Welcome, Brains!

I am a 2nd year graduate student in bioengineering, broadly interested in the neural basis of human motor control. My interests tend to lean towards neuroscience with potential medical and rehabilitative applications (e.g. brain-machine interfaces). But in general, I am fascinated by our central nervous system's ability to dexterously maneuver our ungainly bodies through ever-changing environments.

I shifted into bioengineering and neuroscience from a physics background, leaving me with a bit of catching up to do. The literature on the motor cortex and motor control, as with many areas in neuroscience research, is vast--and sometimes very discordant. The lack of solidified understanding is both exciting and daunting for a newcomer like me. I've started this blog as an effort to organize some of my thoughts on important scientific papers I read during my studies. Comments and dialogue with readers could also aid in the idea-digestion process. I plan to post one summary and discussion of a particular paper each week.

I also hope to use this blog to improve and expand my science writing skills. I've long had an interest in writing about science and explaining complex ideas to the general public. It is a non-trivial and very important skill, indeed. As such, each post will be aimed to a science-literate audience at large, rather than neuroscience and bioengineering researchers. If you find any ideas unclear, or have suggestions for improved explanations/examples, please consider these aspects open for discussion too.

I've titled this blog after one of my favorite philosophical (and somewhat silly) questions in neuroscience: Can we humans use our brains to reverse-engineer and fully understand the operations of our brains? This idea conjures up cartoon images of a scientist discovering The Truth of the brain's inner workings, and his brain promptly imploding.

While I don't plan to address this question, I invite you to engage your brain to explore the fascinating world of motor control and neuroscience with me.