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brains!Brains!A special issue on neuroscience and neuroculture.42164557brainsfalsefalsespacernullbrains!How Smart Is Grandpa?Michelle TsaiHow much can you expect from a septuagenarian brain?noHow Smart Is Grandpa?How much can you expect from a septuagenarian brain?noSen. John McCain announced his intent to run for president in 2008 on Wednesday. If elected, he would take office at age 72, the oldest first-time president ever to do so. "I'm not the youngest candidate. But I am the most experienced," he said during a speech in Portsmouth, N.H. Just how much can you expect from a typical septuagenarian brain?truenotochyperlinkno200742664717PMThursdayAprApril184/26/2007 10:47:17 PM633132100370000000200742664717PMThursdayAprApril184/26/2007 10:47:17 PM633132100370000000brains!Mind ReadingSlate's special issue on the brain.noMind ReadingSlate's special issue on the brain.noWelcome to "Brains!", Slate's special issue on mind science and the state of neuro-culture. Over the next few days, we'll present a series of articles about how laboratory research on the brain makes its way into our daily lives.truenotochyperlinkno200742572513AMWednesdayAprApril74/25/2007 11:25:13 AM633130827130000000200742664703PMThursdayAprApril184/26/2007 10:47:03 PM633132100230000000brains!Cells That Read Minds?Alison GopnikWhat the myth of mirror neurons gets wrong about the human brain.noCells That Read Minds?What the myth of mirror neurons gets wrong about the human brain.noA few months ago, a construction worker named Wesley Autrey leapt in front of a moving subway train in New York City to save a stranger who had just collapsed onto the tracks. Five days later, the New York Times speculated that this act of apparent altruism—"I just saw someone who needed help," Autrey said—might be explained by a bunch of cells thought to exist in the human brain, called mirror neurons.truenotochyperlinkno200742661933PMThursdayAprApril184/26/2007 10:19:33 PM633132083730000000200742661933PMThursdayAprApril184/26/2007 10:19:33 PM633132083730000000brains!God Is in the DendritesGeorge JohnsonCan "neurotheology" bridge the gap between religion and science? noGod Is in the DendritesCan "neurotheology" bridge the gap between religion and science?noLooking back, it was the intellectual high point of my summer: Ten science and religion reporters sitting inside the divinity building at Cambridge University, contemplating the essence of a raisin. As the hypnotic voice of the speaker, an expert on Buddhist meditation, lulled us from the here and now, I placed the wrinkly thing on my tongue, exploring its peaks and valleys until, all of a sudden, I broke through the linguistic cellophane. The raisin ceased to be a raisin or anything with a name. It had no history as a fruit grown on a vine and shipped to market; it evoked no memories of the little Sun-Maid boxes my mother packed in my lunch pail or of a particularly good glass of cabernet sauvignon.* It just was.truenotochyperlinkno200742672327AMThursdayAprApril74/26/2007 11:23:27 AM633131690070000000200742672327AMThursdayAprApril74/26/2007 11:23:27 AM633131690070000000brains!Spirit TechJohn HorganHow to wire your brain for religious ecstasy.noSpirit TechHow to wire your brain for religious ecstasy.noEight years ago, I flew to Laurentian University in Midwestern Canada to test a gadget that some journalists called the "God machine." The device consisted of computer-controlled solenoids that fit over the skull and stimulate the brain with electromagnetic pulses. Its inventor, neuroscientist Michael Persinger, claimed that it could induce mystical experiences, including, as Wired magazine put it, visions of "Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Mohammed, the Sky Spirit."truenotochyperlinkno200742671919AMThursdayAprApril74/26/2007 11:19:19 AM633131687590000000200742671919AMThursdayAprApril74/26/2007 11:19:19 AM633131687590000000200741852331PMWednesdayAprApril174/18/2007 9:23:31 PM633125138110000000200741852331PMWednesdayAprApril174/18/2007 9:23:31 PM633125138110000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue200741851154PMWednesdayAprApril174/18/2007 9:11:54 PM633125131140000000200741851154PMWednesdayAprApril174/18/2007 9:11:54 PM633125131140000000