An excerpt from Beyond the Self

Beyond the Self is a book by Matthieu Ricard (a molecular biologist that became a Buddhist monk in Nepal) and Wolf Singer (a neuroscientist) that is a conversation between the two about meditation and the brain.  The Atlantic has an excerpt - it's a bit of heavy reading, but interesting nonetheless.

Transcendental Meditation for treating Post-traumatic stress disorder

A study funded by the Department of Defense, US Army Medical Research and done at the Department of Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System found that Transcendental Meditation works as an alternative for those who do not want to receive or do not respond to exposure-based treatments for Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What to use instead of willpower to be more productive, according to neuroscience

A long article from medium.com goes over how the primitive part of our brain sabotages delayed gratification and how to program our brain using IF-THEN statements to stop that sabotage.

Heat and the brain

Do you feel like your brain is not with it in the summer heat?  The Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard University has found that our brains are susceptible to temperature abnormalities.  All the more reason to stay cool.

You really are on the same wavelength with your friends

Researchers from UCLA and Dartmouth College are able to have a computer program determine with 48% accuracy friendships between two people based on neural similarities.  Accuracies of identifying a friend of a friend were at 39%, friend of a friend of a friend at 31%, and friendships further removed than that at 47%.  When the program was wrong, it was usually only off by one category.

Why Meditate? Change your Brain's Default Mode

I came across this on YouTube the other evening and thought that this might be of interest for others.

The parts of the brain involved in dreaming

Scientists have identified the parts of the brain that are involved in dreaming.  Dreams don't just happen in REM sleep and changes in brain activity offer clues to what the dream is about.

Brain activity recorded after death

In Canada, doctors observed delta waves in one patient more than 10 minutes after doctors confirmed the patient's death.

The mind isn't limited to the body

Scientists say your “mind” isn’t confined to your brain, or even your body from Quartz feels more like a hidden advertisement for a professor's new book than anything with solid research, but it presents the idea that the mind goes beyond the brain.

Meditation can change the brains of ordinary people and improve their health

A study published in Biological Psychiatry shows that meditation can change the brains of ordinary people and improve their health.  There's an indication in the article that other studies have not had "scientific thoroughness", but I don't know if that claim is true or not.

Information carried around the brain by a weak electrical field

Slow-moving brainwaves (around theta) may be carrying information around the brain, according to The Journal of Neuroscience.  It may provide more insight into memory formation and epilepsy.

Lucid Dreams Produce Gamma Brainwaves

The Neurological Laboratory in Frankfurt discovered that lucid dreamers produce gamma brainwaves that operate at at 40Hz.

I've had a few lucid dreams which occurred before ever doing gamma brainwave entrainment. I don't think I have noticed any more of them since I've started doing gamma brainwave entrainment. What has everyone else's experience been?

The Brain During an Out-Of-Body Experience

Scientists from the University of Ottawa did an fMRI brain scan on a woman during her out-of-body experience. What it doesn't state is if they were able to confirm what she was doing, especially if it was something taking place in another room.

Mind Pool

Mind Pool - Physical feedback of a user's brainwave activity presented in real time.

This certainly brings to mind the thought of a still pond and that thoughts create the ripples.

The Effects of Sleep on the Brain

A relatively lengthy article from the New York Times on how sleep is good for the brain.

Sleep Could Produce Cells That Protect The Brain's Circuitry

A study in the Journal of Neuroscience says that sleep could produce the cells that create the insulating material known as myeline. The findings are only in mice so far, but may lead to treatment for those with Multiple Sclerosis. The production increased most during REM. It makes me wonder how many more benefits there are to sleep that science hasn't found yet.

Scientists Predict Images in Dreams

Japanese scientists were able to predict what images people saw in their dreams using MRI scans, according to BBC News.  They accomplished 60% accuracy.

Who knows, this could eventually lead to a machine that we could hook up to and report what we saw in our dreams.  It could be an interesting way to jog the brain to remember the dreams from the previous night.

Matt Killingsworth, Track Your Happiness, and the Wandering Mind

Matt Killingsworth wondered if staying in the present was important to being happy, so created Track Your Happiness to gather data to try to answer that question. As it turns out, a wandering mind is more likely to be unhappy. Just another reason to meditate!

Amy Cuddy On "Power Posing"

Amy Cuddy discusses the differences in high-power and low-power posing, how it affects confidence, and how it can change the levels of testosterone and cortisol in the brain.

iPad app measures brainwaves to see if couples are a good fit

The Tokyo Game Show had one company that showed off an iPad application that measures the brainwaves of a couple to see if they are a good fit.  This short video clip does not go into any detail about what brainwave measurements are taking place.  I wonder if it might be trying to see how similar the brainwaves are, as I have heard that couples can have their brainwaves synchronize, though I question how detailed the instrument for measuring brainwaves that they are using can get.  I wouldn't be surprised if instead they are measuring the part(s) of the brain that are responsible for things such as attraction.  Couldn't that just be verbalized instead?