Science

Understanding MS: A Q&A with Dr. Massimiliano Cristofanilli

February 16, 2020

“I would say that if a patient gets diagnosed now, they have a nice chance of living a normal life … with progressive MS, it’s not so much a matter of whether the symptoms get better or worse; it’s that you have loss of neural tissue, which normally doesn’t happen,” says Massimiliano Cristofanilli.

Having Good Chemistry: How Being in Love Changes The Brain

February 13, 2020

Rarely do you find love ballads that mention the brain, the very organ that drives us to seek out romantic relationships in the first place, playing a major role in how we select romantic partners and are forever changed as a result of falling in love. Evidently, love affects our brain, and in some ways its thrill changes the structure

Charles Darwin on the Expression of Human Emotions

February 12, 2020

As Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progresses into its middle stage and later, word-finding skills diminish and meaningful verbal communication becomes increasingly impaired or even nonexistent. The thoughts, desires and emotions of a person with AD still remain, but how can a caregiver discern what they might

Know Your Brain: Oxytocin — The “Love Hormone”

February 11, 2020

Oxytocin is a hormone that functions in the brain as a neurotransmitter. We often think of it as the “hug hormone” or “love hormone,” the chemical signaling in the brain that draws couples to each other; in other words, the chemical that makes people miss each other. We may also know the disturbing stories

Feeling Like A Fake: Living with Fraud Syndrome

February 6, 2020

The prolific author Neil Gaiman once said, “The first problem of any kind of even limited success is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you.” Surprisingly, Gaiman suffers from impostor syndrome.

Coronavirus: What It Tells Us About Risk

February 4, 2020

“A newly discovered disease,” perhaps one of the worst possible articles to find in a sentence, particularly when you’re scanning the headlines. When people first read just a few short weeks ago about the Wuhan coronavirus — a respiratory virus that began infecting people in the mainland of China

A Bittersweet Truth: The Neuroscience of Sugar and Addiction

February 3, 2020

I know that too much sugar is bad for the waistline. I know that it can affect heart health, cause blood-sugar spikes, crashes, and offers basically zero nutritional value. There was also a recent study showing that sugar, possibly more so than salt, can lead to

The Future of Sports-Concussion Management

February 2, 2020

The NFL and NHL are contending with multimillion-dollar lawsuits because of brain traumas, giving concussions an awareness level never seen before. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 3 million concussions occur per year, most experts agree that

The Love Revolution: How A New Brain-Centered Therapy May Save Relationships

February 1, 2020

Is there any topic that baffles the human condition more than love? And yet, how much do we really understand about its fundamental components? The general consensus, going all the way back to antiquity, has been that love is a mystery, both inexplicable and incomprehensible to the human mind.

How Poverty Affects A Growing Child’s Brain

January 31, 2020

There is an established body of evidence that suggests there are lifelong implications for children raised in poverty, and that there are unequivocal differences in the opportunities afforded to children raised in poor families versus those raised in more affluent families

The Chemical Factory Inside Your Head

January 28, 2020

The brain contains complex biochemical machinery. The proper operation of this machinery is at the heart of proper brain function. The breakdown of this machinery — and there are numerous ways in which this breakdown may occur — is among the major causes of brain dysfunction.

Intelligence Is Modifiable: A Q&A with Dr. Reuven Feuerstein

January 27, 2020

Dr. Reuven Feuerstein was known for his groundbreaking work in cognitive modifiability; rejecting the idea that intelligence is fixed, he established the principle that all children can learn how to learn. Born in Romania in 1921, he moved to British-mandate Palestine in 1945, where he worked to rehabilitate

Meet Your Brain’s GPS: The Hippocampus

January 26, 2020

Your brain probably doesn’t enjoy waking up early anymore than you do — a complicated task of taking in the first daylight and establishing your surroundings, just before you check your alarm clock and realize you’ve got about a half hour until your morning commute. From then on, there’s probably

Power In Numbers: Using Peer Pressure for Positive Influence

January 25, 2020

Just as peer pressure can influence negative behavior, it can be a catalyst for good, leading to improved grades, reduced HIV infection rates, and even the ousting of a dictator, Tina Rosenberg argues in her book, “Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Change the World.” She terms it

Finding the Narrative Thread: Your Brain on Writing

January 24, 2020

Psychologists have always understood the link between the brain and writing. Sigmund Freud was a prolific writer and believed that writing had the capacity to heal: “The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of fantasy, which he takes very seriously — that is, which he invests

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A magazine dedicated to the brain.

We believe that neuroscience is the next great scientific frontier, and that advances in understanding the nature of the brain, consciousness, behavior, and health will transform human life in this century.

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