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May 19, 2008

Book Review: Best of the Brain from Scientific American

The recently published Best of the Brain from Scientific American: Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow's Brain is reviewed in the June issue of Harper's Magazine. Gary Greenberg discusses the book with several other newly published titles on neuroscience and society in a long and wide-ranging essay. He notes:

If you are going to live, whether you like it or not, in thrall to your brain, then your future belongs in some way to the doctors who claim to be the only people qualified to explain you to yourself. . . . The prominent neuroscientists who contribute to Best of the Brain are sure that a full explication of its operation is just a supersized technical challenge that will soon be met.

Read the full Harper's Magazine review
Learn more about Best of the Brain from Scientific American: Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow's Brain, published by Dana Press

March 31, 2008

Book review: Your Brain on Cubs

The publicity train keeps rolling for Your Brain on Cubs with a review by acclaimed news columnist George Will in his March 31st Newsweek column. He notes

It is not nice to joke about a neurological affliction. Fortunately, we can now comprehend the condition, thanks to a new book, 'Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans,' a collection of essays by doctors and others knowledgeable about neuroscience and brain disorders associated with rooting for a team that last won the World Series a century ago.


Read the full Newsweek column by George Will

Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

March 28, 2008

Author Interview: Dan Gordon and Your Brain on Cubs

Dan Gordon was interviewed today about Your Brain on Cubs on NPR's "Science Friday" hosted by Ira Flatow. In anticipation of Opening Day on Monday, Gordon appeared with several other guests on an hour-long baseball-themed segment of the show to discuss the science and psychology of baseball, fan loyalty, and other intriguing topics.

Listen to the full Science Talk interview
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

March 27, 2008

Book in the News: Your Brain on Cubs

Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans continues to receive great coverage with a newly published article on the Cubs's official MLB.com website. Writer Jon Greenberg discusses both the March 10th launch party and the book itself, noting

The avuncular [Aryeh] Routtenberg, a neurobiology/psychology professor at Northwestern and self-avowed former Cubs fan (He declared any serious interest kaput after a particularly painful LaTroy Hawkins appearance in 2004), was one of the panelists earlier this month at a book release party at the Cubby Bear for "Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans," a look into the minds of sports fans and athletes by doctors, psychologists and medical experts who sometimes moonlight as baseball fans.

Routtenberg was a hit among the 80 or so in attendance at the Wrigleyville bar for the panel discussion on the book sponsored by the Illinois Science Council. At one point he livened up a fairly boring discussion by theorizing that a "toxic chemical" resides in the blades of grass at Wrigley Field and releases "negative karma" at crucial moments, like, say, in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.

But half-baked theories like that aren't in the popular science book, which has seven chapters, written by 11 contributors, that link science and sports, from the mental reasoning behind superstitions to the neuroscience of hitting.

Read the full MLB.com article
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

March 26, 2008

Book in the News: Your Brain on Cubs

Dan Gordon, editor of Dana Press's newly published Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans, was interviewed today on Scientific American's podcast "Science Talk" by host Steve Mirsky.


Listen to the full Science Talk podcast interview

Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

March 14, 2008

Book in the News: Your Brain on Cubs

Your Brain on Cubs editor Dan Gordon and essay contributor Dr. Steven Small were recently interviewed about the book on several Chicago television and radio programs.

The book and its editors were featured on WBBM-TV CBS 2, WGN-TV, WMAQ-TV NBC 5, and WGN Radio 720's "Sports Talk." The March 10th launch event at the Cubby Bear Lounge was also featured in Time Out Chicago.


Read the articles about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans on CBS 2, WGN-TV, and NBC 5
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

March 07, 2008

Book Event: Your Brain on Cubs


Opening Day is just around the corner and heralding this harbinger of springtime is the newest publication from Dana Press, Your Brain on Cubs. The book's launch event will be held on Monday, March 10th at 6:30 p.m. at the Cubby Bear Lounge, 1059 W. Addison. The event will have a discussion panel moderated by Chicago Tribune science and medicine reporter Jeremy Manier and featuring Your Brain on Cubs editor Dan Gordon, book contributor Dr. Steven Small, and special guest Dr. Areyeh Routtenberg.

In anticipation of the event, Chicago Tribune sport columnist Fred Mitchell featured the book in his column today:

The depths of loyalty for a franchise that has not won a World Series in 100 years boggle the mind. Especially your minds. Is it the allure of rooting for the perennial underdog? Is it the pursuit of a delayed gratification that the law of averages dictates will come to pass one day?

