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One of medical science’s indispensable diagnostic and research tools over the past quarter-century has been functional magnetic resonance imaging technology, or fMRI. This is a non-invasive imaging technique that makes use of strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce three-dimensional images of the interior of the human body, and has revolutionized research into brain activity, using increased blood flow to indicate corresponding increases in neural activity. However, a new study has called the accuracy of the device’s software into question, after discovering a bug in commonly-used MRI interpretation software packages — a bug that may very well call the results of over 40,000 medical research studies into question.
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In 360 BCE, the philosopher Plato discussed the nature of consciousness, addressing it as a real phenomenon that could be considered a part of reality, because of its ability to both affect and be affected by other consciousnesses. This simple concept places consciousness, something that is on one hand ubiquitous to the human experience, and on the other remains one of the most elusive phenomenon known in terms of our inability to not only quantify it, but also to prove it exists in the first place. However, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have made a step towards making consciousness a quantifiable phenomenon, where science may be able to address it in a more direct fashion.
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Do you know Kung-Fu?

In a reversal to improved methods of reading, recording and interpreting brain patterns, researchers at California’s HRL Laboratories have developed a method of transmitting learning patterns directly into the brain. While this technique isn’t quite as convenient as the rapid upload of new skills to the brain as depicted in ‘The Matrix’, it does appear accelerate learning functions for complex skills.
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Throughout human history, many unfortunate individuals have fallen victim to crippling phobias, from natural fears such as arachnophobia, to fears acquired from traumatic events, leading to PTSD. These conditions can take sometimes years, even lifetimes to cure, and some individuals never truly overcome their phobias. However, a new therapy that re-writes the memories associated with these fears can cure an individual of their phobia — in roughly two minutes.
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