Mirror Neurons

This week’s NeuroThursday goes into one of my personal favorite (hated?) hobgoblins of well-popularized neuroscience: mirror neurons. What are they, what’s the myth, and what’s the controversy?

Left/Right Brained

NeuroThursday rides again with the most pervasive myth of brain lateralization: can you be a “left brained” or “right brained” person?

Handedness Across History

returns with the first in a sporadic-but-ongoing discussion of the curiosities of handedness. We begin by asking: is handedness genetic or learned?

https://twitter.com/BenCKinney/status/832435467383619586
(One upon a time there was a Storify link here, but they are long gone.)
EDIT 2021: Looks like I messed up the threading back in 2017. If you want to follow the thread more clearly, start here and scroll up/down:
https://twitter.com/BenCKinney/status/832436626949300224

Reprint Sale: Sweeter than Lead

I’m thrilled to announce the sale of another reprint. My neo-Lovecraftian dark fantasy “Sweeter than Lead,” originally a PodCastle original, will be appearing in a future issue of Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores! Most exciting of all, they plan to publish it with an  illustration. This is my first time one of my stories will get artwork, and I can’t wait to see what emerges. I’ll make sure to let you all know when it does!

Reprint publication: Meltwater

My short story Meltwater came out today at Escape Pod, the internet’s oldest and finest source of audio science fiction! Rajan Khanna gave it an absolutely lovely reading, the perfect balance of mellow and melancholy. If you read the story last year, go forth and listen to the new interpretation – and if you didn’t, now’s your chance to discover my first professional short story!

Tools & Problems of Human Neuroscience

I have another neuroscience essay up online: this one, Tools and Problems of Human Neuroscience, on the beloved File 770! Click on through to learn about some cutting-edge tools of modern human neuroscience, and how they might (or might not) still be used in a science fictional future.

Bonus: you get to see some pictures of me with electrical equipment strapped to my head!

The Discoverer of Neurons

week 4: Stories about Santiago Ramón y Cajal, discoverer of neurons, draftsman, and – no joke – science fiction author.

The 10% Myth

continues with some stories behind the myth that “you only use 10% of your brain!”

Brain Energy Consumption

Today I present the second installment of : why your brain uses twice as much energy as your heart!

#NeuroThursday

I have begun a semi-regular Twitter feature: , where I discuss some cool neuroscience-related or -inspired topic for a public audience. The inaugural topic is Neolithic trephination!

(Yes, I know today is Friday. Shhh.)

Please let me know, here or elsewhere, if you have any topics you’d like me to think about. The more ideas/requests I get, the more often I’ll be able to do this. I want to go broadly here: if you have any topic you’d like to hear a neuroscientist’s take on (from brain to behavior to ???), let me know and I’ll consider it!