Pause, Rewild, Play

In his book The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today, biologist Rob Dunn presents a compelling perspective about how, in spite of the tremendous progress in human civilization, our lifestyle, in particular our interaction with other species, continues to be guided (and occasionally misguided) by primitive cues from our ancient brains.

Book review: The Wild Life of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn

Connecting the Dots to Who You Are

The connectome, a term coined by Olaf Sporns, is a neural connectivity map for the entire brain. In 2010, the National Institutes of Health launched the Human Connectome Project, a $30 million initiative seeking to use advanced medical imaging techniques to map the structural and functional connectivity of the healthy human brain. The participating institutions were to be Washington University, St. Louis, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University, Boston, and the University of California Los Angeles. "Better understanding of such connectivity promises improved diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders," said their news release. This post is about the recently released book Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are which happens to be quite an illuminating read on this cutting-edge topic. 

Book review: Connectome by Sebastian Seung