Technabob » brain

Man Eats Own (Chocolate) Brain

Lambert Varias — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:39 +0000

If you ate your own brain, what does that make you? A zombie cannibal? A short-lived Hannibal? An attraction at a goth carnival? Or just dead? Fortunately Andy Millns will not be burdened with any of those associations, because he only ate a piece of chocolate cast from a mold made from a 3D print made from an MRI of his own brain. Which makes him a geek.

The cranial confectionery was the brainchild of 3D tech company Inition. I’ve already outlined the steps above, but in case you need something that makes more sense, watch the video below:

They would’ve skipped a couple of steps if they just used this 3D printer instead, although I guess it would take way longer. Inition also put up an Instructable for those interested in eating chocolate brain, including an MRI file containing a scan of Millns’ brain. I can’t decide which is weirder: eating a chocolate brain based on another person’s brain or one that’s based on your own brain. Or that Chocolate Rain song.

[via Ubergizmo]

Zombie Brains Friendship Necklace Set Lets Friends Trade Cerebrums

Jack Kieffer — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:00:18 +0000

The Zombie Brains Friendship Necklace Set signifies so much more than your friendship with a fellow flesh-eater. It shows that you would be willing to give half of your brain to another zombie and take half of theirs in return. Not that it really matters, anyway – you’re both knuckleheads who don’t have girlfriends to share your Zombie Brains Friendship Necklace Set with. It is only socially acceptable for girls to have friendship necklaces with other girls – guys usually don’t do that kind of thing. Guys usually don’t have necklaces that spell B-R-A-I-N-S, though, so we might be able to make an exception.

Also, to the rule that you can’t wear masks at work, you can wear the LED Anti-Aging Mask. We’re only making an exception because someone tripped on your face sag a couple of days ago, and now the company is facing lawsuits. THEY TRIPPED ON YOUR FACE SAG. How does that even happen?! But I digress.

The Zombie Brains Friendship Necklace Set is from ThinkGeek, and is $30. don’t think of it as $30, think of it as buying two $15 necklaces. Because that’s exactly what you’re doing! This has been a journey into Derp land, please step off of the ride and keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle. *Revs up bone saw* I see only one way that I am going to be able to leave and follow the directions. Good thing I’m a zombie, or this would hurt like a bone saw! Because it is a bone saw! “Where did you even get one of those?” The internet.

If you’d like to throw your money at someone, please visit your local school at Penny the Freshmen day. If you would like to throw money at the Zombie Brains Friendship Necklace Set, go ahead and pogo jump yourself all the way over to ThinkGeek.

If you liked the Zombie Brains Friendship Necklace Set, you’re might also to want to check out the edible gummi brain and the Plants Vs. Zombies Cake.

Contributor Jack Kieffer owns Cool Gizmo Toys, a blog that rants about random geeky products.

Researchers Read Brain Signals to Recreate Video

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 13:00:51 +0000

This is one of the strangest things I have ever seen and it reminds me more than a little of Total Recall. Scientists at UC Berkeley have discovered a way to be able to reconstruct video that a user is watching solely by reading brainwaves. The research team worked with other people on the research team and placed them into an MRI machine and made them watch short samples of randomly-selected video clips.

Gallant Lab researchers Shinji Nishimoto, An T. Vu, Thomas Naselaris, Yuval Benjamini, Bin Yu and Jack L. Gallant used a complex computer program that looked at the minute changes in blood flow inside the brain during an fMRI and then used those changes to approximate the video that the person being studied was watching on YouTube. Obviously, the video recreated isn’t high quality, but it is a close approximation to what was actually being viewed.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The computer used shapes and colors to approximate the video images giving them the rough and general feel of the video being seen by the participant. The cool part is that future applications for this software may allow us to actually watch our dreams or daydreams.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via ABCNews]

Giant Gummi Brain for the Sugar Zombie in You

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:13:18 +0000

Braiiiiiinnns… braaaaainsss, we all know the zombie mantra. I have found the perfect prop for those of you that plan to dress as a zombie this Halloween or if you are just really hungry for a giant brain made out of gummi stuff. There are a few downsides to this Giant Gummi Brain though.

The first downside is that it is bubble gum flavored. I mean seriously, what genius though that making a red brain that isn’t cherry flavored was a good idea. This is oblivious to the fact that a gummy brain needs to be gray anyhow. On the plus-side, the brain is nearly life-size. Honestly, it’s probably larger than the brains in most of the folks I know.

It’s gluten free and measures approximately 7.7″ (L) x 6.1″ (W) x 3″ (H), and the thing weighs in at about 7 pounds, which is way heavier than the real deal. The giant gummi brain can be yours for £19.99 (~$32 USD) over at Firebox. you can pre-order it right now with a ship date that is unknown. This would be easy to share amongst other zombies using the trusty Crovel to chop it up.

