Taylor Beck
I write about brains & the future.
I'm a writer with a background in neuroscience & Japanese. Before writing, I worked in brain imaging labs studying sleep, memory & aging.
PROJECTS
LA Review of Books
Moody Genes
“All families are likely to have some madness tucked away somewhere.”
A review of “another kind of madness” by Steve Hinshaw.
Nautilus
A Vaccine For Depression?
Ketamine’s remarkable effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness.
The Atlantic
The Attention Machine
A new brain-scanning technique could change the way scientists think about human focus.
Scientific American
A Trip Inside the Schizophrenic Mind
Researchers are investigating how hallucinogens might be used to model—and develop treatments for—psychosis
Fast Company
The Man Behind New App Shadow Wants To Quantify Our Dreams | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
The Man Behind New App Shadow Wants To Quantify Our...
GQ
What We're Reading: Fox 8 by George Saunders: The Q: GQ
"Fiction softens the border between you and me, between me and me, between the reader and the writer."
Medium
Laughing At The Dark — Medium
How David Foster Wallace Takes Readers Places They Don’t Like to Go
Nautilus
Lonely? There's An App For That
The phone rang; a woman answered. Our awkward opening was brief. “This is my first time,” I said. “I’m not sure how this is supposed to go.” She said she’d be happy to listen.
Princeton Alumni Weekly
Decoding the Brain
One day, scientists will be able to “see” the images and memories in our minds
National Geographic
Sleepless in America - Sleepless in America Episode - National ...
I interviewed scientists, wrote a preliminary outline, treatment and casting document for this National Geographic documentary, led by former HBO producer John Hoffman.
Fast Company
Can Dating Apps Solve Japan's Sex Crisis?
Japan has a sex problem, and digital dating could help fix it. So why are single people there so reluctant to dive in?
The Huffington Post
Kin By Mania: The Bond I Feel With Other Bipolar People Is Inexplicable | HuffPost
"We are good for each other, like deep sea fish and the bacteria that keep them aglow."
Science
Neural Decoding of Visual Imagery During Sleep
This experiment was the first to "decode" dream content traits from brain activity during sleep. I worked on the project in Kyoto during its first year of design, data collection & analysis, from 2009-2010.