Science AMA Series: I’m Dr. Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist whose research
focuses on brain imaging, cognitive function and consciousness. We’re
finding new ways to decode the complex workings of the brain. AMA.
Abstract
I’m Dr. Adrian Owen, a professor of neuroscience, here to answer your
questions about our breakthroughs in brain science. I’ve been fascinated
with the human brain for more than 25 years: how it works, why it works,
what happens when it doesn’t work so well. At the Owen Lab at Western
University in Canada, my team studies human cognition using brain
imaging, sleep labs, EEGs and functional MRIs. We’ve learned that one in
five people in a vegetative state are actually conscious and aware (I
recently wrote a book on it – www.intothegrayzone.com, if you’re
interested). We’ve also examined whether brain-training games actually
make you smarter (pro tip: they don’t). Now my team is working on a cool
new project to understand what happens to specific parts of people’s
brains when they get too little sleep. We’re testing tens of thousands
of people around the world to learn why we need sleep, how much we need,
and the long- and short-term effects sleep loss has on our brains. A lot
of scientists and influencers, such as Arianna Huffington and her
company Thrive Global, have already raised awareness about the dangers
of sleep loss and the need for research like this. Since we can’t bring
everyone to our labs, we’re bringing the lab to people’s homes through
online tests we’ve designed at www.worldslargestsleepstudy.com or
www.cambridgebrainsciences.com. We hope to be able to share our findings
in science journals in about six months. So … if you want to know
about sleep-testing, brain-game training or how we communicate with
people in the gray zone between life and death … AMA! I will be
here at 1:00pm EDT (10:00am PDT / 5:00pm UTC), with researchers from my
lab, Western University and the folks who host the
www.worldslargestsleepstudy.com platform—ask me anything! Update:
We’re here now! Ask us anything! Proof that I am real:
http://imgur.com/a/NvPMK Update 2: I appreciate all the questions! I
tried my best to answer as many as I could. This was really fun. See you
next time. Now, time for some pineapple pizza! http://imgur.com/a/Yy88r