Well written and accessible to a general audience, these 21 articles from Scientific American
since 1999 provide insight into our current state of knowledge about the human brain. Floyd, past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and former editor of its flagship journal, Science
, is ideal to make this selection. In the first section, "Mind," about high-level brain functions, Nobel laureate Eric Kandel argues that we are now poised to turn "mind" from a philosophical concept into a scientific one. The next section, "Matter," deals primarily with disorders of the brain and how, for example, researchers hope to devise effective treatments and better understand the healthy brain. The final section, "Tomorrow's Brain," envisions a time when prosthetic devises might be controlled by thought alone, when artificial retinas are commonplace and when humans and machines merge into what could only be described as a new entity—a future that may not be so far off. Miguel Nicoleli and John Chapin show how Belle, an owl monkey, working with a microwire array implanted on the surface of her brain, moves an artificial arm merely by thinking of making it move. There's much to stimulate the brain of any reader. 30 color illus. (June)
