Michael Graziano

Michael Graziano is a neuroscientist, novelist and composer. He is Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University in New Jersey. His latest book is Consciousness and the Social Brain (2013).

Written by Michael Graziano

Hyperrealistic painting of a messy cheeseburger with onions, lettuce and condiments, along with a salt shaker on a dark background.

essayMood and emotion

The hunger mood

Hunger isn’t in your stomach or your blood-sugar levels. It’s in your mind – and that’s where we need to shape up

Michael Graziano

A robot sitting on a white chair in a modern living room with white furniture, a grey carpet and light curtains.

essayCognition and intelligence

Build-a-brain

We could build an artificial brain that believes itself to be conscious. Does that mean we have solved the hard problem?

Michael Graziano

A fat man in a suit, smiling broadly while squinting against a blue background. His eyes are almost closed from smiling.

essayEvolution

The first smile

Why do laughter, smiles and tears look so similar? Perhaps because they all evolved from a single root

Michael Graziano

A child in a helmet riding a scooter in a wet, empty school playground with a building, playground equipment and hills in the background.

essayEducation

An inconvenient child

My six-year-old son was suspended as a danger to others. His crime? A disability you could find in any classroom

Michael Graziano

Screenshot from a video game showing a man on a balcony overlooking a marina with docks, boats and a large yacht.

essayComputing and artificial intelligence

Endless fun

The question is not whether we can upload our brains onto a computer, but what will become of us when we do

Michael Graziano

Painting of a man with a beard, multiple heads around him, and yellow beams of light emitting from his eyes against a sky backdrop.

essayConsciousness and altered states

How the light gets out

Consciousness is the ‘hard problem’, the one that confounds science and philosophy. Has a new theory cracked it?

Michael Graziano