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Scientist Find Brain Core That May Reveal Secrets of Thought

telegraph.co.uk — A "core" region of the brain has been identified by an international team which has produced the first complete high-resolution map of the human cerebral cortex, the wrinkly surface of the brain where awareness, thought and other features of high level thinking reside.

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  • smitas, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3Hello! now we can't keep our secrets too!
  • kmolnar, on 07/01/2008, -0/+12Fantastic. This reminds me Jeff Hawkins' talk at TED 2003 - he was bemoaning the unfortunate lack of theory in brain research. It's true - a mountain of data and a pinprick of theory do not make for a well-rounded scientific field. He talked at length about the cerebral cortex.
  • zadadka, on 07/01/2008, -11/+7Must have been a male brain they scrutinised.
    They'd still be there at doomsday searching a female brain for the place "awareness, thought and other features of high level thinking reside".

    (yuk-yuk-yuk)
  • galvo, on 07/01/2008, -3/+2Deep Throught
  • republicker, on 07/01/2008, -4/+5The Pineal gland is has cones and rods like our eyes. Do some acid and mushrroms and find out why.
  • chrisinsocalif, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1If they tapped into my brain, they would fall asleep with boredom.
  • republicker, on 07/01/2008, -8/+4The Pinneal gland has cones and rods like our eyes. Do some acid and mushrroms and find out why.
    • Swallowell, on 07/01/2008, -3/+3The Third Eye???
    • kmolnar, on 07/01/2008, -1/+2Perhaps he is operating under the assumption that saying the same thing over and over will make it come true. =)
    • phamtq, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1The pineal gland has to do with melatonin production. It's only rods and cone like in non-mammals and you don't need acid to see the effects. Just wait until nighttime and start feeling tired.
      • republicker, on 07/01/2008, -0/+6Well, it also produces DMT every night,which makes dreams. A strange thing happens when you use the form of DMT derived from a plant. Everyone I've seen describes riding on a rollercoaster of flashing lights like your inside your own nerves and all along the way there are these alien beings. I have seen them. It is the wierdest thing ever.
    • yrufat, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3There's a glitch in the matrix...
    • Sephiriz, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1I almost feel like this is a Descartes reference (conscience and body linked via pineal gland).

      Although its just as likely that there is no connection whatsoever.
  • LeRenard, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3In reading this article, I realized it had never occurred to me before that other people might be more conscious and self-aware than myself.
    • kmolnar, on 07/01/2008, -1/+0@4chanklan2

      First: What's all this crap about ethnic IQ studies? Did you miss the entire point of this research?

      Secondly, equating nominal similarity in one particular trait with "equality" is beyond illogical.
  • clutchdude, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5So...is the brain single core or dual core?
    • pbone, on 07/01/2008, -0/+8idunno. but i know cows have quad core stomachs.
    • EricSchC1, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Its the K5 Modification! 4 Quads per channel.
    • Azerael, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1More like a hundred-million core... just every core is sorta slow.
  • trollick, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5Wouldn't it be much easier to start with some primitive brain and try to figure how that works? I mean when people are learning to program they start with "Hello World" program, not with looking at linux core dumps.
    • kmolnar, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Brain research did start with simpler brains. Now that those are rather thoroughly understood, the problem of understanding cognition, something only humans are known to be capable of at present, can be approached.

      The main problem with your argument is that studying cognition in, say, rats, is not possible, because rats do not cognate.
      • Prismatic, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0But they grill up well
      • underdog138, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3I'd be willing to venture a guess that all animals have a level of cognitive awareness that is simply limited to the complexity of their brains. Relative to humans, their self-awareness is primitive and rudimentary to the point of considering it non-existent.

        I'm not a scientist, but stepping out and looking in on the idea of consciousness from an existential perspective, it's a valid train of thought.
      • underdog138, on 07/01/2008, -0/+8My comment box broke. I was trying to add this during the edit window:

        Consider that animals have the ability to be 100% self-aware, only limited by the bounds of their own brain power in terms of relating to other species with differing levels of cognitive ability.

        Imagine a being with ten times the cognitive power as humans and attempting to interact with them. It might be analogous to a human trying to explain quantum mechanics to a penguin on a blackboard and watching them simply ruffle their feathers and think about fish.
      • trollick, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2Forget about rats and high level cognition, even a roach with his much simpler brain can do amazing things.
  • rolan1bp, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2Didn't they just rediscover the thalamus?
  • nonoice, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request= ...
    complete result of research
  • 3leggedHorse, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Next the downloading the brains memories of a life.
    The cloning of a body without the need for re-growth see the film prestige.
    And then the uploading of the memories.
    Hey immortality.
  • emanuelamonica, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0It was really interesting to read this article. I thought scientists already figured out how to read our minds, just didn't told the whole world.
  • anillop, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1This is the most interesting article on here in a long time. This really is a breakthrough in the study of nueroscience. There is so much that we do not know about how the human brain works. This could truly be a breakthrough in understanding ourselves and how we are what we are.
  • h3lx, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Animal brains are physiologically superior than our own, being able to adapt ours to behave more like theirs could be very helpful. I'd sacrifice a few cognitive abilities to be able to discern 300 different smells almost instantly... really we're not all that.
  • arkaycee, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5"I used to think the brain was the most fascinating part of the body. But then I realized what was telling me that." - Emo Phillips
  • Ortheos, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1All humans have going for them is their larger brains....We got nothin.

  • danibobanny, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Oh Good. My first glance at the title led me to believe that scientists were going to reveal my secret thoughts.
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