Brain Bulb is Exactly What You Think It Is

Lambert Varias — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:34:23 +0000

Jeri Ellsworth wowed a lot of people at the recently held Maker Faire when she turned up wearing something straight out of cartoons: a light bulb over her head that was activated by her brainwaves. Okay so it’s not exactly like the visual metaphor since it doesn’t discriminate between great ideas and things like “I have to pee”.

The actual bulb itself is just a small part of the whole gadget. Actually it’s not even the bulb that lights up but the LEDs that are attached behind the bulb. Two electrodes – one on each side of the head – read brainwave activity as well as other electrical impulses from the body and the surroundings. An AD620 instrumentation amplifier removes most of the outside impulses, so that the resulting signal will mostly be from the wearer. Ellsworth explains it further in the video below.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s a shame Ellsworth didn’t put the brain bulb on in the video. What would really be impressive though is a gadget that mimics anime effects. Like if you’re stunned you actually turn to stone, blood comes rocketing out of your nose if you see someone hot, or you crash to the floor after hearing the punchline to a joke.

[via Waxy and Make]

Terminator 2 T-800 Brain Chip Replica: A Must Buy For Humans

Lambert Varias — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:18:48 +0000

Here’s a replica of the damaged brain chip that was recovered from the T-800 that Sarah Connor crushed in the first Terminator movie. This brain chip “provided the basis for all of the research and development carried out by Cyberdyne Systems”, and ultimate led to Judgment Day. So I repeat: this is a must buy.

To make matters worse, there are 400 of these blasted end-bringers, each chip individually numbered. Members of the Resistance, make sure to snag all of them up and destroy them before the robots get their hands on one. You can pre-order them from Hollywood Collectibles for $169 (USD). That’s a small price to pay for our continued existence. Although if you multiply that by 400, it’s almost not worth it.

[via Chip Chick]

Rubik’s Brain Cube is Abby Normal

Technabob — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 03:40:30 +0000

Artist Jason Freeny knows his anatomy. Now he’s taken his biological skills and applied them to the creation of the single greatest Rubik’s Cube ever. The Brain Cube.

There’s not much to be said about this thing, except that it probably requires every synapse to be firing in your brain in order to solve it, since all the pieces look almost identical, and they’re all the same delicious brainy color.

[via Super Punch via Neatorama]

Mindflex Duel Lets You Challenge Your Friends to a Battle of Brainpower

Chris B. — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:52:45 +0000

Games are better when you can beat someone at them, right? That Mindflex game that came out a couple of years ago looked pretty cool, right? I mean, who doesn’t want to play a game that uses the power of your thoughts? Heck, there was even a Star Wars version, because the whole idea does kind of sound like you’re using the Force to play. Well, now you can take that game a whole new level by going head-to-head (literally) with a friend.

The Mindflex Duel is a two-player version of the original game. Both players control a single side of the field, and the idea is to see who can move their ball through the obstacles and onto the other side first.

$100 makes for an expensive toy, but who wouldn’t want the chance to prove to your friends that you have a stronger brain?

[via ChipChick]

The God Helmet: Magnetic Field’s a Hell of a Drug

Lambert Varias — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:16:02 +0000

One of the most important questions known to man is one that is perhaps best not conclusively answered – the question of whether or not God exists. I’m sure the debate will continue and intensify as scientists gain more and more knowledge about the world, but what would be the effect of the definite answer to that question? Neuroscientist Michael Persinger believes that people who have had what we can call a spiritual experience were actually being stimulated by a variety of factors, none of them divine. To prove his point, Persinger created the God Helmet.

Persinger believes that man’s best way of coping with the fear of death is to imagine something infinite, omnipresent and everlasting, which is quite predictable really considering the problem is that we’re afraid of our finite existence. Persinger further believes that the efforts of our brain’s right temporal lobe to allay our anxiety about death can lead us to have spiritual experiences. So he made a helmet that specifically targets the right temporal lobe, stimulating it with magnetic fields. Here’s the soothing voice of Morgan Freeman with more info, in an excerpt from the Science Channel’s Through The Wormhole:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As far as I’m concerned, we can interpret Persinger’s experiment in a variety of ways. It could be proof that deities are indeed safety nets, in which case announcing to billions of people that their safety net is illusory would probably lead them to either get depressed, or just create another illusory safety net. Or, it could be that Persinger is partly right – maybe we normally don’t think or dream of such things unless we’re blasted with magnetic fields or take part in rituals, but that could just be a way to help us heighten our senses. Think of it this way: if you enter a darkened room you obviously wouldn’t be able to see what else is inside. But if the room is illuminated, even if it is by artificial means, then you’ll be able to see.

Or it could be that magnetic fields just give a freaky good time.

