Adrian M. Owen, OBE, FRS

I know it's a bit early, but this stocking filler will be coming to a good bookstore near you on August 4th, 2026 😀

Many thanks for all the kind words about my post yesterday. The issue has now been resolved and the lab is back up and running. I will not be providing any more details.

One in four comatose (behaviourally non-responsive) patients in the ICU following a serious brain injury show us they are aware using fNIRS - published today. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Why treadmills soothe our minds and joysticks sharpen our wits | Science and Industry Museum Detailed findings of a pioneering 'brain and body' study developed for the Manchester Science Festival have just been published, reports Science Director, and study co-author, Roger Highfield.

Why treadmills soothe our minds and joysticks sharpen our wits: fab to see the peer-reviewed results of our online mass experiment for the Manchester Science Festival with @comadork.bsky.social and his team from @westernu.ca in @plosone.org! blog.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/why-treadmil...

The quest to detect consciousness — in all its possible forms Insights from human brains might inform how scientists search for awareness in other animals and AI.

It will be 20 years next year, yet our 2006 article continues to be the paper that keeps on giving. What a wild ride it’s been! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The quest to detect consciousness — in all its possible forms Insights from human brains might inform how scientists search for awareness in other animals and AI.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Very proud of this one. If you want a complete primer on the history of functional neuroimaging in disorders of consciousness, then this is for you. With @karnig-kazazian.bsky.social and Martin Monti. owenlab.org/uploads/pdfF...

Ah yes, the paper that keeps on giving! We’re ramping up for some special updates on the 20th anniversary in 2026.

'Biological reality': What genetics has taught us about race As US President Donald Trump takes aim at the Smithsonian Institution for "anti-American ideology", Adam Rutherford examines what the science of genetics has taught us about race.

Brilliant straight talking from the brilliant @adamrutherford.bsky.social A must read for everyone. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

My new book, provisionally titled “Thinking On Your Feet” will be published soon by #norton. But maybe I should retitling it “The Rise and Fall of the American Frontal Lobe”? Everyone seems to have stopped thinking for themselves. Did some cosmic event turn off an entire nation’s frontal lobes?

Moi.

Canadian university teachers warned against travelling to the United States — The Canadian Press The association that represents academic staff at Canadian universities is wa

It took them a while to catch on, but they’re finally waking up. If you wait to be told what to do, it will be too late to do anything about it. apple.news/AvPEO57t0TSS...

Wow, we are now being officially advised against travel to the USA by the Canadian Association of University Teachers. I never thought I'd see the day. ☹️ #AcademicChatter

Unlocking Consciousness: A Journey into the Grey Zone Jonathan is joined by Adrian Owen, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at the University of Western Ontario, to explore his groundbreaking research on consciousness in vegetative states.

www.emjreviews.com/neurology/po...

YouTube video by TheKillersMusic The Killers & Bruce Springsteen: Encore At The Garden

One boss passes the baton to another. Incredible performances all round. I’ve seem them both many times and this shows they are more than the sum
of their parts www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cma_...

Then he’ll sort Alzheimer’s disease by Christmas, cancer early in the new year, and eradicate heart disease by the summer. It’s shocking that thousands of scientists have spent decades failing to solve problems that one man with no relevant qualifications is going to fix in less than a year.

Look out for our forthcoming paper on the relationship between exercise and cognition. Provisional title: Running Man….

It’s part of a special issue in honour of my good friend and former colleague John Duncan (Cambridge). We’re very proud of this work. It still feels extraordinary to me that you can decode precise memories from people’s brain activity alone.

Total recall: Detecting autobiographical memory retrieval in the absence of behaviour Functional neuroimaging has fundamentally changed our understanding of disorders of consciousness (DoC). While many DoC patients exhibit minimal to no…

In my ongoing quest to publish as many academic papers with Arnold Schwazenegger movies as part of the title, I give you…..Total Recall….out today and free to read www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ditto.

Post you from a different era. One side done. 1980.

*BREAKING* World’s largest baby throws second tantrum in as many days…

New version of "the letter" in Nature Neuroscience. Like many others in the field, I signed because I believe that IIT threatens to deligitimize the scientific study of consciousness: www.nature.com/articles/s41....

Oh, it’s Friday. They’re back on. No, they’re off. Or is on the new off? 250%? Did he make that number up? Does he think that’s the same as 25%? Who knows? He certainly doesn’t. It’s a beautiful number. What number? Any number! What did I just say? #internationallaughingstock

Grass roots revolution starting at my local liquor store….

A mostly blank page with the words Strong and Free, from the English version of the Canadian national anthem ) Below the fold of this newspaper sheet , in smaller type, news and editorial references to the trade war

This is the first page of this morning’s edition of the Globe and Mail (arguably the English Canadian paper of record)
I don’t remember seeing anything like this before

Dumb and Dumber.

I’m off to get the week’s all non-American groceries. I’ll stop by the liquor store to buy some non-American wine to celebrate. We’re having our kitchen renovated so I’ll put in that order for a non-American fridge, freezer, stove, oven, and microwave. Then I’ll settle down to watch the BBC news.

I love Jonathan Pie. He says what we’re all thinking. With more swear words.

Oh no you don’t!