Juliet Beverly

Published3 Sep 2025 Author Juliet M. Beverly Source BrainFacts/SfN Last October, in a darkened presentation hall, nearly 6,000 neuroscientists hummed, snapped, and sang as improvisational singer Davin Youngs and his colleagues led them to create harmony from the initial cacophony. This musical interlude highlighted the power of the arts to alter our brains and behavior.

iStock.com via Rudzhan Nagiev She was the perfect subject to be in an fMRI scanner: she wouldn't move around, wouldn't fall asleep, wouldn't complain, but most importantly she was motivated. In 1995, neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher was placed in an fMRI scanner at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown by her research team comprised of then-undergraduate Josh McDermott and then-postdoc Marvin Chun.

Published29 Sep 2022 Author Juliet M. Beverly Source BrainFacts/SfN iStock.com via Rudzhan Nagiev She was the perfect subject to be in an fMRI scanner: she wouldn't move around, wouldn't fall asleep, wouldn't complain, but most importantly she was motivated. In 1995, neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher was placed in an fMRI scanner at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown by her research team comprised of then-undergraduate Josh McDermott and then-postdoc Marvin Chun.