Brain Science Podcast discussion

"You've seen the headlines: This is your brain on love. Or God. Or envy. Or happiness. And they're reliably accompanied by pictures of colour-drenched brains – scans capturing Buddhist monks meditating, addicts craving cocaine, and students choosing Coke over Pepsi. The media – and even some neuroscientists, it seems – love to invoke the neural foundations of human behaviour to explain everything from the Bernie Madoff financial fiasco to slavish devotion to our iPhones, the sexual indiscretions of politicians, conservatives' dismissal of global warming, and an obsession with self-tanning.

Clearly, brains are hot. The prospect of solving the deepest riddle humanity has ever contemplated – itself – by studying the brain has captivated scholars and scientists for centuries. But never before has the brain so vigorously engaged the public imagination. The prime impetus behind this enthusiasm is a form of brain imaging called fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, an instrument that measures brain activity and converts it into the now iconic vibrant images one sees in the science pages of the daily newspaper."

Full article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/201...

http://neurocritic.blogspot.co.uk/201...

Pertinent.

I suppose we are fascinated that for the first time we are accepting that 'parts of the brain' have something to do with parts of the mind. Media frenzy aside it's still very significant and the benefits of NS to our thinking and beliefs is barely got started.