We are big fans of Sci­en­tific Amer­i­can, espe­cially their Sci­en­tific Amer­i­can Mind publication.

They also pub­lish spe­cial col­lec­tions of updated arti­cles around spe­cific topics-over the week­end I have been enjoy­ing one of their best ones, “Secrets of the Senses”, with a great blend of good con­tent and fun brain teasers.

Enjoy!

Spe­cific arti­cles in that issue are:

Vision: A Win­dow into Con­scious­ness by Nikos K. Logothetis

In their search for the mind, sci­en­tists are focus­ing on visual perception–how we inter­pret what we see

Dying to See by Ralf Dahm

Stud­ies of the lens of the eye not only could reveal ways to pre­vent cataracts but also might illu­mi­nate the biol­ogy of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other dis­eases in which cells com­mit suicide

Neu­ro­mor­phic Microchips by Kwabena Boa­hen Com­pact, effi­cient elec­tron­ics based on the brain’s neural sys­tem could yield implantable sil­i­con reti­nas to restore vision, as well as robotic eyes and other smart sensors

Lis­ten­ing with Two Ears by Masakazu Konishi

Stud­ies of barn owls offer insight into just how the brain com­bines acoustic sig­nals from two sides of the head into a sin­gle spa­tial perception.

Music and the Brain by Nor­man M. Weinberger

What is the secret of music’s strange power? Seek­ing an answer, sci­en­tists are piec­ing together a pic­ture of what hap­pens in the brains of lis­ten­ers and musicians

How the Blind Draw by John M. Kennedy

Blind and sighted peo­ple use many of the same devices in sketch­ing their sur­round­ings, sug­gest­ing that vision and touch are closely linked

Phan­tom Limbs by Ronald Melzack

Peo­ple who have lost an arm or a leg often per­ceive the limb as though it were still there. Treat­ing the pain of these ghostly appendages remains difficult

Are You Ready for a New Sen­sa­tion? by Kathryn S. Brown

As biol­ogy meets engi­neer­ing, sci­en­tists are design­ing the sen­sory expe­ri­ences of a new tomorrow

The Mol­e­c­u­lar Logic of Smell by Richard Axel

Mam­mals can rec­og­nize thou­sands of odors, some of which prompt pow­er­ful responses. Recent exper­i­ments illu­mi­nate how the nose and brain may per­ceive scents

Hear­ing Col­ors, Tast­ing Shapes by Vilaya­nur S. Ramachan­dran and Edward M. Hubbard

Peo­ple with synesthesia–whose senses blend together–are pro­vid­ing valu­able clues to under­stand­ing the orga­ni­za­tion and func­tions of the brain

Mak­ing Sense of Taste by David V. Smith and Robert F. Margolskee

How do cells on the tongue reg­is­ter the sen­sa­tions of sweet, salty, sour and bit­ter? Sci­en­tists are find­ing out–and dis­cov­er­ing how the brain inter­prets these sig­nals as var­i­ous tastes

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