Science

Old But Not Weak: Mastering Your Body As You Age

June 16, 2021

When I looked at my father as he got older, I often felt sorry for him. He was quite healthy as late as his 80s, but past the age of 90, he slowed down significantly and his speech declined. When I touched his body with my hand, attempting to teach him some exercise, he would flatly refuse. All I could do for him

Friends With Benefits: Socializing To Fight Alzheimer’s

June 3, 2021

Even though “Elaine Hamlin” (a pseudonym) had been retired from teaching for a number of years, she still maintained an active social and community life. She belonged to a book club, volunteered at the League of Women Voters and was a frequent dinner guest at the homes of her former colleagues.

Today, I Will Run: Strengthening Willpower and Summoning Self-Control

June 2, 2021

Drink more water. Go to bed earlier. Go to bed earlier without my iPad. Meditate. Avoid sugar. Avoid self-diagnosing on WebMD. Eat some nuts occasionally. Learn Italian. These are just a few of my New Year’s resolutions. And by the time you read this, I’m sure some will have already been broke

How A Little Courtesy Makes A Big Difference (for Your Brain and Other People)

June 1, 2021

Strife and chaos are arguably the reigning zeitgeist of the 21st century. In France, rudeness was even once reported as the chief cause of stress, ranking at 60 percent — placing it well above concerns over the debt crisis or persistent rates of double-digit unemployment. Neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak has proposed

Healing All Wounds: A Closer Look at Traumatic Brain Injury

May 31, 2021

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is, scientists tell us, an unseen epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that it sees 2.2 million emergency room visits a year — 280,000 hospital stays, and 50,000 deaths. These figures do not include veterans. “Total combined rates of TBI-related hospitalizations, ER visits, and deaths

Why Do We Crave? The Science Behind Food Cravings

May 28, 2021

The reward mechanisms that control cravings are very similar to the ones in addiction. “We think that cravings for drugs and food (particularly so-called ‘hedonic foods’ that are high-fat, high-sugar) are very similar,” says Natalia Lawrence, senior lecturer in translational medicine at the University of Exeter.

Know Your Brain: The Default Mode Network — Wakeful Daydreaming

May 24, 2021

Whenever we think of the human brain, it becomes far too tempting to just imagine the entire organ having clearly mapped regions that individually process each piece of data that comes in and file everything according to function, and not to think of the whole as being greater than the sum of its parts — that the brain relies on vast

Nurturing Well-Being With Nature

May 22, 2021

Neurobiological research has been showing us again and again that there is a strong association between our psychophysiological well-being and nature. But the loss of biodiversity, population growth, climate change, and urban relocation are posing major challenges to not only the natural environment but also to our

It Takes Guts: An Interview with Dr. Michael D. Gershon

May 18, 2021

Dr. Michael D. Gershon is all about the gut. Renowned for his pioneering work on the enteric nervous system and the role of serotonin within it, he’s been respectfully dubbed the “father of neurogastroenterology.” As the author of “The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine,”

Making Your Brain Financially Smarter

May 17, 2021

Our wallets and our brains are much more closely connected than you might believe. In fact, there’s such a strong correlation between the ways we spend and think, that a rising field known as neuroeconomics explores this connection

Just Go Outside — Your Brain Will Thank You

May 13, 2021

We’ve learned about the consequences associated with spending too much time indoors —looking at screens, in urban cities — so let’s examine the positive effects of nature on our psychological and emotional lives. We’ve already discovered the link between increased rates of mental illness

Why Some Remember Their Dreams, and Why Others Don’t

May 11, 2021

We often live our lives with the advice to “follow our dreams” — to always do that which we can aspire to do. While dreams in reality are often less flattering than that, and almost always less coherent, we’ve attached value to what they mean for centuries.

Motherhood and the Brain: The Science Behind Kissing, Cuddling, and Making It Better

May 9, 2021

As unique and diverse as all human beings across the globe may be, they all came to the world in the exact same way: a gradual progression from zygote to fetus to infant. And all of us grew in the womb of a female host — our mothers. The first and most primal of relationships is not only experienced

Fitting In: The Neuroscience Of Conformity

May 6, 2021

Scientists have been studying conformity since 1932, when Canadian anthropologist Diamond Jenness first began exploring the phenomenon. By 1951, psychologist Solomon Asch tested male college students and found that one-third of his sample would select an obviously wrong answer if their peer

You’re Fired! Your “Subordinate” Brain At Work

May 1, 2021

In our market-based economy, everyone has a boss. Most of us answer to a manager or supervisor, but even the CEO answers to shareholders. So the pressures of being judged for your work hardly vanish the further up the ladder you climb. And if you asked them, many business leaders would probably tell you they miss the

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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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