Clipmarks | Antara's 'neuroscience' clips

Yay! More great material online for free!

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:47:50 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks:
As someone who really didn't take advantage of educational opportunities when I was young, I feel doubly grateful to have all these resources around me now

Clip Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

An academic service offering downloadable lectures via iTunes is to be made available to students at University College London, the Open University and Trinity College Dublin.

The move follows similar initiatives in the US where Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley and MIT are already making educational content available via 'iTunes U', a free section of the online music store.

European universities are joining their US counterparts in offering video and audio recordings of lectures from leading academics to students for use on iPods or computers.

"Our students will be able to revisit material presented to them in lectures, so they can learn anywhere and anytime," said Professor Peter Mobbs, of UCL.

UCL is promising downloads about neuroscience, the university's 'lunch time lectures' and a round-up of the latest news.

The Open University, meanwhile, will offer content relating to current courses through 300 audio and video files.

UK universities offer lectures via iTunes

Tags: education, itunes, podcasts, online education, free, europe

Neuro-Mysticism

Wed, 14 May 2008 13:21:52 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: I love this kinda material, just fascinating...

Clip Source: www.theness.com

Writing in today’s New York Times, columnist David Brooks discusses the relationship between neuroscience and mysticism - saying that in the future the debate will center around a concept that he calls “neural Buddhism”. He says he is not taking sides, just pointing out that this is where the real debate is going to happen. Well - let the debate begin.

First I want to point out that I read David Brooks regularly because I find his style to be very rational, educated, and thoughtful. He is one of those writers who is worth reading regardless of your political ideology. I particularly enjoy those articles in which he takes a step back and looks at the current political topics of discussion in the context of broader cultural trends. That is indeed what he is attempting to do in this article. Although he is clearly well-read on this topic, I think he has misinterpreted the implications of current neuroscience.

Tags: skeptics, neurscience, mysticism, religion, faith and the future

Belief, disbelief and uncertainty

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:02:41 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/adams-maxim-and-spinozas-conjecture/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

Adam’s Maxim and Spinoza’s Conjecture

By Michael Shermer
Belief, disbelief and uncertainty generate different neural pathways in the brain

During an early episode of the über-pyrotechnic television series MythBusters, Adam Savage was busted by the camera crew for misremembering his predictions of the probability of an axle being ripped out of a car, à la American Graffiti. When confronted with the unmistakable video evidence of his error, Adam sardonically rejoined: “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”

Tags: sam harris, belief, certainty, neuroscience

Your Nose, Your Brain, Your Faith

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:02:56 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris article....very interesting!

Rest of article:

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/my-nose-my-brain-my-faith/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Jan. 10, 2008

Your nose is one of the less complicated parts of your body, and yet we credit it with considerable intelligence in the area of truth vs. falsehood. We “sniff out a lie.” We say “something smells fishy.” Now studies suggest that something more than metaphor may be at work here--specifically, brain science. The same research may also shed unexpected light on religious faith.

Believing or disbelieving something is always as much about feeling as fact. Sam Harris, a doctoral candidate at UCLA, wanted to see what that means in physiological terms. To many readers, Harris is best known for his antireligious book The End of Faith. But he is also a neuroscientist. In a study reported in the Annals of Neurology, Harris presented 14 people with 360 statements designed to elicit belief, disbelief or uncertainty. He tracked their brain response with a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI) and got some very revealing results.

Tags: sam harris, neuroscience, faith, religion

Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief, and Uncertainty

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:05:05 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: New Sam !

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

Sam Harris
Sameer A. Sheth, MD, PhD
Mark S. Cohen, PhD

Objective: The difference between believing and disbelieving a proposition is one of the most potent regulators of human behavior and emotion. When we accept a statement as true, it becomes the basis for further thought and action; rejected as false, it remains a string of words. The purpose of this study was to differentiate belief, disbelief, and uncertainty at the level of the brain.

Tags: neuroscience, sam harris, belief