For years, headlines said that Japanese scientists built an MRI dream machine. The research is real, but the claim is not. Two lines of work from Japan explain what is possible today. First, in 2013, a team in Kyoto used…
Our brains come with an ancient, automatic setting that divides the world into insiders and outsiders. Within milliseconds of seeing an unfamiliar face, the amygdala, a region linked to fear and threat detection, fires more strongly for an out-group face…
Scientists have pinpointed a single protein in the ventromedial hypothalamus, menin, that appears to act as a brake on the whole-body aging process. In mice, natural levels of menin fall as the animals grow older. When researchers restored the protein…
Most people cycle through a small set of familiar places. Research in human mobility suggests that, at any given time, our regular lives revolve around about 25 locations. This pattern seems stable even as the specific places slowly change with…
Sam Harris, an American neuroscientist and philosopher, created the Waking Up mobile app to offer a secular path to meditation and the deeper, “non-dual” form of mindfulness he describes in his book Waking Up. The app combines a 28-day introductory…
The “frequency illusion”, also called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon The frequency illusion, also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, occurs when something new catches our attention, leading us to believe it appears more frequently than before. This cognitive bias is rooted in…
Benefits of forgetting help the brain stay flexible. Learn how adaptive forgetting updates memories, protects focus, and why not every lapse is a loss.
When worry loops take over, it becomes harder to see problems clearly. A simple language shift can help. This method is called distanced self talk. Instead of thinking with I, you talk to yourself using your name or you. For…
New research confirms sleep deprivation triggers anger by disrupting the brain's ability to regulate emotions via the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.