The four entertaining segments in this NOVA episode investigate topics such as how visual information is processed, artificial intelligence, the potential for mind control, and how perception becomes reality. Segments:
Magic and the Brain details the neuroscience involved in illusions;
Can Machines Think Like Us? profiles Watson, the IBM computer designed to compete against human contestants on Jeopardy!;
Magnetic Mind Control explores how scientists soon may be able to "hack" into the human brain; and
Profile: David Eagleton looks at how the researcher’s "guerilla science" attempts to alter people’s sense of time and explain the phenomenon of synesthesia. Hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Grades 9 and up. Closed captioned. Color and black-and-white. PBS. 60 minutes. ©2011.
View the trailer for this program (will open in a separate window)