Free will is not an illusion after all

Champions of free will, take heart. A landmark 1980s experiment that purported to show free will doesn't exist is being challenged.

In 1983, neuroscientist Benjamin Libet asked volunteers wearing scalp electrodes to flex a finger or wrist. When they did, the movements were preceded by a dip in the signals being recorded, called the "readiness potential". Libet interpreted this RP as the brain preparing for movement.

Crucially, the RP came a few tenths of a second before the volunteers said they had decided to move. Libet concluded that unconscious neural processes determine our actions before we are ever aware of making a decision.

Since then, others have quoted the experiment as evidence that free will is an illusion – a conclusion that was always controversial, particularly as there is no proof the RP represents a
decision to move.

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Cracking The Brain's Numerical Code: Researchers Can Tell What Number A Person Has Seen

By carefully observing and analyzing the pattern of activity in the brain, researchers have found that they can tell what number a person has just seen. They can similarly tell how many dots a person has been presented with, according to a report published online on September 24th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

These findings confirm the notion that numbers are encoded in the brain via detailed and specific activity patterns and open the door to more sophisticated exploration of humans' high-level numerical abilities...

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Vote for ideas in Project 10 to the 100

Project 10¹⁰⁰ is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted more than 150,000 ideas. During the review process, 16 "big ideas" are distilled and each are inspired by numerous individual submissions. You can vote to realize one of them here. Voting ends on October 8, 2009.

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Predicting Drug Response from Brain Waves

Brain waves measured using a simple device just one week into treatment can indicate whether a depressed patient should continue taking a medication or be switched to another. The study, which was conducted at nine sites across the U.S., could significantly reduce the time it takes to effectively treat major depression.

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Luxury Bed Maker Hästens Introduces Mindspa iPhone Application

Hästens, the luxury bed maker from Sweden, and NeuroTech, Inc., announced the introduction of the new MindSpa application for the iPhone™ and iPod Touch™, the most recent technological extension of the company’s expertise in the field of sleep and relaxation. The MindSpa application takes the unique capabilities of the iPhone™ and iPod Touch™ to a new level by simultaneously providing auditory and visual neural brainwave entrainment with biofeedback. This is the first iPhone™ application to combine three scientifically proven modalities to provide deep relaxation leading to a calmer mind and better sleep.

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Memories Exist Even When Forgotten

New research by UC Irvine neuroscientists suggests the memory exists – you simply can't retrieve it. scientists discovered that a person's brain activity while remembering an event is very similar to when it was first experienced, even if specifics can't be recalled.

"If the details are still there, hopefully we can find a way to access them," said Jeff Johnson, postdoctoral researcher at UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory and lead author of the study, appearing Sept. 10 in the journal Neuron.

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Magnetic levitation applied to a mammal

With the aid of a strong magnetic field, mice have been made to levitate for hours at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The floating rodents could provide a valuable insight into how astronauts are affected by extended spells in zero gravity.

The effects on the health of an animal spending hours or days in such an intense magnetic field are unknown, though rats subjected to a field of 9.4 teslas – just over half as strong as the one used on the mice – suffered no obvious ill effects.

This system is too small to be used on people, but could you build something similar to levitate humans one day? "Theoretically I think you could," says inventor, "but the cost would be prohibitive."

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'Gene cure' for colour blindness

Scientists say they are a step closer to curing colour blindness using gene therapy. A US team were able to restore full colour vision to adult monkeys born without the ability to distinguish between the colours red and green. Nature journal describes the technique used by the researchers at the University of Washington. Although more studies are needed, the same treatment may work for humans who are colour blind, experts believe.

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Humans Glow in Visible Light

The human body, especially the face, emits "ultraweak photons" in visible light that varies during the day and is 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive, Tohoku Institute of Technology researchers have found.

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TEDMED

This year TEDMED conference will be in on 27-30 October 2009 in San Diego, CA. TEDMED celebrates conversations that demonstrate the intersection and connections between all things medical and healthcare related: from personal health to public health, devices to design and Hollywood to the hospital. Together, this encompasses more than twenty percent of our GNP in America while touching everyone's life around the globe.

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