Stories by Ingrid Wickelgren

An interactive parent-training program can stamp out behavior problems in kids—and abuse from parents

The Sunday after Thanksgiving last year proved tragic for family and friends of 22-year-old Kosta Karageorge. The defensive tackle for the Ohio State Buckeyes was found dead that day after apparently shooting himself in the head.

Scientists have concocted mental fitness regimens to strengthen weak thinking skills in students—in effect, making kids smarter

Levels of a protein fragment in the blood paralleled how long head injuries benched hockey players. Ingrid Wickelgren reports

The brain is a dazzlingly complex web of somewhere around 100 billion neurons, each of which communicates with others through thousands of connections.

Every so often, we face a job we dread because it seems exceedingly dull. As a child, I felt that way about household chores—scrubbing a toilet, sweeping a floor, wiping a countertop, weeding.

Books and recommendations from Scientific American MIND

When I was kid, I remember my dad scolding my brother and me when one of us decided to hold the other one upside-down. In that position, he reasoned, we could fall on our head.

Flashes of insight often come to a prepared mind. What led to yours?

    // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

          // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

A simple exercise reveals how the ear’s vestibular system affects your vision.

          // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

        // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

        // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

        // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

  // Learn what causes dizziness in this new video from Scientific American‘s Instant Egghead series. In this short movie, I explain how your inner ears work to help you balance, orient yourself and see what’s around you in a stable fashion.

        // Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

In the 1994 film Junior, a male scientist becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. It's a rather ridiculous tale, but if any man could be given the superpower of giving birth, my dad should have been the one.

    Editor’s note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

  // Editor’s note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.

The term "character" has numerous and widely varied meanings. It defines each of these letters and symbols I am typing. It can be used to refer to features of wines, and it captures fictional folks in movies in books.

An interactive parent-training programcan stamp out behavior problemsin kids—and abuse from parents