Searching the brain for happiness
Published on BBC Website
For thousands of years people have pursued happiness, but the problem has been that it has always been seen as a kind of fuzzy concept.

Excerpt:
"... Pleasure and desire are complex emotions in humans, and so there are still many interesting things to learn. Central to current research is a brain region called the orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region that is evolutionary more recently developed in humans and has connections to both the opioid and dopamine systems. Using neuroimaging, we have found that it contains regions that correlate with subjective reports of pleasure. What can this research ultimately tell us about happiness, pleasure and desire? "

This article is part of ”The Happiness Formula” - a BBC2 documentary series written by Mark Easton and Mike Rudin.

Link to a video excerpt from an interview in the series.

The Struggle for Dignity
Published in HMS Beagle 74
Article on brain damage and review of N. Kapur(ed.):"Injured Brains of Medical Minds. Views from within".

Excerpt:
" Serious brain injury is a hidden epidemic in society. A new book offers important and timely insights for victims and their families as well as for medical professionals.
... Serious head injuries such as G.'s are unfortunately all too common and yet surprisingly little has been published on brain injury from the perspective of the sufferer. The neuropsychologist Narinder Kapur has tried to remedy this situation in the book Injured Brains of Medical Minds which is a collection of around fifty self-reports from doctors, neuroscientists and others in the clinical profession who have themselves experienced illness and traumas to the brain. "

Bodily Illusions
Published in HMS Beagle 69
Book review of "Phantoms in the Brain" by V.S.Ramachandran and S. Blakeslee

Excerpt:
" A new book offers a cure for phantom pains, explains how to grow a nose the size of Pinnochio and even explains why some people experiences orgasms in their foot.
... According to many religions our body is merely an illusory frame, inhabited for a short while by the soul. In Phantoms in the Brain, neurologist V.S. Ramachandran and science-writer S. Blakeslee provide thought-provoking examples of just how illusory our mental body-image is. By itself, the brain creates subjective feelings, such as pain and joy, commonly regarded as characteristic of the soul. Could we finally be beginning to get a scientific handle on the soul? "