These are questions that need to be asked and answered for the future sanity of Cubs Nation. And now even neuroscientists are weighing in on this sports and society phenomenon that some view as sadistic.

Book editor Dan Gordon will also be interviewed by Dave Kaplan tonight on WGN Radio's "Sports Central."

Learn more about the Your Brain on Cubs launch event
Read the full Chicago Tribune column
Listen to the WGN Radio "Sports Central" interview
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

January 17, 2008

Book in the News: Your Brain on Cubs


Dan Gordon, editor of the forthcoming Your Brain on Cubs, was interviewed yesterday on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio's newsmagazine "848". Dan ably explained some of the intriguing ideas contained in the book, including the way our brain works when we're despairing over another Cubs loss, why we prefer to root for the underdog, and the ways that a ballplayer's brain works as he plays the game.

Bloggers have also taken notice of the book: It was discussed here and here.

Listen to the "848" interview of Dan Gordon
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs

November 09, 2007

Book Review: Cerebrum 2007

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Cerebrum 2007, an annual anthology of the best articles from Dana Press's acclaimed journal Cerebrum, was recently reviewed in PsycCRITIQUES, the book review publication of the American Psychology Association. The reviewer notes,

Bruce McEwen lays the foundation for this thoughtful integration of ideas from experts in various neuroscientific disciplines addressing real-world programs. . . . There are interesting glimpses at the neurogbiologic basis of superstition, autism, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and a somewhat whimscial glance at whether animals have an esthetic sense. . . . I found this volume to be unusually elegantly written its genre and worthwhile enough that I went online and asked to be included in the Dana Foundation's distribution list for future such compiliations.
Read the full psycCRITIQUES review

Learn more about Cerebrum 2007

October 17, 2007

Review: The Neuroscience of Fair Play

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Donald Pfaff's forthcoming The Neuroscience of Fair Play recently was reviewed in the October 8th issue of Publishers Weekly:


"[Pfaff] claims he's surveyed the world's religions and found some variant of the Golden Rule in every one, leading him to conclude that this trait is likely to be under some sort of genetic control. . . . The author goes into great detail about how neurobiology and neurochemistry interact to help shape behavior. His sections on parenting, sexual love, and aggression are intriguing, but the technical information will make this appeal primarily to those with a strong interest in the brain and the science of behavior."

Read the full Publishers Weekly article
Learn more about The Neuroscience of Fair Play

October 15, 2007

Dana Press titles in Library Journal

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A slew of Dana Press titles were featured in the October 1st issue of Library Journal. Titles highlighted include:

Dana Guide to Brain Health:
"Compiled by three leading brain experts with contributions from over 80 physicians, this volume is divided into four broad sections, covering brain development, brain health, and 72 major neurological and emotional conditions. A broad and affordable overview on the topic."

Floyd E. Bloom, Best of the Brain from Scientific American:
"This collection of essays drawn from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind offers an excellent, readable overview of the latest brain research since 1999."

Jonathan D. Moreno, Mind Wars:
"Bioethics expert Moreno investigates the ties between neuroscience and national security, asking difficult ethical and national policy questions in a nontechnical and readable manner."


Read the Library Journal article
Learn more about Dana Press titles

September 14, 2007

Floyd E. Bloom's Best of the Brain

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Floyd E. Bloom's Best of the Brain from Scientific American: Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow's Brain has been garnering positive attention on blogs and sites throughout the neuroscience community:

Talking Brains

Mind Hacks

Neuromarketing

Dr. Shock, M.D., Ph.D

Learn More about the Book

June 11, 2007

Review: Cerebrum 2007: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science Edited by Bruce McEwen

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Helen Phillips reviewed Bruce McEwan's Cerebrum 2007: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science in New Scientist on June 9th, 2007:

For stimulating brain fodder, read this compendium of essays from the online journal . . . . [T]he book serves as an excellent shop window for the journal: I'll certainly be checking the latest issues online from now on.

Read the Review

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May 11, 2007

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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Hugh Gusterson recently reviewed Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense in the Bulletin Online, the online site of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. (It's presently 5 minutes to Doomsday.)

Gusterson compares the intersection of neuroscience and national defense with the development of atomic physics and nuclear weapons, "We've seen this story before," he says. "The Pentagon takes an interest in a rapidly changing area of scientific knowledge, and the world is forever changed. And not for the better."

