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A library of interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers.
7mins
Neuroscientist Tony Zador presents his cutting-edge research in auditory attention and explains why rats’ brains can be studied more precisely than those of humans.
2mins
Neuroscientist Tony Zador explains how a sound wave is converted into neural signals that the brain can understand and speculates about the role of auditory attention in this process.
5mins
During a conversation at a cocktail party, you have to make one of two choices: actually listen to the person speaking to you, or nod your head in assent while […]
2mins
Using the tools of philosophic inquiry to ask questions about the world around us can bring clarity of thought of clarity of expression.
4mins
Cognitive science forces philosophers to think much more clearly about to what extent emotion and affect play a role in our cognitive economy.
5mins
Physicists should find it frustrating and upsetting that they don’t really get what this fundamental mathematical theory tells us about the world.
4mins
Traditional philosophical questions are about the way the world works—and the best way to find out how the world works is to observe it in well-defined experimental situations.
4mins
If you’re only interested in physics as a tool for engineering, you don’t necessarily need to understand the true nature of what you’re studying. But why wouldn’t you want to?
5mins
When they ask the very basic conceptual questions about the physical world, mathematicians, physicists and philosophers are addressing many of the same issues.
26mins
A conversation with the Rutgers University philosopher.
3mins
Technology is replicating and replacing functions long held in the brain. What does offloading your brain to technology mean for such vital human as memory and creativity?
4mins
The higher-order capacity for inwardness and intimacy is vital for humanity, yet these characteristics are evolving away as technology advances.
4mins
With a smart phone always at arm’s length, we are connected to the point of addiction. Is the solution more technology, or a digital detox?
3mins
NIH has to play a larger role in working with the private sector to get more effective treatments through the development pipeline, approved by the FDA, and into the hands […]
4mins
“Whether or not scientists are believers should not have a whole lot to do with how they conduct science,” says Collins. He wishes more scientists were willing “to stand up […]
4mins
Some scientists see religion as a threat to the scientific method that should be resisted. But faith “is really asking a different set of questions,” says Collins.
4mins
The NIH chief talks about attempts to factor an individual’s genetic profile into the way the person is diagnosed and treated.
4mins
The former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute describes how researchers compare DNA sequences to pinpoint which genes cause which diseases.
5mins
Recent uncertainty about whether federal funds can be used for for human embryonic stem cell research has “cast a cold chill” through the field, says Collins.