Neurology/brain science
Electric Currents And An 'Emotional Awakening' For One Man With Autism
Neurologist Alvaro Pascual-Leone, talks about the use of TMS, transcranial magnetic stimulation to treat patients with autisim spectrum disorder. One of his patients, John Elder Robison Robison participated in a six-month-long study, in which he received weekly TMS treatments. He details the treatments — and the emotional awakening that resulted — in a new memoir, Switched On.
A Neurosurgeon Reflects On The 'Awe And Mystery' Of The Brain
In his memoir Do No Harm, Henry Marsh confesses to the uncertainties he's dealt with as a surgeon, revisits his triumphs and failures and reflects on the enigmas of the brain and consciousness.
Fingertips To Hair Follicles: Why 'Touch' Triggers Pleasure And Pain
In his latest book, neuroscientist David Linden explains the science of touch. He tells Fresh Air how pain protects, why fingertips are so sensitive and why you can't read Braille with your genitals.
Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains
New research shows that teenagers' brains aren't fully insulated, so the signals travel slowly when they need to make decisions. Neuroscientists Frances Jensen, who wrote The Teenage Brain, explains.
Why OCD Is 'Miserable': A Science Reporter's Obsession With Contracting HIV
David Adam has had obsessive-compulsive disorder for 20 years. In The Man Who Couldn't Stop, he chronicles his experiences -- and how medical understanding and treatment of OCD have changed over time.
Oliver Sacks, Exploring How Hallucinations Happen
The famed neurologist talks to Fresh Air about how grief, trauma, brain injury, medications and neurological disorders can trigger hallucinations -- and about his personal experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs in the 1960s.
The Patient Who Let Us Peek Inside A Brain In 'Present Tense'
For nearly 50 years, neuroscientist Suzanne Corkin worked with Henry Molaison, who lost most of his memory in 1953 after experimental surgery for severe seizures. Their work together taught us much of what we know today about memory, and she writes about Mollison and their work in her new book.
A Father Tells The Story Of His Son's Struggle To Stay 'Clean'
"The view that drug use is a moral choice is pervasive, pernicious and wrong," writes David Sheff in Clean, a critical look at the nation's approach to drug treatment. Shelf argues that we should not wait for "rock bottom" -- that addiction should be treated promptly, just like any other disease.
'Incognito': What's Hiding In The Unconscious Mind.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman says everything we think, do and believe is determined by complex neural networks battling it out in our brains. His book Incognito, in which he explains what scientists are learning about this hidden world of cognition, is now out in paperback.
This interview was originally broadcast on May 31, 2011. David Eagleman's Incognito is now out in paperback.
'Imagine' That: Fostering Creativity In The Workplace
Some companies are helping their employees become more creative and increasing their productivity, says science writer Jonah Lehrer in his new book, Imagine.