Thursday, April 22, 2010

Apollo 13 Astronauts

That's Apollo 13 astronauts, Jim Lovell on the left and Fred Haise on the right. Sue sent this photo she snapped of us during the Apollo 13 celebration this past weekend. It's the only photo I have of myself with any of the VIPs from the weekend, and I'm glad to have it.

Free Will?

Do you know what you'll be doing in two minutes from now? Even if you don't, your brain may. Is that cool? Or is that scary?

Researchers in Berlin have learned that the brain subconsciously makes decisions before we are consciously aware of them.

They hooked people up to equipment that shows brain function - particularly decision making areas - and asked them to perform a simple task of pushing a button held in each hand - their choice of button, whenever they felt like it. The scans show the brain already knew which hand/button they were going to push before the subjects themselves knew.

I find this a fascinating look into the way we function. There have been tests before that showed motor skills activity in the brain showed up a second before the activity, but this is the first time it has been illustrated on decision making.

I'm still thinking about what this means. But I know it's interesting.