[via linkfilter]

This Magnet That Will Make You a Lefty. Say What?

Range — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:05:07 +0000

Apparently this magnet can make you left-handed, if you’re right-handed. Sounds kind of crazy, but it makes sense how this could help people who have either lost some function in their right arm.

According to a study by researchers at UC Berkeley, when the proper trans-cranial magnetic stimulation is applied to the brain of a righty, you get a lefty. The techinque disrupts the brain’s parietal cortex, changing the brain’s decision on which hand to prefer. This has helped in the research to fight learned limb disuse, which is when victims of stroke and other brain injuries start favoring the arm or leg they can more easily control. This magnet could help force these patients to use the other limbs again, restoring full limb movement.Sounds like science-fiction, but it’s happening right now. Kind of cool, if you don’t mind me saying so.

[via io9 via DVice]

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/10/image-of-the-da-39.php

Plx Devices Whips Out Xwave Brainwave Interface for iPhone/iPod/iPad

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:00:30 +0000

Last Christmas I bought my son one of those games with the Star Wars brand that you were supposed to be able to control with your mind. The idea was you could move a ball up and down a tube just by thinking about it. It did actually work, but it wasn’t that much fun. Now, a company called PLX Devices has announced a new though control interface for games on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod called the XWave.

The device has a headset that plugs into the headphone port on top of the device. It works with an app that is free and has games that train the user to use their mind for controlling the little games. The games include changing the color of the screen by focusing and relaxing the mind and one that lets the user levitate a ball on the screen, and probably works nothing like what is shown in this promotional video…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The headset the XWave system uses looks almost just like the one that the game my son had used, so it probably works in the same way. PLX has also announced an SDK so third-party developers can build their own applications and games to use the device. The system will ship in October and can be purchased now for $99.99 (USD).

Phrenology Head: What’S Really Going on Inside That Brain of Yours

Technabob — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:08:17 +0000

Do you miss the scientific quackery of the early 18th century? Then have I’ got a deal for you. This phrenology head is the perfect way to figure out what’s wrong with your brain – as long as you don’t care if it’s wrong 100% of the time.

Perfect for wannabe charlatans, this Phrenology bust is actually a reproduction of the original “medical” evaluation tool used by Phrenology madman L.N. Fowler, who theorized that you could point to specific personality traits based on the shape of your skill, mapped out into 48 faculties of your brain. It’s guaranteed to make you look way smarter than you really are.

Want one? Head on over to Amazon.com and you can find them for a wide variety of wacky prices, ranging from $35 to $888 (USD). Why are the prices so all over the map? Because they’re craaaaaaazy!

[photo via flickr]

Brain Slug Cupcakes: Wear a Helmet Before Eating One

Lambert Varias — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:50:01 +0000

And have a bottle of garlic shampoo ready!

The brain slugs of Futurama were pastrified using gum paste for the slug’s body, royal icing for the eyes, flower stamen for the antennae, and cherry butter cream for brains, all on top of poor vanilla cupcakes. Bake them at your own risk.

[via Flickr via Neatorama]

Bloody Brain Shooter: Perfect for Halloween Parties, if You Can Get Your Guests to Drink It

Lambert Varias — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:42:32 +0000

We already showed you how to make zombie cupcakes (actually I just gave you a link to the actual instructions, but you know what I mean). Now here’s the perfect partner to that brainy pastry – the Bloody Brain Shooter.

The brain-like goo in this case is just Bailey’s Irish cream. It ends up like that because the drink itself is vodka mixed with lime juice. The lime juice causes the cream to curdle a little and voila – Baiiiiiiiileeeeeeeeeeeeyssssss. Drop by Fine Living for the complete recipe and instructions on how to make this gross undead drink.

[via folkinz via Gearfuse]

Forget P2p, Here’S B2b: Brain-to-Brain Communication

Lambert Varias — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:20:38 +0000

We can now add telepathy to the list of things that’s possible thanks to the Internet. Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have demonstrated that it is possible to transmit thoughts from one person’s brain to another person’s brain using nothing but pieces of tape, a couple of EEG amplifiers, some special software, LEDs, and the Internet. So… actually quite a lot of things.

The demonstration had a sender think of either 1 or 0. For some reason the person in the video didn’t directly think of either number; he had to think of moving his left arm for 0, and his right arm for 1. I wonder why. The EEG attached to the sender amplifies his brain signals, which are sent to the receiver via the Internet. The receiver’s brain picks up the 1s and 0s via a set of LEDs that flashed a different pattern depending on the digit sent.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Obviously the demo wasn’t too practical, but if this technology is improved maybe we won’t need monitors in the future; instead data will be sent directly to our brain. Then while you’re b2beeing with your friend, you could mess with his brain and make him slap or pee on himself. Awesome.

