Modern life can feel defined by low-level anxiety swirling through society. Continual reports about terrorism and war. A struggle to stay on top of family finances and hold onto jobs. An onslaught of news…
Uncritically invoking neuroscience is a risky proposition.
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Recently I’ve seen news reports with headlines like this one: “Can Brain Science Help Lift People Out Of Poverty?” This particular article described the near miraculous recovery of a woman who grew up…
Race is one way we categorize ourselves among in-groups and out-groups.
Hands image via www.shutterstock.com.
Race-related demonstrations, Title IX disputes, affirmative action court cases, same-sex marriage bans. These issues made headlines in all spheres of the media this year. However, thoughtful articles on…
Children and adults alike are digging out those spooky costumes ready for a celebration. We’ve reached that time of year again: Halloween. October 31 is dedicated to remembering the dead. We’ve all experienced…
It’s not all bad news for older brains.
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For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer…
One of medicine’s greatest innovations in the 20th century was the development of antibiotics. It transformed our ability to combat disease. But medicine in the 21st century is rethinking its relationship…
Won’t get fooled again.
Tinfoil hat by Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock
How do you decide if you can trust someone? Is it based on their handshake, the way they look you in the eye, or perhaps their body language? We know that what someone wears has an effect on our trust…
Targeting cognition through the body.
Cognition by Shutterstock
When we age our whole body gradually deteriorates. This includes our brains, where our personality, memories and personal values reside. It is therefore understandable that dementia and memory loss are…
What does your memory palace look like?
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To understand where we are, we must remember where we’ve been. This is one central theme that emerges from the work of new Nobel laureates John O’Keefe and May-Britt and Edvard Moser, whose neuroscientific…
The hippocampus has been object of scrutiny since the days of Gray’s Anatomy.
This year’s Nobel Prize in medicine recognises work on “cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.” Those cells are found in the hippocampus. It is just one tiny part of the brain, but this…
The curious want to know more and can remember more.
Flickr/Wagner T Cassimiro Aranha
The more curious we are about a topic, the easier it is to remember not only information about that topic, but also other unrelated information shown at the same time. A study published today in Neuron…
Try and run but you can’t hide.
BlackSportsPhotos by Schwarz Johann
Ah, football. The great American pastime. The freshly cut grass and crisply-painted yard lines. The sound of helmets clashing in an epic stack of large men vying for a single ball. Stands packed high with…
How do we take aim at things? For example, how are athletes able to accurately throw a javelin, throw a boxing punch or put a ball into the 18th hole? Many sports involve aiming and rapidly delivering…
At a recent talk I gave as a Sheffield NeuroGirl, a group of three female PhD students who aim to bring interesting and exciting research on the brain to the public, I carried out a little experiment…
I live in the city of Hershey, otherwise known as “the sweetest place on Earth” (registered trademark). I’m surrounded by references to chocolate everyday – from the smell of it in the air to Kiss-shaped…
During World War II, residents on the islands in the southern Pacific Ocean saw heavy activity by US planes, bringing in goods and supplies for the soldiers. In many cases, this was the islanders’ first…
The part of the brain responsible for the fight-or-flight response also plays a key role in unconsciously processing a face’s trustworthiness – in a matter of milliseconds. A study published today in The…
Researchers are cautiously optimistic about a new treatment for Parkinson’s.
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Affiris, a biotech company based in Austria, and the Michael J Fox Foundation, have announced the latest results of a vaccine they have been developing to treat Parkinson’s disease. Following the first…