling with the choice of conceiving a child for the purpose of restoring his hand, mutilated in an accident two weeks earlier.
Reviews of books and DVDs.
Science can help us stretch the boundaries of the human mind- so lets do it, says Ramez Naam.