Gusterson goes on to emphasize, "Moreno's book is important since there has been little discussion about the ethical implications of such research, and the science is at an early enough stage that it might yet be redirected in response to public discussion."

Read the Review

Learn More about the Book

Update!

The Utne Reader recently continued the conversation on some of issues related to Mind Wars. Bennett Gordon writes, "Many neuroscientists have concluded that competing tendencies inside the brain—not some transient being or God— are the true source of morality."

In Mind Wars, Moreno shows that the Department of Defense is already researching "neuroweapons." One possible class of weapons includes drugs that "repress psychological inhibitions against killing." This presents an ethical quandary with the use of neurotechnology. If neurotechnologies act directly on the human brain, the locus of human morality, then the application of such technologies will fundamentally alter our sense of morality. Gordon quotes William Saletan on the matter, "Once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology."

Read Gordon's article

May 07, 2007

Author Event: Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within by Kevin J. Tracey

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Nicky Penttila recently interviewed Kevin J. Tracey for the Dana Press web site. Tracey, author of Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within, discusses his motivations for writing and some of the implications of his investigations into sepsis, the sometimes fatal over-response of the immune system to infection.

Fatal Sequence tells the story of Janice, a one-year-old who arrives in the emergency room, burned by boiling water after she crawled behind her unsuspecting grandmother as she turned from the stove. She survives the night, but the following morning is only the beginning of her long and intense battle against severe sepsis, as her body attacks itself. Tracey, who cared for the girl during her four weeks in intensive care, draws on her case to vividly illustrate why sepsis happens, in a sensitive, suspenseful story that renders cutting-edge science human, accessible, and unforgettable.

Read the Interview

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April 17, 2007

Review: Best of the Brain from Scientific American edited by Floyd E. Bloom

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Floyd E. Bloom's Best of the Brain from Scientific American: Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow's Brain was recently reviewed in Publisher's Weekly: "Well written and accessible to a general audience. . . . There's much to stimulate the brain of any reader."

The Globe and Mail also noted the book in its "More Grey Matter" section on April 7, 2007.

Read the Review from Publisher's Weekly

Learn More about the Book

February 16, 2007

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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The Neurophilosophy blog recently featured Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense.

Moheb Costandi discusses some of the historical background to the U.S. Military's interest in neuroscience and its desire to create more sophisticated "network-centric" force. Costandi goes on to emphasize the ethical issues at hand and the need for neuroscientists to think about the ethical implications of their work.

Although the review situates Moreno squarely within the military establishment, it credits him with even-handedness:

. . . he has served on numerous federal advisory committees, advised the Department of Homeland Defense on biodefence, and testified before both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, Mind Wars is even-handed and thought-provoking. It is very readable, and easily accessible to people without a background in neuroscience.

Read the Review

The Review is also available from the Institute of Ethics & Emerging Technologies

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January 19, 2007

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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Jeff Hecht of New Scientist reviewed Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense in the January 19th, 2007 issue: "Experiments designed to control the mind must meet proper ethical standards or else be condemned. But we should apply our judgments fairly. . . ."

Read the Review (Requires Log-in)

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January 02, 2007

Review: The Dana Guide to Brain Health

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The SharpBrains blog recently praised The Dana Guide to Brain Health:

In short, a great reference book for professionals and for people interested in the brain. And a great starting point (the only one we are aware of) for a really useful and practical guide to Brain Health that every family should have. In a bit more creative terms: great quality marble looking for a consumer-oriented Michelangelo.

Read the Review

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December 15, 2006

Jonathan D. Moreno in the Wall Street Journal

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Jonathen D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense continues to attract attention. Sharon Begley uses Moreno's book as the backbone for her article on DARPA's research into neuroscience, citing examples such as the drug CX717, "which enables sleep-deprived people to maintain memory and cognitive function," and the "dual use" concept, where military research has an impact on both military and civilian lives.

Begley implicitly praises Moreno for opening up discussion on the intersection of military research and neuroscience, "The time to speak up is before the genie is out of the bottle."

Read the "Science Journal" in the Wall Street Journal

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Author Event: Nancy C. Andreasen

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Nancy C. Andreasen, author of The Creating Brain, will be interviewed on NPR's Science Friday by Ira Flatow on Friday, December 15th.

