Directed energy weapons that use wave beams to cause pain, and electrical brain stimulation that boosts a soldier’s combat ability - it may sound like science fiction warfare, but experts say advances in neuroscience mean it’s on the horizon. (Reuters)

The dangers of life in the National Football League made headlines in 2009, when a study commissioned by the NFL found that retired players were 19 times more likely than other men of similar ages to develop severe memory problems. (Scientific American)

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. (BBC News)

For 17-year-old Nathan Stiles, his senior year was supposed to be the best yet. (CNN)

The procedure starts with a surgeon drilling two holes in the patient’s skull. “Every bone and tooth in my head was rattling,” says Lisa Battiloro, who was awake, but not in pain, during the eight-hour operation. (Wall Street Journal)

At a crowded vigil on Sunday night in Tucson, Representative Gabrielle Giffords held her husband’s hand as she stepped up to the lectern to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. (NY Times)

Hits and checks have long been accepted as inherent to the game of hockey, but a decision by the NHL’s biggest star to sit out of the game indefinitely represents only the latest professional athlete to suffer lasting injuries to the brain. (ABC News)

Lawyers and philosophers have already begun debating the ethical implications of an incipient future in which a memory is simply overwritten as if it were a digital file destined for the trash icon on your desktop. (Scientific American)

The tantalizing prospect of using a brain scanner to determine whether a witness is lying, or a genetic analysis to determine whether a murder suspect is predisposed to commit violent crimes, are premature and unrealistic, according to a new report on neuroscience and the law presented today by the U.K. Royal Society. (Science Insider)

Ever since the early days of modern computing in the 1940s, the biological metaphor has been irresistible. The first computers — room-size behemoths — were referred to as “giant brains” or “electronic brains,” in headlines and everyday speech. (New York Times)

BRAIN shrinkage in people with Alzheimer’s disease can be reversed in some cases - by jolting the degenerating tissue with electrical impulses. Moreover, doing so reduces the cognitive decline associated with the disease. (New Scientist)

The moment she saw him, Judy Cox knew her son was dead. It was an October morning in 2008, and she had just stepped out the door to run an errand when she found him lying faceup in the driveway, ghost white, covered in purple splotches. (NY Times)

Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroengineer at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, will be watching the opening ceremony of the Brazilian World Cup in 2014 more closely than anyone. Amid the spectacle of the event that will draw millions of viewers around the world will be a very public unveiling of his greatest work. (Guardian)

In recent years, scientists have learned that some patients believed to be in a vegetative state actually have some awareness and that they might be able to communicate. Now, a new study suggests a portable brain monitor can detect signs of this, perhaps making it possible someday for doctors to easily double-check the diagnosis at the bedside. (ABC News)

A study published last week suggests tired hospital doctors might make decisions better if they took a drug that combats fatigue. So much for the science – what is less certain is the ethics of doctors turning to drugs to get through long shifts. (New Scientist)

A soldier tries to sleep. But he is not safe in his dreams. Jolted awake by a nightmare, the combat veteran fumbles in the dark for his 3-D glasses. (Wired)

Social network sites may be changing people’s brains as well as their social life, research suggests. (BBC News)

Giving a high-five. Rubbing his girlfriend’s hand. Such ordinary acts — but a milestone for a paralyzed man. (TIME)

When it comes to prosthetic hands, you can’t beat the one Luke Skywalker receives in The Empire Strikes Back. Not only did that robotic limb allow him to wield a lightsaber with great dexterity, each of his fingers twitched when a robot poked them. (Science)

Playground activities and sports — particularly high school football — are sending an increasing number of children to the emergency room with concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. (ABC News)

Scientists are one step closer to creating a bodysuit that could allow people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries to move, feel and regain their independence. (ABC News)