The brainiest room in the world

I spent a lovely afternoon a few weeks ago surrounded by brains. Not live brains, but dead ones. I was visiting the Corsellis Collection at the West London Mental Health NHS Trust for the BBC World Service radio show, Health Check. It's an incredible scientific resource, with a wonderful back story. It was started in the 1950s in Essex by the pathologist, John Corsellis, who believed that dead brains could tell us more about the mind than psychologists believed they could. He was right: Even in an age of sophisticated MRI brain scanning, his collection of 6,000 brains (by the way, the photo above is not from the Corsellis Collection but from Wikipedia because the actual collection has people's names on the containers so taking pictures is officially banned) is still being plundered by neurologists studying schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

The beauty of the collection is that it is so vast and goes back so far that it paints a picture of every kind of brain problem from stroke to epilepsy, as well as healthy brains, and shows how these brains change over time. When mad cow disease emerged in Britain in the 1990s, the collection helped prove that it really was a new illness. Today, Michael Maier, a consultant psychiatrist, and Matt Williams from Imperial College London, manage the collection and are making sure it keeps on making breakthroughs. If you'd like to know more then check out their paper in the September issue of Brain.

And if you'd like to hear my radio feature, then tune into Health Check this week or listen again on the BBC website.

State of the Geek Nation

Oh, this Christmas brings much nail-biting. Advance copies of Geek Nation have been sent out to reviewers, editors and bloggers, which means that I can start expecting feedback in the New Year. I spend my nights having mares about scathing one-star Amazon reviews written by my enemies. And then I wake up and try to think of any enemies I may have. Of course, this is pointless. A fellow author who's far more seasoned than me told me recently that he doesn't even read bad reviews... I only wish I had his willpower.

Anyway, fun news on the book front next year includes talks at Imperial College London and the Asia House Literary Festival. I'll also be doing a book tour through India's metropolises in April. I'm particularly looking forward to this, since the head of Hachette India (my publisher over there) has described Geek Nation as his "non-fiction superlead of next year".

If you would like to make this a merry holiday for me and give yourself a nice literary surprise on 3 March next year, then please pre-order Geek Nation on Amazon UK. On the other hand, if you're not yet willing to make that kind of financial commitment but would still like to be kept in the loop, then why not join the Facebook group (184 members and counting!)? Thank you to everyone who has already joined the group or ordered the book. Hugs await you.

In the meantime, happy holidays and see you all in the New Year!

Give a science toy this xmas

It's fun! Really.

Seriously, I have always had a hankering for science and technology-themed toys. Not only are they more fun than Barbies and Action Men, they're also satisfying brain food. At my birthday this year, I was thrilled to get two DIY robots (thank you, Cynthia). And since I still watch the toy industry with a keenness unjustified by my age, I thought I'd share my top picks for parents looking for geeky gifts this Christmas:

1. Your first stop should be the Science Museum shop, which is a Toys 'R' Us for nerds. My favourites are Science Putty (£6), the perennial global bestseller, Ice Cream Space Food (£3.50), and the amazingly lifelike Hex Bug (£15).
2. If your child's interests lean towards electronics, then check out the Maker Shed. Lots of these items are for adults but some good ones for kids include the Blinkybug Kit ($14.99) and the Soft Circuit Elephant ($18).
3. Of course, part of Christmas is getting the toys that all your friends want. On this front, just spoil them with a Techno Gears Marble Run (£49.29) and I promise that you'll satisfy even the worst bragger.
4. No science-themed holiday gift list would be complete without the Wired Geek Dad Guide. My fave from this list is the Thingamagoop robotic synthesizer (from $99), which I believe any teenager would love.

Or you could always be a great parent and just take your kid to the local museum or zoo... Scientific fun for next to nothing!