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Swinging synapses! Decode and dismantle your brain with neuroscientist Anne Churchland

What to do ... what to do? Your brain is working overtime, sifting through sensory input. Both consciously and unconsciously, you're constantly computing the advisability of various actions (and inactions). Should you stay or should you go? Has the mayonnaise gone bad? Is that T-shirt really worthfifty bucks? Is it a good idea to spend the weekend binge-watching three seasons of Breaking Bad?
At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, neuroscientist Anne Churchland works at the cutting edge of research on decision making. She asks:
--How does your brain compile all the bits of sensory data it receives to make good (and even not so good) decisions?
--What can new technologies and experiments tell us about how we think—even when our “thinking” is subconscious?
--How does the brain handle multisensory input? Is one sense favored over others?
--Why are simple decisions sometimes so complex? What might the neurosci…

Melinda Baldwin, a historian of science interested in the development of peer review, has written a guest post about some interesting parallels between the High Quality Research Act and an older controversy about peer review at the NSF. You can learn more about her work here.

A few months ago, Hank and Lee sharedsomethoughts about the discussion surrounding the "High Quality Research Act," a bill drafted by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the current head of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The bill would require the NSF director to pledge that funded projects are "high-quality" and benefit the American people, and it seems to be grounded in Smith's concern that the NSF is funding "questionable" projects. Shortly before a draft of the HQRA leaked, Smith had called Presidential science advisor John Holdren and acting NSF Director Cora Marrett before Congress to justify the NSF's spending decisions. 

Smith's repeated statement that h…