Michelangelo was raised in a rustic village by a family of modest means. Shakespeare's father was a middle-class businessman. Abraham Lincoln came from a family of itinerant farmers. Yet all these men broke free from their limited circumstances and achieved brilliant careers as creative artists and leaders. How such extraordinary creativity develops in the human brain is the subject of renowned psychiatrist Nancy Andreasen's The Creating Brain.

Visit Science Friday

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December 13, 2006

Author Event: Jonathan D. Moreno

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Jonathan D. Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense, will be featured on News Radio FOX (http://www.newsradiofox.com/) on December 20th at 3:15 CST.

In his fascinating new book, Jonathan D. Moreno investigates the deeply intertwined worlds of cutting-edge brain science, U.S. defense agencies, and a volatile geopolitical landscape where a nation's weaponry must go far beyond bombs and men. The first-ever exploration of the connections between national security and brain research, Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense reveals how many questions crowd this gray intersection of science and government and urges us to begin to answer them.

News Radio FOX

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December 07, 2006

Author Event: Jonathan D. Moreno

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Jonathan D. Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense, is featured on the New York Academy of Sciences web site. The site features an interview with Moreno, excerpts, and audio in podcast and mp3 formats.

Visit the NYAAS to read the interview and download the audio

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December 06, 2006

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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Jonathen D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense continues to attract positive reviews from the neuroscience community. Chris Chatham recently praised it on his Developing Intelligence blog:

Mind Wars will likely be enjoyed by both neuroscientists, psychologists, and lay people alike . . . [and] the historical and ethical treatment[s] of military neuroscience are the most timeless contributions of Mind Wars to this debate, and will be interesting to anyone with an interest in science and its applications.

Read the Review

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November 17, 2006

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense continues to receive praise from reviewers. John Mangels, writing in Cleveland's The Plain Dealer, suggests, "Moreno takes an evenhanded, thorough look at how deeply the intelligence and defense communities are involved in many of those [neuroscience] advances, and the mindfields that might lie ahead."

Mangels also gives Moreno credit for suggesting that ". . . neuroscience's powerful new tools be used to plumb the brain's capacity for peacemaking as well as war-waging. It's a poignant thought—that the organ that makes us human might help keep us that way."

Mind Wars, along with many other Dana Press titles, has been placed on the Neuroethics and Law Blog's Holiday Brain Book Guide

Read the Review online

Visit the Neuroethics and Law Blog's Holiday Brain Book Guide

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November 06, 2006

Author Event: Jonathan D. Moreno, Mind Wars

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Jonathan D. Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense (Dana Press), recently published "The Role of Brian Research in National Defense" in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Moreno outlines the growth of neuroscience and the ethical conundrums that are posed by the intersection of national security interests and neuroscience research. He discusses the state of science, the persistant fears associated with the idea ". . . that some deliberate and fairly precise means can be used to alter our cognition or behavior in accord with someone else's strategic purpose," and the potential benefits to national security—in addition to the obvious importance of neuroscience to medicine.

Moreno ends his article advocating "a reasoned public conversation about the role of brain research in national defense." His essay is a great place to introduce the contours of the debate.

Read Moreno's Article

Learn more about the Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense

October 26, 2006

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense was recently reviewed by Charles Jennings in Nature (Volume 443, Number 7114). Jennings describes Moreno's book as "fascinating and sometimes unsettling," even as he suspects Moreno of hyperbole in asking, "[I]s this stuff for real?"

Moreno is a respected bioethicist and he had trouble getting answers to his questions from neuroscientists working within the defense industry. As such, Jennings thinks Moreno's work will bear fruit, "Mind Wars, the first systematic treatement of the topic, should help bring these questions into the open."

From neuropharmacology to neural imaging to brain-machine interface devices that relay images and sounds between human brains and machines, Moreno shows how national security entities seek to harness the human nervous system in a multitude of ways as a potent weapon against the enemy soldier. Moreno charts such projects as monkeys moving robotic arms with their minds, technology to read the brain's thought patterns at a distance, the development of "anti-sleep" drugs to enhance soldiers' battle performance and others to dampen their emotional reactions to the violence, and advances that could open the door to "neuroweapons"—virus-transported molecules to addle the brain.

