Essays & journalism
Writing for a general audience about brains, machines, animals, music, and the practice of science. For the newsletter, see Of Two Minds.
- Jul 2
When the Machines Deserve Our Consideration
We will never know for sure if AI can be conscious. A neuroscientist argues that we shouldn't wait for proof to decide how to treat it.
- Jun 12
Why Robots Still Can't Do Science
AI can read the literature in an afternoon and design molecules a chemist never would. So why can't a robot hold a pipette?
Originally published on Of Two Minds.
- Oct 20
Psilocybin Lifted Her Burden
The Covid pandemic left this frontline medical worker burned out, angry, and depressed. Then she got high.
- Oct 20
What Is Your Brain Doing on Psychedelics?
Something is happening here, but neuroscientists don't know what it is.
- Apr 30
The Soviet Rebel of Music
He composed on a computer in a dangerous time. His echo is still heard today.
- Feb 14
A Glitch in My Serenade
Could AI help me compose a musical expression of love?
- Jan 14
A Big Science Publisher Is Going Open Access. But at What Cost?
Springer Nature will let authors pay $11,390 to make a paper free to read. Who wins?
- Nov 11
Are We Wired to Be Outside?
A neuroscientist searches for the roots of feeling innately connected to nature.
- Jan 22
An Existential Crisis in Neuroscience
We're mapping the brain in amazing detail, but our brain can't understand the picture.
Reprinted as "Neuroscience's Existential Crisis," October 2021.
- May 8
Are Animal Experiments Justified?
A neuroscientist confronts his anguish over experimenting on animals. Cover story, Issue 72: Quandary.
- Nov 30
A Brainless Breakthrough in Neuroscience
Researchers recorded every neuron in a hydra and correlated the activity with behavior. What a brainless animal can teach us about brains.
- Mar 14
Why Neuroscientists Need to Study the Crow
The neocortex is argued to be the seat of cognition, but crows don't have one.
- Apr 17
Work/Life Balance: Get Inspiration
"I work about one hundred hours in the lab every week," he said, "plus another twenty in the clinic. And I have a kid at home."
- Apr 16
Inception Helps Mice Navigate
Place cells encode not just where an animal is, but its memory of having been there.
- Jan 1
The Neuroscience Society
Curing disease may turn out to be one of the simpler endeavors of future neuroscience. Understanding how the brain works might be the harder part.