Stories by Princess Ojiaku

Can neuroscience provide unique insights to help struggling children growing up in lower income families?

The Scientific American blogs network is undergoing a restructuring, which means that Science with Moxie will be coming to a close here. I’ve really enjoyed writing about neuroscience, music, policy, and culture for SciAm and plan to continue writing about those topics in the future.

In case you like to stay up late listening to smart people discussing their work, there is a video below featuring Nina Kraus of Northwestern University in Chicago.

On Thursday morning, President Obama hosted a White House summit on concussions. In his address, Obama highlighted the benefits of sports and the need for additional research on the effects of traumatic brain injuries.

Researchers at the University of Washington have released an excellent video that nicely summarizes some of the ethical issues surrounding the development of neuroprosthetics and neuroengineering.

GZA, a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, has inspired teens to rap about science. GZA has been displaying his interest in science by visiting with scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-founding Science Genius with Christopher Emdin at Columbia University.

I love NOVA’s series on the Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers because it often features scientists who do amazing things in addition to their research.

Keeping with the Oscars theme, if the previously-posted World Science Festival video was a bit too long for a Sunday evening, Vi Hart has a short and sweet video of a (one-sided) Möbius strip on which she has rigged to play a musical theme from Harry Potter.

If you’re looking around for something to watch this Sunday evening that complements the Oscars, the World Science Festival has a great video which features the Coen Brothers, film composer Carter Burwell, Alec Baldwin, and neuroscientist Aniruddh Patel discussing the emotional effects and role of music in film.

I recently started taking regular trips to the gym as a coping mechanism for the long, cold, oft-polar-vortexed Wisconsin winter. While I love being guided through workouts in a group exercise class, I’ve often lamented the fact that the music the instructors play isn’t always exactly what I want to hear.

The New Yorker has a great long read up now on Tyrone Hayes, a researcher who has lead a decades-long scientific and political fight against the use of atrazine, a herbicide that his research strongly suggests causes birth defects.

It’s Halloween. You’re listening to some creepy, scary music. Maybe it sounds like something like this* – SCARY! You are lying still, attending to the emotional qualities of the music.

I’m thrilled to be going to the 2013 Society for Neuroscience conference in beautiful San Diego this year! If you would like me to stop by your poster or presentation in order to feature it on this blog, please do get in touch.

I just wanted to write a quick post on the events of the past month here at SciAm blogs. When my friend and fellow SciAm Blogger Dr. Danielle Lee posted about her experiences with a now notorious (and now fired) employee at Biology-Online, I cheered her on.

Amongst a government shutdown and decreased funding for research in general, many scientists are turning to crowdfunding sites to provide the funds needed to power their research questions.

ASAP Science has a ton of fun, interesting, and well done shorts on Youtube that tackle different scientific questions. Here’s their simple, quick, and fun take on the science of music.

If you’d like to see a quick video of a few experts discussing the pleasurable aspects of music, check out the video below from the New York Academy of Science’s presentation of “Music & the Mind: The Magical Power of Sound.” You’ll get a quick bite of people such as neuroscientist Jamshed Bharucha and jazz [...]

If you are interested in the intersection of neuroscience and the law, tune into your local PBS station tonight at 10 pm (Eastern time, check local listings) to see the first episode in a new two-part series, Brains on Trial.

What does it take to win a musical competition — having a performance that hits all the right notes or having the best stage presence?

What does it take to win a musical competition — having a performance that hits all the right notes or having the best stage presence?

Although music therapy is a hot topic, its mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a division of the federal government that investigates unconventional therapies, invited Aniruddh Patel to talk about the possible effects of musical training on language and speech processing.

Although music therapy is a hot topic, its mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a division of the federal government that investigates unconventional therapies, invited Aniruddh Patel to talk about the possible effects of musical training on language and speech processing.

I appreciate NOVA’s Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers because it reminds us that scientists often fail to adhere to one-dimensional stereotypes.

Lately I’ve been enchanted by a series of minor-keyed sad songs converted to major keys, and vice versa. Hearing familiar songs switched into a different minor or major key is quite strange, and is unsettling to my ears in a way that I can’t quite pin down.