Read the Review online

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August 28, 2006

Author Event: Nancy C. Andreasen

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Nancy C. Andreasen, author of The Creating Brain, was recently interviewed in USA Today by Kathleen Fackelmann. Andreasen discusses the brain and its relation to genius, madness, and creativity. The article concludes with suggestions for giving your mind a workout.

Read the Interview

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July 14, 2006

Review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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Martin Skov's blog at Brainethics recently previewed Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense by Jonathan D. Moreno. Skov writes, "Mind Wars is the first book, as far as I know, to survey the American military's use of, and involvement in, neuroscience research."

Skov also discusses the "dual use" concept, in which brain research is financed by and applied to both medical and military applications; but, he holds off further comment on the book until its publication in November, "I will wait a few months before recording my thoughts about it here on the blog, but rest assured that you will hear about this book again."

Read Marin Skov's Brainethics Blog

Learn more about the Book

June 01, 2006

Preview: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno

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In his fascinating new book, Jonathan D. Moreno investigates the deeply intertwined worlds of cutting-edge brain science, U.S. defense agencies, and a volatile geopolitical landscape where a nation's weaponry must go far beyond bombs and men. The first-ever exploration of the connections between national security and brain research, Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense reveals how many questions crowd this gray intersection of science and government and urges us to begin to answer them.

Read the Full Press Release

Learn more about the Book

May 30, 2006

Press release: Hard Science, Hard Choices: Facts, Ethics, and Policies Guiding Brain Science Today

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For most of us, neuroscience research is a rarified world of laboratory experiments that has little to do with our everyday lives. Yet, sooner than we may expect, new discoveries in neuroscience will directly affect the way we live, work, and think. Acclaimed science writer Sandra Ackerman has been on the front lines of the ethical debates in neuroscience, and in Hard Science, Hard Choices she offers a concise, yet informed, examination of the ethical challenges facing neuroscience today.

Top scholars and scientists in neuroscience, law, and ethics convened at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., last May to debate the latest findings in neuroscience and their potential impact on society. Ackerman's clear, engaging narrative synthesizes their discussions and explores the controversial issues that emerged with the newest neuroscience discoveries. The volume is divided into three topics—Neuroimaging, Drugs on the Brain, and Neurotechnology—and each section examines the numerous facets of neuroscience's ethical quandaries. From the definition of consciousness in brain damaged patients, to the long-term health effects of Ritalin and other psychiatric drugs on children, to the use of neuroimaging in courts of law, Hard Science, Hard Choices reveals that the consequences of brain research are not tomorrow's problems—we have already entered uncharted scientific territory.

Read the Full Press Release

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April 19, 2006

Author Event: Michael S. Gazzaniga

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Michael S. Gazzaniga will be appearing on The Charlie Rose Show on Wednesday, April 19th with guest host William Safire. Michael Gazzaniga is the author of The Ethical Brain and the Director of the Sage Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Ethical Brain is a groundbreaking volume that presents neuroscience's loaded findings—and their ethical implications—in an engaging and readable manner, offering an incisive and thoughtful analysis of the medical ethics challenges confronting modern society at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Visit the The Charlie Rose Show online

Learn more about the Sage Center for the Study of Mind

Learn more about the Book

Read an Excerpt

March 13, 2006

Author Event: Interviews with Michael Gazzaniga

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Michael Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain, neuroscientist, and member of the President's Council on Bioethics was recently interviewed by both American Scientist and U.S. News and World Report. Gazzaniga elucidates on the themes contained in The Ethical Brain:

Will increased scientific understanding of our brains overturn our beliefs about moral and ethical behavior? How will increasingly powerful brain imaging technologies affect the ideas of privacy and of self-incrimination? Can the ethics of science and religion be reconciled? Is insanity a permissible legal defense?

Read Gazzaniga's Interview at American Scientist

Read Gazzaniga's Interview at U.S. News and World Report

Read an Excerpt of The Ethical Brain

Learn More about the book

February 27, 2006

Review: The Creating Brain by Nancy Andreasen

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Nancy Andreasen's The Creating Brain has recently been reviewed in the Wall Street Journal and in the Washington Post.

Andreasen explains in The Creating Brain how the brain produces creative breakthroughs in art, literature, and science, revealing that creativity is not the same thing as intelligence. She scrutinizes the complex factors involved in the development of creativity, including the role of patrons and mentors, "non-standard" educations, and the possession of an "omnivorous" vision.

Read the Review in the Washington Post

Read the Review in the Wall Street Journal

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