The Stopped Clock Illusion

Chronostasis (from Greek χρόνος, chrónos, “time” and στάσις “standing”) is the illusion in which the first impression following a saccade (quick eye movement) appears to be extended in time. The most well-known version of this illusion is the stopped-clock illusion, where the first movement of the second hand of an analog clock, following the viewer’s directing attention to the clock, appears to take longer than the next movement. When eyes execute a saccade, perception of time stretches slightly backward. The viewer’s brain registers that they have been looking at the clock for slightly longer than they really have, producing the illusion that the second-hand is frozen for more than a second. Although this happens every time the eyes move from one fixation point to the next, it is rarely noticed. One explanation is that the brain is filling in the gap while the eyes move from looking at one thing to the next.
Source, Via: Youtube

This Is Charley

Charley is an amazing cat with cerebellar hypoplasia. LINK: Youtube

Skull Made of Brain Slices

Graphic Designer Noah Scalin who is known for his skull a day project, where he created a skull everyday for an entire year, creates an image of a skull from brain slices at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. LINK: Youtube

"Interview with Noah Scalin"


Anna Dhody curator of the Mütter Museum interviews Noah Scalin a graphic designer who created the skull a day project.

Noah Scalin discusses his latest project he created at the Mütter Museum in which he arranged brain slices to create an image of a skull. LINK: Youtube

Plants Can Think And Remember

Plants are able to remember and react to information contained in light, according to researchers. Plants, scientists say, transmit information about light intensity and quality from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems. These electro-chemical signals are carried by cells that act as nerves of the plants.

In their experiment, scientists from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland showed that light shone on to one leaf caused the whole plant to respond. And the response, which took the form of light-induced chemical reactions in the leaves, continued in the dark. This showed, they said, that the plant remembered the information encoded in light. LINK: The Presurfer

Building the Ship's Brain

Man-Made: World's Largest Cruise Ship : THU JUN 10 10P et/pt : http://channel.nationalgeographic.com...

Filled with cables and wires that send messages to different machinery around the craft, the bridge acts as the ship's brain. LINK: Youtube

Scale model of a war-torn WWII town built and photographed by brain-damaged beating victim

Mark Hogancamp was beaten into a "brain-damaging coma" by five men outside a bar. After he awoke, he devoted himself to building "Marwencol," a 1/6th scale WWII town, in his back yard: "Mark populated the town he dubbed 'Marwencol' with dolls representing his friends and family and created life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helped Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds from the attack. Through his homemade therapy, Mark was able to begin the long journey back into the 'real world', both physically and emotionally - something he continues to struggle with today."

The level of detail is amazing, and heart-wrenching, and sometimes just plain weird and disturbing. But it's also wonderful -- both as a display of sheer craft and dedication, and as a monument to a difficult and painful recovery.

Marwencol (Lookforthewoman), Via: Boingboing

Dolphins: Second-Smartest Animals?

When human measures for intelligence are applied to other species, dolphins come in just behind humans in brainpower, according to new research. Dolphins demonstrate skills and awareness previously thought to be present only in humans.

New MRI scans show that dolphin brains are four to five times larger for their body size when compared to another animal of similar size. LINK: The Presurfer

Optical Illusion: Check Your Brain!

Exactly 200 tiny handcut squares of paper placed at certain points on a checkerboard make for an interesting illusion. LINK: Youtube

Pink Floyd-Brain Damage/Eclipse

Roger and the boys reunited... LINK: Youtube

Man trapped in 23-year 'coma' reveals horror

A car crash victim has spoken of the horror he endured for 23 years after he was misdiagnosed as being in a coma when he was conscious the whole time.

Rom Houben, trapped in his paralysed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them - but could make no sound.

'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state.

'I dreamed myself away': Rom Houben, now 46, has told of the nightmare of being trapped in a paralysed body, unable to tell doctors that he was awake, for 23 years

But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally.

Mr Houben described the moment as 'my second birth'. Therapy has since allowed him to tap out messages on a computer screen. LINK

Vendetta - Brain Damage

Vendetta - Brain Damage, German thrash. LINK: Youtube

Building a brain inside a supercomputer

Blue Brain is an IBM computer built to simulate a human brain. It's powered by 2,000 microchips, each acting as a single neuron, that enable it to execute 22.8 trillion operations per second. Based at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the project launched in 2005 to much controversy and skepticism. Modeling the complexity of the brain in a computer is considered a holy grail to some, and hubris to others. The Blue Brain Project isn't an attempt to build an artificial intelligence, although it could someday inform such an effort. That's because the scientists are hoping to use the machine to understand physiology, brain chemistry, and even intelligence and consciousness. The project's stated goal? "To reverse engineer the brain." Here's Markam talking at TEDGlobal this year: LINK

Ancient brain found in England

Scientists discovered a brain in northern England that is at least 2,000 years old. The brain was found inside the, er, skull of its owner at an archaeological site at York University.

They believe the skull, which was found on its own in a muddy pit, may have been a ritual offering.

Rachel Cubitt, who was taking part in the dig, described how she felt something move inside the cranium as she cleaned the soil-covered skull's outer surface. Peering through the base of the skull, she spotted an unusual yellow substance.

"Britan's oldest human brain unearthed". LINK

Vintage Brain Maps

This is fantastic: a series of vintage "brain maps" as created by one Dr. Alesha Sivartha in the late 1800s (published in his metaphysical book The Book of Life: The Spiritual and Physical Constitution of Man).

You don’t have to believe or understand all the New Age-y stuff to appreciate the weirdness of the lithographs: Link. Via: Quiddity, Via: Neatorama

The Male Brain

Click here to see it in action. Fancy that!!!!!!!!!!!! LINK

"Painting with Brains"

No…It is not the work of a zombie Picasso, but a new technology that takes EEG readings from a subject and converts them into art. Brain painting can be used to assist in therapy and the creators claim these pictures are something the brain can understand. Via: Miniature Brainwaves