[via FreshCreation via gizmag]

Here Come the Thought Police: Fmri and Mindreading Studies

Alisha K. — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:00:15 +0000

Science is now a little bit closer to revealing the true you, thanks to research from Rutgers and UCLA researches on fMRIs, or functional MRIs. Can these brainscans read your thoughts? Not quite, but nosy scientists can get a general idea more than half the time!

The researches scanned the brains of 130 volunteers as they were performing one of eight tasks in the experiment. Tasks ranged from pressing buttons to discussing rhyming pairs, and using the fMRI technology, the researchers were able to correctly guess which brain was performing which task 80% of the time. Sorry, guys. Your cheerleader fantasies may not remain a secret forever.

True mindreading is of course not possible (yet) with the technology, but it sure looks like things are headed in that direction!

[via MedGadget]

Robot Controlled by a Moth [Mothbot]

Alisha K. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:34:27 +0000

You know, after Mothra, after Godzilla–and let’s not forget Mechagodzilla–the Japanese ought to know better. By which I mean… making a moth bot? Way to go, guys. You’ve just killed us all.

Japanese studies on insect brains recently led a team of researchers to wire a moth to a robot. Using the scent of female moths to control the moth’s motion, they learned “the moth can steer the [robot] car and quickly adapt to changes in the way the vehicle operates — for example by introducing a steering bias to the left or right similar to the effect of a flat tyre.”

The article is full of magical fun uses for insect bots, but all I’m seeing is my imminent demise. Got to go; time to stock up on bug spray.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

Brain Age: Flash Version

Lambert Varias — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:30:09 +0000

Wanna know how old your brain is? How old are you? Then that’s how old your brain is too. But this Japanese Flash game thinks otherwise. I’m guessing it’s just lonely and wants some attention.

When the game starts, a series of numbers flash on the screen for maybe half a second. Circles will then pop up in place of these numbers. The goal is to click the circles based on the value of the numbers that they replaced, lowest to highest.

In this case you should click the lower right circle first, then the one on the upper left, then the one in the middle. If you get it right the countdown restarts and more numbers flash on the screen. I only got up to 7 numbers on my first try.

After 10 flashing and clicking iterations of foolishness, the game will then tell you it’s estimation of your brain’s age. The image above shows you my brain’s score for the first run. I think. Because if that’s my IQ, then, you know, the game’s wrong. Really. I r ashemd now.

[Flash Fabrica via neatorama]

Hims Brain Hubi Claims to Relax Your Mind, Improve Your Memory, Help You Concentrate, End World Hunger, Visualize Whirled Peas

Technabob — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:53:15 +0000

This little USB gadget from Korea makes some pretty lofty claims. Not only will it help you chill out, it could help you memorize Pi to 100,000 digits, or might turn you into the next Rembrandt. Or Obama.

The HIMS Brain HUBI biofeedback device plugs into your computer, and interactively monitors electrical impulses from your fingertips to help you control your brain into the proper state of mind to accomplish nearly anything. Now how it does this without actually attaching to your scalp, I have no idea. I’ll leave that to the scientists and snake oil salesmen to explain.

The included software lets you choose from a variety of profiles including relaxation, creativity, memory and concentration. Unfortunately modes for Jedi mind trick, levitation and that head-slashing thing that Sylar does with his fingertips aren’t included. Maybe they’ll get those working in a future model.

As you think, you do your darnedest to coordinate your brain waves with the graphs displayed on the screen. Think of it like mind-controlled Guitar Hero. Damn, that sounds like a good idea for a game – I’d better patent that.

If you want to find out exactly how much the HUBI lives up to its promises, you’ll have to exchange aboutt $206 (USD) cash for KRW 290,000 then order one from Korea to try one out. At this point, there are no plans to bring the device to North America or Europe.

[via Early Adopter]

The Neocube is a Magnetic Puzzle O’ Fun

Karen M. — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:40:33 +0000

The NeoCube starts out as a cube made of super-magnetic balls that’s billed as “literally a puzzle with billions of solutions.” Here’s the good news: There are no right answers, just a whole heap o’ magnetic mayhem to be had.

Check out this video of the NeoCube in action. Then, let’s take bets on how many thousands of hours this guy has logged playing with it.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

OK, now try to convince me you don’t want one. Betcha can’t! And even if you can, once I tell you it promises stress relief and dual hemisphere brain stimulation, you will be completely powerless to resist. Don’t believe me? How about another video then?

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

For such a cool and fun-seeming product, I must warn you that the website is extremely janky. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that every other word is in a different font, or the crazy spacing of text, or the weird, new age-y background. But if you simply must must must have a NeoCube then you’ll need to go there to plonk down your $14 (minicube, aka, lamecube IMHO) or your $30 (alpha cube) or your $35 (fabulously named cubetastic pack, which includes a mini and an alpha.)