Why the Net Matters

Extras

Chapter 3: The Brain Adjusts itself to any Body Plan

Faith the dog:

Dogs can learn to control the movement of skateboards:

[video of skateboarding bulldog here]

....and they can drive large body plans which include steering wheels and tires:

Chapter 4: The Brain Wraps Itself around New Inputs: Sensory Substitution and Addition

See this video of plasticity from WIRED Science: "Mixed Feelings"

Chapter 5:

Interview with Miguel Nicolelis on the Daily Show

The Walk Again Project, an international collaboration of researchers to allow the paralyzed to control robotic suits with their thoughts.

Video: Monkey and robotic arm

British musician Jarvis Cocker reads from Sum

Hear British rocker Jarvis Cocker read the short story "Descent of Species" from Sum.
Why I am a Possibilian

Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion. A third position, agnosticism, is often an uninteresting stance in which a person simply questions whether his traditional religious story is true or not true. I call myself a possibilian. Find out why.
Emily Blunt reads "The Cast" from Sum

Hear actress Emily Blunt read the story "The Cast" from Sum.
Scanning a 3,000 year old mummy

I recently performed a CT scan on Neskhons, an Egyptian mummy who I brought to our scanning facilities at Baylor College of Medicine.