Ask this scientist anything about neural research

Ever wonder what it's like to tap into the human brain? Or did you ponder about the best ways to understand neurological diseases and functions such as memory? Did you know tiny neural devices can potentially help patients see, hear and move?

Vanessa Tolosa, an engineer at LLNL's Center for Bioengineering, will be answering those questions and more on the popular social media site Reddit as part as of the Bay Area Science Festival activities.

Tolosa will be answering questions about her neural research from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Oct. 29, on Reddit's AMA (Ask Me Anything) social media forum. The forum is opened to all Reddit users who post questions for a subject-matter expert to answer.

Tolosa is part of a team of engineers and researchers at the Center for Bioengineering who are conducting groundbreaking research on implantable devices that could one day potentially treat neurological diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, as well as restore memories, sight, hearing and movement.

Reddit had 26.5 million monthly unique visitors in August in the U.S., according to Quantcast. It's the 50th most popular website in the world and 18th most popular website in the U.S., according to Alexa. Reddit visitors are very engaged, viewing 10.88 pages daily on average and spending an average of 12:49 minutes on site per visit, according to Alexa. President Obama did an AMA during the 2012 presidential campaign. He found it valuable enough to do it again the following year.

Created by the Bay Area's scientific, cultural and educational institutions, the 4th annual Bay Area Science Festival is a 10-day event running from Oct. 23 through Nov. 1. Its mission is to celebrate the Bay Area's scientific wonders, resources and opportunities by exploring the role of science, engineering and technology locally and throughout the world.

To participate in Tolosa's AMA chat, visit the Science Sub Reddit, where the actual AMA thread will be posted that morning.