Secrets of the Senses (October 2012)
Special Editions

Cover; Secrets of the Senses; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

TOC; Secrets of the Senses; by Staff Editor; 3 Page(s)

Everyday Miracles; Secrets of the Senses; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s)

Letter from the editor

MARIETTE DICHRISTINA is editor in chief of Scientific American.

Vision: A Window into Consciousness; Secrets of the Senses; by Nikos K. Logothetis; 8 Page(s)

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

NIKOS K. LOGOTHETIS is director of the physiology of cognitive processes department at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in human neurobiology in 1984 from Ludwig-Maximillians University in Munich. His recent research includes the application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monkeys and measurement of how the fMRI signal relates to neural activity. Since 1992 he has been adjunct professor of neurobiology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego; since 1995, adjunct professor of ophthalmology at Baylor; and since 2002, an associate of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego and senior visiting fellow at University College London. Logothetis is a recipient of the DeBakey Award for Excellence in Science, the Golden Brain Award of the Minerva Foundation, the 2003 Louis-Jeantet Prize of Medicine and the Zülch Prize for Neuroscience.

Dying to See; Secrets of the Senses; by Ralf Dahm; 8 Page(s)

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

RALF DAHM is a research group leader at the Center for Brain Research at the Medical University of Vienna. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Dundee in Scotland and oversaw a pan-European project to exploit zebra fish as a model for researching human development and diseases. He is co-editor of Zebrafish: A Practical Approach (Oxford University Press, 2002) and is author of a popular German-language science book about human embryonic development, stem cells and cloning. Dahm is also fascinated by how eye diseases change the way artists see and therefore render the world.

Neuromorphic Microchips; Secrets of the Senses; by Kwabena Boahen; 8 Page(s)

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

KWABENA BOAHEN is a neuromorphic engineer and associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, where he moved in January after eight years on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. He left his native Ghana to pursue undergraduate studies in electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 1985 and became interested in neural networks soon thereafter. Boahen sees a certain elegance in neural systems that is missing in today's computers. He seeks to capture this sophistication in his silicon designs.

Listening with Two Ears; Secrets of the Senses; by Masakazu Konishi; 8 Page(s)

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

MASAKAZU KONISHI has been Bing Professor of Behavioral Biology at the California Institute of Technology since 1980. He earned a doctorate in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963. Three years later he joined the faculty of Princeton University, where he studied hearing and vocalization in songbirds, as well as sound localization in owls. Konishi moved to Caltech as a professor in 1975. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, skiing and training dogs for sheepherding.

Music and the Brain; Secrets of the Senses; by Norman M. Weinberger; 8 Page(s)

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

NORMAN M. WEINBERGER, who received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Western Reserve University, works in the department of neurobiology and behavior at the University of California, Irvine. He is a founder of U.C.I.'s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and of MuSICA (Music and Science Information Computer Archive). A pioneer in the field of learning and memory in the auditory system, Weinberger is on the editorial board of the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

How the Blind Draw; Secrets of the Senses; by John M. Kennedy; 8 Page(s)

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

JOHN M. KENNEDY was born in Belfast in 1942 and was raised in one of the few Unitarian families in Northern Ireland. He attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen's University of Belfast, where his interests included fencing and theater. He completed his Ph.D. in perception at Cornell University and began his research with the blind shortly thereafter as an assistant professor at Harvard University. He is currently professor of psychology at the University of Toronto at Scarborough and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His home page is located at www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~kennedy

Phantom Limbs; Secrets of the Senses; by Ronald Melzack; 8 Page(s)

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

RONALD MELZACK is professor emeritus of psychology at McGill University. His work on the neurophysiology of pain spans five decades. After obtaining his Ph.D. in psychology at McGill in 1954 and taking up fellowships in the U.S. and abroad, he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959. There he and the late Patrick D. Wall began discussions that led to the publication in 1965 of their now famous gate control theory of pain. Melzack joined the McGill faculty in 1963.

Are You Ready for a New Sensation?; Secrets of the Senses; by Kathryn S. Brown; 8 Page(s)

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

KATHRYN S. BROWN is a science writer based in Alexandria, Va. She is principal of EndPoint Creative, LLC, and serves on the board of the D.C. Science Writers Association. She would use an e-nose to stop and smell the roses (or lavender) and an e-tongue to savor even more dark chocolate.

The Molecular Logic of Smell; Secrets of the Senses; by Richard Axel; 8 Page(s)

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

RICHARD AXEL is University Professor at Columbia University, where he is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Axel is a molecular biologist who now applies the techniques of recombinant DNA and molecular genetics to problems in neurobiology. Most recently, he has focused on the molecular biology of perception. In 2004 Axel shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Linda B. Buck.

Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes; Secrets of the Senses; by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward M. Hubbard; 8 Page(s)

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

VILAYANUR S. RAMACHANDRAN and EDWARD M. HUBBARD collaborate on studies of synesthesia. Ramachandran directs the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, and is adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He trained as a physician and later obtained a Ph.D. from Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Hubbard received his Ph.D. from the departments of psychology and cognitive science at U.C.S.D. and is now a postdoctoral fellow at INSERM in Orsay, France. A founding member of the American Synesthesia Association, he helped to organize its second annual meeting at U.C.S.D. in 2001.

Making Sense of Taste; Secrets of the Senses; by David V. Smith and Robert F. Margolskee; 8 Page(s)

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

DAVID V. SMITH and ROBERT F. MARGOLSKEE approach the study of taste from complementary angles. Smith's training is in psychobiology and neurophysiology. He is Simon R. Bruesch Professor and chairman of the department of anatomy and neurobiology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and received postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University. Margolskee's training is in molecular neurobiology and biochemistry. He is an associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor of physiology and biophysics and of pharmacology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he has been since 1996. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and did postdoctoral research in biochemistry at Stanford University. He founded the biotechnology company Linguagen in Paramus, N.J.